I've decided not to say too much about the 84th Oscars ceremony this year if only because of the circumstance that there really isn't much to say. Angelina Jolie looked like she hadn't eaten since last year's Oscars, Ben Stiller and Emma Stone took awkward to a new level, and Billy Crystal's face looks like F. Murray Abraham in Star Trek: Insurrection. The crop of movies this year was less than stellar, the host a retread, and the ceremony itself was less compelling than a day old can of Campbell's soup.
I remember a period of time from about 1995 to 2006 when I loved watching the Oscars. The jokes were funny, the races compelling, the fashion intriguing. Now everything is too predictable. Most people know what's going to win before the ceremony even begins, and lately the winners have been low budget little seen movies. I sincerely wish sometimes that the Oscars had a viewer component to it, where moviegoers could cast their vote for the best in each category. Since the Academy consists of only about 6,000 members and people who watch films number in the billions, I think that the latter have a better idea of what constitutes the "best" than the cinema elite.
Having said all this there were a few interesting moments throughout the night. I thought the best speeches were Spencer, Plummer, and Streep. For Spencer you see how much the award meant not only to her, but to her family, her friends, and the state of Alabama. Those were emotions that you simply can't act. Plummer came off as slightly pretentious however it was nice to have an actor admit that they've always wanted an Academy Award ("I've been preparing my speech since I was in the womb") rather than going with the hackneyed, "It was an honor just to be nominated." Sure it was. Lastly, I thought Streep's speech was the most sincere and humble. She was genuinely shocked that she won (as was I) and it was an incredible act of class that Streep went and hugged Viola Davis. However, unless Streep* plans to stop acting I think her statement that "this will be the last time I'm up here" is a little premature.
There were some funny moments too such as Billy Crystal entreating George Clooney to buy the Dodgers and Zach Galifianakis telling the audience "Hello I'm Zaff Ganiliakopoplisss...." I also thought it was fantastic when Billy Crystal did the "I know what they're thinking" bit. Having just a grunt in the mind of Nick Nolte cracked me up.
Additionally, I liked the fact that the Academy asked certain actors what their feelings about movies are. All of them, especially Jonah Hill and Ed Norton came off very sincere and it was nice to get a look into how actors in general feel about movies. Furthermore actors sharing their first movie experiences was particularly refreshing.
Overall however, I thought the production was extremely bland and that's due in large part to the crop of movies this year. Next year I sincerely hope that there are not only some major contenders but that the Academy really shakes things up and chooses a host or hosts that might stir some controversy. How about getting the cast from Modern Family to host? Or The Simpsons? My only early prediction for next year is that The Hobbit will be nominated in multiple categories including Best Picture and Director, and that The Dark Knight Rises has a 50/50 shot of being the first comic book film to be nominated for Best Picture.
Who knows? Maybe the Academy can take next year's Oscars from a vanilla flavor to vanilla bean.
I didn't sit down planning to watch the entire Oscar ceremony this year. Given my disdain with the whole idea since "Saving Private Ryan" lost Best Picture on "The Night the Oscars Died", why would I? However, as I watched the opening numbers segue into the first of the awards, I found myself oddly intrigued. There was a certain amount of logic which would dictate I shouldn't be so interested (a generally weak year for movies, I'd only seen one of the Best Picture nominees), but as happens so often in my life, I could only sit helplessly as logic went out the proverbial window.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that the Oscars sucks me in every time I sit down to watch? I don't consider myself a movie buff of any sort, and I'm about as far from being a "celeb lover/follower" as a person can be. And why is it that every year, when pundits across the world are decrying the ceremony as a whole as boring/unoriginal/pompous/insert-negative-connotation-here, the moments I remember are the Spencer moments, the Streep moments? Am I that positive an optimistic by nature? Or that naïve?
Following last year's Oscars, I wrote a piece for Corrye's previous movie blog trying to explain the power the ceremony has. The key quote: "Sunday night reminded me what is magical about the movies – the power of a well-written script and well-acted performance, the way a number of people can come together to create something influential, something authoritative – something great."
That statement remains true this year, despite the ceremony's flaws. I can't explain it, and I can't help it. Maybe I'm just a sucker.
There's no question that there were plenty of fall-flat clunker moments this year, many of which Corrye has already outlined. For my money, the worst among these was the Stiller/Stone presentation, which narrowly beat out the Downey/Paltrow one (although to be fair, I liked the latter in theory, if not in execution. The former was painful on every level). Still, I tend to overlook those moments as a mere annoyance in favor of those such as Octavia Spencer's win, Christopher Plummer's refreshingly honest acceptance speech, and Meryl Streep's classy and humble reaction to her victory*.
(* - Although, I couldn't help but think that there was a little bit of gamesmanship going on with Streep's "last time up here" comment. As it was stated in one of the articles I read, and I'm paraphrasing, unless she quits making movies altogether, she WILL be nominated again. She currently has 2 movies in pre- or post-production according to IMDB, so it's not like she's retired. I think she's trying to pull some sort of Jedi mind trick. Either that or she overly and unrealistically humble.)
There were plenty of funny moments too – a bunch of the one-liners by Crystal, the opening montage and song, and the Will Ferrell/"Zaff Ganiliakopoplisss" award presentation. If the Academy had huge cajones (hard to do when you have none), one of those guys would host next year. Preferably Galifianakis.
However, my favorite parts of the broadcast were the recurring bits with actors talking about movies. I understand that they’re a bit hokey, and probably wouldn’t have the same impact in a different context. But thanks to the responses given, and the great work on editing the pieces, they worked extremely well. For some reason (again, maybe I’m just a sucker), Adam Sandler’s comment about maybe having told an accurate story when he’s 85 resonated with me. Probably because that’s something I think about a lot – what will my story say when the book is closed on my life? People crap on Adam Sandler a lot, and rightfully so in most cases, but this one comment gained him a lot of points with me.
So, until next year. I can’t say that I’m going to watch any more movies in 2012 than I did in 2011, and I can’t promise I’m going watch the Oscars again next February. But I probably will. I can’t help it.
Chris Rock - best intro ever.
ReplyDeleteYeah, how did I forget that? "And they pay me A MILLION DOLLARS!" Hilarious.
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