Random Thoughts on the Oscars

More tomorrow.

Worst Red Carpet Ever. Probably only one or two people I can say I all-out loved. In fact, I'd say I loved more of Anne's show dresses than dresses on the carpet.

The Show:

-The opening movie was fun.
-The monologue was pretty painful.
-The stage changes were pointless and led nowhere. It started out with films, then went to famous Hollywood places/moments? Pick a theme and stick with it.
-I'm not a fan of half the presenters presenting 2 awards. I wasn't a fan when Will Smith presented 4 awards two years ago. I get that it saves time, but to me it rushes through things way too fast. I think they were linked better this time.
-Also, there were only like twentysome presenters. That sucks. 40+, it should be. Bring back Laura Ziskin so we can have 53 presenters.
-The presenters did the best they could, Jude and RDJ were the best probably. Why was Matthew McConaughey there? You mean there's no other good looking young actor you can get to present with ScarJo??? SOOOUNNDDDD.
-Melissa Leo's speech was as epic as we had hoped. LOL SHE STOLE KIRK'S CANE????
-LMAO People are really on her for dropping the F bomb.
-Not to be rude, but please don't have Kirk present awards. He's barely understandable, though I did love that he kept going on, this making Melissa's Oscar win even more EPIC. I loved how the nominees at first laughed, then when he went on again, all five of them looked PISSED. I really want to know what was up with Amy Adams? She looked like she was going to explode right before he announced the winner. Hailee didn't seem too amused, either.
-Penelope Cruz's post-prego boobs are huge.
-I'm not a fan of the truncated song performances. The second set was better than the first? Can Randy Newman go away?
-Cate Blanchett's: "That's gross."
-Trent Reznor is hot. And has an Oscar.
-Amy Adams still seemed really nervous.
-The song thing I thought was hilarious. Harry Potter autotuned!
-YEAH INCEPTION TIES FOR THE MOST WINS!!!
-UGH FOR A SECOND THERE IT REALLY SEEMED LIKE THE SOCIAL NETWORK WAS GOING TO BE THE BIG WINNER, then Hooper won and it all went downhill.
-Sorry about the caps.
-Coleen Atwood delivers the worst speech of the night/season/history.
-Aaron Sorkin shout out to everyone in Social - RASHIDA JONES - ANN PERKINS!
-LET ME JUST SAY...that how the lead acting presentation was done this year is EXACTLY how the acting categories should be done every year. ALL FOUR OF THEM THOUGH, what's with the leading people only getting respect?
-The show was too short.
-LOL @ Jennifer Lawrence's reaction to her clip. Some of the clips were good, some not. Why didn't they show Ree's ROTC interview for her clip?
-The Oscars are progressive. Nice to see how many winners thanked their same sex partners.
-The short guy winner that said he should have cut his hair should host something. Along with Melissa Fucking Leo.
-I can't believe Hooper beat FINCHER ARONOFSKY THE COENS AND RUSSELL. Some TV director beating the 90's auteurs.
-OKAY I fucking hated how whenever they announced a tech or smaller win, footage of the movie took up the entire screen, rather than showing the person walking up to the stage. At least use a split screen!
-There were like no random funny cuts to people in the audience. I think they cut to Amy Ryan twice?
-Melissa Leo singing along to Somewhere Over the Rainbow went well with her speech.
-Loved what Spielberg said about the Picture winner being in good company and the losers as well. I seriously loved the Best Picture montage set to Colin's speech. I know a lot didn't, but I thought it was really well done.
-LOL E!'s post show coverage had two great tidbits: Aside from the Chelsea Lately people still coming off as bitter losers, Brad saying he thought Busy Phillips was Natalie Maines was LOL. Then, they went to the press room for Portman's interview. OMFG - some reporter (clearly with an agenda) asked her why she didn't wear Dior when she is in their ads and asked her what she thought of the John Galliano (sp) antisemitic incident. The person who calls on the interviewers quickly cut the woman off and was like #56 NEXT! or whatever. Portman looked really put on the spot, as anyone would. And I didn't think she was going to answer anyways. But that was still awkward hilarity.
-I still don't think Billy Crystal is the best at this? I've never found his hosting terribly funny or amusing. Give me Steve Martin anyday, except his cohosting with Baldwin last year.

Speaking of cohosts...

All in all, I'd say this show was slightly less than the 80th Academy Awards. That had great winners, was put together kinda sloppily (due to the strike), went by too fast and had some underwhelming presenters. It's a definite improvement over last year's, but anything would have been better than that.

Now, on to James and Anne

I'll sum them up by paraphrasing a post from Awardsdailyforums.com:

"It's like James was embarassingly drunk at a party and Anne was his wife working overtime to take the attention away from it."

I think if Anne had been paired with Hugh Jackman (OMGWETDREAM), they would have killed. James really brought the pair down with his blase attitude. Well, that's an understatement. He was obviously stoned in the interview before the show, and it was like Anne was trying her best to keep them afloat and keep him from turning into a total zombie. The thing is, Anne gets accused of trying too hard from some quarters (NOT HERE, LOVE YOU ANNE, FANNE FOR LIFE!), and her having to compensate for the two of them means she's getting taken down too and will only add fuel to the fire of those awful/ugly people that dislike her.

She's on E! right now with Billy Crystal. She looks really tired. He's gushing about her, and said nothing about James.

James, however, did give us this:



While not entirely their (his) fault, the Academy does need to fire its writers. Say bu-bye to Bruce Villanch. Seriously, look online. There's no shortage of people who can write about film. There's no shortage of people who can be funny. And look at YouTube and the like, there's no shortage of people who can cleverly edit together clips.

Anywho, all in all, these were OKAY. I guess I just have the terrible taste of last year's show still in my mouth cuz I stupidly watched more of it today, and a root canal would look better than that.

FINAL THOUGHT: I'm so happy at how great Nicole has looked (not botoxed, not big lips) all season. Her dress tonight was my least fave of all the dresses she wore this season, but she looks great.

Yes, I made my final thought all about Nicole Kidman.

Hailee Steinfeld is probably shitfaced in some Hollywood hotel right now, cursing Melissa Leo who is beating her with Kirk's cane.