Monday, February 23, 2009

The Oscars

They aired at 2:00 a.m. my time. I tried to stay up and watch them but fell asleep during Ryan Seacreats inane Red Carpet "interviews". He is horrible.

I woke up in time to see the show from Best Song on.

I've read a few reviews and they said the show was boring. Was it?

I thought the staging looked nice. I'm glad finally they turned down the volume of people clapping during the memorial clip. I always felt it was distasteful when even in death Hollywood seemed like a high school popularity contest.

Is the reason they had several actors present the acting awards instead of the tradition of last year's winner is because last year all four acting awards went to foreigners? Interesting.

I wasn't too invested emotionally this year because I haven't seen most of the movies. Most have not been released here yet. Slumdog was but dubbed. I'll wait for the DVD so I can see it in Original Language with Italian subtitles.

It's amazing that this film was originally greenlit by Warner Independent. Warner Bros shut down their indie arm. The film almost went direct to video because they didn't think Americans would watch this movie. Fox Searchlight bought it and the rest is history. Kudos to Peter Rice and everyone else at Searchlight.

Later today I will be watching E!'s fashion police as they discuss the best and the worst of the read carpet.

Next year I will go to bed super early then get up to watch the show. I can't watch arrivals any more as long as Ryan is doing them. He really needs to go.

22 comments:

Michelle | Bleeding Espresso said...

I had no hope of even watching; I'll stay up for Obama, but not Brad Pitt and co. ;)

Diana Strinati Baur said...

When I lived in the OC everyone got out of work early on the Monday when the Oscars would take place. I remember finding it totally bizzare my first year there, and how full the freeways were trying to get home at 3 in the afternoon. I am sure alot of people were bummed to see the Monday time slot go.

Max finally slept last night for the first time in two weeks ... and so did we.

But I was happy to see Sean Penn had won, and Kate Winslet, too.

fail_safe said...

The ceremony was pretty boring with the exception of Hugh Jackman's opening bit. I had no idea what a great singer and dancer he was! I think that's worth a look if you can find it. The speeches by Sean Penn and Dustin Lance Black (IMHO) were incredibly moving.

I haven't seen any of the nominated movies (still trying to catch up on last year's performances). The two movies I'm really interested in are Slumdog and Milk.

Jessica said...

Hey there, I was Slumdog Millionaire dubbed, but I guess this week it is playing at the Metropolitan in English, so now's your chance!

Anonymous said...

I missed it completely, will now check youtube for clips!

Anonymous said...

See, that's interesting. I thought this years oscars was better than the previous years. Hugh Jackman was outstanding...its so weird to hear his real accent!! I thought his opening number was great, and who knew anne hathaway had such a voice?

I loved the "year in review" clips, especially the comedies. GOD, james franco is adorable!!!

Could have done without beyonce, but hugh made up for it. I actually liked how they did the musical numbers.

I thought the staging looked great, loved how they incorporated music more into the program. Maybe I'm looking for something else in my awards program than everyone else, but I thought it was good.

And can we talk about how hot hugh jackman is?? :)

Gibber

Ps. Natalie portman wins dest dress for me.

Texas Espresso said...

oh man, i can't stand Ryan Seacrest, luckily he wasn't the interviewer on the pre-show I watched. Honestly, I really liked the show. I wasn't bored at all, thought Hugh did great (loved the Broadway-ish numbers), thought the stage was absolutely beautiful throughout the show, good music, good presenters, etc. it was one of the best ones I've seen in a long time.

Anonymous said...

I think the Oscars are boring every year and don't watch them anymore.There are just way too many catagories. I want to hear Best Actor, Best actress, Best film and that's it. A 30 minute Oscars show.

StephAdams said...

Big question is how you feel about Queen Latifah performing the tribute? yael and I needed you on our IM'ing last night . . . you were missed!

Skywalker said...

You're right you didn't miss much! Boring. I really didn't like the whole former winners paying tribute. It sucked. And worse yet, Brangelina sitting in the front row and when Jennifer Anniston came out, cut to Brangelina. Cut to Brangelina. It was PETTY.

Uck.

Props to Hugh Jackman. He tried. But alas, I won't watching next year if its a repeat.

Fly Girl said...

You really didn't miss much. Hugh was entertaining but I thought the program dragged. The old Hollywood singing and dance numbers seemed incongruous to me. Queen Latifah singing during the tribute to actor's who've passed was okay, I've always thought she was a better singer than rapper. The horrible spectacle was John Legend singing in the middle of the Slumdog musical tribute. If there was ever any question about whether John Legend can sing, just listen to him next to someone who can! Rahman, the Bollywood singer/songwriter, basically blew him off the stage and he really wasn't trying to.

Anonymous said...

Cannot watch. Just can't. I can't help feeling that it is time that I'll never get back. Catching the wrap-ups the next day is plenty. Even when I was in the biz I'd wait til the next day, catch the wrap-ups and then congratulate my clients on whatever they won or performed as if I'd seen it...(oops, hope none of them are reading this!)

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

michelle - ha. I do have to watch given it's one of the bigger nights of the field I'm in.

diana - why did they move the show to Sundays? I can't remember. I know they also used to be later in the year, sometime in March. Oscar week is a trip in the Los Angeles area. Even if you have nothing to do with the "industry" you are still impacted by it, even if it's only the annoying road closings.

ninety9 - Hugh is very talented. I will have to find a clip of his opening.

jessica - thanks for the info. That is the theater I usually go to.

joanne - I was so ready then Ryan literally put me to sleep. ha.

gibber - I heard Hugh did a great job at the Tonys so I'm not surprised he is such a great singer. I had no idea Anne Hathaway could sing. Now that I've thought about it more, I really missed the acting clips for the acting awards. I didn't like the new format. It worked when the two actors knew each other but other wise it was a little strange. Why is Halle Berry speaking to Melissa Leo about acting? Whatever. I haven't seen photos of Natalie's dress.

texas - from what I saw, I thought the show looked beautiful. The staging was very pretty.

j. doe - I'm not sure how they can make them better. I'm opposed to cutting out some of the "less" glamourous categories. Without the script, make up, editing, etc. there are no acting awards because there is no movie. Maybe they should go back to having the show be not televised like it was in the past. I don't think that will happen...too much money is made from and for things that have nothing to do with excellence in film.

steph - Ciao Steph! I thought it was better than showing the pictures and having people clap. I also felt bad for the people who weren't as well known. Pls. say hi to Yael.

skywalker - I heard about that! How tacky. The press really needs to let it go.

fly girl - You are right about John. I was SHOCKED. What happened? Did he have an off night or something? He was terrible.

anna - ha. It will be our secret.

Jen said...

Hugh was great. He's almost always great, in my book.

I went to sleep around the time you woke up...

Anonymous said...

I couldn't watch it all. Between all the commercials and pre-carpet stuff, I ended up seeing only half.

It was a snooze-fest.

Faith at Acts of Faith Blog said...

Sean Penn's acceptance speech was stellar. I lvoed how he talked about the shame of the grandkids AND gave a nod to Mickey Rourke. I didn't see Seacrest but I heard about it. Idiot. Typical. These movie executives don't know the markets, of course Slumdog has appeal - look how well it did. Advertising can only do so much. A lot of it was BORING. You can just catch up on youtube for the wins and forget most of the ceremony. Queen Latifah's singing the tributes was a great idea though.

glamah16 said...

I tuned out this year. Like you said there was no emotional investement because I havent seen any of the movies yet. I did watch the Red Carpet stuff before. I never noticed the applause during the Memorial( my favorite part BTW) , but your right!

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

jen - I am looking forward to Wolverine.

ms. violetta - The red carpet should be more fun. Not sure what the problem is.

acts - Foreign films don't do well in the states and Americans seem to have an issue with subtitles but I'm glad Fox Searchlight took the risk and released the movie. I don't know if big Warner Bros. would have been able to market the movie as well. They are all about big tentpole movies. I'm glad Sean said something about Mickey as well.

glamah16 - I think the studio should rethink how they release their Oscar films so the general public has a chance to actually see the films.

Anonymous said...

I have to admit I'm a sucker for the Oscars. I remember when I was a wee lass back in Toronto I used to beg my father to let me stay up and watch the whole thing. They were so magical to me. I really hate that I can't watch them live now that I live in Italy. I just don't have the energy to stay up that late.
But I did manage to catch the highlights on Sky last night. I actually liked the new way they presented this year, with the previous winners on stage. It gave everything a greater sense of history and importance. I didn't catch too much of Hugh Jackman but he seemed to have done a good job. Honestly, I prefer having some comic relief up there. Ricky Gervais would be perfect! Really happy that Kate Winslet finally won. Too bad about Mickey Rourke but considering the fact he's still not in the Hollywood Establishment's good books (and also considering the crazy, funny, drunken speech he made at the Spirit Awards the other day), I guess it was clear that Sean Penn was going to get the nod. Hopefully Mickey will start getting more work now. What do you think?

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

milanese - I heard a rumor that Mickey is up for a role in Iron Man 2. He is really talented but is a handful so we'll see what will happen with his career. The business has changed so much since he was a rising star. Movies like "Diner" or "The Pope of Greenwich Village" are hard to find.

Ricky Gervais is a great idea but the producers would say most of America doesn't know who he is. I say give him a shot. He is very funny and quick on his feet.

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed the Oscars this year. I did see Slumdog Millionaire couple of months ago and I figured that it had a good shot a winning. If possible I would suggest that you see it on the big screen due to the cinematography and the music. Watching it on a TV screen wouldn't do the movie as much justice.

In fact, Slumdog, helped me win my jobs Oscar Night office pool. I got all but five of the award nominations correct. Mind you, I guessed the documentary nominations and got lucky, but I'll take it. I'm 27 dollars richer, baby! Woot Woot! I have to admit that I didn't think that Penelope C. would win and apparently I wasn't the only one.

Ms. ATL

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

Mrs. ATL - Congrats on winning your office pool! I heard Slumdog is playing in Rome in Original Language (Italian subtitles) so I'm excited to see it on the big screen. Yes Penelope was a surprise. I think folks remembered how amazing she was in Volver. If you get a chance check out her Spanish and Italian movies. They don't really know what to do with her in the States.