A New and Improved Oscar?

OK

I've recovered enough from my lack of sleep to finally write about the show.

In the interest of full disclosure - I always watch the Oscars. I don't know why but I do. Generally I haven't seen all of the movies nor do I really care about them all that much but I tune in to watch the show.

This year Oscar turned 81. I rate the telecast a 7.5 out of 10.

I didn't find the telecast to be all that gripping nor all that amusing (although there were some very funny moments). However, it is the Oscars, it isn't supposed to be any of those things. If you want wild and crazy you should catch the Golden Globe Awards where you will see stars behaving badly.

The Oscars are getting predictable. With the exception of the Best Actor nod for Sean Penn I was able to guess all of the winners - not because I have seen the performance/picture but because I had read and had a sense of how people would vote. (Anyone who thinks the Oscars are a reward for talent should give their head a shake, but I digress.)

So . . . what were the best and worst moments of 2009?

Hugh Jackman was great!  But that mess of a musical number with Hugh and Beyonce and others was really bad.  I bet Baz Luhrman wanted to crawl under his seat in embarrassment. Prior to seeing that I thought the worst thing Luhrman had directed was Australia. Imagine something painfully worse than that? The inhumanity.

Best? I really enjoyed the classy way they had previous winners come on stage to give short speeches to each individual nominee for the acting categories ....truly touching and inspired.  But a short clip of each performance could have followed each speech for those of us who haven't seen all these movies. Loved the way the actors onstage welcomed a new member "into the club". Shame that few of these greats are able to get decent parts any longer . . .

Opps moment - Introduced Sir Ben Kingsley but not introducing Anthony Hopkins as Sir Anthony Hopkins. He has also been knighted! Oscar, get your facts correct for goodness sake.

Most awkward moment? I thought it was completely unnecessary for the cameras to pan to Angelina Jolie while Jennifer Aniston was on stage.  Pretty tasteless in my book. Aniston looked so uncomfortable up there - imagine being paired with Jack Black? I bet she was on the phone to her agent very quickly! Personally, I was awaiting Jennifer's meltdown where she called Angelina a bitch, lept from the stage and a cat fight followed. Sadly I was disappointed. Now that would have been a bonus for Oscar's ratings.

Best funny moment: Tina Fey and Steve Martin, funny and unexpected. Now if only more of the evening had been that amusing.

Best acceptance speech? The Ledgers of course, thanking the academy for Heath Ledger's posthumous award. It was personal, touching, heart-felt and properly understated.

Second best? I thought Kate Winslet's speech was also wonderful. She got emotional but held it together long enough to have some fun up there. She talked of how as a young girl of 8 she practiced her future Oscar speech using a shampoo bottle in front of her bathroom mirror. "But it's not a shampoo bottle now!" she said.

The fashion? I thought last night's assortment of outfits was generally fairly good. I did wonder about poor Sarah Jessica Parker . . . her Dior haute couture gown left me wondering if she was trying out for the part of 'Princess' in the latest Disney movie, and her suddenly abundant bust was distracting. As was suggested by fellow February Blogger, Marcia, it was as if the top of the dress was a few sizes too small.

Worst line of the evening? "She's beautiful, and I love her, and she can like, adopt me if she wants to."
– Miley Cyrus, on Best Actress nominee Angelina Jolie, to E! host Ryan Seacrest (AKA the only person in the world who has me wishing Joan Rivers were back on the red carpet doing interviews. Joan would have had wee Miley in her spot in no time). I hope parents everywhere turned to their children and said 'this is why an education is important!'

There, go back to sleep for another year.

Comments

[Doug Phillips]

Hi Jerry,

Re: Sir Ben Kingsley and noSir Anthony Hopkins. A few years ago I read that Kingsley insists on the honorific in any introduction - which says a lot about Kingsley's opinion of himself. I thought he was mildly skewed in his appearance on the Sopranos when Christopher referred to him as "Sir Kingsley" on at least one occasion.

Anthony Hopkins? He only seems to care about the roles he plays - not vestiges of Imperial times.

Down the Monarchy!!!

Doug

[Doug Phillips]

Hi Jerry,

Re: Sir Ben Kingsley and noSir Anthony Hopkins. A few years ago I read that Kingsley insists on the honorific in any introduction - which says a lot about Kingsley's opinion of himself. I thought he was mildly skewed in his appearance on the Sopranos when Christopher referred to him as "Sir Kingsley" on at least one occasion.

Anthony Hopkins? He only seems to care about the roles he plays - not vestiges of Imperial times.

Down the Monarchy!!!

Doug

[Doug Phillips]

Uh, that should be "skewered" not "skewed" in my above post.

Doug

[girasoli]

I think your review was perfect! I agree with everything you said.

[Barb Cabot]

Thanks Jerry. I enjoyed your review/critique. I always watch the Oscars too though it seems like I see less and less of the nominated movies by the time this show rolls around. Eventually I see them but like you said I try to see Oscar night no matter what.

[Candi]

Jerry,
Thanks for the report. I didn't watch the show yesterday(weather is too pretty to sit here and watch TV),so I appreciate the highlights.
It is interesting, I loved Sean Penn in Milk, and I was thinking he should win for it.

[nancyhol]

I thought Hugh Jackman did a great job.

I also enjoyed the format they used for best actor/actress where five former winners told a little bit about each nominee.

It's the best Oscar show in years!

[Barbara]

Of course I didn't get to watch the Oscars, but I enjoyed your review. Now I have to find that Miley Cyrus quote you mentioned.....

[Kathy (Trekcapri)]

Hi Jerry, I loved reading your Oscar review. IMHO Hugh did good, but my favorite host is still Billy Cyrstal. I really liked how they brought past winners to introduce the nominees. That was creative this year. And I was very excited to see Sophia Loren introduce another great, Meryl Streep.

Thanks for writing this great post!

[Annie]

Loved your recap! I only watched the beginning and then went to sleep. Wish I'd "seen" your imaginary catfight, LOL.

[Marcia]

I did enjoy your report, Jerry, as I am one of those people who always watch and yet sometimes wonder why. As for Miley Cyrus, well, why the heck she and that twitty couple Zac/Vanessa were even there boggles the mind (yes, I know they're Disney $$$ makers and Disney owns ABC, but still). I belong to the category of people who thought Hugh did just fine, but perhaps it was because I was in awe of talents I had no idea he had. Now onto next year . . .

[eden]

I loved Hugh Jackman as host and loved the musical numbers as well. But what do I know? LOL. I have not even seen any movies lately. Nada,

Then I heard over the radio this morning that Beyonce was lip-synching the songs in that big musical that she did with Hugh... Oh, well, life goes on....

I enjoyed your program review, Jerry. Thank you.

[JDeQ]

Thanks Doug - I guess it is all in pretension. *smile* We Canucks would know nothing about that.

It sounds as if we were all on the same page with our thoughts and feelings on the Oscars!