So I'm back!
After a couple of weeks...doing nothing and being sick...and not being able to watch anything remotely new/interesting, I've finally watched something new! Although to call it 'interesting' could be contested...but this review is not about the new movie I watched but about the Oscars I watched this past Sunday.
Alright, so this year...I didn't watch too many of the nominated films...even though a lot of them were more "kid-friendly" than past years. Let's see. I watched War Horse, The Help, and Moneyball which is a pretty good track record with me. I want to watch The Artist, Midnight in Paris...and kinda Hugo but not really.
Anyway. Everyone was up in arms about how Hugo was winning everything and I kinda agree. I mean I was watching the clips and it didn't seem like Hugo was THAT special. Especially for things that I get very geeky about which is sound and visual effects and editing and all that technical stuff. Like Cinematography it won...but it seemed like it had more visual effects rather than stunning vistas or interesting camera pans. I mean I may have not liked War Horse but it had some great looking scenes. I think it deserved the Art Direction Oscar...because it was a very stylized film as opposed to the other nominees which were very historically based...and I never liked Harry Potter's art direction after the first two films, I felt like it moved away from the warmth of Chris Columbus's vision to Alfonso Cuaron's vision and permanently got stuck there is lurid colors and odd contrasts and weird sort of 50's carnival-esque type...I don't even know. And then Hugo wiped up the rest of the Oscars for Sound and Visual Effects. I seriously think that the "Academy" are a bunch of snobs because seriously...Sound and Visual Effects? ...Really? Against Transformers? Granted Transformers isn't the greatest story and probably won't be remembered for years and years to come but one thing I was impressed by was the Sound and Visual Effects. That is the ONE thing or the FEW, should I say, things they do EXTREMELY well. For someone like me, who absolutely loves blockbusters and then loves to go into the blockbusters and break them down technically, the Sound absolutely makes that film. It really brings a life to larger than life robot characters who would otherwise be seen as childish and silly. And visual effects then enhances it even more and I have to say, the visual effects in Transformers are pretty flawless. That's something I specifically look out for, and Hugo's visual effects, from what I've seen in clips are pretty lacking in realism. That's just my little rant about Academy snobbishness. I mean if a movie does something REALLY great, even if the rest of it is crap, shouldn't it be commended?
And there there was that whole hullaballoo about The Iron Lady winning over Harry Potter for Best Makeup. And I have to say that even though Harry Potter had MORE makeup needs, The Iron Lady did their ONE charge to perfection. I mean it really is a debate of quantity over quality. Looking at clips from The Iron Lady, they really did such a subtle job with everything, especially when Margaret Thatcher is older. I've seen some bad makeup when it comes to aging characters (coughHarryPottercough) and you can tell when it is really bad, it looks like a silicone mask with wrinkles on it but when it came to The Iron Lady it looked so real. Obviously the Harry Potter team didn't do that great of a job with subtlety...and I mean Griphook wasn't THAT great a makeup job.
Again...anyway. One little victory that I absolutely adored was the winners of the Animated Short, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. I got to watch it online and actually shed a few tears. I loved it, the subject matter, the art, the music, everything was amazing. It deserved the Oscar.
SO...
The Good:
+Billy Crystal as Host: It's his NINTH time hosting! I loved the little movie montage at the beginning because it was short, funny and straight to the point. And it's Crystal! So of course I had to love it. And then when he sang the little musical numbers about the feature films and it was a callback to every other time he hosted....ah you could smell the nostalgia in the air. I loved it. And his jokes were great. Especially kinda gently but not so gently ribbing all the celebrities in the room about how they all have SO MUCH MONEY. Including him I suppose. He kept it short and sweet and helped move the show along at a pretty quick pace.
+Chris Rock: HAHA. I love Chris Rock. His introduction for the Best Animated Feature was great. They should bring him back next year to host again.
+Emma Stone: She is so cute! When she presented, it was one of the most remembered moment of the night. When she was trying to get Jonah Hill to dance with her...amazing.
+Colin Firth: I love how he presented the Best Actress nominees, especially Meryl Streep. I love how he is not apologetic at all for Mamma Mia. Because to be honest...I kinda loved that movie.
+Meryl Streep: She won! I felt really bad for Viola Davis because she was amazing in The Help but Meryl's acceptance speech was just so sweet and was nominated soooo many times. I'm glad she won for The Iron Lady which I should watch...
+Best Adapted Screenplay speech: Jim Rash, Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon's pose when they accepted the award! Their mocking of Angelina Jolie's leg baringness just made my night.
+Best Editing speech: I loved how they tried to say thank you and then fumbled over their words, and their last parting sentence was, "We don't do this! We're editors!"
+Octavia Spencer: I was so happy she won! She was great in The Help and her acceptance speech almost made me tear up too!
The Eh:
-Justin Bieber: Enough said.
-No Potter love at all: Really? After 8 movies? No love for Potter at all? I mean granted, they aren't the BEST films but it's a whole decade of movies, you would think they would say something.
-Gary Oldman snub? I think he deserves an Oscar for SOMETHING and if not Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy then I don't know what else.
-NO Cumberbatch: Seriously? I know tumblr was literally COMBING the crowd, every shot, to catch a glimpse of him but none of the cameras caught him on the red carpet or in the theater. Maybe next year he'll be more important? Important enough to get a reaction shot or something?
-Poor Viola Davis: Her performance in The Help was so...I don't even know how to describe it, soul-stirring? Emotional? Flawless? I think I'll go with flawless. Her portrayal of Abilene was so subtle but open enough to allow the audience into her mind, her thoughts, her feelings. I can't even say enough good things about her. She deserved the Oscar for this movie but it was a very difficult year.
-No costar introduction of the Best Actor/Best Actress awards: Last year they had the costars or friends of the nominees come up and talk about them and it was really fun to hear little anecdotes about the actors and actresses but this year they didn't have that. I wish they had added that in. They are constantly changing the Oscars Ceremony and the sets were amazing but it was kind of boring this year. I think other years had better transitions and introduction of the nominees.
-Less Muppets...Want more Muppets: They should have put the Muppets in for more of the show! Not just Kermit and Miss Piggy for like two minutes of commentary and then nothing. They should allow the Muppets to host the Oscars one year. Seriously.
I'm waiting for next year. The Hobbit is going to sweep the technical awards, or they better.
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