I know my next update was supposed to be about comc books, but I'm just goint to get the Oscar talk out of the way before I get to the good stuff. Basically, they were pretty dull. Even the big Best Picture upset wasn't that huge a surprise, since everyone was talking about how Crash could be dark horse that beat Brokeback Mountain. Otherwise, if you saw any other award show this season, you already knew who won. There were some good moments though. Here's my commentary:
Jon Stewart did a great job as host and I hope they have him back. I especially liked the campaign commercials for Best Actress. And the gay cowboy montage was really funny. I loved the opening, with all the people they went to to host before the got Jon Stewart. The Steve Martin bit, with Letterman's callback to it later was especially good. Unfortunately, at that point I was watching on the tiny television in the kitchen, so I couldn't see very well. Did Mel Gibson shave his beard? He seemed to look a little less crazy man. Good to see that he maybe still has a sense of humor too. I thought Jon Stewart's opening monologue wasn't as funny as some of his jokes later on in the show, when he was sending up the ceremony a bit more (like the joke about the montage tribute to montages), but t was subtle and amusing. He had just the right balance of political humor without being overly political. My favorite joke of his was the Scientology conversion joke that he came back to after a commercial break, but the audience did not laugh at all. Are they still worried about the wrath of Tom Cruise.
Clooney, as expected, gave the best speech. He's a charming guy. I haven't seen Syriana (and probably never will), but I suspect that he won mostly for getting fat. Award shows like that sort of thing. But I won't rule out the possibility that he gave a wonderful performance, despite never before showing signs of being anything more than a charismatic man. Anyway, aside from Paul Giamatti and Matt Dillon, I've already forgotten who else was nominated. Paul Giamatti is pretty much famous because he is overlooked, so I think winning actually would have been bad for him. I was kind of rooting for Matt Dillon, like I have all awards season, because I would like to see him in more good movies. He will never be as good an actor as he was when he was a teenager, but he's still better than Herbie: Fully Loaded. Ultimately, Clooney doesn't need an Oscar, between the fact that he is George Clooney and the fact that he produces (an now writes and directs), he just makes his own quality projects. But Matt Dillon never would have given a good acceptance speech. I would say that Reese Witherspoon's speech was probably the worst, but that could just be because she annoys me, as does her pointy chin. I have to ask, how many times can a person use the phrase "real woman" in a speech before it gets obnoxious? My guess would be zero.
The presenter patter was typically bad, which is wh I'm giving full credit to Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell and Steve Carrell and Lily Tomlin ad Meryl Streep for being entertaining. I think I would have liked to see an Oscar presented by no one though. Just a gold statue floating in te air. As far as I could tell, the only really hideous outfits were worn by Naomi Watts and Carlize Theron. No clue what they were thiking. I felt bad for Lauren Bacall, she couldn't read the teleprompter and she just didn't look well. She was shaking. It was just bad and had me wondering when we would be seeing her in the In Memorium category. Speaking of Lauren Bacall, what was up with the montages? They were just random, and a bit overly self congratulatory. They had the montage about the biopics (appropriately presented by Russell Crowe, who I was really surprised to see) and I don't think they included American Splendor, so Paul Giamattie managed to get overlooked even when there wasn't an award to be handed out. I loved the fact that Samuel L. Jackson presented the montage about all the "issue" movies, considering his next movie will be Snakes on a Plane. (Are you looking forward to that as much as I am? I don't know about you, but that's a high concept I can get behind.)
I thought it was pretty cool that the hip hop song won for Best Song, just because that moment was so un-Oscar. But Dolly Parton's performance was the only one tat didn't scare me, so I sort of feel like the song from Transamerica should have won. I never appreciated the simplicity of Dolly Parton (who knew she had any?) until I saw the performance of the song from Crash. The mothers of the two people who were reenacting the frisking scene from the movie mst have been so proud when they were informed that their children would be doing that on national television. There was a burning car though, which I enjoyed.
Jon Stewart did a great job as host and I hope they have him back. I especially liked the campaign commercials for Best Actress. And the gay cowboy montage was really funny. I loved the opening, with all the people they went to to host before the got Jon Stewart. The Steve Martin bit, with Letterman's callback to it later was especially good. Unfortunately, at that point I was watching on the tiny television in the kitchen, so I couldn't see very well. Did Mel Gibson shave his beard? He seemed to look a little less crazy man. Good to see that he maybe still has a sense of humor too. I thought Jon Stewart's opening monologue wasn't as funny as some of his jokes later on in the show, when he was sending up the ceremony a bit more (like the joke about the montage tribute to montages), but t was subtle and amusing. He had just the right balance of political humor without being overly political. My favorite joke of his was the Scientology conversion joke that he came back to after a commercial break, but the audience did not laugh at all. Are they still worried about the wrath of Tom Cruise.
Clooney, as expected, gave the best speech. He's a charming guy. I haven't seen Syriana (and probably never will), but I suspect that he won mostly for getting fat. Award shows like that sort of thing. But I won't rule out the possibility that he gave a wonderful performance, despite never before showing signs of being anything more than a charismatic man. Anyway, aside from Paul Giamatti and Matt Dillon, I've already forgotten who else was nominated. Paul Giamatti is pretty much famous because he is overlooked, so I think winning actually would have been bad for him. I was kind of rooting for Matt Dillon, like I have all awards season, because I would like to see him in more good movies. He will never be as good an actor as he was when he was a teenager, but he's still better than Herbie: Fully Loaded. Ultimately, Clooney doesn't need an Oscar, between the fact that he is George Clooney and the fact that he produces (an now writes and directs), he just makes his own quality projects. But Matt Dillon never would have given a good acceptance speech. I would say that Reese Witherspoon's speech was probably the worst, but that could just be because she annoys me, as does her pointy chin. I have to ask, how many times can a person use the phrase "real woman" in a speech before it gets obnoxious? My guess would be zero.
The presenter patter was typically bad, which is wh I'm giving full credit to Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell and Steve Carrell and Lily Tomlin ad Meryl Streep for being entertaining. I think I would have liked to see an Oscar presented by no one though. Just a gold statue floating in te air. As far as I could tell, the only really hideous outfits were worn by Naomi Watts and Carlize Theron. No clue what they were thiking. I felt bad for Lauren Bacall, she couldn't read the teleprompter and she just didn't look well. She was shaking. It was just bad and had me wondering when we would be seeing her in the In Memorium category. Speaking of Lauren Bacall, what was up with the montages? They were just random, and a bit overly self congratulatory. They had the montage about the biopics (appropriately presented by Russell Crowe, who I was really surprised to see) and I don't think they included American Splendor, so Paul Giamattie managed to get overlooked even when there wasn't an award to be handed out. I loved the fact that Samuel L. Jackson presented the montage about all the "issue" movies, considering his next movie will be Snakes on a Plane. (Are you looking forward to that as much as I am? I don't know about you, but that's a high concept I can get behind.)
I thought it was pretty cool that the hip hop song won for Best Song, just because that moment was so un-Oscar. But Dolly Parton's performance was the only one tat didn't scare me, so I sort of feel like the song from Transamerica should have won. I never appreciated the simplicity of Dolly Parton (who knew she had any?) until I saw the performance of the song from Crash. The mothers of the two people who were reenacting the frisking scene from the movie mst have been so proud when they were informed that their children would be doing that on national television. There was a burning car though, which I enjoyed.
And it all ended with Jack being Jack. I think they asked him to present this year just to ensure that the best reaction shot in the biz would be back in his front row seat, grinning like crazy no matter what the joke. (And rather creepily seated next to Keira Knightley.) He should rightfully present every year though, since The Oscars are really his show.
2 comments:
Have you seen American Splendor? It was awesome!
I loved American Splendor. Giamatti was really robbed for that one. Not even a nomination. Stupid Academy!
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