It was a pleasant surprise to see Spotlight take best picture. As a onetime newspaper reporter, I really appreciated director Tom McCarthy and his cowriter Josh Singer's depiction of the craft—a brand of serious journalism that, one hopes, is not in its last throes.
As widely predicted, host Chris Rock wasted no time ribbing the academy for the lack of diversity in the nominations. His early line—"I'm here at the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the White People's Choice Awards"—was among his best. The (thankfully brief) moment with Stacey Dash, however, was just plain weird. I hope Rock didn't have a hand in that miscue.
Call me a sucker for a certain kind of schmaltz, but Rock's Girl Scout Cookies solicitation warmed my heart, as did the sight of Michael Keaton munching on one at the end as he joined the Spotlight celebrants onstage.
Owing to my advancing age, I decided to record the show and watch it today. Early to bed and all that. Of course, there was no surprise factor—I couldn't resist checking up on the winners—but DVR technology sure does make it easy to zip through commercials and windy acceptance speeches. Doubtless, this will be my practice in the years ahead.
