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OSCARS REVIEW: Hathaway does all the work
OSCARS REVIEW: Hathaway does all the work
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This year's Oscars went back to the old formula of humor and entertainment. The underrated Anne Hathaway hosted with glamour and charm. Smug and annoying James Franco (who I prefer stuck in the cave) hung out in his suit. She could have hosted it herself, actually. Maybe next year.
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It started with a dramatic countdown of nominee clips, and then the time-old favorite of inserting the hosts into the reels. Hathaway danced the "Brown Duck" at Natalie Portman's Nina, feathers falling everywhere, while Franco stood there in a bodysuit. Hathaway and Franco rode into Alec Baldwin's psyche a la Inception, after Baldwin was about to give the secret to hosting the Oscars, only to be knocked out by his Ambien Capri Sun. Morgan Freeman's voice came on during the elevator ride, and I just knew he'd be standing there. It turns out to be Franco's dream, though, and both take the Back To The Future car to the Oscars.
What the hell was Franco doing with a cell phone when they walked out? God, what a prick. Their opener was funny, Franco complimenting Hathaway, who said, "You look very appealing to a younger demographic as well." Hathaway gave a shoutout to her mom, whom we saw stand up. I thought it was an awkward distraction until I realized she was mic'd. "Stand up straight honey," she said, "Mr. Steven Spielberg is here." So cute. Franco's grandmother stood up and made a joke about Marky Mark. (I don't have to say that Franco sucks, do I? Ok, then.)
Next came a retrospective on Gone With the Wind and Titanic (sniffle) for winning Oscar trifectas. Alice In Wonderland took Best Art Direction, and Inception took Best Cinematography. Neither a big surprise. So far everyone seems to be respecting the time limit.
Legendary actor Kirk Douglas presented Best Supporting Actress, but the dude was having a senior moment and had trouble speaking. For a while he went off on tangents and cracked jokes on actors in the front rows, and I was getting pret-ty nervous. Finally he said "Melissa Leo," and there was a sigh of relief. Leo was humble and flustered, and oops! dropped an F-bomb. Fucking finally — it is primetime. Anne Hathaway made the weirdest noise after introducing Justin Timberlake, kind of like a bark. I guess it was nerves.
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JT confessed that he is Banksy. I'm so happy he got that off his chest. Toy Story 3 won Best Animated Feature like everyone thought it would, followed by more old movie tributes. Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin came out dressed like Mark Twain for some reason, to present the Screenplay awards. Their shiny all-white tuxes were very dapper. Aaron Sorkin won Best Adapted Screenplay for The Social Network. Winter's Bone was much more deserving. That film flowed like hot butter. And I'm so tired of that merely cool movie being treated like a work of genius. Sorkin wouldn't shut up and got cut off by music.
David Seidler won Best Original Screenplay for The King's Speech, which cleaned house tonight with four wins. Seidler, who's up in years with hair as white as Bardem's and Brolin's suits, began, "My father always said to me, I would be a late bloomer."
Hathaway opened the next bit in a Liza-esque suit, and broke into song about Hugh Jackman not duetting with her. She would fit in on any Broadway musical, and she could've done something more ambitious. Franco came out dressed like Marilyn, and made a Sheen joke ...
Russell Brand and Helen Mirren presented Best Foreign Language film. (Dogtooth y'all! FTW! Pleeease?!?!) Brand and Mirren did their bit, and my pick was beat out by In A Better World. I'm pretty sure the voice-over announcer stuttered on "academy." Oops.
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Reese Witherspoon presented Best Supporting Actor, which went to Christian Bale for The Fighter. Meh. I think it was weight-loss/career length points. Bale's performance was convincing, but not outstanding. My picks were Jeremy Renner for The Town or John Hawkes for Winter's Bone. At least Bale managed to wrap things up without the music.
Aussies Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman presented Best Original Score, with the orchestra playing classics from E.T. and Star Wars. To my frustration, it went to mother-effing The Social Network. It should have gone to Inception for its score's intricacy and suspense. Inception did manage to pick up Sound Mixing and Editing.
Cate Blanchett (one of my favorites; chameleon extraordinaire) presented Best Makeup and Best Costume Design. She said, "That's gross" at The Wolfman, which won Best Makeup; and Alice in Wonderland's Colleen Atwood picked up Costume Design, her third win. Atwood then bored us with a stuffy speech and got the GTFO music.
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Coolest speech of the night was from Luke Matheny, who won Best Short Film for God of Love. "Oh wow, I shoulda gotten a haircut," he said under a mess of curls. He went on, "Finally my mother, who did craft services for the film," which got a round of applause, and called his girlfriend his "dream come true." Really rad, dude. I'm gonna see his movie just for that.
Gawd, Anne Hathaway's dresses are gorgeous. The blue one; you can't deny the blue one. What if Exit Through the Gift Shop won? Who would accept Banksy's award? We'll never know; Inside Job got it. Bob Hope retrospective y'all; he's still kinda funny. Inception got a well-deserved Visual Effects win. I loved how subtle its use of computer graphics was.
A.R. Rahman's and Florence Welch's performance of "If I Rise" from 127 Hours featured her haunting voice and dramatic lighting. Hey, it's Celine Dion! (For the In Memoriam part.) OMG, that old lady from Titanic just died! Leslie Nielsen is dead? So are legends Dino de Laurentiis and Lena Horne. Halle Berry, who's still stunning, did a tribute to Horne, whom she admired during her emotional acceptance speech in 2002. And The King's Speech got Best Director for Tom Hooper.
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Seriously? Best Actress and Actor before 11:30? You guys rock! Jeff Bridges presented Best Actress. Jennifer Lawrence and Michelle Williams were outstanding and truly deserved their noms, but Portman's been a shoe-in for months. And she won. Her speech showed loyalty and gratitude, and it's a softer Portman than I remember seeing.
Colin Firth, ev-eryone's pick, won Best Actor for The King's Speech. "I have a feeling my career has just peaked," he started. He tried to finish, he said, before his "stirrings" to dance made their way to his legs. And finally, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some impulses I have to attend to backstage."Â Only he could get away with sounding like, well, the king of England.
The King's Speech won Best Picture for a quadruple-whammy of Best Actor, Original Screenplay, and Director as well. I'm just happy it wasn't The Social Network. 'Cause all unauthorized biographies of billionaires are comparable to Citizen Kane, don't ya know.
A kids' chorus from PS 22 in Staten Island finished the night off. Now kids' choruses can get away with some mediocre stuff, but not these guys, who did a perfect "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." The T-shirts were not so appropriate for the occasion, though. The curtain rose and the hosts and all of the winners walked out. Now that is a proper ending.
Douglas had a stroke and he knew exactly what he was doing...I laughed the hardest cause he was the funniest. You don't know as much Jack as you think
Anne Hathaway really wasn't a favorite of mine let's face it the Oscars are a time on tradition of class and dignity and I found her Woo Hoo's to be very in appropriate and at the end when she was basically jumping on the stage, giving a high five and yelling we did it we did it was I feel she did an injustice to the whole thing. And when she would woo hoo after announcing a presenter there was just no class. Respect the event don't make a mockery of the whole thing. Just my opinion.
"The underrated Anne Hathaway hosted with glamour and charm." Seriously? She was disingenuous and undeserving of her Oscar-hosting duties. Were you watching when she faltered, said "Flub" and then told the at home audience to drink? Or notice the number of times she giggled nervously? I can't imagine what we would have been subjected to had she been left to host the event solo.
It's nice to hear your thoughts on the Oscars and what your picks would have been. I like James Franco but the writing was horrible and I found him to be embarrassed to be there and doing the motions of material he didn't even like. They need seasoned comedians that can handle most of their own material. He carried a phone because he was taping his own entrance and taking videos throughout the production and posting livetime to twitter - which was a big hit apparantly. I could watch his backstage intro and see the crowd from his perspective on MY phone from his phone in a matter of minutues of it happening.
AGREED
Atleast Anne acted like she wanted to be there,
unlike James with his "I just work here, face"
Hey James get it together dude
c'monI watched Luke Matheny's movie and I can only say that this guy is gifted. Luke is really fortunate to won an award for his graduate thesis film. I consider we will hear more about his world soon.
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