I think that a Best Song Oscar should go to a song that played a role in the actual film, and was not just the soundtrack to the credits.
The culmination of the evening should be Best Picture. After all, it is the award that recognizes all of the other categories coming together. I don't care that you want the last Oscar to be given to Chadwick Boseman.
P.S. Shocked that Frances McDormand beat Viola Davis just now.
Re: Oscars Pet Peeves
Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 9:16 pm
by Appa23
Oops. Anthony Hopkins won. So, why not do Best Picture last?
They pulled the same "stuff" with the Grammy Awards, where Album of the Year was awarded prior to Song of the Year and Record of the Year, IIRC. It certainly was not last.
Re: Oscars Pet Peeves
Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 9:31 pm
by silverscreenselect
This year's Oscar production was the worst I can recall. I understand that the coronavirus limited some of the things they might otherwise have done and that some nominees and winners were in foreign countries, but not having clips of the nominated performances (instead having the presenter reveal the first movie that made an impression on each nominee) was a bad mistake.
They also rushed through some parts of the In Memoriam section, leaving a few faces on screen for less that a second, so that many people couldn't ever read the title card to see who the person was. If they knew how many people that had to show in the segment, it should have been easy to play one or two songs that gave everyone enough time to be recognized.
There also didn't seem to be a reason why Renee Zellweger presented the Best Actress Oscar and Joaquin Phoenix the Best Actor instead of vice versa as is traditional. As Appa indicated, I'm sure the producers expected Chadwick Boseman to win and wanted some sort of tribute to him to end the evening. But the disappointment when Hopkins was mentioned was evident, and it felt like a very unseemly rush to end the broadcast. For what it's worth, I saw The Father, and this is one of Hopkins' best performances. If Chadwick Boseman hadn't died, there would have been no doubt that Hopkins would have won.
And there was no reason why the nominated songs couldn't have been performed in their entirety instead of a 20-second clip apiece.
Past Oscar shows seemed to go on forever with poorly chosen production numbers and ill-fated attempts at humor. This one was the opposite, with too little humor and endless acceptance speeches.
One last observation. It's a telling commentary on mainstream Hollywood filmmaking that if the pandemic hadn't occurred and the studios kept their original release schedule for 2020, the nominees tonight would have been pretty much the same except for a couple of technical categories.
Re: Oscars Pet Peeves
Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 9:49 pm
by franktangredi
I was so relieved by the absence of "entertainment" and their not relegating the Hersholt awards to another program that I didn't care about anything else. I woudnt have traded Tyler Perry's speech for any number of musical numbers.
Trivia question: What was the only other time that Best Picture was not the last award given?
Re: Oscars Pet Peeves
Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 9:52 pm
by MarkBarrett
As long as the Oscars went it did not surpass the Dodgers/Padres game that started earlier and is still going.
Yeah, the producers got burned on Boseman not winning. Poor finish to the telecast.
For the trivia I'm guessing some director won last though can't recall who.
I was so relieved by the absence of "entertainment" and their not relegating the Hersholt awards to another program that I didn't care about anything else. I woudnt have traded Tyler Perry's speech for any number of musical numbers.
Trivia question: What was the only other time that Best Picture was not the last award given?
I just saw this addressed in an Entertainment Weekly story.
Re: Oscars Pet Peeves
Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 10:57 pm
by silverscreenselect
To make the Anthony Hopkins/Chadwick Boseman debacle worse, Joaquin Phoenix clearly didn't want to be up on stage and basically thumbed his nose at the producers before announcing the winner. I've got to believe that Renee Zellweger would have handled the entire situation much better and with more dignity.
A lot of people are now dissing Anthony Hopkins for not showing up at the Oscars. The man is 83 years old. I don't blame him if he doesn't want to attend a ceremony in this environment. I'm wondering if they offered him the option of appearing on a Zoom-type feed or not (the other remote nominees appeared to be in various theaters or similar venues).
Answering my own question, apparently they banned zoom feeds for the Oscars because they had problems at the Golden Globes and similar awards shows. Yet another brilliant decision by the producers. And Steven Soderbergh was responsible for this mess.
Re: Oscars Pet Peeves
Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2021 7:17 am
by bazodee
I enjoyed this year's show a lot. First because Union Station is my favorite public space in Los Angeles and second, because the show just didn't seem overly produced. The most important criteria though, is that the awards were spread around half a dozen movies or so. There's nothing more boring than Titanic winning 12 Oscars.
All that said, I agree with SSS's two criticisms. The In Memoriam section was absolutely botched and disrespectful. I don't know why any music director would feel the need to sync the music to the images. And second, it was a bonehead decision not to award Best Picture as the finale. We all know why they did it, but it does give me some reassurance and inspire some integrity that even the producers of the show don't know what's inside the envelopes.
I get the feeling that this is how the Oscars from the 1930s might have looked.
Re: Oscars Pet Peeves
Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2021 7:20 am
by BackInTex
I honestly didn't even know the Oscars were on last night until I read something about them this morning.
I feel pretty good about that as in this day and age I can't think of anything less relevant or important.
I get the feeling that this is how the Oscars from the 1930s might have looked.
You're probably right. But the difference is that the Oscars this year were trying to get people interested in going back to theaters again, and they failed miserably. Nobody watching the show came away with any better idea about the nominated movies than they had before. Rather than show why films got nominated for costume design or visual effects (both of these no-brainer categories to demonstrate), they had disinterested presenters reading cue cards with dull anecdotes about the life stories of the various nominees in each category. Anyone who wanted to see Nomadland has already seen Nomadland on Hulu. I doubt anyone will say, "Wow, that Nomadland looks like a great movie. Maybe I should check it out."
And it turned out that the single most entertaining moment in the show, Glenn Close's twerking routine, was scripted in advance (although I'd love to hear what got bleeped out of her and Andra Day's comments). For an example of real class that might have eased a bit of the bad taste from the end of last night's show, here's Anthony Hopkins's comments (that he didn't get to deliver last night because of the ban on Zoom feeds):
And second, it was a bonehead decision not to award Best Picture as the finale.
This gets even worse. It's being reported that Olivia Colman had agreed to accept the Oscar on Hopkins' behalf if he won, but somehow that got lost in the rush to get it over with. I'd put most of the blame for this on Joaquin Phoenix, who shouldn't have been presenting this award in the first place.
Oops. Anthony Hopkins won. So, why not do Best Picture last?
They pulled the same "stuff" with the Grammy Awards, where Album of the Year was awarded prior to Song of the Year and Record of the Year, IIRC. It certainly was not last.
I believe there are only two human beings on the planet who know who won any particular Oscar before the envelope containing the winner's name is opened. And neither of them is involved in determining the order of presentation. --Bob
Oops. Anthony Hopkins won. So, why not do Best Picture last?
They pulled the same "stuff" with the Grammy Awards, where Album of the Year was awarded prior to Song of the Year and Record of the Year, IIRC. It certainly was not last.
I believe there are only two human beings on the planet who know who won any particular Oscar before the envelope containing the winner's name is opened. And neither of them is involved in determining the order of presentation. --Bob
This is one of those commercials. “Thank you Captain Obvious.”
A lot of people are now dissing Anthony Hopkins for not showing up at the Oscars. The man is 83 years old. I don't blame him if he doesn't want to attend a ceremony in this environment. I'm wondering if they offered him the option of appearing on a Zoom-type feed or not (the other remote nominees appeared to be in various theaters or similar venues).
I'm sure Charley Pride wishes he had missed his last awards ceremony.
A lot of people are now dissing Anthony Hopkins for not showing up at the Oscars. The man is 83 years old. I don't blame him if he doesn't want to attend a ceremony in this environment. I'm wondering if they offered him the option of appearing on a Zoom-type feed or not (the other remote nominees appeared to be in various theaters or similar venues).
I'm sure Charley Pride wishes he had missed his last awards ceremony.
Ann Roth wasn't there, either. She's 89 and is now the oldest woman ever to win a competitive Oscar. Which not enough people have commented on (the record she set, not her not being there.)
A lot of people are now dissing Anthony Hopkins for not showing up at the Oscars. The man is 83 years old. I don't blame him if he doesn't want to attend a ceremony in this environment. I'm wondering if they offered him the option of appearing on a Zoom-type feed or not (the other remote nominees appeared to be in various theaters or similar venues).
I'm sure Charley Pride wishes he had missed his last awards ceremony.
Ann Roth wasn't there, either. She's 89 and is now the oldest woman ever to win a competitive Oscar. Which not enough people have commented on (the record she set, not her not being there.)
Another thing I thought about in the last couple of days. At age 83, I'm not sure how many additional Oscar-caliber performances we can get out of Anthony Hopkins. He needs to stay in reasonably good health, of course, and he could go on for another decade like Christopher Plummer did. But you need the right role in the right film to get an Oscar nomination (unless you're Meryl Streep), and there may not be that many more opportunities for Hopkins.
BTW, he has a film coming out Friday called "The Virtuoso," in which he plays a character called The Mentor, who is an advisor to some sort of secret agent. I'm guessing that he probably spent one or two days on set, had most or all of his scenes on a television screen or similar remote device, and received a decent paycheck for lending his name to the project. He can get those roles all he wants, but they won't generate any more Oscar bids.
Ironically, if Boseman had won the Oscar this year and Hopkins never gets another nomination, in 30 years people would be talking about how he was robbed.
Re: Oscars Pet Peeves
Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:31 am
by mellytu74
I cannot bring myself to watch The Father. Still too difficult.
That said, I have no doubt that Hopkins was brilliant because he's Sir Anthony Hopkins.
That said ....
BEST PICTURE GOES LAST!!!!
FFS!!!
DON'T SCREW WITH IT!!!
That is all.
Re: Oscars Pet Peeves
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 6:00 am
by ghostjmf
As no-one has yet commented, all the songs *were* performed in their entirety, in the "before" show.
Not a one of them impressed me.
I think the one that should have won was the half-in-Italian belt-out, a pretty standard example of such but at least it was that.
Re: Oscars Pet Peeves
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 9:53 am
by T_Bone0806
They messed up. Period.
Anyway, as far as the awards themeselves, I've seen all of the films nominated in the major categories, and I guess I can see why Nomadland won, it's classic Oscar bait, but as far as personal entertainment value goes, I most enjoyed "Chicago 7", with "Sound of Metal" just a tick behind.
In the controversial Actor category, I saw Boseman after everyone except Hopkins and thought, no way ANYBODY tops that performance. Then I watched Sir Anthony, and thought Uh-oh....
As no-one has yet commented, all the songs *were* performed in their entirety, in the "before" show.
Not a one of them impressed me.
I think the one that should have won was the half-in-Italian belt-out, a pretty standard example of such but at least it was that.
If it was up to me, I'd eliminate the category altogether. It made some sense back in the days when there were a lot of movie musicals. But it created a situation where songs were stuck into movies just as Oscar bait.
As no-one has yet commented, all the songs *were* performed in their entirety, in the "before" show.
Not a one of them impressed me.
I think the one that should have won was the half-in-Italian belt-out, a pretty standard example of such but at least it was that.
If it was up to me, I'd eliminate the category altogether. It made some sense back in the days when there were a lot of movie musicals. But it created a situation where songs were stuck into movies just as Oscar bait.
I really like the song "A Softer Place to Fall," but it's one of those that got stuck in over the closing credits to The Horse Whisperer. As much as I like the song, I have to agree with y'all that the songs should be relevant to the movie, or drop the category entirely.