One of my most favorite things about the Oscars is the “In Memoriam”.  I love having a moment to honor the greats that have passed on.

I was especially looking forward to the montage this year and saying goodbye to Paul Newman, Charlton Heston, Sydney Pollack, Harold Pinter, George Carlin and many more.  So when 1) Queen Latifah came out are started singing before the montage and 2) I couldn’t even see who the first person in the montage was because the camera was so far away, I was quite upset.

The rest of the In Memoriam didn’t get much better.  You could only really see a few of the honorees because the camera focused on the stage, not on the actual slideshow and also because the camera kept moving around (and almost made me want to throw up).  I mean come on folks, Charlton Heston died this year! You may not like his work with guns but he had such an impact on Hollywood and the movies - Touch of Evil, The Ten Commandants, Ruby Gentry, Soylent Green - need I say more?!?! Only being able to kind of see his In Memorium moment is unacceptable.  Not to mention that they didn’t even include George Carlin! (I was glad they gave Manny Farber a shout though)

It was nice that they gave Paul Newman his due at the end- but overall I was completely underwhelmed and angry at what the producers of the Oscars did.. I get that the little images around the big one were also of the dearly departed, but that doesn’t register with those watching on a TV in their homes…. Come on now.

Ugh… you can watch the horribly done montage below.. But first, be sure to takepart with our Oscar series 81 for 81.