Thought Jackman was pure cheese and not really that entertaining a host (Steve Martin provided some genuine laughs for the first time in aeons though); he's got a great voice, but I knew that. I thought the opening song clumsy and poorly written, don't even mention the "improvised" Anne Hathaway moment.
The "return of the musicals" routine was horrible (beside the fact musicals have never gone away... anyone forget a musical won best picture a couple of years ago?) and included a pretty ropey selection of music given what they could have used. "High School Musical 3" included? WTF.
Which brings me to the pervasive concept of shoehorning mainstream popcorn toss into an awards ceremony designed to celebrate film excellence. I understand they are attempting to appeal to the broadest demographic and not alienate the dumbass masses, but Will Smith introduced the "action" section, which included clips of some of the worst action dross of the year talking up how he loved "car chases, guns and stuff blowing up" and the award he presented went to... Iron Man? The Dark Knight? No, "Benjamin Button".
The animation section similarly featured some awful CGI kids films. Did "Space Chimps" really need heavy exposure on Oscar night? No.
Bunching the awards together into appropriate catagories was a smart idea, and moved everything along nicely.
The acting awards featuring personal commentary on the five nominees by a previous winner was genuinely horrible and something I hope never to see again. Some choices of speech-giver were appropriate and well considered (De Niro to Sean Penn for example), others embarrassing (practically all the actresses to each other, Adrien Brody to Richard Jenkins practically admitting to the world he'd never heard of him till he googled him!). It was just masturbation. They've been nominated... we know they can act... show a clip and get on with it.
Delighted that: Kate finally won. Man on Wire too.
Disappointed that: Waltz with Bashir lost. Mickey lost (but Sean is pretty much the best actor out there, so okay). Peter Gabriel lost (but kudos for refusing to sing the nominated song in a truncated form intermixed with the generic curry house music of Slumdog). Would rather Heath hadn't got it (but not included in the Obits list -odd?). Most disappointed that Slumdog cleaned up. A truly unworthy 8 time Oscar winner compared to superior work all round as I hope history will reflect. I stand largely alone, but I still think it's a very average film that happened to hit the zeitgeist.
Still... I managed to guess 13 of 24 and won my sweepstakes, so it wasn't an entirely wasted evening....
Seeing as a friend of mine in Singapore (not Bife) kindly texted me on sunday night so when I awoke in a blurry daze on monday morning I was halfway through the Oscar results before I had a chance to know what I was doing i could watch the ceremony (truncated for European Audiences) with a critical eye in the production rather than the awards.
I thought the whole thing was very slick, the humour just the witty side of sychophantic.
How economical of them to choose a presenter who was also the male lead in all the dance numbers (though they were great fun in a cheesy way)
All in all a good show, and the awards were ok though Milk should have won more... though it doesn't really matter as they're all a bunch of commie homo's.
Here are my preferences, in descending order. I'm indifferent between ones on the same line. (Round brackets indicate a film I haven't seen.) [Square brackets indicate a film that hasn't been nominated, of which I'll add more later.] Bold indicates my guess, and it is very much a guess in many cases, for the winner. The wording is all from before the results but a larger size indicates the actual winner.
Actor in a Supporting Role Heath Ledger The Dark Knight Should have got an Oscar for Brokeback Mountain. Doesn't deserve it for this, but as there isn't going to be any other opportunity this will have to do. I think we can all consider this category a foregone conclusion. The other nominees will be practising their delight faces already. Robert Downey Jr. Tropic Thunder Should have had a leading nomination for Iron Man instead. Josh Brolin Milk Michael Shannon Revolutionary Road Philip Seymour Hoffman Doubt Hate him for getting the Oscar that Ledger should have had, so he'll always be at the bottom of my list of preferences. Anyway, he's fine in this but he's been better in other things and Streep outshines him here.
Actress in a Leading Role Angelina Jolie Changeling This film has been overlooked in general and she is excellent in particular, but as she's already won once perhaps they will go with Winslet and I'm all right with that too. Kate Winslet The Reader She's the best thing about this film and she deserves an Oscar for her career overall. Anne Hathaway Rachel Getting Married Great actress in general and great in this. She's excellent at conveying a huge amount with tiny expressions. I'm torn between these four performances, and I've only really placed Hathaway as my third preference because Changeling is a better film and it's about time Winslet won. Meryl Streep Doubt Excellent even though it's her standard hard-woman-with-a-soft-side fare. Her timing is really good in this. I'm only placing her fourth as she has had plenty of accolades in her time. (Melissa Leo Frozen River)
Actress in a Supporting Role Penelope Cruz Vicky Cristina Barcelona Deserves an Oscar for something, so she may as well get it for this. I've seen all the nominees now and I think her performance is the best. Marisa Tomei The Wrestler Amy Adams Doubt/Viola Davis Doubt Both good supporting performances, and Davis packs a lot into a short time on screen, but I didn't get the feeling that the film would have been drastically affected by different casting. Taraji P. Henson The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Animated Feature Film [Waltz with Bashir] WALL�E Bolt I wasn't much looking forward to this as it was so heavily and lengthily trailered, but I enjoyed it much more than I expected. Kung Fu Panda
Costume Design Milk This is mainly just a vote for this film on my part. The clothes capture the time pretty well, and none of the other films much impressed me in this department. Australia The Curious Case of Benjamin Button I cannot really tell which the Academy will go for so this is just a wild guess. Revolutionary Road The Duchess
Directing Milk I find this category very hard to judge, as I don't really know which things the director controls in which cases, but of the things wrong with this film that spring to mind at the moment, none seems like it could be directorial. Frost/Nixon Slumdog Millionaire A few bits in this are really lame and could have been tightened up quite easily. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Reader I was going to put this top at first till I remembered the interminable first act.
Film Editing Slumdog Millionaire Frost/Nixon I'll take a punt on this one being the bone that this film gets thrown. Milk I don't really know what counts as editing. Does the repetition of a key scene count? I'm assuming it does, which is why this is lower than it otherwise might be. I hate when they think audiences won't be able to tie things together themselves with something from only two hours previously. The Dark Knight The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Music (Score) Slumdog Millionaire The music from none of these made any impression on me, so I'm basically guessing even for my own preference. Although it wasn't memorable, this one presumably has some Indian music in it so I'll go with it as a Bollywood vote, and the trailer features The Sun Always Shines on T.V. so perhaps that is in the film too. Milk I forgot to listen out for the music in this, but I'll put it second anyway. WALL�E As there's not much talking, there's presumably a fair bit of music in this, although I have no idea what it's like other than assuming it's slow and spacey. Defiance I liked the folk-music scene but I don't know whether the score reflects that style at all. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Again, I forgot to listen out for the music and it made no impact at all.
Music (Song) Jai HoSlumdog Millionaire/O SayaSlumdog Millionaire No idea what each of these is like. Don't know whether two being nominated means that one will win or that they will split the vote. I'll plump for the first one and try to hear them before the ceremony. Down to EarthWALL�E
Short Film (Animated) Presto I'm guessing they may go for something more alternative for the little awards, but as I have only seen this one and it's good I'll plump for it all the same. (Lavatory Lovestory)/(Oktapodi)/(This Way Up) (La Maison en Petits Cubes) I've put this one bottom for being too lazy to put itself on the I.M.D.B. by the time it was nominated.
Sound Mixing Slumdog Millionaire Maybe the sound of the city is quite atmospheric in this. The Dark Knight WALL�E Wanted The Curious Case of Benjamin Button I am pretty sure that this category was not listed on the Oscars website when I copied all of the nominations across, and I did not know about it till the results were announced. I have therefore copied my preference order and guess from Sound Editing since I don�t really know the difference and thus would have made the same choices. This is the only nomination that is different and so I have placed it last.
Writing (Adapted Screenplay) Doubt The Reader Slumdog Millionaire I might have put this top but it either adapted some idiotic elements into the film or failed to adapt them out. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Frost/Nixon It�s adapted from a play which was adapted from real events for many of which there is footage, so how hard a job could it be compared to the other nominees?
My success rates: Preferences: 11/21. Guesses: 10.5/21. Either or both: 14.5/21. (For Song, I have applied 0.5/1 to my winning preference; I have also applied a potential 0.5/0.5 to each of the Sound categories.)
My success rates: Preferences: 11/21. Guesses: 10.5/21. Either or both: 14.5/21. (For Song, I have applied 0.5/1 to my winning preference; I have also applied a potential 0.5/0.5 to each of the Sound categories.)
I got 5/11 of my preferences that I made a choice about above. As some have noted, I did not make a choice about Best Actress or Supporting Actress because I had not seen enough of the nominated films in those category to make an educated decision, however I was happy that Kate Winslet and Penelope Cruz won as I did see their two films and felt they gave Oscar-worthy performances.
We have Oscar noms!
Posted - 02/24/2009 : 04:16:58
