popbytes celebrates Michelle Pfeiffer's AllureBurbanked "when it comes to the Oscars..."
Cinematical Jake Gyllenhaal's "perfect path"
Hollywood Elsewhere on the sourpuss reviews of the Oscars.
On that last note: I personally felt pretty much how Nick felt 'best show in years.' I'll never quite get why people hate watching the Oscars so much. Or rather if they hate it so much why they still do it. I personally love it. Even when it's kinda boring. And Sunday night was NOT boring. It was the first in years when many of the winners were not foregone conclusions (unless you only care about the four acting prizes in which case, just watch the news wrap up or any of the hundreds of fashion reviews and save yourself time)
The repeated diss that most boggles my mind is the anger towards the Pilobolus dance interludes. Those choreographed shadow poses took, what, 30 seconds to form. How can you get bored in 30 seconds. Is there a nationwide ritalin shortage?
Yes, the Academy Awards often make terrible winner choices --this year not so much-- but it's a 79 year-old institution, what is the audience expecting when they watch? If you're not expecting 3+ hours of clips, speeches, endless gowns, kinda tacky musical numbers, celebrity presenters and hit or miss 'scripted' banter, then quite frankly: you're an idiot. Has no one ever watched this show before? Or does everyone just get amnesia when it comes time to "review" it. This was a really good ceremony as Oscar nights go.
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16 comments:
Well sad, Nat. It always pisses me off how people bitch and moan about the ceremony and then go right back and watch it the next year and again bitch and moan. What do they expect? While I didn't think it was the best of the last few years (that would be the 2003 ceremony where Steve Martin hosted and Polanski won), it certainly was one of the better ones. Plus I actually, at the very least, liked all the winners, and that never happens.
That original MSNBC article sounds like something I would've written. Which is not a compliment. It's so fangurly. "He's perfect he's perfect, he's adorable, everyone on Earth loves him!!!" I mean, I agree on every point, even that Bubble Boy is very funny (that's right! I said it!), but still, it's a little embarrassing as a mainstream article.
It's not that the dance numbers were boring, it's that they were so completely random, inane and just very, very silly looking... and that's coming from someone who worships Cirque du Soleil. Maybe if they had intro-ed the best picture segments, at least then they would had lead somewhere. Or were just more substantial, pantomime a short scene from said film before doing your 'vogue', something. It was dumb. Then, those blanket segments fellating the different fields in film-making, or whatever the hell they were. How about producing sequences relevant to the year in question? For example, in '95 when they got a ballet company to choreograph short segments set to the best score contenders; that was really slick. Or back in '96, for the costume segment they did a presentation featuring supermodels catwalking some of the nominated garb. It was über-garish, but cool and showcased the work very well. Another bit to bring back, in '00 when Whoopi came out at different points in the show decked out in nominated costume designs. Imagine Ellen coming out dressed in something from Curse of the Golden Flower or doing Miranda Priestly. Potential hilarity. Speaking of Ellen, I love her, I've been lucky enough to see her live twice. Her ridiculous, tangenty, train-of-thought humor is great, but here, it just wasn't happening. It was just too arbitrary and improv-ish. And how about instead of performing all the nominated songs (because lets face it they are rarely all that memorable) announcing that cat early on then just having the lone winner come out and do their thing? Along the same lines, how about doing animated short and short film early on and showing them later in the broadcast since most people will never see them. Keep it relevant, keep it funny. Oscar takes itself way too seriously these days. Just because Sean Penn doesn't think it's funny doesn't mean he's in the majority.
Loved Bubble Boy.
'...and then Pinocchio came out of his plastic bubble and touched the filthy little whore next door and died. The End.'
Well, I'm with Nathaniel on Pilobolus. I personally loved their poses, and thought they were much cooler (and way shorter) than the interpretive dances the Oscars usually trot out.
I really liked Oscar this year and I'm surprised at all the negative reviews of the show and of Ellen. I do think that the writers' montage put together by hack writer Nancy Myers was pretty boring and the Michael Mann montage even more boring. Celine Dion sucked. The sound choir also was inane. So right there, if those things hadn't been there, the show would have been shorter.
I know some thought there were too many tech awards at the beginning but I think it is better to leave the supporting actors awards later in the show.
Reading lines from the screenplays was a perfect touch, and the foreign film montage was special.
Ellen was a little too low-key at times but for the most part, she set the right tone. I felt the looser mood was much better than some of the stiffer Oscar shows in the past.
One of my favorite hosts was Steve Martin but reviewers didn't love him either.
Love the title of this post.
And I agree with everything said - I loved the Oscars Sunday night. And who could hate the Pilobolus creations? They were hysterical!
Daveylow, agreed on your first para. They were the only superfluous things in the show - the rest was great. And fantastic to have such suspense over some of the awards. This was my 20th Oscars and I don't remember a single year in the past 2 decades where Picture came down to more than 2 real possibilities.
wickedscorp, I definitely agree more with your assessment of the dance numbers. Cute? Yes. Random? Most definitely...to the point where it became too distracting.
Like I mentioned before, Ellen's low-key demeanor grew on me. At first, I thought she seemed to meander around the stage - as if she didn't have enough stage presence. I'm not sure where the shift was, but I went from being skeptical to really liking her as a host.
Overall, I did like the ceremony. But, I watch for the speeches...some of these people have poured their lives into the art of film, and to see them honored on the highest stage - it's a pretty amazing thing to see the rush of human emotion.
And I'll admit, when the lights came up in the Kodak, and all the nominees were standing...I got tears in my eyes. (I'm such a sap for these moments)
julia,
so funny you should say that.
i don't think of myself as a sap either but my lordy i was moved to see Marty Scorsese holding one.
Stephen g--I agree it was fun not knowing what was going to win Best Picture. But I do wonder if all the conjecture about LMS and Babel winning was invented by the media to keep us interested. Still The Departed never seemed like a sure thing even to the last moment.
The pibolus thing was just really random. Like... huh? They didn't do all the BP nominees, either. Just random titles. Even ones not nominated for anything. But I wasn't that phased by it. I was more annoyed by the silly bits like bringing Al Gore and Leo out to talk about how they're better people than every single person watching at home and then walk off stage. Ugh. Piss off.
Agreed though that the sourpuss' are annoying. Like, talk about biting the hand that feeds you. These people spend months obsessing over them and knowing full well how the end is gonna be (and this year they didn't) yet every day-after they come out and complain saying it was predictable and boring. IT'S THEIR FAULT IT'S PREDICTABLE. And, yeah, if you don't know the Oscar.
Ellen was indeed great. Better her "safe" personable comedy than Chris Rock's meanspiritedness and Jon Stewart's, well, that "Three Six Mafia 1, Martin Scorsese 0" joke was funny. ...
Oh and, upon watching it the second time, I teared up a bit when Marty was on stage. And watching him tearup for Thelma was adorable.
I'm with you. It felt like all the criticism of the show had nothing to do with the awards. It's too catty. I felt it was one of the best produced shows I've seen in a long time. I was happy for Marty and Arkin and Thelma. Ellen did a good job. And I was fine with what she wore. And even though Biel had some nasty pink dress on she's still hot as hell. Oops, there I go.
Isn't the whole point of discussion to share different thoughts and feelings on a particular subject? Or does everyone just acquiesce and agree with each other around these parts? I find the criticism of the criticism catty.
wickedscorp --that's true. i just didn't understand the criticisms this time. but to each their own. some people say boring, unfunny, tacky. i say "best produced show in years" --though i can totally get behind the notion that there are too many montages.
this is the one criticism that I'm actually surprised that OSCAR never listens to. it's a pretty simple concept. the show is really long and one of the reasons is that you have 5 or 6 montages. would't 3 still give you your montage fix and right there you'd saved 10-12 minutes. same thing with musical performances.
i like the musical performances. but five is perfect --it covers all the nominees. Why are there MORE than five? that part doesn't make sense.
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