Eighty & Counting......

As far as I am concerned, January and February are the months that get people warmed up for the year ahead. It's the same principle for the showbusiness world, in particular the movie world. The Oscars (or Academy Awards, if you prefer) had two very good reasons to celebrate; being eighty years old and actually going ahead. The same couldn't be said for the Golden Globes - a sobering press conference replaced the usual razzamataz.

To be honest, I thought there'd be more excitement generated by the whole event, but the mood of the attendees was probably still encapsulated in the previous month's writer's strike. Their solidarity to their cause probably contributed to the atmosphere being less hyped than in previous years. There were British wins, but there was still an American slant to them. Daniel Day Lewis won for 'There Will Be Blood' and Tilda Swinton took one home for her performance in 'Michael Clayton'. Any win for UK talent is welcome, as far as I'm concerned, so I'm not put out that a British film with a distinctively British feel to it only won an Academy Award for Best Score.

Mr. Lewis wasn't the only Irish-born winner; there were two more of those....sorry...one; the other winner did not hail from Ireland, but from Europe. The reason for this win was the song 'Falling Slowly'. The composers - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - proved to be the archetypal outsiders triumphing over the songwriting efforts of Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. An independent Irish movie about struggling musicians was not what most people expected to win in the category of Best Movie Song. When it did, there was a genuine sense of astonishment. The 81st Academy Awards may be a whole year away, but let's hope they posssess a win that is just as surprising as this one was.