The Oscars: grown up and glamorous

I enjoy watching the Academy Awards, but usually don't make it through the whole show. But this year I did. It's not because I saw all but one of this year's nominated films.  It's because I saw a trend last night that really speaks to me and my chosen field.

The Oscars glamour has gotten older. And I mean that in the nicest possible way.

Christopher Plummer nabbed the award for best supporting actor for "Beginners." As Plummer noted in his acceptance speech, at age 82 he is just two years younger than the statue itself. And he looked just as robust and steady as the statue, too. My wife, who heard Plummer speak in New York last year at a special film screening, assures me that wasn't some cinematic sleight of hand. He is indeed that dynamic and charismatic in person. 

And at an age when many actresses in the past would already be "over the hill," 62-year-old Meryl Streep collected yet another Oscar, this time for portraying Margaret Thatcher's transition into old age in "Iron Lady."

The Academy also tipped its hat to Woody Allen, age 76. Allen won the best original screenplay award for "Midnight in Paris."

Host Billy Crystal? Well, at 63 he proves conclusively that aging really is a state of mind.

The grown-up glamour was not limited to the ceremony, either. Out on the red carpet, Jessica Chastain of "The Help" introduced her date for the night, her grandmother. "Nana" held her own during her interview with Ryan Seacrest. Jonah Hill of "Moneyball" brought his mother to the event.

In perhaps the most telling award of all, best picture went to "The Artist," a film which harkens back to a time only the most senior among us experienced first hand: the transition of silent films to "talkies."

So I think something's up at the Oscars, something reflecting what is happening in our country, in fact, all of the Western World. Like us, Oscar has matured.

Let's all go to the movies.