What will you do instead of watching Oscar? [and now Oscar discussion]

[JWBear]

Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis

The one thing you'd think they couldn't f*ck up was the memorial. But they did it.

Seriously! I was getting motion sickness from the constant swaying of the camera.

Milk didn't get Best Picture. Damn! We was cheated again!

Loved that Penn got Best Actor. Double loved his speech.

Slumdog Millionaire... Best picture? Really?

[Kevy Baby]

Overall I really liked the new production. In my opinion, the best Oscar production I've ever seen (other than the musical number).

Ben Stiller's bit was hilarious.

Originally Posted by JWBear

Milk didn't get Best Picture. Damn! We was cheated again!

I guess there weren't as many Commie, Homo-Loving Sunofaguns as Sean Penn thought.

[Deebs]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

I guess there weren't as many Commie, Homo-Loving Sunofaguns as Sean Penn thought.

Oh, I loved his acceptance speech! So glad he won. Except, was it just me, or did he thank everyone breathing -- except Robin Wright? He had a list, for crying out loud.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Deebs

Oh, I loved his acceptance speech! So glad he won. Except, was it just me, or did he thank everyone breathing -- except Robin Wright? He had a list, for crying out loud.

Well, there was the guy who won for Best Makeup who apparently had a phone book in his pocket, looked like he had just won a rat turd and decided to audition for the remake of the FedEx world's fastest talking man commercial.

[Snowflake]

Okay, I loved it. The show was something it's not been in eons, fun. While the actual wins were not terribly dramatic (until Sean Penn), I enjoyed the new format of having former winners present. It was cool. I do not think Sophia Loren's Valentino gown would win awards, I hope to heaven I look pretty good for age 74. She's still a class act.

Some of the gowns were horrible. I thought Meryl Streep looked incredible. And I loved whatever that vintage piece Amy Adams had around her throat. Penelope Cruz was in a 60 year old vintage gown, and it (and she) were stunning. Nicole Kidman was lovely, as was Kate Winslet

I want a Swarovski crystal curtain for the doorway in between the dining room and living room.

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis

The one thing you'd think they couldn't f*ck up was the memorial. But they did it.

Oh, and I thought it was the best memorial ever. Beautiful live song, so many touching deaths, the side screens with the alternative images from the dearly departed's body of work. And the camera work only bothered me in that it sometimes moved in too close to see those other screens. Really, the most moving Oscar memorial I have ever seen.

The new format was fantastic. The troupe of past acting winners presenting en masse was inspired, and reached it's zenith with the completely touching Best Actress presentation. This new tack really highlighted the value of the nomination, and downplayed the crapshoot of the win. Loved it.


Similarly innovative was the montage of Best Director noms, intersperced with films that likely provided influence and inspiration.

The medley trio of best nominated song was such an improvement over dragging them out one-by-one throughout the entire show. I liked the clever backstage set for the costumes/make-up/design/cinematography and the cool speaker set for the sound awards.

Speaking of sets - - the crystal curtain prosenium was absotabulary gorgeous, OMG.

Jackman's "thrown-together" opening number was hillarious. Ben Stiller as Joaquin Phoenix, histerical. Steve Martin and Tina Fey, funny as all hell. Who was in that other comedy bit, with the stoner dude and the cinematographer? All the comedy scored big.

The comedic touches in the acceptance speeches were also bizarre and great. The tightrope walker balancing the Oscar on his chin! WTF. The two separate Japanese acceptances were classic comedy gold ... that fantastic audience shot of everyone going "huh?" - and the first guy who finished with "Domo Arrigato, Mr. Roboto" HAHAHAHAHAHA!


Despite that I thought the nominees were bleh, and the Slumdog streak retarded, I found this the best Oscar show literally in decades! Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Oh, Nicole Kidman was the most glorious vision of the evening.


Bleh on Sean Penn for being the only one from Milk not wearing a white knot. But thanks for the gay rights bit in your acceptance speech. Other Milk winner Lance Black also gave a moving speech on The Gay. So not a bad night for "my issue," but it was a drag that few other attendees wore the white knot.


Jerry Lewis looked better than I expected. Sophia Loren, though. OMG, poor woman. Generally not as many fashion faux-pas as in other years, though. Really a high class show.

And a great Oscar party at Le Chez. Thanks everybody. So.Much.Fun.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Who was in that other comedy bit, with the stoner dude and the cinematographer?

Seth Rogan and James Franco playing their characters (though Rogan much thinner now) from Pineapple Express.

I stopped watching at 8 o'clock (never did go back to my movie 'til then) and watched The Amazing Race instead because I was generally bored. My feeling watching it was that it must have been pretty compelling in person but made for semi-lame TV. The animation montage was awful but I've already forgotten the other montages (though it is good that they managed to get Transporter 3 and Death Race into the Oscar telecast).

The aspect I didn't like was the redundancy of describing each of the nominees: "Sound editing is important whether it is creating a space robot or mimicking large caliber gunfire while a man ages backwards. And the nominees are Wall-E and Benjamin Button." For some reason I found that annoying.

The responses I'm reading elsewhere are showing a strong love it/hate it split. My mood may have been helped if it were for the fact that most of the time the worst or second-worst movie (Slumdog or Button) was winning.

[Kevy Baby]

Jerry Lewis looked a lot better than I expected

[Ghoulish Delight]

Well, the only movies of note we saw this year were Frost/Nixon and Dark Knight, so I can make no comment about any of the big category winners.

I will comment muchly about the short film winners. HORRIBLE CHOICES!!! HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE! Boo, boo, boo, and triple that. Boo.

Okay, with that out of the way, LOVED the show itself. The presentation of the big acting awards was fabulous, though after the amazing, heartfelt presentations for best actress, the old men reading their lines off teleprompters for best actor fell kinda flat.

Did I miss Heath Ledger? I didn't see him. It was very hard to read the names.

Heath died in '07 or early '08 and was in last year's memorial.

I really liked the memorial this year. The multi-screen presentation, a beautiful live song performance. What wasn't to like?

Nicole Kidman was gorgeous. What the hell happened to Sophia Loren. Ouch.

Conspicuously absent were, Jack Nicholson and Samuel L. Jackson's hat.

But yeah, I though the writing, staging, and overall showmanship were outstanding this year, a real cut above what they've offered in a long time.

[ozron]

I have to agree - really enjoyed the show this year. Of course there were highs and lows.

Loved the opening number - hated the musical number.

I did like the presentation of the acting awards. It gave new meaning to the overused "It's an honor just to be nominated" statement. But yeah, the best actor presenters were generally awkward.

Torn on the memorial. I loved the multi-screens, but the camera work made it hard to focus - they actually pulled back at times to the point of not being able to read the captions. I generally like Queen Latifah, but I thought her performance was off. Not really a good song for her.

Overall, a B+.