Monday, February 27, 2012

The Oscars are very much not my Superbowl...


Rooney Mara said it best on the Red Carpet during her interview.  As you may or may not know, Rooney's family is very much involved in football, and the stupid interviewer asked her "Is this like your Superbowl?" Well, Rooney smartly responded "No, I don't think about the two in the same sentence".  Well DUH!  They are two very different things!  And as I am a girl who bleeds green all day every day, let the Oscars stand on their own!  The Superbowl is not the Oscars of football season (which would make more sense as the Oscars have been around far longer than the Superbowl). The Oscars are the Oscars, and they are fabulous!!  I don't remember when exactly I really started getting into awards shows.  But I do love love love awards season!!  Now, unlike my last post which was crazy wordy and went on for 78 awards (far far too many!) I am only commenting on the awards I care about in this post :)  Also, I have PICTURES!!  Get excited!  And before you get all legal speaky on me, I just googled them all, so... I consider that public domain.  I didn't take any of these photos and I don't take credit for them.  I just like to share them with you fine people!

First of all, Billy's opening was corny as hell,. but it was fine.  He cheeseballed it up and I dug it.  I actually really enjoyed his hosting.  I loved that he told Jonah Hill that if he didn't win last night that they were serving cupcakes after!  Lol... poor kid.  All of his funny melted away with his chub.  But to be honest, watching how he acts now and how he acted during Superbad... it's not that different.  It was just a lot funnier to see a chubby kid getting all worked up!

Cirque Du Soleil did a very cool performance but it did feel a little bit disjointed from the night.  I think maybe if you were actually there it might have flowed a bit better.  Later in the night they had girls with cigarette boxes handing out candy and popcorn old Hollywood style.  I could see that they were trying to play up that theme which was probably much more evident there than it was to the at-home-viewing audience.  But very cool and I'm dying to go to a show!

Ok, onto the awards!!

I am pretty upset that I haven't actually seen too many of the winners this season.  And actually, not even a solid number of the nominees.  So once my schedule calms itself a bit maybe I'll get on that.

For Achievement in Cinematography, I guessed that Hugo would win, and they did!

I haven't seen this film, but they kept showing a couple of the same clips and now I'm totally into it!  It looks fantastic, so if you have seen it don't ruin it for me!

For Achievement in Art Direction I guess Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, but Hugo won out.  


I was definitely surprised that Harry Potter didn't win this award although I haven't seen Hugo.  I just feel like Harry Potter leads the way in this area and has for years.  Maybe I'm biased.

For Costume Design, I guessed that W E would win.  But The Artist's Mark Bridges won out for his old school flapper style.

For Make Up, I again guessed that Harry Potter would win.  So many characters are transformed from their human selves into other worldly creatures.  But The Iron Lady won for transforming Meryl Streep into.. well... the Iron Lady, crooked teeth and all.

And it's true, they did a fabulous job.  Just looking at that pictures it kind of makes you do a double take.  She looks like someone kind of familiar, but on second look... no... you can't quite place her.  Really spectacular work.

So then it was time for foreign film.  I will admit to you that the only foreign film I ever recall actually seeing is Amelie, and only because my friend Eric in college sat me down and made me.  It was ok.  I didn't mind the subtitles.  But that was the extent of my reaction to it.  Sandra Bullock was super awkward on stage presenting this award.  I thought she was going for funny with the whole "My mother spoke German to us at home, so my Mandarin has a German accent" but... I don't think she really was.  And so it was mostly weird  But the Iranian man that won was lovely and his speech was kind of sad to me.  He sounded like a man pleading for a nation to give him a chance even though he was from Iran.  It was strange.  And I felt bad that he feels unwelcome.

For Actress in a Supporting Roll I guessed Octavia Spencer, but this was a really tough call.  All of the nominees deserved this award and are insanely talented.  But MAN am I glad I picked Octavia!

Not only did she win, she got a standing ovation and she had me crying before she even got on stage!  She was so humbled and happy and surprised!  It was an Oscar moment in its purest form and I loved it!!

And then Bradley Cooper came out.  Dear God somebody shave that hideous mustache off his face.  What the crap is that?!  It's terrible.

And again, I don't really do documentaries, but I guessed that To Hell and Back Again would win but Undefeated did.

Then Chris Rock came on.  And I like Chris Rock as a comedian.  I think he's a pretty terrible actor, but a fantastic comedian.  But can somebody get this man a haircut??  What is he trying to pull off?? Please tell me he's not going back to braiding.  That's not cute.

Anyway, his bit about doing animated voices being super easy was hilarious!  "What's the line?  Ok... 'It's hot outside today!' You like that? Ok great... what's the next line? AND THEY GIVE ME A MILLION DOLLARS!!!"  Awesome.

Anyway, the choices for Animated Feature Film weren't great, but I went for Kung Fu Panda 2 because I've heard good things from the kids about it.  Rango won!

So, I watched Rango one night.  I watched it because HELLOOOOOO it's Johnny Depp?  And I was expecting an adorable and witty cartoon about a lizard in the desert.  What I got was a depressing and shockingly adult story of greed, crooked characters and murder.  It is NOT a kids movie at ALL!  And I just don't think an animated movie should win if it's not for kids, ya dig?

Next was actor in a supporting role.  I guessed Christopher Plummer.  And I was right!  He won!

He is the oldest person to ever receive an Oscar at 82 years old.  From the research I've done, I can't see that this wonderful man with a delightful acceptance speech has ever even been nominated for an Oscar before.  Now, if you're saying to yourself that he looks familiar but you just can't place him... let me help you.

YEAH HE'S THAT GUY!!  The guy from the Sound Of Music, one of the greatest movies arguably of all time!  Not even nominated.  Crazytown.  Congratulations, Mr. Plummer.

Next was Original Score which I guessed Hugo would win.  Well I was wrong, and the Artist got this one.
Apparently Ludovic Bource has no formal training.  I took 11 years of private piano lessons, dabbled in the saxophone, cello, violin, and tenor sax, plus played the guitar for 2 weeks in 6th grade music class and I'm pretty sure I couldn't compose music for an entire movie.  So well done you, Ludovic.

For Original Song only had two nominees.  Real in Rio or Man or Muppet.  I guess Real in Rio.  I was wrong.
But these two were fantastic as usual!  And don't you just LOVE Piggy's dress??  Ugh.  So glam.

For Adapted Screen Play I guessed was Hugo.  I was wrong.  It was The Descendants, and I was glad to see it won something.  I like George.  He has this weird way of seeming like Mr. Perfect and the underdog all at once.

Also?  Angelina Jolie gave this award.  She was really pissing me off with her mousy brown hair and her little leg pop.  Really dude?  You're kind of washed up.  Everybody is Team Jennifer, go be a baby collector and hippy and also?  Has she not heard that skinny isn't hot anymore?  Throw some meat on those legs woman! Geez.

For Original Screenplay I guessed Bridesmaids, not because I particularly liked it but because America was so hype over it.  Midnight in Paris won which.... Eh.

My mom hated the movie.  I could take it or leave it.  I didn't think it was great.  But then I felt the same way about Bridesmaids so.  Whatever.

One thing about this... Woody Allen, as usual, was not at the Oscars to accept his award.  For the 3rd time. Woody, although being nominated several bajillion times, has only appeared once.  It was because the Academy specifically called him and asked to attend after the 9/11 attacks in "his" city.  I find all of this incredibly pretentious and uppity.  I did a little research and his reason for not attending is that he feels that art is so subjective that it's not possible to say that one is better or superior to another.  And that it is not good to become dependant upon others' opinions to validate yourself.  I agree with all of this, 100%.  However, these are honors.  Nowhere does the award say "best".  It says that the Academy feels that this movie, film, artist, etc. deserves an honor.  And how disrespectful to just refuse to even show up.  Show up, graciously accept the award, and state in a heartfelt manor that we are all great artists deserving of acknowledgement, and that you appreciate everyone of your colleagues past, present and future.  I feel that it is much more rude to snub everyone and refuse to attend the show.  But what do I know.

I skipped the next 3 categories because... eh.

For Directing, I guessed Martin Scorsese because... I mean come on.  Michel Hazavanicius won for The Artist (are you seeing a trend here??)

Then came my two favorite awards of the night.  Actor and Actress in a leading role.  I like them because they talk about the actor/actress's work over time and not just the year.  How their energy, talent and dedication has transformed generations and lives.  And as much as I hated to... I guessed Jean Dejardin for Best Actor not because I thought he should get it.  I hadn't even HEARD of the Artist before last night, or Jean Dejardin, and my Georgie was a nominee!!  But I just had this feeling....

And he was flustered and a little over the top "YES I ROCK LOOK AT ME I AM FABULOUS!" and it sort of made me cringe.  But he's French so I mean... eh.  Good for him.

And then Actress I guessed Meryl Streep because... It's Meryl!  And I felt like Glenn getting it for playing a man when she's already thisclose to being one anyway wasn't deserving, and any time I see a Meryl movie I adore it.  She's just one of the most talented people on the planet I think.  And I was right!

Someone commented that she has fake modesty.  I don't think she fakes modesty at all.  I think she knows she's fabulous and deserving of everything she gets. It's clear she works hard, always has and always will.  You think it's easy to stay in Hollywood as long as she has?  But the comment that she made at the beginning of her speech to her husband was so heartfelt that I definitely shed a tear.  And she really was lovely.

And last, but certainly not least, Best Picture.  I guessed the Help.  Although it was certainly one of the most talked about movies of the year, it was also, in my opinion, the movie with the most range of emotion, spoke to the most people and in generally was just done really well!  And again, I was wrong.

The Artist won best picture.  I'll probably watch this movie just because I mean... it won SO so much.  And the idea of seeing a silent movie is really interesting to me.  I've seen a number of Charlie Chaplin movies, but none like this.  So it should be interesting.  And maybe seeing it will change my mind about how it seemed to sweep the competition this year!

And can we chat about these ladies??

They rocked these dresses like nobody's business!  You go ladies!

But one of my favorite parts of the night was at the end with the Artist won best picture and the dog came up on stage as they all accepted the award...

Absolutely adorable!!

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