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Monday, February 23, 2009
Oscars
I'm curious what you thought of this year's Oscars -- not who won, but the show itself. It was obviously trying to please YOU demographically and I wonder if it worked.
It was hit or miss for me. I loved Jackman's opening number. The producers clearly kept their promise of creating a cocktail hour vibe, Jackman stepping off the stage, hobnobbing with A-listers. But as the show progressed, I became increasingly bothered by those "Yearbook" montages. I understand the need to include movies (and moviegoers) usually snubbed by the Oscars, but seeing Clone Wars and Speed Racer in a montage more appropriate for MTV's "Spoilers" than a prestigious awards show didn't sit well with me. It reeked of Oscar trying to regain the audience it likely lost when TDK got the royal snub.
And I thought the second performance, while great in theory - having contemporary stars pay tribute to some classic numbers - quickly fell apart once the HSM3 cast came out. Or maybe I just found Amanda Seyfried completely distracting after her amazingly awkward interview with Seacrest.
The highlight of the night was the beautiful Best Picture montage. It was a perfect blend of past and present. That said, last year's super montage of every single Best Picture winner was still better, and more informative.
I found the acting award presentation rather strange. While it's great to see so much talent on one stage, I was longing for the 5- or 10-second clip showing the most intense acting clip from the nominees. I think it helps gives viewers a feel for the films, many of which they haven't seen. This would have especially helped Frozen River, a film probably 80% of viewers hadn't seen or heard of.
Overall, this ceremony felt too AMAs or People's Choice for me to truly love it. But all these ratings grabs could've been avoided if TDK were nominated...
I'm so glad they brought back the script/screen method of listing the writing nominees. Gives a great, albeit brief, look at how a film feels on the page.
And how cool did Public Enemies look in that 10-second clip?
I also found some of the montages a little strange in their composition and inclusion of certain clips, especially the Romance 2008 sequence. Hugh Jackman really didn't make an impression on me at all I found him rather non-present throughout the show. His big musical number with Beyonce seemed to lack any enthusiasm and became incredibly hokey when Hudgens, Efron and co. joined the stage. I liked the way the actor/actress categories were introduced by past winners of the award. Loren was incredibly entertaining from a visual standpoint and you got to wonder "where are they now?" for some of them. Some of the best moments- A completely unnecessary cutaway to Angelina Jolie as Aniston presented. The constant shots of Danny Boyle ecstatically flipping out.
Finally, I still can't really figure out what I think of Ben Stiller's spoof on Joaquin Phoenix's Letterman appearance? It felt incredibly awkward.
1. I liked the opening. 2. I thought the action montage and the romance montage were fun, but I'm a sucker for those. 3. Didn't have a strong opinion about the combined best song production number -- probably preferred it to five separate numbers. 4. Jackman's second number didn't wow me, nor did it offend me. 5. Acting awards -- I liked the format. A bit strange for one of the presenters to be talking about Frank Langella's first fully realized portrayal of Nixon while Hopkins is standing next to him -- Also made me think Nicholson should have been up there for former best supporting actor to talk about Ledger's Joker. 6. I partly agree with Clarence about the best picture montage -- only I liked it more. Thought that Frost/Nixon worked best, while Milk was strange for its inclusion of Gibson/Braveheart/homophobia. Nevertheless, this seemed really clever as a concept to me. 7. I liked the more personal familiar feel to the show. I don't think it diminished the event. 8. My least favorite part was the way they handled the people who died. Leaving out George Carlin is unforgivable, for a start. Others, I just couldn't see.
So I thought it was okay, probably better than usual. No major injustices (those occurred during the nomination process)
5 comments:
It was hit or miss for me. I loved Jackman's opening number. The producers clearly kept their promise of creating a cocktail hour vibe, Jackman stepping off the stage, hobnobbing with A-listers. But as the show progressed, I became increasingly bothered by those "Yearbook" montages. I understand the need to include movies (and moviegoers) usually snubbed by the Oscars, but seeing Clone Wars and Speed Racer in a montage more appropriate for MTV's "Spoilers" than a prestigious awards show didn't sit well with me. It reeked of Oscar trying to regain the audience it likely lost when TDK got the royal snub.
And I thought the second performance, while great in theory - having contemporary stars pay tribute to some classic numbers - quickly fell apart once the HSM3 cast came out. Or maybe I just found Amanda Seyfried completely distracting after her amazingly awkward interview with Seacrest.
The highlight of the night was the beautiful Best Picture montage. It was a perfect blend of past and present. That said, last year's super montage of every single Best Picture winner was still better, and more informative.
I found the acting award presentation rather strange. While it's great to see so much talent on one stage, I was longing for the 5- or 10-second clip showing the most intense acting clip from the nominees. I think it helps gives viewers a feel for the films, many of which they haven't seen. This would have especially helped Frozen River, a film probably 80% of viewers hadn't seen or heard of.
Overall, this ceremony felt too AMAs or People's Choice for me to truly love it. But all these ratings grabs could've been avoided if TDK were nominated...
I'm so glad they brought back the script/screen method of listing the writing nominees. Gives a great, albeit brief, look at how a film feels on the page.
And how cool did Public Enemies look in that 10-second clip?
I would have been more impressed if Hugh Jackman's suit was made of newspaper papier mache and bubble wrap and the stage was made of styrofoam cups
I also found some of the montages a little strange in their composition and inclusion of certain clips, especially the Romance 2008 sequence.
Hugh Jackman really didn't make an impression on me at all I found him rather non-present throughout the show. His big musical number with Beyonce seemed to lack any enthusiasm and became incredibly hokey when Hudgens, Efron and co. joined the stage.
I liked the way the actor/actress categories were introduced by past winners of the award. Loren was incredibly entertaining from a visual standpoint and you got to wonder "where are they now?" for some of them.
Some of the best moments-
A completely unnecessary cutaway to Angelina Jolie as Aniston presented.
The constant shots of Danny Boyle ecstatically flipping out.
Finally, I still can't really figure out what I think of Ben Stiller's spoof on Joaquin Phoenix's Letterman appearance? It felt incredibly awkward.
1. I liked the opening.
2. I thought the action montage and the romance montage were fun, but I'm a sucker for those.
3. Didn't have a strong opinion about the combined best song production number -- probably preferred it to five separate numbers.
4. Jackman's second number didn't wow me, nor did it offend me.
5. Acting awards -- I liked the format. A bit strange for one of the presenters to be talking about Frank Langella's first fully realized portrayal of Nixon while Hopkins is standing next to him -- Also made me think Nicholson should have been up there for former best supporting actor to talk about Ledger's Joker.
6. I partly agree with Clarence about the best picture montage -- only I liked it more. Thought that Frost/Nixon worked best, while Milk was strange for its inclusion of Gibson/Braveheart/homophobia. Nevertheless, this seemed really clever as a concept to me.
7. I liked the more personal familiar feel to the show. I don't think it diminished the event.
8. My least favorite part was the way they handled the people who died. Leaving out George Carlin is unforgivable, for a start. Others, I just couldn't see.
So I thought it was okay, probably better than usual. No major injustices (those occurred during the nomination process)
Maybe next year the televised Oscars can be a 27 minute montage of the actual show.
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