Monday, February 28, 2011

Oscar Post-Mortems

Cleaning out the Mental In-Box, Academy Awards Edition......
  • No surprises at the Oscars last night. None. (OK, maybe the guy who directed The Social Network had a shot, but he lost out.) Does that make for a more boring Oscar show? That is the existential question for the day.
  • I liked Anna Hathaway as co-host. She's talented, can do comedy, and she certainly is pretty. I liked the bit when she made the tassels on her dress swirl. That was funny.
  • As for James Franco, well, who is this guy? During the telecast, I used the word "wooden" to describe him, Marilyn used the word "bored", and Rob Owen in the PG this morning said he looked "stoned." No matter how you cut it, let's hope we never see him again as an Oscar host.
  • Billy Crystal in his few minutes on stage made you really, really, REALLY wish he would come back for hosting duties.
  • The "Low Class Award" of the night goes to Melissa Leo. First of all, to act "surprised" when she mounted what is said to be a totally offensive campaign in the trade papers was disingenuous to the point of being offensive, then to drop the F-bomb in her speech, well, that WAS offensive. Again, let's send her to whatever island we're sending James Franco and let her disappear.
  • I liked seeing old war horse Kirk Douglas dragging out the announcement of the Supporting Actress Award. He should have kept going so as to further delay Melissa Leo's appearance.
  • No totally outrageous gowns on any of the ladies last night. I suppose that's good, but isn't it a lot more fun when some babe comes out in something completely awful?
  • The acceptance speeches for The King's Speech winners (Picture, Actor, Director, Screenplay) were totally gracious and classy. You gotta love the Brits.
  • Best Actress Natalie Portman is only 29 years old, and started out acting as a child/teenager. Just like Lindsey Lohan. Looks like Ms. Portman has made the better life choices. Here's hoping that young Hailee Steinfeld does the same.
  • That Best Song nominee from 127 hours...what the heck was THAT? Not exactly something you'd whistle to yourself while walking down the street. I guess it worked in a movie about a guy who cuts off his own arm.
  • The necrology. Tony Curtis gets a few seconds of airtime at the beginning of the clip? Come on, now.
  • And Lena Horne gets the coveted final shot? With all due respect for Ms. Horne, but when you say "Lena Horne" how many of you think of her as as movie person?
  • Loved how Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock personally addressed the Actress and Actress nominees when making their presentations.
  • Also loved the touch of Steven Spielberg listing the great movies that have lost the Best Picture Award over the years (Citizen Kane, The Graduate etc.). He left one off of that list - his own "E.T." which lost out to either Ghandi or Chariots of Fire, I can't remember which. I guess modesty prohibited him from doing so.
  • Of the nominated movies that I haven't seen, last night's show is prompting me to make sure I now see "Black Swan" and "Inception." I suppose that I will see "The Fighter" eventually, but you won't be able to pay me to watch James Franco cut off his own arm in "127 Hours."
  • The Oscar review show that I am most looking forward to hearing will come later today when I download the podcast of Tony Kornheiser's Washington, DC radio show.

That's it. See you at the movies!!!!

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