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Techtite's TV Reviews! |
"Flaws, shmaws; this was the most fun I've had watching an awards show in years. Anyone who disagrees is wrong." ---from the review
------------------ Sidebar :: ------------- The Honorable Mentions. Any review of a three hour telecast is bound to leave some moments on the cutting room floor. Here are some moments worth mentioning in the side bar: Peter Gabriel, allegedly, refused to sing his Wall-e song when he learned he could only sing part of the song for time contraints. John Legend stepped in to sing the song in his place. Ben Stiller's Oscar shtick this year involved him dressing in a lavish beard, a la Joaquin Phoenix's similar shtick on David Letterman. Unfortunately, the joke required you to have actually seen Joaquin on Letterman. Kudos to co-presenter Natalie Portman for offering the singular laugh of the moment, as she remarked: ''You look like you work at a Hasidic meth lab." Comedy, thy name is Natalie Portman. Miley Cyrus was seen several times on every pre-show red carpet telecast yet was not on the stage once. Did we miss "Hanna Montana" during the musical number, or was poor Miley unused as a presenter this year? Yes we can all respect the irony of Hugh insisting "the musical is back" when it never left; Chicago won at the Oscars years ago, as well as Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls. As for Mama Mia: sorry, Meryl Streep lovers, though it wasn't that great as a film. It just wasn't.
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The 81st Academy Awards (Oscar Night 2009)
Let's cut to the chase: I loved it this year. Yes, I know; this year's Oscars has its detractors. Some people love musicals, and some do not. Some people love standup comics to host award shows, while some would love a lover of the Broadway stage give it a try. Some people loved Slumdog Millionaire, while others...never saw it. You'll get many different opinions of Oscar night 2009, which was a decidedly elite view of what Oscar should be, from the old school crowd.
Speaking of the winners; there were few surprises. You know that live poll that the E! network had for the major awards? They were right for every single one. Sean Penn would win for Milk, which one would've predicted would lead to a bitter, politically incorrect speech, yet Penn could offer little more than a tongue in cheek insult to the "commie, homo-loving sons of guns" who voted for him. Kate Winslet would win as Best Actress, offering one of the longest speeches of the evening that actually had her demanding her dad in the audience whistle so she knew where he was. While this sounds like a sweet moment ...she didn't even know where her own dad was in the audience? Maybe next time she can give dad her guest ticket and sit next to him, yes?
For the stoners who were watching (both of you), there was a film short of Seth Rogen and James Franco a la the stoner pic, Pineapple Express. Who felt that a salute to Pineapple Express was the perfect shtick for the Academy Awards? At least the musical number was typical of Oscar night's of yesteryear; this shtick was more like the time David Letterman had a stunt dog on stage. Seth and James look at their TV and mistake The Love Guru for Slumdog Millionaire, which amused the stoners, though when you mistake Mike Meyers' career-ending disaster with a Best Picture nominee, you really show how ignorant you are, "stoned" or not stoned. Props to Oscar-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski for being such a good sport in participating in this one. Otherwise: meh.
Sure, there were bumps in the carpet. Like how some presenters were clearly running on empty when saluting Oscar nominees they knew little or nothing about. There's no polite way to say "sorry dude I didn't even see the movie you're in," though seeing Cuba Gooding Junior's (hopefully) mock rant against Robert Downey Junior's nomination was painful to watch. Yes, Robert got nominated for playing a "black guy." After ranting on and on about the role, everyone was waiting for Cuba to say "just kidding" and offer some praise for Robert. He never did. Ouch.
Ah, yes, there was a unique memoriam this year. Yes, the camera man was drunk or, at best, soon to be fired, as he showed way too much of guest singer Queen Latifah and way too little of the actual memoriam. I'm not apologizing for this, though I do have to offer the following sarcastic observation: are people upset on behalf of the people who passed away, or more likely, are they just upset that they cannot see names placed on the faces, so they know who to applaud for, and who to ignore with rude silence? Seriously; the way some people get louder applause and others get none, is far ruder ---every single year--- than this memoriam could ever be. However: the way the video montage ended with an empty spotlight was a nice added touch. As for Queen Latifah: hey, we love you girl. It was hardly your fault that this memoriam was so disappointing.
Mind you; there are other opinions, who feel that the best way to deliver an awards show is to make it boring, bland, and lifeless. Yet you cannot deny that there were many Academy members who wished they had won their Oscar this year, and not, say, the year Michael Moore lost his marbles. Sure, it was a bit over the top at times. Love or hate musical numbers; at its worst, Oscar Night 2009 was entertaining. If you disagree, admit it: you honestly hate awards shows. It's that simple.
Opinions? Speak your mind in Techtite's Letters Page!
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Burnout
Near
Miss
Small
Crater
Large
Crater
Deep
Impact
This was the year Hugh Jackman hosted. Suffice to say
he did better than most.
Whether he was "perfect" is immaterial: Jackman gave the job his best
effort,
and it showed. Few hosts can be Billy Crystal, and even fewer can be Johnny
Carson. Yet Jackman attempted an opening shtick about Best Picture
nominees that was enjoyably Crytal-worthy, right down to the supposed
"sets" which were intentionally low-budget, for some added visual gags.
Funniest moment; when Jackman literally picks up Anne Hathaway from the
audience, to participate in the Frost/Nixon skit. The added joke was
that Anne was expected to be Richard Nixon. Anne hammed it up so well,
it's lucky for Kate Winslet that votes cannot be recast for Best
Actress.
Presenters
were, as always, a mixed bag. Any award for Best Presenter Moment would
have to go to those two wild and crazy guys, Tina
Fey and Steve Martin, who presented the screenplay awards with humor and
panache. Muses Tina: "It has been said that to write is to live
forever," while Steve quips: "The man who wrote that...is dead." While
the humor loses a bit in the translation, it was Tina and Steve's
excellent delivery and comedic timing which made this moment the best
presenter dialog of the whole evening. Even a simple line like "Don't
fall in love with me!" is comic gold when delivered by Steve Martin.
Bravo!
One unique twist
this year had each acting nominee announced by 5 prior winners. Many words have been said about
this format and I personally like the idea. It always annoys me how
irrelevant
and arbitrary the video clips are in prior Oscar nights, which
supposedly "show" in all of 10 seconds why each person was nominated,
but sorry...no, they never do. It was far more interesting to see Anne
Hathaway get misty eyed as Shirley MacLaine lavished her with praise.
Given the kudos and compliments she received, one might even say that was a better "award" than Oscar. Almost.
As
always, someone deserves Techtite's "For crying out loud get over
yourself" award. Every year there's someone who cannot wrap their mind around the fact that
being invited to the Oscars does not mean you have permission to rant about
whatever self absorbed minutiae comes to mind. Bill Maher's "Why wasn't
Ironically;
the same people who wanted the memoriam more understated, probably
wanted the "Angelina and Jennifer" moment to be overstated.
It wasn't, thankfully. You can forgive Jack Black for attempting to
lighten the moment with some idle banter; someone backstage worked very
hard to make Jennifer and Angelina's moment "together" as awkward as
possible, yet both ladies handled the moment with candor and grace. Not
a single scowl from Angelina in the audience, nor a single snide comment
from Jennifer on stage. While the Jennifer-loving tabloids will have a
field day with how Jen wore white and Angelina wore black, the truth is;
both ladies clearly want this tabloid story left in the past. As do we all,
really.
What
else can you say about an awards show which ends with not just the
producer, but the whole cast and crew coming on stage for Slumdog
Millionaire? Seriously, I could care less if you didn't see this fine
movie (and all you prepubescent trolls ready to say "I saw it and it
sucked," please shut up). The fact that this movie was made by a
producer humble enough to share the final spotlight, is exactly the
reason this sort of movie deserves the best picture Oscar. Imagine James
Cameron, for example, getting off his "King of the World" high horse and
sharing the stage for Titanic. It wouldn't happen.