John Hughes Tribute
Never nominated for an Oscar, John Hughes, who died suddenly at 59 last summer, defined and ennobled the Brat Pack generation. The Academy breaks from its usual Deceased Artiste format to single out Hughes as 2009's big loss. (Later there is a tribute to the Distinguished Recently Dead Who Weren't John Hughes.) On hand to salute their mentor are Matthew Broderick, Molly Ringwald, Andrew McCarthy, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy and, most affectingly, a slightly more grown up Macaulay Culkin. Hughes' films were as different from earlier teen comedies as they are from today's gross-out farces. After the tribute, a reaction shot of Twilight's Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart shows them wearing looks that ask, What was that about? and Who were those people?