The 86th Annual Academy Awards

The Colour Purple and The Turning Point both for 0 for 11, while Hustle joins Gangs of New York and True Grit (2010) in 0 for 10.

 

Yea it was fun to watch . It was enjoyable seeing Ellen there and seeing the audience be relaxed. And the pizza part, totally made of win .

 

Although I had fun with some friends kind enough to host an Oscar party with fancy eats, the awards show was a shell of its former self. The event we attended was a game... we all had chosen awards beforehand (and were marking each others') we had to pay attention to at least the winners of each category. So we were reasonably attentive to the awards show and it's winners.

It first became apparent to me when the winner going to the stage to accept their award was not accompanied by a live voice over giving us a list of previous wins/nominations. "this is the first win for Jared Leto, previous nominations... etc"

That's weird. I wonder why they didn't do that? Cutbacks, as always?
The stage was pretty barren.

The speeches seemed drastically shorter than ususal (one guy didn't get to say anything as the music started the moment he tried to talk into the mic) so that they could bore us endlessly with pointless musical numbers - why did Bette Midler belt out Did You Ever Know That You're My Hero halfway during hour three?
There was another especially pointless movie montage before a commercial break during the third (unusually long and boring) hour. They played a lot of classic clips from legendary sci-fi - and then we went into commercials, wondering what the montage was supposed to lead into (nothing, we guessed).

I really thought in more recent years the show had become shorter, more streamlined and efficient. But if last night's was any indication it was the opposite. Ellen was great but so much of the show was executed clumsily. It seemed as though their budget had been slashed in half.

Anyway, that's my rant. I've watched most of the shows in recent years while on the continent but I've never seen such a barebones, phoned-in, focus-on-the-wrong-thing non spectacle as we witnessed last night. They scaled in back after 9-11 and again after the 2008 recession but this was a new level of ambiguity and complacency. I didn't miss the controversy or hype - just irritated by all the unnecessary filler.

The Twitter pic was kinda funny. But the Golden Globe was much better this year and paled the Oscars by comparison. It had energy, the speeches were great and they cut it down to three hours (anything more is too long)!

 

I would be more than happy if they would get rid of the irrelevant music numbers (Pink and Bette Milder---why?). They have nothing to with the awards. I don't mind the clips--they're fast and usually fun, and it fits in with having a "theme." But all they need for music are the best songs and small clips for best score. Please, no dance numbers, no stupid musical numbers that have nothing to do with the awards.

 

1) Glad to see Sarah Jones was included, even if just via chyron after Bette Midler finished singing. We both worked on Army Wives until it ended (she started her career interning there; I joined the show in season 5) and I am almost positive I met her (albeit briefly) when I was in Charleston for the show's last week of shooting and wrap party back in 2012. Either way, it was good of the Academy to acknowledge her tragic passing and the uproar the accident has created in the industry and the spotlight it is putting on everyone of us who work Below the Line. I know all my colleagues from AW who worked with Sarah and knew her better than I really appreciated it.

2) The Oscar Selfie was cute. But for the love of God, people need to stop reposting it. I've seen it approximately 9,232,491 times between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even here since last night and I'm over it. Yay! Ellen took a photo on her Samsung Galaxy. Over it. (Though I bet Apple is kicking themselves that it wasn't an iPhone they used. )

3) Loved Bill Murray's shout-out to Harold Ramis. Really loved Meryl Streept rocking out with Pharrell.

 

Yeah, agreed on the musical numbers. To use Bette Midler as an example, we already had the perfect music playing during the montage. Her appearance seemed rather superfluous, especially in light of what was already perfect. Speaking of which, I thought the obit montage was really well done. We lost a lot of good people this year

 

This year is the 75th anniversary of the premiere of The Wizard of Oz. It makes sense that the Academy would want to commemorate one of the most beloved films of all time at the ceremony it started to honor itself every year.

As for Bette Midler's performance of "Wind Beneath My Wings": The Academy, smartly I think, began having musical performances during the In Memoriam segment to avoid/discourage applause for individual people shown in the montage. Even with the orchestral music alone, people in the theater would applaud vigorously and loudly for well known names but not everyone. Nor would people just wait till the end. It happens every year. Does it take up time? Yes. But it's also a compromise. The consensus was/has been that applause made it even more apparent that the whole thing (the In Memoriam segment, let alone the Oscars) is a popularity contest and viewed as disrespectful to hear everyone in the theater clapping away for some famous actor or director but barely a whisper for those not as famous.

 

Matthew McConaughey will probably have an Emmy for True Detective to put next to his Oscar later this year.

 

Thanks for that nice bit of perspective. It's sometimes hard to get a sense of why something is done when viewers watch it at home. I really enjoyed the segment overall. I'll say this, Bette Midler looked quite good.

 

She's getting some flack for the Liza M. joke and the drag queen reference from some people in the gay community.

Meh - I think some people have completely lost their sense of humor.

 

I'm not part of the gay community but I still thought Ellen's Liza joke was kind of "mean" and a bit cheap. If she had left it at "okay, you look like a Liza impersonator", that would have been okay, but Ellen (if I'm not mistaken), called her "sir", or something like that. Age has caught up to Liza as it will all of us (if we are lucky), so trying for a laugh by pointing out that she no longer looks like a "young girl", just seemed unnecessary and ...cheap.

Spike Jones SO deserved that Oscar for his brilliant take on romance. I thought Gravity received way more hype than it deserved but I wasn't upset that Cauron won best director. I think he did a great job of harnessing the dazzling special effects and not allowing them to overwhelm his actors. And I'm with all who are unable to understand how a movie as brilliantly acted as American Hustle, could get shut out of the acting awards.

When I forst looked at this picture, quite naturally my eyes went to the beautiful Angelina, but then my eyes cut to Brad and ... . Dude is at home, in front of the T.V. All he needs is a beer.

 

Perhaps it's because I'm smitten with Bette, but I loved her performance, and thought it was pitch perfect for its intended purpose.

I also enjoyed Pink's performance. I knew that girl had a set of pipes, but it's nice to hear them every once in a while. Yes, yes, I'm smitten with her, too.

I will say that when I saw the text pop up with Sarah Jones, I felt some relief, because I noted that she wasn't in the montage. You immediately came to mind when I saw it, so kudos to you, DoubleOh, on doing your part to keep her remembered.

 

Yeah, totally. I adored that movie. Just so much fun! Guess it came out the wrong year though. Would have liked to have seen it win for best costuming. Loved the vibe and the setting. Recently watched Now You See Me which is a similar type of movie, which only reinforced to me how important a good script has to be in order to pull this kind of movie off.

 

I thought the joke was hilarious, and Liza seemed to take it all in stride (she posed with Ellen in a selfie a short time later). The truth is that a lot of men dress as Liza, and Liza knows this. The joke was harmless in every way. The only newsmedia taking note are the gossip rags, and Twitterverse Faux Outrage patrol who repeatedly insist Liza was upset, and that she was angry, even though they have nothing to go on. The video shows Liza a bit shocked, but amused. Her sister was certainly laughing.

It's funny, because now some are calling Ellen "transphobic," which is just really hyperbolic, and what I expect from the Twitterverse, and muck rakers with an agenda. Again, her joke was silly, and harmless. Hell, Liza's been on Ellen's show a number of times, so this is just manufactured outrage.

 

Yeah, Brad was right at home, which is awesome.
Ellen doesn't have a mean bone in her body, at least as far as I can tell.

 

Best part was the Pizza delivery guy.. that was just so brilliant on so many levels and especially Brad Pitt who started handing out plates and napkins

Otherwise business as usual.. some movies get overlooked, some clear the stage in a kind of surprising award shower and there's always at least one winner who cries real tears and is really moved by the win of the Oscar. They become instantly memorable and people really wish them the best.

The selfie bit was also hilarious and true Ellen style.. "We broke Twitter!" That part reminded me of a hobby i once pursued where spread out through the years we attended several conventions and met people from other parts of the country regularly and it was always so much fun to reconnect and talk. I guess the same applies to actors and these award ceremonies which is a good opportunity just to have fun together with people you don't see often.

 

Yeah, I was really pleased with how they handled the "Memoriam" segment this time around . . . and not just because they included Richard Matheson and Ray Harryhausen.

In years past, directors have made the mistake of focusing on the singer at the expense of the actual tribute reel, even cutting away from the clips to show the singer or, worse yet, sticking the reel in the background while keeping the performer front and center.

"Hey, is that Ricardo Montalban up there in the corner, behind the singer's right-hand shoulder?"

Bringing Midler on after the tributes was a vast improvement.

 

Kevin Spacey talked about that, saying that they worked hard every day, and that what we see at the Oscars isn't what it's like all of the time, and that the Oscars give them a chance to relax and enjoy themselves. I agreed with that sentiment, and not just because it came from Kevin Spacey.