Oscar talk
Feb. 25th, 2008 10:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladynorbertI did watch the Oscars, and if my computer hadn't required restarting, I would have posted the commentary I was typing to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
destinedtofly as it happened. Let's see what I can remember.
Jon Stewart: I like the guy, very much, but some of this year's humor was just....blah. The quip about Hillary Clinton was good. (For those who missed it, he was talking about the movie Away From Her. "It's about a woman who forgets her husband. Hillary Clinton called it the feel-good film of the year.") The Academy's joke montages which had allegedly been constructed to fill time if the strike hadn't ended were vaguely amusing. All in all, though, I rather preferred Ellen's hosting last year, and much preferred Jon's first shot at it two years ago.
Oscar-nominated songs: Four out of five of the musical numbers were muted on my television. I'm sorry, Amy McAdams or whatever her name is -- her singing voice gives me cavities. And the others weren't much more enjoyable. I knew none of the songs from Enchanted would win because they all canceled each other out, but I wasn't about to sit through them either. I listened initially, then hit the mute when I realized brain cells were dying. The one from August Rush didn't offend my sensibilities, but I still didn't care for it. The only one I did listen to was "Falling Slowly," and I was happy that it won, because it was very pretty.
"Halle Berry and Dame Judi Dench": Did anybody else understand what the hell this was about or why it was funny? I don't even know who those two guys WERE, but they weren't funny at all. And it just kept going! They presented two awards with that unfunny schtick! I wanted someone to stand up and yell "Get on with it, you're wasting our time!"
Owen Wilson: Was it me, or did he look like he was irritated at having to be there? I never saw anyone at the Oscars be more obvious about the fact that they were reading off of a TelePrompter.
Miley Cyrus: Say what you will about Hannah Montana -- I think she's precious. I loved her pre-Oscar banter with Regis Philbin. I actually really dislike the pre-show business on the red carpet, but their bit was watchable.
The memorial montage: I always pay strict attention to this part, because it never fails to move me. I still remember getting tears in my eyes a few years ago when they ended the montage with a dual-frame shot of Richard Harris, with his Camelot role on the left and Professor Dumbledore on the right. I noticed that this year, they gave specific dates for the time frame of the memorials -- February 1, 2007 to January 31, 2008 -- and there at the end was Heath Ledger. I had to look this up, because I mistakenly believed he died this month and not last month, but he did die last month. So did Brad Renfro...who was not included in the montage. Wtf, Academy? I went to their website, actually, and sent them a message asking about the omission. I'm curious to see if I get a response. Not that I'm a big Brad Renfro fan or anything -- the only thing I ever saw of his was his debut performance, The Client -- but fair is fair.
The other montages: Loved them. I thought it was a wonderful way to celebrate 80 years of Oscar, showing us all those old clips from shows of the past. I especially liked that the first clip was one of my favorites -- Shirley Temple unveiling the seven mini-Oscars that were created for Walt Disney, to honor his achievement with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Best Actor: Nothing against Daniel Day-Lewis, but even though I haven't seen Sweeney Todd (and everyone keeps advising me against doing so), I was sort of hoping Johnny Depp would take it. Oh well, I have no doubt that DDL earned the honor.
Best Actress: Again, I was honestly pulling for Cate Blanchett, because she rocked my socks in E:TGA. But it's hard not to be happy for the little French actress who did win, she was so adorable and sweet and grateful.
Laura gets snarky about appearances: I think the world of Tilda Swinton, I really do...but what was she wearing?! It looked like she couldn't decide whether or not she wanted a dress with sleeves, so she got one that split the difference. As for Diablo Cody, who got a Best Screenplay award for Juno, I was really glad that her ugly dress allowed the world to see the huge honking tattoo of a woman in a bikini that she has on her right bicep. Way to be classy. Sorry, I have no problem with tattoos per se, but I don't think the ACADEMY AWARDS are the place to be showing them off.
By contrast, when Helen Mirren came out onstage in her beautiful red gown to present an award, my immediate thought was "She walks like a queen."
destinedtofly as it happened. Let's see what I can remember.Jon Stewart: I like the guy, very much, but some of this year's humor was just....blah. The quip about Hillary Clinton was good. (For those who missed it, he was talking about the movie Away From Her. "It's about a woman who forgets her husband. Hillary Clinton called it the feel-good film of the year.") The Academy's joke montages which had allegedly been constructed to fill time if the strike hadn't ended were vaguely amusing. All in all, though, I rather preferred Ellen's hosting last year, and much preferred Jon's first shot at it two years ago.
Oscar-nominated songs: Four out of five of the musical numbers were muted on my television. I'm sorry, Amy McAdams or whatever her name is -- her singing voice gives me cavities. And the others weren't much more enjoyable. I knew none of the songs from Enchanted would win because they all canceled each other out, but I wasn't about to sit through them either. I listened initially, then hit the mute when I realized brain cells were dying. The one from August Rush didn't offend my sensibilities, but I still didn't care for it. The only one I did listen to was "Falling Slowly," and I was happy that it won, because it was very pretty.
"Halle Berry and Dame Judi Dench": Did anybody else understand what the hell this was about or why it was funny? I don't even know who those two guys WERE, but they weren't funny at all. And it just kept going! They presented two awards with that unfunny schtick! I wanted someone to stand up and yell "Get on with it, you're wasting our time!"
Owen Wilson: Was it me, or did he look like he was irritated at having to be there? I never saw anyone at the Oscars be more obvious about the fact that they were reading off of a TelePrompter.
Miley Cyrus: Say what you will about Hannah Montana -- I think she's precious. I loved her pre-Oscar banter with Regis Philbin. I actually really dislike the pre-show business on the red carpet, but their bit was watchable.
The memorial montage: I always pay strict attention to this part, because it never fails to move me. I still remember getting tears in my eyes a few years ago when they ended the montage with a dual-frame shot of Richard Harris, with his Camelot role on the left and Professor Dumbledore on the right. I noticed that this year, they gave specific dates for the time frame of the memorials -- February 1, 2007 to January 31, 2008 -- and there at the end was Heath Ledger. I had to look this up, because I mistakenly believed he died this month and not last month, but he did die last month. So did Brad Renfro...who was not included in the montage. Wtf, Academy? I went to their website, actually, and sent them a message asking about the omission. I'm curious to see if I get a response. Not that I'm a big Brad Renfro fan or anything -- the only thing I ever saw of his was his debut performance, The Client -- but fair is fair.
The other montages: Loved them. I thought it was a wonderful way to celebrate 80 years of Oscar, showing us all those old clips from shows of the past. I especially liked that the first clip was one of my favorites -- Shirley Temple unveiling the seven mini-Oscars that were created for Walt Disney, to honor his achievement with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Best Actor: Nothing against Daniel Day-Lewis, but even though I haven't seen Sweeney Todd (and everyone keeps advising me against doing so), I was sort of hoping Johnny Depp would take it. Oh well, I have no doubt that DDL earned the honor.
Best Actress: Again, I was honestly pulling for Cate Blanchett, because she rocked my socks in E:TGA. But it's hard not to be happy for the little French actress who did win, she was so adorable and sweet and grateful.
Laura gets snarky about appearances: I think the world of Tilda Swinton, I really do...but what was she wearing?! It looked like she couldn't decide whether or not she wanted a dress with sleeves, so she got one that split the difference. As for Diablo Cody, who got a Best Screenplay award for Juno, I was really glad that her ugly dress allowed the world to see the huge honking tattoo of a woman in a bikini that she has on her right bicep. Way to be classy. Sorry, I have no problem with tattoos per se, but I don't think the ACADEMY AWARDS are the place to be showing them off.
By contrast, when Helen Mirren came out onstage in her beautiful red gown to present an award, my immediate thought was "She walks like a queen."
