Steve Martin

Have you noticed that he’s no longer funny?  He just says something and everybody laughs.  He was brilliant in "All Of Me".  Great in "Roxanne".  But he was curiously flat on SNL the other week, it was painful to watch, I had to turn it off.

Milk

This is not about first run, this is about cable and DVD.  As much as Sean Penn can bug me, he was truly great in this movie.  And you leave with the message that you’ve got to give people hope.  Hope that Gus Van Sant who wowed us so early could make another brilliant picture, which he did…

I’m all for gay rights, but the screenplay winner was preaching to the converted.  We’ve got to go more grass roots.  Homophobia knows no bounds.  Now that we’ve got a black President, maybe we can eradicate homophobia?

Slumdog

I want it to win each and very award it’s nominated for.  Because this is great filmmaking, creating something that demands viewer involvement, that squeezes out every other thought in the viewer’s brain. And it’s a better roller coaster ride, and a better shock, than any amusement park ride.  Movies can still dazzle…  When you set the creators free.

Wall-E

Speaking of which…  Imagine if there were a record company solely about excellence.  That didn’t feed the product pipeline, just signed up the truly talented and allowed them to realize their dreams.  We’re not looking for hits, we’re looking for music, for art, that touches our souls.  When we find it we feel positively alive and want to tell everybody about it.  Too many records today have to be sold, whereas a great record penetrates the individual and then his friends and their friends via word of mouth.

Dave Matthews

Made me squirm.  If Dave sells out, that gives the impression anybody can.  And maybe should.  What’s worse, Dave aligning with the company or the AmEx pre-sales?  It would be one thing if everybody qualified for an American Express card.  Pre-sales are so pre-recession.  They’re about the haves and the have-nots.  The bankers fucked up our country, and are no better than the rest of us.  Money changes everything.  Especially when few have it.  We’re now all in this together.

Ben Stiller

First funny moment of the night.  Joaquin Phoenix’s Letterman appearance was the biggest story on the Web last week.  I’ve got to believe this was Ben’s idea, the Academy, producers and writers are too dumb and out of it to have come up with this.

Natalie Portman has got an elegant image.  Great contrast to Ben.

First winning moment of the night.

Slumdog Again

America loves a winner, we want something to rally around.  I’m predicting "Slumdog" wins Best Picture and then our whole country can feel good for a little while.  That a movie that almost went straight to video can go all the way.  If a boy can make it out of the slums of Mumbai, just maybe we can make it out of this recession.  This victory gives us the hope "Milk" talks about…