Monday Morning Oscar Quaterbacking

We did watch the Oscars. We decided not to let the finger pointing between Cablevision and ABC getting in the way of our continuous streak of Oscar Viewing. So we got a cheap room at a local hotel that did have ABC (and not much else on its cable system) and settled in for an evening of Oscar watching.

The Barbara Walter’s Oscar Night Special was more about it being the last special than it was about the Oscars. Both interviews felt more like footnote than a part of the festivities. I can understand why Barbara wants to go out while it is her choice, I just don’t think that was the way to do it.

The red carpet had a lot of blue dresses on it. Ariel commented that Blue must be the new black these days. Over all there were the usual hits and missed and gee I wish I had the body to carry that dress off. Miley Cyrus looked very uncomfortable in her dress. Her posture was way off. Someone needs to teach these young teens how to walk in evening wear.

As to the ceremony itself, I though that Mr. Martin and Mr. Balwin did a good job. The jokes were all within the context of the show and at the expense of the audience members which, honestly, I like better than lots of topical humor which really puts in into a time and a place a little too much. I didn’t miss the singing of all the songs and I wish they would get rid of intros for best actor/actress from people who previous worked with them on something (which is how they got Oprah in there). Those went on a little bit too long. The dance number was interesting and a little different. The salute to Horror used a really loose interpretation of what a horror film is. I mean really Marathon Man? Really? Not a lot of montages and I didn’t miss them. It made the John Hughes one really stand out.

Onto the Awards themselves. Am I surprised that Hurt Locker won as often as it did? A little, but upon reflection I can see why. Think about who is the majority of the voters in the Academy (I’ll give you a minute) (Cue Jeopardy theme) OK, what are actors Alex? Correct. Actors who probably see something like Avatar as a threat the way they use to see animated movies as a threat to their livelihood.

Avatar did get some technical awards and those are well deserved. Art direction and Cinematography make sense in terms of what new ground was broken in film. And Visual Effects was a slam-dunk. Peter said he didn’t see why the group wasn’t walking towards the stage before they announced the nominees.

We will honestly never know if Avatar would have won under the old rules. The new rules are rather convoluted and are suppose to be more fair but I am unsure about it. So pundits will argue about it for years and scifi fans have yet another Oscars to crab about.

I did like the costume designer, Sandy Powell, pointing out, in her very dry British wit, that modern dress and low budget films and even the future need to be looked at as seriously as the historic costume drama are. But she ain’t giving back one of her Oscars thank you. And I though well that was a very clever barb thrown at the Academy. Personally I though that Parnassus should have won considering the scope of the design work. I can see Star Trek getting it for Make-up compared to the competition.

I think it was nice that Up won for score and the song from Crazy Heart had been the odds on favorite since it was nominated.

Hurt Locker got a lot of love including director (first woman) and film. It sort of broke the myth that you had to release a film near Oscar time to get any traction since it was released back last March. I have yet to see it but we do have it on DVD and it is going to the top of the pack along with Precious.

So overall not a bad night of Oscar watching. It did go on a bit but not as long as some other ceremonies have gone.

I am grateful that we saw all of the Oscars rather than jumping in 15 minutes late.