Debate of the Day: The Oscars
Well, the verdict is in and Captain Kirk was right, old blowhards are already calling last night’s Oscars one of the worst ever. That seems a bit harsh to me, though I suppose I’m young enough to appreciate Seth MacFarlane’s brand of humor, but then again so was the audience. Unless I’m mistaken, I heard quite a chorus of laughter from the first line onward about Tommy Lee Jones.
The “badness” I do agree existed was the ham-handed tribute to “the music of film.” That apparently involved two very separated performances of James Bond songs, two out of place nods to Chicago (though less odd when you learn the producers were intimately involved in the making of the film) and disorienting moments like the Titanic theme playing just before a commercial break or the Jaws theme being used to play winners off. That last bit was probably the tackiest item of the evening, and note none of these were Seth MacFarlane’s fault.
But I suppose what people will really want to debate will be the awards themselves. The full list is here, if you’re curious, and there were few surprises. I would say the frontrunner won in 5 of the 6 major categories leaving for few shocking moments. The only one that caught me off guard was Christoph Waltz’s second supporting actor win for playing the “light side” version of the same character he did in Inglorious Basterds. That’s not an insult, and he did a damn fine job, but I just didn’t think they’d give him an award for such similar performance.
I don’t have a problem with Argo winning Best Picture. I may have preferred Life of Pi, but the director nod to Ang Lee was enough there, and it’s nice to see Ben Affleck honored who is now 3/3 in making great films, the last of which now gave him an Oscar to boot. His speech was rambling, strange and very emotional, and it’s always fun for us little people to see stars be…human. Jennifer Lawrence, seen above, was also a good example of that, tripping as she walked up to accept her trophy and genuinely seeming humbled by winning. Alas, the only true crime I thought took place during the evening was the worst Pixar movie since Cars 2, Brave, winning best animated feature over Disney rival, Wreck-It Ralph, one of the best animated films in years. The game would appear to be rigged.
Well, what did you think? Worst Oscars ever or just more hysteria from those who want Bill Crystal to host every year and Barbara Streisand to sing every ten minutes?
I was really happy to see Jennifer Lawrence win best actress and also Christoph Waltz since I didn’t much care for anyone else in the supporting actor category since I think Leo did better in Django than anyone else.
Wreck-It-Ralph losing was a tragedy…
I agree, Wreck-It-Ralph should have won. It had a much better story. Accepting who you are vs. Mom and I don’t get along.
Hosting the Oscars has got to be the most thankless job in Hollywood. No so called media critic is ever happy. Nor are they fair. It’s hours and hours of pretentious nonsense. They should remove most of the musical junk because it just drags the show on and on… Yet if they did everyone would complain they removed the dead weight that is so traditional. Honestly, I think these critics are ridiculously out of touch. Just because Billy Crystal came out in a Hannibal Lector mask on a trolley doesn’t make him a genius. The Oscars is entertainment about judging other entertainment which few people find entertaining. And I thought the opening bit brought some self-awareness to that. But maybe I’m still young enough to fit the Macfarlane demographic and I “get” him. These “worst ever” critics probably couldn’t tell an entertaining story to save their lives.
Waltz was a surprise. Undoubtedly talented, but I agree the role was too similar to the last one. I had only seen two of the short animated and was hoping Adam and a Dog would win. Paperman was very nice but a bit too Mickey Mouse cutesy everything works out perfectly in the end via magic. But the way the dog was truly Adam’s best friend when everyone else turned their back on him… now that really pulled at the heartstrings.
People always say the Oscars are terrible. I’ve only seen bits and pieces of the awards, but it seems like a big improvement over the past few years to me.
MacFarlane, for all his flaws, is charismatic and reasonably funny when he needs to be. He’s a good host personality. Some of his jokes were off-color, but he’s no Ricky Gervais either.
Lincoln, for me, is the strongest nominee I’ve seen so far (still lacking a couple). My actual top four or five of the year weren’t even nominated, so I find it hard to care much about who actually took home the statue. Argo’s a solid flick, and it’s hard to begrudge its success. I just doubt it’ll be the kind of movie that people look back on as one of the great BP winners.
I suppose Argo is one of those good movies that everybody can agree is good, as opposed to something like Cloud Atlas which swings for the fences and divides its audience more in the process.
The only award that really kinda bugged me was Deakins missing out on that Cinematography trophy again. But I tend to disagree with that award a lot.
Brave won? Screw that.
Wreck it Ralph – was a good movie, however i still think Rise of the Guardians was better
Mcfarlane didn’t look comfortable the whole night. I hate it when people put on the fake laugh after their joke then feel the need to explain it if it didn’t get the response they were looking for. If it bombs just move on. Glad he didn’t go into the Stewie Voice though.
Most of those musical numbers were way out of place. Drunk Renee Zelweger and Meryl Streep picking the spanx out of her butt crack we’re 2 of the highlights. So overall I’d say the Oscars were kind of shitty.
They gave the award to the wrong supporting actor in Django. Both DiCaprio and Samuel l Jackson were better than waltz. Waltz was great, but the others were better. I thought McFarlane was the best host since John Stewart, and miles better than the Billy crystal snooze fest.
I thought Seth did a fine job. I have the same opinion of his hosting as I do with most of his shows. Extremely hit or miss. He sure was better than Crystal, or Franco and Hathaway.
As for the awards. I think you’re spot on about Brave. The Academy knows that giving the award to Pixar is the easy, simple choice. Any year Pixar releases a movie that is at least half-decent, it will win best animated picture. I think ParaNorman, Wreck-it-Ralph, Frankenweenie, or The Secret World of Arietty were all more deserving. I completely agree with you on Christoph Waltz as well. Dr. King Schultz seemed kind of like the good twin brother of Hans Landa.
I feel like Argo also may have won because it was the safe choice. Zero Dark Thirty was too politically divisive. Django spoke about and portrayed racism too bluntly. Not enough people knew enough about Amour or BOSW. Also, I’m still kind of amazed that the Master wasn’t nominated.
That review from the Sun-Times was horrendous. That was clearly written by a guy who decided going in he was going to hate every second of the show no matter what happens.
Can somebody tell me again why everyone was so pissed off when it was announced that MacFarlane was hosting? He has movie credibility seeing as how last year he directed a movie that made over a half billion worldwide, and he has credibility as a commentator on pop culture seeing as how he created Family Guy and all.
That being said, the people who dissed on him for having no experience as a live performer were totally right. Other than being a talk show guest over 40 times, presenting at a bunch of award shows, hosting Saturday Night Live, and hosting 3 Comedy Central roasts, he has pretty much no experience on camera.
My verdict: the Oscar telecast was a bloated load of crap like it always is, Seth MacFarlane did a passable job just like most hosts, and a bunch of old people treated the Oscar hosting gig like it’s the fucking presidency, like they always do. Can’t wait to do it again next year.
Just watch the first 20 minutes of the oscars and I must say I really enjoyed it. I didn’t know McFarlane could sing so well!
I just don’t get what the critics hated so much with is performance? Peaple where laughing a lot in the audience…