My Academy Award Thoughts
So, I spent much of yesterday battling some kind of bug. As per my usual remedy I spent the day on the couch drinking booze and eating. Because I happened to do all of this healing upstairs I was compelled to watch Academy Award coverage beginning at 11am and continuing right through to the end of the broadcast. Some of my memories might be a little fuzzy because I could not find a pen and paper so bear with me if things are slightly out of order.
I don't even know why E! bothered to have the first three hours of coverage. All it made me want to do is call every food delivery service I could think of to send food to Giuliana Rancic. Please for the love of everything that is holy, eat something. I did not quite understand the Black Swan fashion show either. I have not seen everyone running around dressing like characters from the movie so I don't know why they spent such a huge portion of time with it. Yes, Natalie Portman won an award for best actress, but I don't see the world dressing like her.
So, when the pre-show started with Ryan, Giuliana and Kelly Osbourne were sent off to the skybox. Out of every actress that hit the red carpet, there were maybe two times where they kind of said they did not like something. See, they do not have the guts to say anything bad while Ryan is interviewing people live. They are fine doing it from the safety and comfort of their studio tomorrow but they could not afford to possibly upset some publicist and not get Ryan the interviews he wanted. I understand that but it gets really boring to have the two gush over every single outfit.
As bad as they were, it was just as painful to hear every other actor or actress talk about the process of acting and visions and blah blah blah. Oh, and when someone asks you who you think will win, it is ok to actually pick who you think will win. No one answered the question. I thought Ryan did a god job on the carpet. He had done his homework and knew what everyone was in or what they were doing. The repeated Twilight tease was a bit much. I mean really? He made it sound like some kind of groundbreaking thing that was going to happen.
It could have been because I was not feeling well, but a lot of people really got on my nerves. Top of the list was Melissa Leo. Wow, how much attention does one person need? First she bought full page ads for herself then she dropped an F bomb on purpose just to get more attention. She annoyed me and her Elvis outfit annoyed me too.
I was not expecting it, but Christian Bale annoyed me and Halle Berry in that interview she did on ABC was pretty annoying too. I loved Jennifer Lawrence, Hailee Steinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Russell Brand and even The Goopster who looked really nervous to be singing. I thought Mandy Moore looked incredible. I think Justin Timberlake did a good job of of trying to squirm through the Napster question and a more difficult job of hiding that he wished he was nominated. I'm glad Mila Kunis took out her gum before she hit the carpet because she was smacking it harder than Miley Cyrus when she got out of her limo.
I thought Jeff Bridges presenting was way over the top and that Sandra Bullock was perfect. Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr had no chemistry. Anne Hathaway can really sing and despite my meh reaction to her usually I thought she did fantastic and an amazing job as host and thought James Franco was quite possibly the worst host ever. He did great in the beginning montage but after that he pretty much sucked. Yes, the bit in the dress was funny, but calling the science guys nerds was rude and he seemed like he was uncomfortable the entire time. The only other part that was great came courtesy of her Marky Mark line.
Kirk Douglas was hilarious and when Justin Timberlake copied the "You know," part that was pretty funny too. I wondered where Diane Lane was, and thought Matthew M was kind of rude for announcing the winners names. You let the woman do it Matthew.
Colin Firth's speech was great. Probably the best of the night. It is always interesting to see all the nominees who are not actors and how many times they have been nominated. Randy Newman? 20 times? Seriously. Wow. What about the guy who has won 8. When you win 8, do they kind of become old news? At that point the thrill is probably gone. Billy Crystal and Bob Hope bit was great. Even though I post pictures of all the people that pass away during the year I had forgotten about some of them. I thought Celine did a great job. Who knew Kevin Spacey could sing and I loved PS 22 and Anne's reaction to them after they performed. Who picked Anne's blue latex dress? Lady GaGa?
61 comments:
I agree that Franco was awful. I actually think he was high. He interviewed on ABC prior to the show and seemed completely weird, at best.
Anne has a great singing voice.
Fell asleep around 10:30 EST and missed Goop singing and the rest of the awards.
I NEVER watch these shows.
GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!!!! seriously though, my only add was I was pretty sure Franco was stoned out of his gourd. Other than that....yep
I thought they both sucked. He was too low and she was too high(not "high" high, but super dooper peppy.
Missed it all. :-(
I was annoyed with Jennifer Lawrence.
She was the first one on the red carpet (I'm guessing that her limo was the the first in line and that she got out as soon as the red carpet was open). She looked so arrogant and smug the whole time she was being interviewed and posing for the cameras.
Her dress was from the Baywatch evening wear collection circa 1996 and it was pathetic how Giuliana and Kelly pretended to fawn over it and say that "She really set the bar for everyone else".
It was a slutty dress that looked like a floor-length red swimsuit.
Even as the camera panned to her in the audience throughout the night, she looked the furthest thing from 'humble'. So self-important and stuck-up.
where was the a list?
De niro, Pitt, jolie, Aniston, Cruise & Holmes, Julia Roberts,Clooney, Will Smith,Denzel....etc.
no shows.
I agree with you on every single comment (though I only started watching at 6PM because I was at work until 5), EXCEPT I couldn't stand Anne Hathaway. As an actress, she's fine--even excellent sometimes--but as a real person, she just seems like that annoying girl in high school that acts out entire scenes from "Man in the Moon Marigolds" and "Soylent Green." Takes herself way too seriously.
Thumbs down on Hathaway and Franco. She just gets on my damned nerves and worked it even more so with her constant "Whoo!" Ugh. And to think, this will be Catwoman...Sad.
Franco was probably not the best choice. He really aapeared to want to be somewhere else.
Oh, and my favorite moment of the night is when that kid from NYU won best short. He acted the way everyone who wins should act: grateful, surprised, thrilled. Plus he had great hair. And the first thing out of his mouth was, "I should have gotten a haircut!" It looked just like my son's!
The hosts were NOT good. Melissa Leo's arrogance and trying to fake surprise was embarrassing. Only thing I don't agree with in your review would be the part of Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law not having chemistry. Really? I would disagree, I thought their banter was quite witty and probably one of the only decent moments of the evening.
The hosts were horrible -- one full of pathetic perkiness, the other full of cannabis. Save it for the AFTERparty, Franco. God, what a douchelord.
Melissa Leo is annoying as shit, too. I reeeeeeeeaaaally wanted Helena to win, goddammit.
Totally agree Gladys! The NYU guy was great! Best speech along with The Kings Speech writer. Thought both hosts were horrible, made me terribly uncomfortable. Also agree with Jax - where were the "A" listers. The brownnosing by Giuliana and Kelly was awful. So obvious what was going on.
Bring back Billy Crystal.
I agree with most of what you said, and I'd like to add:
- I think Anne was overcompensating for James' disinterest - rolling his eyes and not looking into the camera - what's up with that?
- Melissa Leo - what the hell was she wearing - a doily? And talk about tainting your acceptance speech with the F-bomb, which was not bleeped out on the East Coast feed. So low-class.
- Matthew M made it all about him, as usual.
agree with above and Giuliana:: PLEASE EAT!
Matthew M is a douche, please Jeebuz don't let his baby-mama host that hair show again!
Melissa Leo seems desperate and her behavior has cast a shadow on her acting, IMO
Agree with Patty and amoteafloat - Franco was out of it...that green room interview with him was AWKWARD. That being said, his "Congratulations, nerds!" comment made me laugh pretty hard. Hathaway was too.much.
Love Bale, but he annoyed me too, Enty.
Bullock's nose looked weird?
Lucky for me I missed all of Seacrest, I watched the stuff with Tim Gunn because, um, it's Tim Gunn. I refuse to have anything further to do with Kelly Osbourne, so it worked perfectly. But agree with people talking about "the craft". Ugh. STFU already.
Russell Brand was hilarious.
PS - I gotta say, I kind of loved Melissa Leo's dress.
Totally agree about the brown nosing going on from Giulana and Kelly. It was amusing watching them try to come up with something nice to say about some of the worst dresses.
I liked Anne Hathaway. Her excitement about hosting was contagious. James Franco, however, looked like he felt too important to be doing such a menial job. I don't want her to host next year, though - I didn't feel like she'd have anything new to contribute a second time around.
Did the A-listers all boycott the Oscars? I expected to maybe see them in the audience, but sounds like they weren't even there.
Good pacing to the show this year. It didn't feel too long for once. I loved the public schoolkids singing at the end, and Anne Hathaway looked geniuinely thrilled for them as she high fived them at the end. Nice happy note to end the telecast with.
Yay for Colin firth and the King's Speech, for really well deserved wins.
I am officially tired of silver dresses. There were a lot of them last night. And Jennifer Hudson - I don't need to see underboobage from you. Too many actresses forgot to bring the most important accessory, a smile.
@surfer - Melissa Leo's curse word was bleeped out of the HDTV satellite feed on the east coast. Maybe because the HDTV feed is 5 seconds delayed?
I barely watched ...I really wanted Annette Bening to win.....
I think the problem with Halle is she has used up most of the good will she had collected...people look at her differently now...
And the Goop was awful...she had to follow Mandy Moore and Florence Welch...and she knew she wasn't in the same class talent wise..
Melissa Leo was ANNOYING!
Hated her speech, the curse word, the dress, the fake surprise reaction to her win...ugh
I thought the hosts sucked.
He seemed a bit drunk, and she was so over the top peppy.
I don't care if they memorized their speeches as long as it's right to the point.
I hate when they stand up there, take all the time in the world to say one sentence, sighing, and just staring out into space.
If you're nominated, be prepared to make a speech.
Aaron Sorkin, David Seidler, and the NYU guy were great!
Jesus, what the fuck is your problem, Enty? oops, I dropped the f-bomb, I must be looking for attention.
My favorite speech was from the young man with the big hair. He seemed sincere and it was funny.
I kept waiting for Hugh Jackman to run on stage during Anne's song, but she did very well by herself. I also liked the Tangled duet. I didn't realize Chuck could sing so well.
I still like the red "Baywatch" dress. It was diff and she had the body to carry it off.
I am so damn sick and tired of the winners being so dramatically shocked and surprised. Get the eff over yourselves. You had a one in five chance, the odds are pretty good.
As the night wore on, James and Anne must have been reading blogs during the commercials because she seemed downright desperate and he looked stoned and bored.
While I liked the tribute to Bob Hope, I don't like the whole bringing dead people back to life thing.
THANK YOU for the Melissa Leo comments! That's *exactly* what I thought when I watched her. Like, you take out ads for yourself and then you act SURPRISED your grandstanding paid off? Frankly, she should get an Oscar just for that speech.
Are Busy Phillips and Michelle Williams an item? Because they really felt like more than just two friends. The chemistry was off the charts between them, and you never saw them far away from each other.
@Valerie: maybe. I watched on plain old digital, and heard it loud and clear. Actually, I was shocked, because I thought there would be a time delay of some sort.
jax--that's what I thought, too:
Where is the STAR power up in this joint?
None, nada, zip.
Almost like it was being boycotted by anyone truly big-time famous unless they were presenting or nominated.
@Valerie They've been best friends for a long time. Busy is godmother to Michelle's daughter.
LOL Gladys @ Man in the Moon Marigolds!
I'm so glad there's at least one other person who thinks Anne Hathaway did a great job. I think she was genuinely happy to be there and it showed. (I LOVED her blue dress.) And I loved how she high-fived the kids at the end, too.
I'm beginning to think James Franco is just eccentric, weed or no weed. I don't think he was high.
I like how Robert Downey Jr. can openly make fun of his foibles.
What I would like to know is - what happened to Camille Grammer? I put it on CNN and they had at least 4 people covering it, but no Camille. I didn't watch for very long because I found the whole layout onscreen to be quite annoying. Red border, large font at the bottom, and little screen space to show even their faces.
I think Anne was overcompensating too.
Melissa Leo was a disgusting bimbo, wearing her Elvis Ensemble. She looked like a dishrag with sequins.
I think Natalie Portman was deserving to win, but did anyone else notice that she said the word "Umm" 26 times? (yes I went back and counted). I mean she's won this award what-3 times already?
Colin firth said "Umm" 19 times. What's up with that?
I know it's nerve-wracking to speak in front of a billion people, but come on guys get it together!
I may have bumped my head skiing last week, but wasn't this Melissa Leo person an underdog for an award? I thought that was the reason she placed the ad in the first place?
I dunno. I didn't watch this wreck.
The NYU guy was refreshingly charming and adorable, wasn't he? Very cute when he mentioned his mom had done the craft services for the shoot. He and Colin Firth were the high points of the night for me. James Franco and Anne Hathaway could not have been worse.
I'm so sick of all the promotion I chose not to watch at all this year -- but did anyone watching the Black Swan costume thing think of Streisand singing the Fanny Brice "Swan Lake" number in Funny Girl?
I never watch these stupid awards shows. They're just one big self-congratulatory circle jerk.
And Trent Reznor winning an Oscar makes me feel SO OLD.
I LOVED the PS 22 choir with all the winners on stage at the end. We sing "Over The Rainbow" in my chorus and it is such a beautiful song. And I'm a huge choir geek so it worked for me! *L*
The only thing I liked about Franco was "congratulations, NERDS!". I felt sorry for Anne Hathaway, I think she was genuinely excited to be there and to be doing that job, but Franco gave her NOTHING to work with. Like everyone else has pointed out, he seemed stoned and bored.
The "background" categories' winners had the best acceptance speeches and seemed the most grateful and deserving. Except for Colin Firth. Every time that man opens his mouth, I love him a little bit more.
Melissa Leo's f-sharp was the only thing that blew up Twitter last night in the 600 hours we all watched last night. Good for her,people need to relax a bit for god's sake. oh and PS it wasn't bleeped out in Canada!
Kirk Douglas was just uncomfortable to watch. See Dick Clark on NYE.
Maja, the 'congrats Nerds' was a solid WIN for me..lol.
Enty, you echoed my exact thoughts. I agree with you on every point. I usually don't care for Anne Hathaway, but I thought she was doing her absolute best last night to make up for being paired with Dead Fish Franco. And her clothes were mostly fantastic. I sent Joan Rivers a tweet suggest that someone hold an intervention for Rancic. She has a major eating disorder. I don't know how she has the strength to stand, much less hold up that giant baby bird head of hers.
Anne was wonderful. Note perfect. James was awful. Couldn't have been any more wooden or bored by it all if he tried, and we all know he definitely didn't bother trying one bit.
happy for the winners(Bale,Firth,Leo,Pfister,Reznor/Ross,Inception's win,The Social Network's win,Portman: they deserve it), angry/sad for Hooper's win (Fincher,Aronofsky,O Russel,Coen were better),i'm ok with TKS win(you smile, you laugh,you cry)
Portman's speech was too long but i liked Firth's speech and Bale's speech and Leo was like that during the award shows
The Hosts: They were better than I thought they'd be but I thought Franco would be funnier. I liked the opening. Agree with all that he was stoned & was a bit of an ass at times (When he couldn't understand Kirk Douglas, he should have just played along). Anne was a bit on the over the top side but she definitely was making up for Franco...I wondered if they were maybe doing this on purpose? It didn't seem unplanned. You could tell she was INCREDIBLY nervous whilst Franco seemed to not give a flying F.
I liked Melissa Leo in the past but agree her reaction was also OTT. I'm also not exactly sure what she meant towards the end of her speech...whatever it was she said made me almost think that she was implying she deserved the award. I did laugh at the balcony comment. Her whole win lasted way to long, from the walk to the stage, to the speech, etc.
I thought Goopy was HORRIBLE. She did much better at the Grammy's.
I liked Jeff & Sandra! Sandra seemed a little weird on the carpet. Kind of sad, maybe?
I loved the Marky Mark thing. If it hadn't been a grandmother involved, he may have wanted to punch her.
I loved Colin's speech too and would have liked to have seen him dance a jig of happiness backstage (or privately, whatever).
Ryan is so full of himself. I can't stand him. I never got that feeling from Dick Clark.
@MCH: she said something to the effect that it's part of the actor's job to sell the movie (hitting back at those of us who thought her ads were tacky). Fine, I have no problem with that. However, she wasn't promoting the movie, IMO, but herself. She was really disingenuous with her "what? I won?" act.
But she was good in that flick.
Let's talk about men. And their pants. Why in the hell can't these guys get their pants tailored? The cuff is supposed to break at the top of the shoe, like JT's, and not look like Josh Brolin's.
Drives me crazy(short trip, I know)!
@Megley - Ok, I wasn't sure exactly what she was saying there. I immediately had a flash back of Monique's acceptance speech. You should at least PRETEND to be humbled. :)
I haven't seen The Fighter yet, but she deserves something for having to sport that haircut! :)
Oh, I forgot--Enty, apparently you didn't see "Beyond the Sea", the biopic Spacey did about Bobby Darin. He was terrific, and did a lot of singing in it.
as far as I remembered: noone thanked God for anything so boring or not; this was my favourite Oscar show of all times!
Megley, I was going to mention "Beyond the Sea", Kevin Spacey did a fine job of singing in it.
I notice every time the Oscars get a host to play to a younger audience it FAILS. last time it was Chris Rock. Anyone younger than 50 is not watching the oscars. I am a film buff yet I avoid watching it, Id rather play COD: Black Ops or something else more entertaining like cleaning grout with a toothbrush.
Men in dresses is not funny.
The hosts were both awful, but for different reasons. Franco looked either stoned or bored out of his skull. Hathaway was WAY over the top in her cutesy schtick, giggling and overblown enthusiasm. What idiot thought these two would make good hosts? An awards show host needs to be a standup comedian. Someone who can deliver jokes and ad lib quips. Ricky Gervais anyone? Melissa Leo was horrible on stage and her feigned surprise was sickening. I won't even talk about her horrid dress. Firth and Bale gave wonderful speeches, why couldn't Leo since she KNEW she was going to win despite her fake surprise? This was one of the worst Oscar telecasts EVER, mainly due to the lame job by the two hosts. Enough with trying to appeal to the young demographic? Hire a host who can actually keep the audience entertained and laughing. One of the best moments of the night was Billy Crystal's monologue because it highlighted how awful Franco and Hathaway were. Loved Kirk's appearance too.
@Teresa - I thought it was funny when a reporter read off something Ricky Gervais had said about the hosts (being a smart ass) & Franco said something about Gervais bombing at the Globes.
Really??? Is that what Hollywood thinks happened there? B/c I was sitting at home laughing hysterically.
It's time for Giuliana's friends and family to do an intervention. Who knows what permanent damage she's already done to her health. When frickin' Victoria Beckham looks a healthy weight next to you, you have a serious eating disorder.
"I thought Ryan did a god job on the carpet." I agree his ego is huge, but I didn't know he'd reached god complex level.
Who didn't know Kevin Spacey could sing? Shame, shame, Enty! I especially love his version of That Old Black Magic on the Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil soundtrack.
I'm so pissed that I subjected myself to Ryan Seacrest when I could have been watching Tim Gunn for 2 hours. The horror.
This telecast was shit. It was so freakin' dull. I was hoping it would bore my 15-week-old baby to sleep.
The broad with the f-bomb was so pathetic.
Jennifer Hudson looked fabulous. And, I can't believe I'm saying this but Gwynnie is on my best dressed list.
The hosts were awful. Just awful. And the Kirk Douglas bit was so uncomfortable. It was like Dick Clark on New Year's Eve but a thousand times worse because Kirk Douglas wouldn't stop, and I was sober.
Where is Ricky Gervais when you need him?
I always get annoyed when the Oscars fail to show really good clips of the film of the year nominees. I feel like this telecast focused on olden timey shit - Gone With the Wind (which I love, not knocking it) and other completely irrelevant stuff, when honestly I just wanted to learn more about the movies that were nominated because I am one of those peeps who watches films way after the fact because I refuse to subject myself to the assholes who go to the movie theater and annoy the bejesus out of me.
The Oscars just verifies for my that Hollywood is so out of touch with the real people of this world.
Thank God for Joan Rivers. DVR is set as we speak.
Didn't watch this because the only thing I'm interested in are the clothes, so I skip the show and just come to sites like this and look at the pictures. But I've seen Melissa Leo's speech on the 'Net now and there is no way she could possibly be any more FAKE. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe I won! Little ol' me! This is a huge surprise!" Oh, Melissa...just shut up. Every media outlet in the entire world said she would win. It was not a surprise in any way, shape or form. I hate when actors pull that phony b.s.
Not too many cute looks this year. Can't believe the gushing over Jennifer Lawrence, she could not be any more boring, she needed some diamonds or something to spruce up her dress. I did think Amy Adams' dress was gorgeous.
NYU guy sure thrilled our home state with his Delaware shout out. :) But the best for me was how straight his priorities were, to be - instead of the dream being getting the Oscar, it seemed like he was most excited to get up their and praise family, friends, colleagues, home, and the love of his life. Perfect!
And that is literally the only part of the Oscars I saw (later, on YouTube). Meh.
Billy showing up with vids of Bob Hope hosting the Oscars, was the equivalent of mentioning a good movie during a bad one.
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