The Oscars

There were no surprises this year. Slumdog Millionaire was voted Best Picture at the 81st Academy Awards. Sean Penn won Best Actor for the title role in Milk, while Kate Winslet won Best Actress for The Reader.

Oscar results are here.

Man On Wire, the documentary about that wild and crazy guy Philippe Petit, who gained notoriety as the first and only person to have been crazy enough to cross the Twin Towers via highwire, won Best Documentary.

I bought the film on DVD, but there was no film footage of the actual crossing, since Petit and his co-conspirators had planned his walk in secret, although there are photographs. He plotted the walk for six years, as the Twin Towers were being built. In any case, it was actually a very interesting movie, emphasizing the fact it was an artistic "heist." Petit, now 60, looks none the worse for the wear. But it was still a batshit thing to do. Although 9/11 was never mentioned in the film, the movie really was a tribute of sorts to the buildings, as at least one critic noted. The World Trade Center was as much a star in this picture as Petit.