This is the strangest year I've seen in a while for the Oscars. Ben Affleck inexplicably wasn't nominated for Best Director and for the first time in 23 years, a movie wins Best Picture without an accompanying director nomination. The victory totals for the winners were spread around too. Life Of Pi led the way with 4 Oscars including a surprise win for its director Ang Lee. I thought for sure Steven Spielberg was going to win with Affleck out of the way. In the major categories, I went 4 for 8 and I predicted 9 categories right out of a possible 23. I really need to get back to the drawing board.
Here are some highlights and lowlights from last night's telecast.
* Seth MacFarlane did a pretty good job. It was fun to see William Shatner as Captain Kirk, but the segment ran too long. There were three bad dance numbers which slowed things up. Nonetheless, MacFarlane's self-deprecating delivery was fun to watch and the jokes were certainly edgier than in years past. I especially liked the line, "The only actor who could get inside Lincoln's head was John Wilkes Booth." When the crowd groaned, he came back with, "150 years later, is it still too soon for that joke?" Some of the pre-taped skits were hit and miss.
* The audience was standing-ovation happy last night. Standing O's for Shirley Bassey, Jennifer Hudson, Barbra Streisand, Ben Affleck & crew, Ang Lee, Jennifer Lawrence (only after she tripped walking up to accept her Best Actress award), the cast of Les Miserables, the Governor's Awards winners, and I'm sure I missed one. Hudson and Bassey were dreadful by the way and their standing ovations baffled me.
* The theme of the night was "Music In Film", which gave the producers the excuse to extend the show's running time with numerous musical numbers including the Best Original Song nominees. There was a celebration of "the last decade of movie musicals", which included songs from Chicago, Dreamgirls, and Les Miserables. Aside from High School Musical, these were the only three musicals I can remember from the past decade. I guess Tenacious D: The Pick Of Destiny didn't qualify, thank goodness. Although I liked Chicago, is it necessary that we commemorate the 10th anniversary of its Best Picture win?
* The Grammys present certain awards before the telecast that wouldn't really interest viewers, like Best Kazoo Recording and Best Ska Album. The Oscars should do the same with many of the technical awards and short subject stuff. As far as I know, the show isn't contractually obligated to run 3 1/2 hours, so why have these awards? I admire the craftsmanship involved by all of the filmmakers, but their long speeches gum up the proceedings. It takes them five minutes to walk to the stage, there are usually a group of winners, and each has to thank everyone associated with the film.
* Thank goodness the Best Actor and Best Actress Oscar presentations just showed clips and announcement of the winner. For the past four years, each nominee was lavished with praise by the presenter, a fellow actor, or both. We know the Academy liked the performances, that's why they were nominated!
* Just what we needed at the end of a long evening, a speech by First Lady Michelle Obama from the White House about how great Hollywood is before presentation of Best Picture. I'm sure by this time the audience was eyeing up the exits.
* Between Jennifer Lawrence tripping over her gown and Meryl Streep having to tug at hers to keep from stepping on it, isn't it time the ladies do away with the long gowns? Jennifer Lawrence also had a dress mishap at the SAG awards in which she tore her dress walking up to accept the award. She should get hazard pay for accepting awards. I'm beginning to wonder how much of her performance in Silver Linings Playbook was actual acting.
* I'm wondering if Quentin Tarantino's Original Screenplay win wasn't more of a lifetime achievement award. He won previously for Pulp Fiction nearly 20 years ago, but I felt Django Unchained was a weak effort.
* I enjoyed the Jaws theme that was played by the orchestra to play off winners who went too long with their speeches. Inspired.
* Enough, enough, enough of the "witty banter" between co-presenters. We're trying to blow through the categories no one cares about like Live Action Short Film or Sound Editing and the presenters are delivering uneasy jokes at one another. This usually draws polite chuckles at best. Add the time wasted with presenter dialogue and it's no wonder why the show runs long.
* It seems no matter what critical reviews say the day after the awards show, next year's producers will continue to add extraneous nonsense and make the show run way longer than it should. Oscar telecast producers have a very short memory. This is a show that could easily wrap up in 2 1/2 hours but before you know it it's midnight and Best Picture hasn't been announced yet. There's no point in discussing this because it won't change.
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