16 Random Oscar Thoughts From the Movie Man
1. Anne Hathaway and James Franco? Really?
2. I'm glad they're sticking with the tradition of using clever editing to put the hosts into clips from the Best Picutre nominees (and Back to the Future for some reason?) and I enjoyed Alec Baldwin's and Morgan Freeman's cameos; I think Freeman gets the "good sport" award, and I laughed at the "funny because it's true" line about his ubiquitous narration because of his "soothing voice." But I gotta be honest, Franco and Hathaway are not winning me over here. Billy Crystal did it better. Sorry to sound petty, but he did.
3. I have mixed feelings about Kirk Douglas's presentation for Best Supporting Actress. He's an icon, and I'm glad to see him. But he is hard to understand, the poor guy. Despite, this, he displays some old-school charm. So yeah, frustraing and charming at the same time. I know some people have already posted their annoyance at his comical delaying the announcement of the winner, but I enjoyed it. Not so much when Justin Timberlake goofs on it. I am not a Timberlake hater, as so many people are, but he really bombed tonight.
4. I haven't seen The Fighter yet, but I've been a fan of Melissa Leo since Homicide: Life on the Street, so good for you, Melissa! I think her speech is not great, but enjoyable for its sincerity.
5. Yay, Aaron Sorkin! If I am a fan of Melissa Leo, I'm a super-fan of Aaron Sorkin. Everything the guy touches turns to gold, in my opinion, and The Social Network is no exception. Bottom line, the guy deserves the award.
6. Matthew McConaughey and Scarlett Johansson present sound mixing, and their "banter" about the sound of the word "sound" is performed and written so poorly, I'm pretty sure that untalented second-graders could have done a better job.
7. Dave Elsey's comment that "It was always my ambition to lose an Oscar one day to Rick Baker," will probably strike many people as false show-biz modesty, but Baker is so extremely accomplished in his field, I think there might be an element of truth to Elsey's comment.
8. President Barack Obama makes an appearance, giving Republicans an enormous amount of glee that they can go back to the ol' "hasn't he got anything better to do" complaint. Let's be honest, Republicans, you smiled with joy when you saw that.
9. Luke Matheny's joke about getting a haircut gets a surprisingly huge laugh. Is there an "inside" element to that joke that I'm not getting, because to me, it was just a very mildly amusing crack about his hair-style, but the audience loves it. Weird.
10. Billy Crystal at the Oscars -- usually a winner. But I bet his joke about prematurely announcing the Best Picture is just going to confuse some people. His tribute to Bob Hope is touching, and I think that whoever imitated Hope's voice (Dave Thomas?) to introduce the next presenters is shockingly perfect.
11. Jude Law and Robert Downey, Jr. -- especially Downey's effortless naturalism -- illustrate that even the cheesy dialogue of an Oscarcast can be entertaining, if you deliver it with style.
12. Randy Newman won for Best Song. Not his best effort, so I'm not sure he deserves it. At this point, I feel that his award is more for his body of work than for this particular song. As a loyal Newman fan, I don't care. Anyway, his acceptance speech isn't laugh-out-loud funny, but still the most entertaining speech of the evening. Every line is a winner. Newman's speech easily trumps the writing for the rest of the telecast.
13. Say what you will about Celine Dion -- I know she never recovered from the enormous backlash caused by the annoying omnipresence of "My Heart Will Go On" -- but you have to admit, she really has a beautiful singing voice.
14. Lena Horne -- I know she's a legendary performer, but to me, she will always be associated with Sesame Street. Then I found out on IMDb that she hasn't been on Sesame Street since 1980, when I was five years old. Now I'm busy being impressed by my own memory, and I forget to pay attention to the rest of the Lena Horne tribute.
15. Kathryn Bigelow -- wow, she could have been a model if she hadn't become a director. She looks amazing and exudes sexuality.
16. I have to say that, in my humble opinion (I refuse to use the obnoxious acronym) advertisers have done a terrible job with The King's Speech. Yes, it's done well at the box office, but I make my claim based on the fact that countless advertisements have made the film look boring to me, but the clips from the Oscars really make me want to see the movie. The Weinstein Company should have hired the makers of this Oscar telecast to advertise the movie, and I would have seen it by now.
2. I'm glad they're sticking with the tradition of using clever editing to put the hosts into clips from the Best Picutre nominees (and Back to the Future for some reason?) and I enjoyed Alec Baldwin's and Morgan Freeman's cameos; I think Freeman gets the "good sport" award, and I laughed at the "funny because it's true" line about his ubiquitous narration because of his "soothing voice." But I gotta be honest, Franco and Hathaway are not winning me over here. Billy Crystal did it better. Sorry to sound petty, but he did.
3. I have mixed feelings about Kirk Douglas's presentation for Best Supporting Actress. He's an icon, and I'm glad to see him. But he is hard to understand, the poor guy. Despite, this, he displays some old-school charm. So yeah, frustraing and charming at the same time. I know some people have already posted their annoyance at his comical delaying the announcement of the winner, but I enjoyed it. Not so much when Justin Timberlake goofs on it. I am not a Timberlake hater, as so many people are, but he really bombed tonight.
4. I haven't seen The Fighter yet, but I've been a fan of Melissa Leo since Homicide: Life on the Street, so good for you, Melissa! I think her speech is not great, but enjoyable for its sincerity.
5. Yay, Aaron Sorkin! If I am a fan of Melissa Leo, I'm a super-fan of Aaron Sorkin. Everything the guy touches turns to gold, in my opinion, and The Social Network is no exception. Bottom line, the guy deserves the award.
6. Matthew McConaughey and Scarlett Johansson present sound mixing, and their "banter" about the sound of the word "sound" is performed and written so poorly, I'm pretty sure that untalented second-graders could have done a better job.
7. Dave Elsey's comment that "It was always my ambition to lose an Oscar one day to Rick Baker," will probably strike many people as false show-biz modesty, but Baker is so extremely accomplished in his field, I think there might be an element of truth to Elsey's comment.
8. President Barack Obama makes an appearance, giving Republicans an enormous amount of glee that they can go back to the ol' "hasn't he got anything better to do" complaint. Let's be honest, Republicans, you smiled with joy when you saw that.
9. Luke Matheny's joke about getting a haircut gets a surprisingly huge laugh. Is there an "inside" element to that joke that I'm not getting, because to me, it was just a very mildly amusing crack about his hair-style, but the audience loves it. Weird.
10. Billy Crystal at the Oscars -- usually a winner. But I bet his joke about prematurely announcing the Best Picture is just going to confuse some people. His tribute to Bob Hope is touching, and I think that whoever imitated Hope's voice (Dave Thomas?) to introduce the next presenters is shockingly perfect.
11. Jude Law and Robert Downey, Jr. -- especially Downey's effortless naturalism -- illustrate that even the cheesy dialogue of an Oscarcast can be entertaining, if you deliver it with style.
12. Randy Newman won for Best Song. Not his best effort, so I'm not sure he deserves it. At this point, I feel that his award is more for his body of work than for this particular song. As a loyal Newman fan, I don't care. Anyway, his acceptance speech isn't laugh-out-loud funny, but still the most entertaining speech of the evening. Every line is a winner. Newman's speech easily trumps the writing for the rest of the telecast.
13. Say what you will about Celine Dion -- I know she never recovered from the enormous backlash caused by the annoying omnipresence of "My Heart Will Go On" -- but you have to admit, she really has a beautiful singing voice.
14. Lena Horne -- I know she's a legendary performer, but to me, she will always be associated with Sesame Street. Then I found out on IMDb that she hasn't been on Sesame Street since 1980, when I was five years old. Now I'm busy being impressed by my own memory, and I forget to pay attention to the rest of the Lena Horne tribute.
15. Kathryn Bigelow -- wow, she could have been a model if she hadn't become a director. She looks amazing and exudes sexuality.
16. I have to say that, in my humble opinion (I refuse to use the obnoxious acronym) advertisers have done a terrible job with The King's Speech. Yes, it's done well at the box office, but I make my claim based on the fact that countless advertisements have made the film look boring to me, but the clips from the Oscars really make me want to see the movie. The Weinstein Company should have hired the makers of this Oscar telecast to advertise the movie, and I would have seen it by now.
posted by Movie Man at
9:01 PM
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