Oscar Post-Mortem: Attached is my pick sheet for posterity's sake...and lest anyone think I'm petty enough to lie about my selections in an effort to make myself look better (Note: I am, but I didn't.)I ended up hitting 16 out of 24, thanks largely to making some different selections than the ones I wrote about on Saturday (Diablo Cody for Original Screenplay, Compass for Visual Effects, "Falling Slowly" for Best Song; but then I also switched away--erroneously and foolishly--from Ratatouille for Best Animated Film). As a result, I took home the coveted "Wasko Family Academy Award pool" title for the second consecutive year (and netting $6 in the process--bam!), although, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm compelled to point out that my mom managed 6 out of 24--and guessing at random should, mathematically, get you close to 5--so the talent level wasn't exactly at its peak last night.
I'm including this video because it's just so bizarre (and, intermittently, funny).
Anyway, all things considered, I thought it was a pretty entertaining evening. What I liked/what I could've done without:
- Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway presenting Best Animated Film....Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill...Josh Brolin and James McAvoy.
- Harrison Ford continuing to display absolutely no enthusiasm as a presenter. Now, don't get me wrong, I love him...and I can't wait to see the new Indiana Jones, but, year in and year out, he's a complete dud on the stage. Remind me again why they insist on doing this?
- Jon Stewart's monologue, especially "Gaydolf Titler." You could see it coming a mile away, but it was still a great line.
- Too damn short. I wants me some more Stewart! A regular non-strike Leno monologue might've gone longer than last night's opener.
- Stewart in general. I don't think that it was so much that he was bad last time (he wasn't) but rather that the audience simply wasn't responsive. This time around, it seemed like his kind of crowd...and it showed. I think he's staked his claim to be in the rotation (every third year?).
- With all due respect to Robert F. Boyle: that speech was interminable. No doubt he's earned the right, but, man oh man...
- Tilda Swinton winning for Best Supporting Actress. This seems to have come out of nowhere--though Shuk more or less predicted it--and was a pleasant surprise.
- Marion Cotillard winning for Best Actress. Meh. Now, I haven't seen the film, so this is speculative at best, but: if you're not going to give this to the frontrunner (Christie) or the upstart (Page), why not turn Laura Linney--who is always excellent; see especially: You Can Count on Me and The Squid in the Whale--instead of the relatively unheard of Frenchwoman? (This complaint appears considerably more xenophobic in print. Damn.)
- "Falling Slowly" winning Thank God. A wonderful moment...as was Irglova coming back out to give her speech.
- Having to sit through the three (three!) songs from Enchanted. Good Lord, that was painful. Now, Hansard and Irglova's performance (awesome) more than made up for it, but, wow, couldn't they have lumped them together into a brisk six minute medley? (Also, what year is this? That last song seems like it came straight out of Beauty and the Beast. [Insert Peabo Bryson joke here.]
- All five Best Picture nominees getting some hardware (screenplay for Juno; supporting actress for Michael Clayton; cinematography and best actor for Blood; original score for Atonement; and No Country in four categories). It's always nice when that happens. Plus: three technical awards for The Bourne Ultimatum--nice.
- Into the Wild, Eastern Promises, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly getting shut out. Not at all surprising (only seven nominations between them...three of which were in virtually unwinnable categories), but disappointing nonetheless. So it goes.
- No Country For Old Men getting it done. The best movie won last night...and it's not often you can say that about the Oscars (see: In The Bedroom and Memento losing to the wildly overrated A Beautiful Mind in 2002, for but one of many examples).
- This. Really? That's the explanation you're going with?
- Late addition: watching the Oscars on a non-widescreen, non-HDTV, which resulted in the titles during both major montages being seriously cropped (unless I'm mistaken and lish Patient, sblanca, and rash all won Best Picture). Very annoying. What the fuck, ABC? I'm all for HD, but you do realize that at least 80% of the population is still using the regular old variety of the cathode ray tube, right? Just keep the titles towards the middle! I don't ask for much...
I haven't read this liveblog from TWOP yet, but I'm willing to bet it's worth reading. Enjoy.
5 comments:
I think I read somewhere that the "multiple-songs-from-one-film" medley was going to be ended since the nominees were peeved that their individual work was being sort of just lumped into a package. In Enchanted's case, however, since Menken/Schwarz wrote all of the songs, I fail to see how this would've been a big problem.
You didn't pick Ratatouille as best animated film? That was the lock of the night. Bigger than Bardem, bigger than Day-Lewis, etc.
re: Tilda Swinton....*cue Colbert's balloons* I CALLED IT!
You did, indeed.
Don't know what I was thinking in Best Animated. Taylor made fun of me all night. (Jerk.)
Agreed re: medley. There should definitely be a same writers exemption. (I definitely did not need to see Chenowith perform.) Better still: just nominate three songs from Once and avoid the bad song issue altogther.
What did you think of the show?
Do you have any thoughts on 'In Treatment'?
Sorry - I wasn't sure where to post this question...
re: In Treatment: I was thinking about doing a short review now that we're roughly at the halfway point of the season (as of last night: 23 down, 20 to go). Should be up sometime next week.
Have you been enjoying it?
I really liked the first, say, 10 episodes then I started to really, really dislike the therapist, probably because he was more f--ked than the patients. And really, I thought with a stable therapist the storylines of the patients were probably enough to carry the show... so basically I've given up on it, unless I'm missing something.
Although - I have gone back to HIMYM. Ripped through all 11 episodes of season 3 over the weekend (loved the episode with the crazy/hot scale). I forgot how good it is... and for some reason I'm finding that Marshall (I loved slapsgiving), Lily and Ted are all less annoying than I remember them.
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