I guess the saving grace to the show is that the winners were good. It would suck to have an awful show and awful winners. I guess it is too much to ask to have good winners and a good show. I don't remember the last time we had that? This year's Oscar ceremony reminded me of the Emmy's: It's kind of a boring trainwreck for the first 2 hours, but was saved by some awesome winners in the last hour.
The Good:
+Kathryn Bigelow is the first woman to ever win Best Directing.
+I know I shouldn't say it, but she's also hotter than most women there that are half her age.
+Geoffrey Fletcher is the first black man to ever win Adapted Screenplay.
+Tina Fey and Robert Downey Jr were funny together and showed some nice chemistry. As did Cameron Diaz and Steve Carell.
+I peed a little when Jake Gyllenhaal and Rachel McAdams presented together. How long I've loved these two...
+I peed even more when Michelle Pfeiffer and Julianne Moore came out.
(Okay, I didn't actually pee.)
+The acting speeches were nice. Waltz didn't turn his Oscar into some kind of metaphor or pun, but he was elegant. Mo'nique's slap in the face to the mudthrowing Oscar pundits was AWESOME. Jeff Bridges is one of the coolest people alive. And Sandra Bullock's speech was one of the best Oscar speeches ever.
+James Cameron lost. YAH!
+Random people I noticed in the audience: Mariska Hargitay, Sharlto Copely, Michael Stuhlbarg and Emma Stone. I get the first three, but maybe that wasn't Emma. At first I thought her and Woody were going to a tribute to zombies. They would bring back the dancers and John Hughes cast members.
+The ecstatic Hurt Locker boys.
+Sandy Powell's speech was hopefully a wakeup call to the Academy about nominating contemporary films in costume.
+The Ad for Modern Family. The way Sofia Vergara said Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs made me laugh harder than anything on the Oscar telecast.
The Bad:
+The interpretive dancing. I'm glad they are getting roasted for that shit. It didn't go with the scores and didn't go with the show.
+The opening with Neil Patrick Harris. Yeah, haha, he was at every other award show, so let's have him here. No. Sorry, didn't work at all. Not only that, it was hard to understand what he was singing... On second thought, that may have been a blessing in disguise. Between that and my next point, it kinda felt like some bad variety show from the early 1980's.
+The American Idol/Miss American-esque opening with the leading acting nominees standing on stage. For no apparently reason. Oh, I guess it makes it more of a reality competition. Since that is how the producers view this show - as the original reality show??? - they did that. No, tards, it's an award show, a celebration.
+Why do special tributes to only the lead actors and not supporting? I did enjoy hearing the actor's compliment each other, but it stopped the show dead in its tracks. And if you're going to do them, could you hire better writers for them? Stringing together a bunch of positive adjectives is not a good tribute. Not only that, focus it more on the performance they gave rather than the person they are.
+What was with the audio problems? At times, I thought my TV was breaking. There was some weird buzzing I think during Diaz and Carell presenting Animated Feature and it happened again I forget when.
+And the terrible directing? They hired the director of the MTV Movie Awards. Not a smart move. Too many totally random shots of the audience. And the cutting the winners off, then keeping the shot on the audience while they got shoo'd off the stage was fucking stupid. And obvious.
+And again - CUTTING PEOPLE OFF. I've never seen an award show so blatantly cut people off. Usually, they just swell the music till they leave. Nope. We had to get to the dancing after all. Here's what I'd say: if one winner - 45 seconds. If more than one, the group gets a minute total. Swell the music till they finish, but don't cut them off or interupt them. Threatening them results in lackluster speeches.
+The John Hughes Tribute - this is also getting a lot of criticism and deservedly so. I'm not sure if he was ever nominated for an Oscar, but it's an insult to a lot of people who impacted cinema far more than home that they never got this recognition. Save it for the In Memorium. Speaking of which, I guess they cut some icons pictures from that segment to save time for the dancing.
+"Up next: The Oscar for Best Picture. Will it be Avatar, The Hurt Locker, The Blind Side or a surprise?" L. M. A. O.
+Tom Hanks quick runthrough of Best Picture at the end. He had to defend himself on Twitter by saying that's the way it was rehearsed. Sounds like another one of the producer's ideas that is getting bitchslapped.
+Kristen Stewart had the worst fake cough I've ever heard. Why have her and Taylor Lautner present a montage to horror movies? TWILIGHT IS NOT FUCKING HORROR. And while most horror fans like myself appreciate the recognition, there was way too much reliance on famous, audience friendly horror movies. Hardly anything foreign. I thought the Paranormal spoof started out funny, but it didn't really build to anything.
+Speaking of Stewart and Lautner, hey, BETTER PRESENTERS. I was reading something that said the has-beens and "fresh faces" far outnumbered the former winners/nominees and big stars. I totally agree. It's okay to get the young hotties, but you have to find a balance. This basically felt like a Golden Globes lineup. And having Jon Cryer there didn't help.
+Showing footage from the Sci-tech ceremony is a staple of the show. I felt bad for Liz Banks to basically come out and talk about it for 10 seconds then leave. Again, the producers wanted to get to the dancing, so they cut it short. UGH.
+Couldn't they have let Roger Corman and Lauren Bacall, you know, take the stage?
+Everyone that won for Avatar trying to validate the film but saying how IMPORTANT it is. Okay.
+George Clooney is this year's Russell Crowe/Salma Hayek/Tommy Lee Jones. Seriously, what does this guy have to be pissed off about?
+I thought the stage looked great in pictures but looked pretty awful on the show. Why does it always have to be blue? It's the Oscars. It should be gold or red.
+Irony: when Bullock presented cinematography, there were no clips/images. Just the movie name on a screen. WTF? I think it was the same with editing. But we have to have dancing?
+All of the mistakes: Charlize Theron said Precious was nominated for four Oscars. (Actually 6) Samuel L. Jackson said Up was the second film to be nominated for Best Picture & Best Animated Feature. Animated Feature was introduced in 2001, about 10 years after Beauty and the Beast was nominated for Best Picture. I believe Robert Downey Jr was introduced as an Oscar winner (he's a two-time nominee, that's it.) Not only that, but when Stewart introduced the horror clip, it was worded as if The Exorcist was the only horror movie to win. Umm, Jaws? Silence of the Lambs won freagin Best Picture.
The Mixed Bag:
+Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin - these guys can do better. The opening was a little too reliant on "Hey, there's _____" and then making a joke about the acting nominees. And it was clear there was a laugh track put in place. Kinda insulting to both the hosts and audience. But I did enjoy the jokes about Meryl Streep and her large collection of Hitler memorabilia. But my fave was "Who doesn't like Sandra Bullock? Tonight, we may find out."
+LOL - The Short Doc lady pulling a Kanye West. So apparently she had her name taken off the film but was still credited as a producer? And got to attend the ceremony? I was actually nervous during it, and maybe thought she was just a passionate producer, but no. Apparently, the guy's mother tried to block her. I found it odd they didn't cut away from this, but did during the dolphin activist during The Cove's win.
+I loved the way Animated Feature was presented. I loved the way the Shorts and Sound categories were introduced. But then, they just showed the name of the sound nominees, as they did with Editing and Cinematography. The way everything was presented was so hit or miss.
+I'm glad they had Downey & Fey and Gyllenhaal & McAdams do the screenplay presentation the same as last year. But my god did they breeze through it? Like, Fey was READING SUPER FAST or her audio was sped up just to keep things moving. To get to the awful dancing after all.
+I'm not happy with the original songs being cut. It would have been awesome to see Marion Cotillard perform as well as T Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham. Surprisingly, however, the presentation of the songs wasn't that bad. Still, I want the songs.
+The Fashions...
After looking back, I liked a lot more than I initially thought. I think some people took some risks, some worked, some didn't.
LOL @ Kathy Ireland and Sherri Shepherd. Could they have two more inept people doing the official red carpet coverage? I love how Ireland had to defend herself on Twitter and say she wasn't drunk.
WORST: It pains me to say Zoe Saldana. She looked pretty awesome promoting Avatar and good at the Globes. But that dress was such a disaster. Diane Kruger ans Sarah Jessica Parker get dishonorable mentions. Diane is usually a disaster, but her SAG dress was my favorite at that award show. Guess it was a fluke. SJP is very hit or miss and this was a big miss for me, horse hair and all.
And Re: Charlize - Only she could pull off something like that.
THE BEST:
Some props to my boys Sam Worthington and Jake Gyllenhaal - yum. I hated Zac Efron's douchebag hair.
Honorable Mentions:
Anna Kendrick - cute and simple.
Miley Cyrus - I'm as shocked as you are. The second she opens her mouth it makes me want to take her off this list, but I give credit where its due.
Penelope Cruz - Hey, she didn't wear black for once! It was kinda like Keira Knightley's Oscar dress, but not as good.
Demi Moore - I think her hair and makeup could have been a little better but the dress works.
Amanda Seyfried - Lopez did something similar, and better. But I still really like this.
10. GABOUREY SIDIBE - so cute and really the greatest personality. "If the red carpet was porn, this dress would be the money shot." How can you not love that?
9. JULIANNE MOORE - I'm not sure if she walked the red carpet, but when I saw her sitting in the audience early in the show I was like OH SNAP SHE LOOKS GREAT. (Check out pix above, couldn't really find any others.)
8. RACHEL MCADAMS - I was mixed on this upon first sight. But when she came out to present with Jake, I thought she looked amazing. Maybe I'm just so glad she's finally at the Oscars. Soon, she'll be there as a nominee.
7. MERYL STREEP - Far and away the best I've seen her look. She actually tried this time.
6. JENNIFER LOPEZ - As much as we might dislike her, she can look great. She did last night, though I wish her hair was better.
5. ELIZABETH BANKS - Lovely and old school makeup and hair. Love her. Happy to see her at the Oscars.
4. CAMERON DIAZ - The best SHE'S EVER LOOKED. OMG. Seriously! I'm one of the few that typically loves her choices, but she looked her very best. Perfect hair, too. LOL - she makes me so happy?
3. VERA FARMIGA - Some really really hated this. I think it was the night's biggest risk that payed off for me. And LOL I'm 99% sure she was stoned on the red carpet. Bonus points for that. More bonus points for calling grumpy George "a fantastic mr. foxy fox."
2. KATE WINSLET - Why couldn't she have looked this great last year when she was winning? This is the Winslet we know and love, not that overrated shit from last year's Oscars. Love when she plays up her old school profile.
1. SANDRA BULLOOCK - Not nearly as instantly iconic and Julia or Halle's dresses they wore when they won the Oscar, but still pretty damn great. The best I've seen her look and such an "I'm winning this shit" look.
