I know I’m a little late commenting on this, but I had to download a pirate copy of the show to watch since none of my local affiliates carried it this year. Let’s hope I didn’t get a trojan virus along with it. -_-
Anyway, let’s start by reiterating that no, I don’t believe the Oscars are the ultimate in fair awards show. For years now I’ve been convinced of the bias in it (and this year, the biggest news about the show was how Christopher Nolan didn’t get nominated as Best Director for “Inception”. That was not a good sign of the quality of the works nominated.)
But what the Oscars ARE is the biggest, most pompous show from the people who make the movies, and I watch it precisely for that; it looks great and can even be fun or even moving at times.Thus, I’m not going to talk much about the awards, and more about the show itself.
This year, the theme was that the show was “for a hipper, younger audience!” What is it with producers lately that they are obsessed with getting the “younger demographic?” I mean yes, it makes sense except when you do it at the expense of your already established regular audience. Remember when NBC forced Jay Leno to retire from the Tonight Show? Same cause. And it was a disaster to everyone involved. You’d think ABC would learn from their rival’s mistake.
They even joked about it in the show itself, right from the start. I suspect that was done because too many people were complaining about it already. Better to make fun of yourself before others get to, eh?
Similarly, they began the show by having co-hostess Anne Hathaway joke about how everyone would recognize her as “the naked chick from Love And Other Drugs.” (Let me correct that: she wasn’t just naked in that movie. She BANGED A GUY ON SCREEN LIKE A RABBIT. SEVERAL TIMES. It was porn, honestly. Porn with some funny and some moving parts, but still, most people went to see it for the sex. Thus, porn.) Again, probably trying to defuse the jokes by making them herself, but really she only reminded the public of her career misstep.
To be fair, it wasn’t like the whole show was so “utterly 2000s, yo” - it was for the most parts, the same as usual, and they even threw on some bits for the older fans- like having Billy Crystal show up to host a segment about the (late) Oscars host Bob Hope. (Which only helps to make people ask themselves, hey if Crystal was available, while not make HIM co-host?) Seriously: in that segment alone, he showed why he’s SO much better than either Hathaway or Franco in the rest of the show.
Speaking of Franco, he was terrible. For an actor, he was terribly stiff and didn’t have a single really good moment (no, the part where he was in drag was NOT funny.) Hathaway virtually had to carry the show by herself, and she sounded a little too chipper. Now, I understand, both of them were nervous, and who can blame them? They were hosting THE biggest show of the year, watched live around the world. But that’s another reason why you want a seasoned pro to handle this kind of things. Crystal isn’t the only one either.
But anyway, back to the show: I liked the opening montage, which used the Inception concept of jumping across dreams to justify walking from one movie setting to another (weren’t they lucky?) Having Kirk Douglas show up to joke around and present an award would have been a big deal IF he hadn’t barely been able to speak; it came across as sad instead. And what the hell did that woman who won best Supporting Actress drink that made her say “fuck” in her acceptance speech? Ooh they are going to be making fun of that one for years!
Did anyone else note how every time someone nominated for Inception won they threw a little barb at the Academy for not nominating Nolan? Haw.
I must admit, watching scenes from several of the nominated movies actually made me interested in seeing them. I wasn’t going to bother with, for example, The King’s Speech, but what I saw was surprisingly moving. As was the speech from its writer, who apparently is a stammerer himself, when he said “We have a voice, and we have been heard.” Applauds
The special FX on the background were pretty good too. In fact, I’d say that the best part of the whole show, were the montages they showed, from the one about the history of music in the movies to the one about the people in The Business who died last year.
I was a little confused by the final musical number that had a bunch of children sing “Over The Rainbow”. Oh, I get that it is one of the best known songs from a movie ever; it’s having grade school children sing it that perplexed me. Charming, yes, but appropriate for this show? I wonder if the kids were backstage when that actress said “Fuck.”
:hahaha;
Overall, the show was largely forgettable. It sounded and looked good, but it will forever be remembered as “The Awards Where They Tried Too Hard To Be Hip”. Especially the part with the funny music videos made from movie scenes- that looked more like something that belonged on YouTubePoop than The Oscars.
Still, it WAS an entertaining show to watch, which for many people (like me) is the main point of it.