Monday, March 8, 2010

Oscars 2010: Things I Loved. Things I Didn't Love.


Things I loved

- Elongated clips of supporting actors
- Individual tributes to lead actors
- Dancing set to scores I DONT CARE WHAT YOU SAY...though true, I didn't get the robot dance during the Up score
- Explaining the difference between sound editing and mixing
- Unpredictable winners! Missed both screenplays and actress on one of my ballots. Missed both screenplays and picture on my other.
- Getting a bunch of people on stage either presenting or tributing, who KNOW HOW TO SPEAK IN PUBLIC.  This list includes not only our wonderful hosts, but Tim Robbins, Michelle Pfeiffer (eternal class), Tina Fey, Ben Stiller, Stanley Tucci, Julianne Moore, RDJ and Oprah. Amanda Seyfried, Kristin Stewart and the rest of you youngins - TAKE NOTE.
- Speeches by: Michael Giacchino, Jeff Bridges, Mo'Nique, Sandra Bullock, Hurt Locker editors Chris Innis and Bob Murawski
-The Horror montage
- The intros for Best Animated Film
- Fantastic Mr Fox > Up, to me, but Pete Docter being an Oscar winner is full of nothing but win :)
- This commercial:

 

- Stanley Tucci's reaction to the clip of his performance in The Lovely Bones.
- Everything about Gabourey Sidibe, especially Oprah making her cry with her amazing tribute
- T-Bone Burnett. Only he and Jack Nicholson can pull off wearing sunglasses inside. Also - ENTIRELY too cool to actually give a speech. Good for him.
- Alec Baldwin & Steve Martin. I know not all of you loved them, but that specific absurd, awkward kind of humor had me in tears during certain parts of the opening monologue. Loved it.
- Tina Fey and Robert Downey Jr.
- The clips of Lauren Bacall being sassy, elegant & hilarious when she accepted her honorary Oscar (if only there could have been more!)
- James Taylor
- Damn! Sharlto Copley cleans up well. Wish I had a way of screen capping him sitting in the audience.
- Long Best Picture clips. I LOVE clips from the Oscar nominated movies. Relax, people.
- John Hughes tribute. Loved seeing old clips and then the actors all growed up.
- Fashion-wise?


Things I didn't love

- Mariah Carey talking non stop about how ugly she looked in Precious. Really?! Have you nothing else to say?
- As @thedanifesto pointed out, they changed the phrase "And the Oscar goes to" back to "And the winner is." We strongly disapprove.
- Not getting to see elongated clips of the lead acting nominees! But I guess snippets worked okay enough since it meant getting the tributes
- No clips for Cinematography? Really? Would have liked some examples of sound editing/mixing from the nominated movies as well.
- That awkward Kanye moment. Looking for info on what the hell that was? Click here.
- Not letting the director of The Cove, Louie Psihoyos, say ANYTHING on stage. So unfair.
- Not gonna lie, kinda wish I could have seen Almost There & The Weary Kind performed on stage.
- Hurt Locker winning the sound awards over Avatar
- Hurt Locker winning Original Screenplay over Inglourious Basterds
- Unpredictable winners! Missed both screenplays and actress on one of my ballots. Missed both screenplays and picture on my other. (I lost the pool by 2....siiigh)
- And yet no upset by Inglourious Basterds for Best Picture
- Tom Hanks making the Best Picture announcement unnecessarily anticlimactic
- Where's Jack Nicholson?
- This commercial:



- Sean Penn. ... What just happened?
- Fashion wise? Pretty much everyone else. WAY too many sparkles, shimmers, construction and ruffles. Do not want.
- Kristin Stewart's scowl. Beautiful dress, gorgeous face, but girl needs to learn how to exist in the public eye. She constantly looks either terrified, tired or angry.
- On a similar topic - the presence of Kristin Stewart, Miley Cyrus & Taylor Lautner. Zefron can be there. But the rest of you? Shoo.
- Being reminded that Jamie Foxx is an Oscar winner
- Puff Daddy on the red carpet after the Oscars, going to the Vanity Fair party "I don't know what her name is, but the woman who directed Hurt Locker." Go home.
- That now the Oscars are over. A whole year til my next Oscar party?! Nooooo.

8 comments:

Lisa said...

THANK YOU for calling out Kristin Stewart for her inability to handle being out in grown-up society. Yikes-a-bee, this girl needs some serious coaching and it bugs me to no end!!!

Missed a lot of the Oscars due to other obligations, so I'm glad you recapped it so thoroughly :)

ErinLaurel said...

So much agreement on:
- The dancers during the score noms! I thought they were great.
- I love James Taylor. So there. (Everyone in the NY contingent groaned when he came on, but they're wrong).
-Tina Fey & RDJ. (Obviously)
-The hosts! They were funny. Loved the fake Clooney hate.
- Gabourey. Sidibe.
- Sandra Bullock's speech.
- Mr. Fox > Up (Mr. Fox > most things ever), but Docter is great. Also, he has the head of a cartoon character, which is fitting.
- I really wish we'd had an IB upset for Best Picture. I knew it was a long shot, but I still really wanted that to happen.

Disagreement:
- Sandra Bullock's dress. I loved all the sparkles!
- John Hughes tribute. I'm w/ Ehrlich. Why does he get a tribute? Not only did lots of other awesome people die this year, what about the awesome people who died in past years and didn't get tributes? Poor taste.
- Best Actor/Actress format. I could possibly be on board w/ this idea, but they went on too long, and some of them were so much better than others - the whole thing felt very uneven.

I also loved the costume lady's speech. I thought it was hilarious.

david said...

sandra bullock and a hitler joke were the best part of the oscars... i no longer understand this universe, and instead opt for a parallel one.

seriously, john hughes tribute was utterly disgraceful, and an insult to film lovers everywhere / the medium itself / um, everyone else who died.

the way they presented the actors was again utterly ridiculous... so many other categories & speeches abbreviated to the point of disrespect in order to make room.

NO CLIPS FOR CINEMATOGRAPHY NOMINEES?!??!?!?!!? insane.

i don't really care bout the winners at the end of the day, as they tend to bum me out most years, but to handle the awards themselves this poorly... i mean, i almost forgot what being offended actually feels like, but these oscars were an unpleasant reminder.

also, best special effects should have gone to k. bigs, cause... there ain't no way that woman is 58.

LoquaciousMuse said...

k bigs may have replaced carey mulligan as my girl crush.

Castling said...

Sandra Bullock's dress was so offensive and disgusting. I liked all the same dresses you liked! And yes I only care about the fashion this year (since I only saw like 2 of the nominated films).

LoquaciousMuse said...

I loved how when Demi Moore came on stage, everyone in room collectively said "WOW"

LoquaciousMuse said...

Our party room that is, not the Kodack Theater. Though I'm sure everyone in that room thought "Wow" as well!

EruditeChick said...

Sandra Bullock's dress was gorgeous. It was like filigree. On her whole body. Gorgeous.

Any jokes about Hitler and Meryl Streep were golden. When the two were combined, it was magic.

The hosts played things very well. I thought they were funny and appropriately mannered for the event, unlike some past presenters.

The Best Actor award presentations were RIDICULOUS. If you can make that happen quickly? Fine. But it took eons to get through. Good idea poorly executed. Interpretive dance section was bizarre and, I thought, really lacking given the talent that the show's producer is constantly in contact with via SYTYCD.

The way best song was presented was better than some of the floundering wtf presentations of the past, but to be honest, I prefer those performances over the dance one.

It was an interesting night. Best Picture announcement was really mishandled. Also thought choice of Babs as Directing presenter was not great, because the instant you saw her, you knew who'd won.