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1. Young Man with Ideas (Mitchell Leisen, USA, 1952) This well-wrought, low-key comedy-drama, directed by Hollywood mainstay (and onetime Preston Sturges collaborator) Leisen, stars Glenn Ford as a naïve and slightly idealistic Montana attorney who decides to start over in life by moving with his wife and children to Southern California, where he will study for the state bar. Unfortunately, he’s beset by all manner of complications and gets in way over his head with an illegal bookie ring. An immensely enjoyable postwar fable that has gone almost completely overlooked. Airs on Turner Classic Movies, 5/1 at 9:30am.

2. Age of Consent (Michael Powell, Australia, 1969) – Nathan’s #1 Pick of the Month. Contrary to what one may have heard, the release of Peeping Tom didn’t quite end celebrated Briton Powell’s directorial career, though it did damn him in the eyes of the public and the British Film Industry when it bowed in the spring of 1960, and caused quite a local scandal. Powell made four additional feature films (and one short-subject narrative) in the years that followed, including Age of Consent. This erotic drama with a droll subplot and overtones weaves the tale of a painter (James Mason), who attempts to reignite his creative flame by leaving New York and moving to an island on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. In that locale, he promptly strikes up a relationship with a svelte young woman (Helen Mirren) and asks her to pose nude for him; he also runs headfirst into a bevy of eccentric and offbeat locals who provide much needed comic relief. Scriptwriter Peter Yeldham adapted a novel by “bohemian” artist Norman Lindsay, an outré Aussie figure on whose life the story is loosely based – and who, in turn, inspired John Duigan’s whimsical sex comedy Sirens in 1994. Though hugely entertaining, Age of Consent was all but buried by the annals of time. Airs on Turner Classic Movies, May 5th at 2:15am.

3. Eve and the Fire Horse (Julia Kwan, Canada, 2005) – Kwan’s gentle coming-of-age seriocomedy examines with great tenderness and restraint the spiritual changes wrought on a Buddhist household, when its two daughters, Karena (Hollie Lo) and Eve (Phoebe Jojo Kut), undergo a series of potentially debilitating family tragedies. As a coping mechanism, the girls instinctively turn to religion, opting for two very different approaches and interpretations. The older of the two, Karena, chooses straightforward, traditional Catholicism, while the younger and more imaginative, Eve, manages to cope by blending elements of Catholicism and Buddhism into a belief system utterly her own. This sweet-natured slice-of-lifer won a Special Jury Prize at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and deservedly received a plethora of Genie nominations. Airs on The Sundance Channel, 5/1 at 3:15pm and 5/6 at 3:45pm.

4. Summer of the Serpent (Kimi Takesue, USA, 2004) Japanese-American director Takesue’s 27-minute court-metrage represents one of the finest evocations of childhood outside of Dorota Kedzierzawska’s Crows and Victor Erice’s Spirit of the Beehive. The tale concerns an eight-year-old girl named Juliette who forges a most unlikely rapport with a Japanese visitor during a day at the pool, and subsequently hearkens off on an imaginative journey. Screens on The Sundance Channel, 5/3 at 11:30am, 5/6 at 11:30am, 5/9 at 11:30pm, 5/18 at 1:30pm and 5/29 at 6:30pm.

5. 37 Uses for a Dead Sheep (Ben Hopkins, Turkey/UK, 2006) Documentarist Hopkins created this visually and stylistically inventive look at the Pamir Kirghiz, a nomadic tribe rejected from nearly every Asian country given their staunch opposition to Communism. The group received two options for citizenship – one in Eastern Turkey and one in Alaska – and decided to go the Turkish route. In the film, Hopkins and Pamir Kirghiz artist Ekber Kutlu plunge into the heart of the tribe for a warm, finely-observed and frequently humorous ethnological/sociological portrait of its members; the director intercuts direct cinema footage of the group’s day to day and dramatically constructed sequences that play out events from Kirghiz history, shot in a myriad of styles. Screens on The Sundance Channel, 5/5 at 5:30am and again at 5:30pm.

6. Kill Gil, Vol. I (Gil Rossellini, Italy/Switzerland, 2005) – In a biographical saga which, on more than one level, recalls the plight of onetime Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Gil Rossellini suffered from an instantaneous physical trauma in late 2004 that scarred his world forever. As the son of Roberto Rossellini and brother of Isabella Rossellini, Gil carried show business in his blood and was in the midst of embarking on an immensely successful production career, when everything changed overnight. Upon checking into a Stockholm hotel for a festival screening, Rossellini suddenly fell into a three-week coma, the victim of a freak bacterial infection. Three weeks later, he awoke in a hospital – paralyzed, with enormous, gaping wounds covering his body. Never one to be daunted, Rossellini determined to work his way back to partially-functional, paraplegic health, and decided to capture his own remarkable rebound on a hand-held video camera, in “diary” form. As created by Rossellini and associates the resultant film serves as an unbridled tribute to the power of human courage and resilience. Screens on the Sundance Channel, 5/28 at 5am.

7. Andrew Jenks, Room 335 (Andrew Jenks, USA, 2006) – Nathan’s #2 Pick of the Month. Here’s my prediction: a decade or two from now, documentarist Andrew Jenks will have gone down as one of the legends in his field, on par with Errol Morris and D.A. Pennebaker. In the summer of 2005, the 19-year-old Jenks opted to spend a month and a half in a Florida assisted-living facility, while two college friends filmed the experience; over the following weeks, Jenks spent his days with a number of senior citizens and witnessed, firsthand, life on the “other end of the age spectrum.” Not only did Jenks create an intimate portrait of the difficulties that afflict those Americans in their golden years (such as Alzheimer’s, physically debilitating illness, and impending death) but he developed an almost instinctive level of emotional commitment to those around him that made it impossible for him to stay detached – we witness him breaking down and sobbing upon leaving his newfound friends behind. Among other accomplishments, the film creates a series of small, winning character studies of Floridian nursing home residents and fully underscores the idea that some of the most special and meaningful friendships are cross-generational ones. HBO and Cinemax picked up the broadcast rights to this documentary; it still hasn’t officially received commercial distribution (hence the inclusion on this list), though Jenks is now selling copies of the title on his website. Room 335 is a small masterpiece that somehow slipped-by mainstream labels and announces the arrival of a major new talent in the arena of documentary. Don’t miss this one! Screens on Cinemax, 5/5 at 9:30am on MAX East, 5/9 at 8am on More MAX East, 5/9 at 11am on More MAX West, and 5/24 at 4:05am on MAX East.

8. Belle Starr (Irving Cummings, USA, 1941) – Alluring Gene Tierney (The Ghost and Mrs. Muir) landed one of her most intriguing and offbeat roles as the 19th century title character – the well-to-do daughter of a southern aristocrat who sheds her glossies, marries a Confederate guerilla fighter, and hits the Old West as an outlaw. Screens on The Fox Movie Channel, 5/1 at 6am.

9. You Can’t Have Everything (Norman Taurog, USA, 1937) Here’s the bottom line: forget the skimpy plot. This Darryl Zanuck-produced opus provides the opportunity (one of several) to witness one of the most popular musical pairings of the late ’30s, Don Ameche and Alice Faye, in action; it also boasts some of the most hilarious scenes ever filmed with a brilliant but now-forgotten comedy troupe, The Ritz Brothers, who earned frequent comparisons with the Marxes but distinguished themselves via a shtick that involved acting identically and in unison. Gypsy Rose Lee also contributes a fine supporting role. Screens on The Fox Movie Channel, 5/23 at 6am.

10. Man Hunt (Fritz Lang, USA, 1941) – German import Lang turned out one of his finest American thrillers with this exciting tale of a physically imposing marksman (Walter Pidgeon) who just misses an attempt to assassinate Hitler during a European big game hunting expedition and finds himself relentlessly pursued by the Nazis – through forests and swamps, across various national borders, and eventually, back to England, where Gestapo militia prowl the streets, combing the town for him – and where he falls for a comely prostitute (Joan Bennett). Screens on The Fox Movie Channel, May 15th at 6am.

HELD OVER
The following titles, which appeared in this feature in prior months, are still screening throughout May, and highly recommended. (All, by sheer coincidence, are appearing on the same network).

Luna – Fox Movie Channel, 5/19 at 12:30am
Shock Treatment – Fox Movie Channel, 5/24 at 12pm
Kid Blue – Fox Movie Channel, 5/6 at 2pm
Down to the Sea in Ships – Fox Movie Channel, 5/29 at 11am

Is it just me, or do Shannon Marie Woodward, Linda Cardellini, and Jewel Staite look like they could all be related? Maybe it’s the dark, flowing locks and cute little triangle shaped lips. Or maybe it’s the fact that all of them got their big break on iconoclastic one hour dramas (The Riches, Freaks and Geeks, and Firefly, respectively). If the latter is what cosmically ties them all together, then I hope that the mantle of Tragically Cancelled isn’t part of their genetic makeup. I really like The Riches.

 
 
Liberally peppered with corny jokes, featuring appearances by local bands, and punctuated by vintage television commercials, Nightmare SINema delivers the perfect combination of laughs and thrills for insomniac, “B”movie-loving horror hounds. Nightmare SINema debuted on Detroit-area public access television back in July of 2007, and has been steadily gaining in popularity ever since. This coming weekend, the show makes it’s big debut on Detroit Channel 20, opening up Nightmare SINema to a whole new audience and providing the next generation of horror fans with dementedly delightful memories that will last a lifetime.

Hop on over to www.nightmaresinema.com for more info, clips of the show, and lots of other goodies… and to Detroit-area movie lovers who decide to stay up late this Friday night – I’ll see you at the haunted drive-in!

At a time when the zombie trend once again seems to have run its course (Day of the Dead remake, anyone?), perhaps this melancholy little short is a fitting epitaph for the lurching sub-genre.

& Teller

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It’s ad-supported, and playing around a little, I saw a few different advertising models. Some movies give you the option of watching one trailer before your selection or a few commercials throughout. Others don’t give you the option and you either just watch a trailer and the movie plays without interruption or a handful of commercials play at random intervals. I also saw one not-too-intrusive overlay add at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds during one of my selections.

More after the jump.

Oh, and all the videos are embeddable. Not only that, but you can adjust the beginning and end of your selection if you only want to embed a specific scene. For example, here’s a scene I isolated from an episode of Arrested Development:

And here’s The Big Lebowski in its entirety (NSFW, obvs):

The film and television industry has been grappling with the Internet for years now and have introduced some solutions that are on the right track and a few that completely suck, but Hulu feels like the first real step toward a merger of the boob-tube and the Internet tubes.

1. Big-Hearted Herbert (1934) – Guy Kibbee headlines this long-forgotten farce as the title character, a working-class plumber who scores his big break when he moves into manufacturing bathroom fixtures – and finds himself wealthy for the first time. He comes to prefer the welcome company of a bunch of slightly arrogant misers who feel and behave exactly as he does, only to have his priorities dramatically challenged when his wife needs surgery. At a breezy 60 minutes, this winsome slice-of-life comedy is packed with a surprising number of real laughs. Runs on Turner Classic Movies, Thursday 3/6/08 at 7:15am

2. The Great Sinner (1949) – Loosely adapted from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Gambler, this unusual and offbeat drama from legendary director Robert Siodmak (The Killers) stars Gregory Peck – then in the throes of early celebrity thanks to Spellbound and Twelve O’Clock High – as Fedja, a Russian man who falls in love with the alluring Pauline Ostrovsky (Ava Gardner) only to learn that she and her father (Walter Huston) have become enslaved by debt to the wicked gambling lord Armand de Glasse (Melvyn Douglas). Appalled by this situation, Fedja determines to gamble on their behalf at one of de Glasse’s “gaming tables,” thus pulling them out of debt and redeeming their honor. But little can he foresee the complications that will arise. Runs on Turner Classic Movies, Friday 3/7 at 10:45 am.

3. The Beast of the City (1932) Walter Huston stars in this pre-code police detective drama with a surprising onslaught of gritty violence for 1932. He plays Captain Jim Fitzpatrick, a sort of forerunner of Dirty Harry Callahan and Frank Serpico who turns against the inherent corruption of the police department and the violent gangs who are tearing the city asunder – determined to wipe the streets of wrongdoing. Studio mogul Louis B. Mayer reportedly grew so distraught over the rawness on display here (and so concerned that it would ruin his reputation as a purveyor of “family” entertainment) that he insisted on burying the film as the second feature on double bills. Runs on Turner Classic Movies, Friday 3/14 at 7am.

4. Charlie Bubbles (1968) – Nathan’s Pick #1 of Month. Albert Finney’s unusual directorial debut was slated to run at Cannes in 1968 (the year they shut the festival down in light of the Paris riots), and has never fully received its due. The tale of a wealthy, self-made celebrity writer (Finney) battling feelings of intense alienation and ennui, it sports a complex and unusual aesthetic (courtesy of Eastern Promises cinematographer Peter Suschitzky) that visually “flattens” the reality Charlie perceives – a distortion meant to convey, in the words of Pauline Kael, “the world with some vital dimension omitted.” The film’s strengths lie in its five-star performances by Finney and co-star Liza Minnelli, making her screen bow, and in screenwriter Shelagh Delaney’s sharp dialogue. Runs on the Encore Love Stories channel, Tuesday 3/4 at 2:30am.

5. Shock Treatment (1964) – Nathan’s Pick #2 of Month. This hugely underrated movie suffered (and continues to suffer) from being inappropriately tagged by critics who see fit to peg it as a melodrama. That’s certainly worth arguing about; many of the situations are so hilariously over-the-top and outrageous that surely it must have been intended as a black comedy. Either way, it qualifies as one of the most concurrently hilarious and suspenseful movies of its era – a B-movie that’s a guilty pleasure to end all. Stuart Whitman stars as Dale Nelson, a second-rate actor hired to feign psychosis and worm his way into a mental institution. He’s been appointed in a scheme to win the confidence of a nutty gardener (Roddy McDowall) with a nasty penchant for wielding hedge-clippers. Inside the institution, Whitman falls under the thumb of a diabolical psychiatrist played by no less than Lauren Bacall. The initial scene in which Whitman fakes insanity (on a public street, in front of cops) is a real gut-buster – odds are you’ve never seen anything quite like it. And the film is filled with memorable dialogue, from “Call the sheriff’s office! Tell ‘em we got a candidate for county psycho!,” to “Well, let me tell YOU something, Mister…” Runs on the Fox Movie Channel, Tue. 3/11 at 11:30am.

6. The October Man (1948) – In the face of a brutal murder, how does a mentally unstable man set about proving his own innocence to others – when even he isn’t sure of the truth? That’s the question posed by this feature that functions more effectively as an intense and disturbing psychological drama than as a whodunit or a taut thriller. Sir John Mills stars as Jim Ackland, a chemist whose life takes an upsetting turn when he’s involved in an accident that leaves him with a severe brain injury. In the process, a friend’s child is killed; guilt and culpability plague Ackland, and he teeters on the edge of sanity, ultimately moving into a shabby suburban hotel and tentatively resuming his lab work. In the new residence, the path of this miserable and broken man criss-crosses with that of a gorgeous fashion model who promptly turns up dead – and Ackland, tagged as a suspect by the authorities, cannot even say with 100% certainty that he wasn’t responsible. The picture is notable for its willingness to subvert the conventions of the thriller genre and to probe deeply into the recesses of a distraught mind crippled by fear. Rich with period atmosphere, thoughtful performances and mature themes, it marks an outing unique for its era. The director, Roy Ward Baker, previously worked as an assistant to Hitchcock, and it shows. Runs on Turner Classic Movies, Thursday 3/27 at 4:45am.

7. Swimmers (2005) – Tyro Doug Sadler’s sophomore outing ran at Sundance, then appeared and disappeared from view after receiving an undeservedly mediocre write-up from Variety. Understated, melancholic and wistful, this slice-of-lifer deserves a second chance. It observes the coming of age of a 12-year-old girl (Sarah Paulson) from a working-class family of crabbers on the shores of Chesapeake Bay. The narrative developments are beside the point: few U.S. directors have captured preadolescent emotional journeys – or the day-to-day atmosphere of working-class life in the southeastern United States – with the elegance, poignancy and intelligence on display here. Comprised entirely of a cast of unknowns, the film almost certainly would have drawn hearty praise with a couple of marquee names in the ensemble – a sad reflection on the priorities of the film community. This is a small treasure just awaiting re-discovery. Screens on the Sundance Channel –Friday 3/7 at 2pm, Thursday 3/13 at 12pm, Wednesday 3/19 at 2pm and Tuesday 3/25 5am.

8. Mother/Country (2003) Persian director Tina Gharavi’s self-reflexive documentary portrait finds the filmmaker returning to her native Iran for the first occasion since the age of six, where she attempts to work through an array of deeply personal issues including the reasons for her initial exile and the emotional and psychological ramifications of a lengthy estrangement from her mother. Eminently complex – with numerous unresolved issues coming to the forefront – this marks one of the most intimate and revealing documentaries of recent years. Screens on the Sundance Channel, Tuesday 3/4 at 3:30am and Friday 3/7 at 6am.

9. Gelato: An Endless Passion (2005) – Gelato (Italian ice cream) may seem a frivolous and inconsequential subject for an hour-long documentary, so it feels surprising and delightful that director Susan Gray manages to work in so many fun, colorful and entertaining variations on her central topic - from her riffs on the taboo of ice-cream licking in the 19th century to the mysterious and indefinite ethnic origins of ice cream. (Editor’s note: this would make a great double bill with Les Blank’s Yum, Yum, Yum!). Screens on the Sundance Channel, Wednesday 3/5 at 10am.

10. Blind Alley (1939) – In a thrilling melodrama that earns frequent comparisons to Wyler’s The Desperate Hours and to Lewis Allen’s Suddenly, Chester Morris stars as Hal Wilson, an escaped psychopath who seeks refuge and holes up in the home of psychoanalyst Dr. Shelby (Ralph Bellamy), taking the poor man’s entire family hostage. In an attempt to defuse this “human time bomb,” Shelby talks Wilson into undergoing hypnosis, then probes the criminal’s past to search for the origins of his psychotic behavior. Anticipating Hitchcock’s collaborations with Dali in Spellbound, the film works in a number of surrealistic, visually striking dream sequences to give Wilson’s anguished mental state palpability. Airs on Turner Classic Movies, Tuesday 3/25 at 11pm.

* Beginning 03/08 this will become a monthly feature in lieu of a weekly one.

1. The Green Years (1946). Turner Classic Movies. Screening Mon. 2/4 at 5:45am.

This gentle, humorous and finely-observed coming-of-age drama marked one of several well-crafted vehicles for the young Dean Stockwell, alongside The Boy with Green Hair and Down to the Sea in Ships. He plays Robert Shannon, a youth buckling beneath the weight of an über-strict Scottish family, but drawn out of his shell by a loveable yet curmudgeonly old grandfather (Charles Coburn) with a taste for spinning some real whoppers.

2. Five Star Final (1931). Turner Classic Movies. Screening Wed. 2/6 at 7am.

Mervyn Le Roy’s pre-code melodrama (and is it ever pre-code) features one of Edward G. Robinson’s sleaziest characterizations. He plays Joseph Randall, the utterly guileless, sociopathic publisher of a tabloid newspaper, who grows so hungry for sensationalistic headlines that he digs up an age-old murder case and enlists a slimy photographer (Boris Karloff at his peak) to pose as a priest and single-handedly destroy the fortunes of an affluent and well-adjusted family. Eat your hearts out, J.J. Hunsecker and Lucy Spiller.

3. When Ladies Meet (1933). Turner Classic Movies. Screening Wed. 2/6 at 10:15am.

This loquacious, witty romantic comedy stars Myrna Loy and Ann Harding as two women unwittingly involved with the same book publisher (played by The Wizard of Oz himself, Frank Morgan) who run into each other by virtue of a mutual friend (Robert Montgomery) and discover the extent of the philanderer’s deceptions. This is the case of standard material elevated to an elegant level by virtue of the sharp dialogue and the stellar performances from a first rate cast – particularly Alice Brady, who walks away with the picture as a wisecracking hostess.

4. This Above All (1942). The Fox Movie Channel. Screening Thurs. 2/7 at 9am.

Hollywood legend Anatole Litvak directed this patriotic WWII ensemble drama on a big budget at 20th Century Fox. A U.S.-produced equivalent to the British masterpiece Way to the Stars (though it predated that film by three years), it stars Tyrone Power as a conscientious objector who withdraws from wartime service because he doesn’t believe in supporting the evils of British class structure. He then opts instead to do his part by rescuing air raid victims. Joan Fontaine, Thomas Mitchell and Nigel Bruce co-star.

5. Before the Music Dies (2006). Independent Film Channel. Screening Sun. 2/3 at 12pm.

This film marks a rarity: a documentary that qualifies as both a deeply personal, intimate journey and a revealing commentary on mass culture. Shortly before musician John Shapter died, he confided to his brother Andrew his convictions about the dire state of American popular music – particularly the notion that the current music industry has abandoned the interests of both fans and musicians. Andrew then embarked on a cross-country journey to investigate this idea, camera-in-tow – interviewing musical performers, listeners, music journalists and executive players in the record industry. Thus, this ambitious film both creates a tapestry-like exploration of the history of American music, charts the decline of American popular music, and speculates on the potentially dire future of the music industry; it features candid and extensive discussion with such luminaries as Eric Clapton, Les Paul, Bonnie Raitt, Dave Matthews and Erykah Badu.

6. Who Are You, Polly Magoo? (1966) NATHAN’S PICK OF THE WEEK. Sundance Channel. Screening Mon. 2/4 at 7:15am and Sat. 2/9 at 8:00pm.

Onetime fashion photographer William Klein (Broadway by Light) was, and is still, a cornerstone of American underground filmmaking. Klein made one of his few narrative features with this comedy, the tale of a model (Dorothy McGowan) who describes her life to a cadre of television reporters – waxing at length on her problems fending off the advances of innumerable men and settling down with Mr. Right. Lest this make the film sound trite or clichéd, the fascination lies in the execution, rife with a slick and glossy “mod” aesthetic and visual effects that presaged Mike Sarne’s Joanna and Jacques Demy’s Model Shop by several years – plus a smart satirical edge that sharply comments on European society in the mid-60s.

7. Lurch (2005). Sundance Channel. Screening Tues. 2/5 at 11:35am, Fri. 2/8 at 3:30pm.

Boris Hars-Tschachotin’s creepy and horrifyingly funny, live action short subject etches out a character study of Kuno Nieff (Chajim Koeningshofen), a worker at the Berlin Museum of Natural History whose job involves filling the institute’s animal specimen jars with preservative alcohol.

8. Karl Lagerfeld is Never Happy Anyway (2000). Sundance Channel. Screening Wed. 2/6 at 7:30pm.

At once eccentric and unquestionably brilliant, fashion designer Lagerfeld set the trends for haute-couture during the ’80s and ’90s, and continues to rewrite the rules of the industry, while pursuing his overarching goal of “intellectually sexy” apparel. A colorful and magnetic personality, Lagerfeld stands at the center of this incisive documentary profile by German director Gero von Boehm. The film is most astonishing for its ability to reach beyond the confines of its subject and provide a window into the creative process per se – an accomplishment that makes it not only a rarity but a must-see.

9. Unfolding Florence (2006). Sundance Channel. Screening Fri. 2/8 at 7:30pm.

Gillian Armstrong of Starstruck and Mrs. Soffel fame mounted this biographical profile of an extraordinary character – the late Aussie interior designer Florence Broadhurst. Broadhurst was a gifted fabricator who spun a series of fantastic yet baseless identities for herself including those of seasoned cabaret performer and European blueblood – until everything caught up with her and she was shockingly murdered. In accordance with Broadhurst’s various permutations, Armstrong stylistically fractures her film, employing a whole bag of tricks – from animation to dramatic reenactments to newsreel footage – to fully evoke Florence’s life and times.

10. The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello (2005). Sundance Channel. Screening Sat. 2/9 at 7:00am.

This critically-worshipped animated short from Australian director Anthony Lucas reflects the imagination and influence of 19th century fantasist Jules Verne by transporting the audience on a fanciful journey through a world full of steel airships and steam-driven inventions. The story concerns a pilot rebounding from failure who is given one last chance to succeed.

The show started with the traditional “I’m an actor” speeches by various Guild members in the audience. Jane Krakowski walked off with the segment when she said that she loved acting because she gets to be other people, and then ended with a deadpan, “I’m Johnny Depp, and I’m an actor.”

The first half-hour of the show was a victory lap for The Sopranos. James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, and the ensemble cast swept the dramatic TV awards.

Javier Bardem took home the night’s first film award for his cold-blooded killer in No Country for old Men, and he gave a superb speech highlighted by thanking the Coen Brothers for cutting out all his bad takes. Acceptance speeches, good or bad, can affect your odds of winning an Oscar, (if you don’t believe that go back and look at Eddie Murphy’s Globes speech last year) and his was note perfect.

Tina Fey followed that up by giving the funniest acceptance speech of the night, comparing herself to the hat rack that danced with Fred Astaire. She also earned points for being the first person to mention the Writers Guild during the show, but she certainly would not be the last.

When the cast of The Office came on stage to accept their ensemble in a TV comedy award, the pain of the writers strike hit me full force for the first time. I miss these actors and those characters.

Am I the only person who, after hearing the emcee say, “Ladies and gentlemen, Holly Hunter and James Spader,” immediately thought, “Sweet! Crash reunion!”

The show respectfully slowed during Charles Durning’s long overdue lifetime achievement award, but it nearly came to a halt during Mickey Rooney’s reading of the nominees in the best actress in a TV movie or miniseries category. This was followed by the montage of those who had passed away since the previous awards show, a certainly necessary part of the show, but one that understandably ladles a somberness over the proceedings.

Ruby Dee’s surprise win for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture certainly shook things up. She received one of the few standing ovations of the night, and her warm and gracious speech certainly helped pick up the pace of the telecast.

Daniel Day-Lewis gave the most impassioned acceptance speech, offering a beautiful eulogy for Heath Ledger. Although the two had never worked together, Lewis served up perceptive and awestruck praise for Ledger’s work in Monster’s Ball and Brokeback Mountain, and dedicated his win to the recently deceased actor. It was a moment as genuine as one will ever see during an awards show.

When Tom Cruise strolled out to hand out the best ensemble cast in a feature film award I feared the fix was in the works and he would read that Hairspray was taking home the night’s final prize, but his announcement of No Country for Old Men as the winner solidified the favorites for this year’s Oscars.

Thank you Screen Actors Guild for giving us back a genuine awards show during this strike affected kudos season.