Oscar Reflections

[clem21]

Hugh Jackman was not very good, although it wasn't entirely his fault. Also he's not the sexiest man alive I think we all know who really is:

Spoiler

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Tilda Swinton is hot. How old is she again?

Cuba Gooding Jr. made the most predictable joke of the night...but it was still funny.

Heath Ledger deserved his award. And yet all I could think of while his family accepted it was "Why So Serious?" We'll miss you Heath.

Ben Stiller as Joaquin Phoenix was funny...

Danny Boyle has an awesome accent. Also he acted like Tigger. Very nice.

Mickey Rourke looks like a pimp.

It's got to be very disconcerting to sing one song while another person is singing a completely dissimilar one right next to you. Also, it's fun to say Rahman...

The musicals tribute was dull to me.

Sean Penn is very funny. Also, celebrity political speeches are always amusing. Penn is no Sacheen Littlefeather though...

All in all a thoroughly average night clearly in my not-so-humble opinion...

[Jeff Spicoli]

Even I got a mention....

Now where's Mike Phelps, because I need summore of that 420.

[silverscreenselect]

They said they didn't want to show a bunch of clips from Gone with the Wind this year. Instead we got clips from Space Chimps and Speed Racer. I don't think that was an improvement.

The idea of having past winners deliver a tribute to this year's nominees was a good one, but it was handled awkwardly. We still should have gotten to see a bit of the actors' performances themseles, especially for those like Richard Jenkins and Melissa Leo who aren't household names.

The tribute to the departed actors was handled very well but the camera wasn't in synch with what was going on so at times you couldn't see who was being remembered.

The best bit was Seth Rogen and James Franco.

Sophia Loren looks amazing for a woman of her age.

An improvement over recent years but there's still a ways to go.

[Thousandaire]

Sophia Loren looks amazing for a woman of her age. An improvement over recent years but there's still a ways to go.

I agree. She just gets better.

[Ritterskoop]

From 75 feet across the room, I could hear Queen Latifah singing "I'll be Seeing You" - one of the best-written songs ever by one of the better performers of this generation. I went running to the other end of the room, as it was between editions and I could stop for a second.

Damn West Coast race.

I hope her version of that song is available for purchase. Great combination.

[jsuchard]

Sophia Loren looks amazing for a woman of her age. An improvement over recent years but there's still a ways to go.

I agree. She just gets better.

I gotta disagree on this one. Until her stroke, I would have agreed that she was totally hot, for a septuagenarian. But she was scary looking to me last night.

[NellyLunatic1980]

I disagree with Clem. I thought Hugh Jackman was great. His opening musical number was fantastic.

But I do agree with Clem that Mickey Rourke looked like a pimp. Either that or he was trying to out-Depp Johnny Depp.

[Jeemie]

a) Where do you get that Phillip Seymour Hoffman is in any ways sexy? I hope that was a joke.

b) Even more puzzling, where do you get that Sean Penn is funny? I have never found him funny- unless, of course, someone else is writing his material.

[gsabc]

Hugh Jackman was terrific, and not on stage enough.

Anne Hathaway can really sing! I predict a Broadway musical appearance within the next two years.

The Comedy 2008 bit was incredibly unfunny, as were most of the comedies themselves. Those two should have been taking notes from Steve Martin and Tina Fey on how it's really done. Or from Ben Stiller - I was surprised Natalie Portman was able to hold it together through that bit.

Someone should have checked the positioning of Tina Fey's mike before she went on. It looked like her pet mouse was peeping up out of her dress below her cleavage.

Has Jerry Lewis had a stroke recently? He looked good, but sounded terrible. An long overdue Hersholt award for him, IMO.

I am not a Tilda Swinton fan re: her beauty. OTOH I'm also not a Cate Blanchett or Uma Thurman fan in that regard, either, so what do I know? Give me Anne Hathaway or Amy Adams, though ...

Ledger's family had every reason to be serious. What did you expect, jokes?

Singing music different from others on stage is par for the course for those folks. Nothing unusual about it. And I wish movie musicals WOULD come back. I'm going out today to get the filmed last performance of Rent on Broadway, and already own the movie version.

I am not, by and large, a fan of the Best Picture nominees for any year. The last one I watched got turned off 45 minutes into it. This year will be an exception, in that there are a couple I am interested in seeing, at least on DVD. We'll see how long my interest remains.

[danielh41]

Tilda Swinton is hot. How old is she again?

Really? I told my wife that she must be getting ready to play the White Witch again. She looked like she was shot in black and white while everything else was technicolor...

[Appa23]

Hugh Jackman was terrific, and not on stage enough.

Anne Hathaway can really sing! I predict a Broadway musical appearance within the next two years.

You should rent "Ella Enchanted". She does great versions of "Somebody to Love" and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart".

[Bob Juch]

a) Where do you get that Phillip Seymour Hoffman is in any ways sexy? I hope that was a joke.

b) Even more puzzling, where do you get that Sean Penn is funny? I have never found him funny- unless, of course, someone else is writing his material.

a) He must be thinking of when PSH played Capote.

b) Self-depreciating humor is generally funny.

[Jeemie]

b) Self-depreciating humor is generally funny.

Not always.

[marriedmefliesfree]

The idea of having past winners deliver a tribute to this year's nominees was a good one, but it was handled awkwardly. We still should have gotten to see a bit of the actors' performances themseles, especially for those like Richard Jenkins and Melissa Leo who aren't household names.

I really liked this....that, and the way the stage was constructed with the seating around the circle...it had a much more intimate feel than Oscars past. Nice to see them shake things up a bit!

[marriedmefliesfree]

Sophia Loren looks amazing for a woman of her age. An improvement over recent years but there's still a ways to go.

I agree. She just gets better.

I gotta disagree on this one. Until her stroke, I would have agreed that she was totally hot, for a septuagenarian. But she was scary looking to me last night.

I agree with the scary looking part. It may have been partly due to the drag queen eye makeup.

[Sisyphean Fan]

I was watching the Nuggets game, so I missed the red carpet show. But from just looking at the presenters and winners, I didn't miss much. The ones that stood out to me were Queen Latifah and Tina Fey. I'm not much on Tina Fey's work, but I've always thought she was a beautiful woman and she wore that gorgeous dress well.

I love Hugh Jackman! This show needed more Jackman! Hugh Jackman can do no wrong! He is Wolverine!

For those who've said how they like Tilda Swinton: If you've never seen it, look up Orlando. It was the first movie I ever saw her in years ago and it's a fabulous movie, she is incredible!

If I had to bet my house on something in this world, it would have been Heath Ledger getting Best Supporting, and I still teared up. I'm glad they didn't bring the little girl into all that.

The camera guys on the In Memoriam pissed me off, what was with all the cutaways? I couldn't even see the Cyd Charisse clips. However, I really liked the song over the top of it. For several reasons: That is one of my all time favourite makes me tear up songs (especially the Jimmy Durante version) and Queen Latifah has the most beautiful voice around. It's been a while sincen I've heard her do a sort of slow torch song and I'd kind of forgotten just how great she is in that genre. Can somebody tell me why Queen Latifah doesn't rule the world and Beyonce is just some vague C-list singer somewhere? I would have 58540433 times rather seen her in that medley with Hugh the Magnificent. And I bet that, given her druthers, Etta James would rather hear At Last done by the Queen.

Mickey Rourke looks like a pimp because he is one! He was Johnny Depp before Johnny Depp was Johnny Depp. Any other time I would have been happy to see Sean Penn win for Milk (the writer's speech tore me up), but I really wanted Rourke to win just to see what he'd say because he is batshit certifiable.

Didn't really like all the past winners standing up there in the nominee circle jerk. I much would have rather seen clips of the performances. But the Adrien Brody sighting brought back fond memories of the year of the Pianist, when I batted 1.000 and killed my Oscar Pool!

I haven't seen any of the movies this year and, since I finally cancelled EW a year ago, I didn't have any sense of what most of them were about or heard any buzz on winning odds or anything. The lack of nominated clips didn't really help me learn much about any of the movies, or maybe it was just because they were lackluster in the first place.

Before last night's show the only two I was interested in seeing were Milk and The Wrestler. Last night didn't do much to change that, except I might like to see Slumdog Millionaire because I didn't realize there was music in it and I love all that Bollywood shit.

Did I mention that I rather fancy Hugh Jackman?

[Sisyphean Fan]

b) Self-depreciating humor is generally funny.

Not always.

Automobiles depreciate. People deprecate.

[ulysses5019]

Someone should have checked the positioning of Tina Fey's mike before she went on. It looked like her pet mouse was peeping up out of her dress below her cleavage.

I think it was a squirrel.

[bondguy007]

Has Jerry Lewis had a stroke recently? He looked good, but sounded terrible.

No, but some people on the JL message board I frequent noticed that too. One of the news pieces I saw from the AP had this quip: A relaxed Jerry Lewis joked with photographers backstage before accepting Oscar's annual Jean Hersholt award for his humanitarian work. But Lewis' presenter, fellow comedian Eddie Murphy, was silent, apparently concentrating on what he would say about the man he called one of his inspirations. Afterward both men were all smiles. As Murphy chatted with singer John Legend, Lewis climbed into a waiting wheelchair. "It's so good to get old," the 82-year-old comic joked.

[earendel]

b) Self-depreciating humor is generally funny.

Not always.

Automobiles depreciate. People deprecate.

And sometimes defecate.

[minimetoo26]

I enjoyed the show even though the lighting was criminally bad.

Dana Owens was da bomb. Fan. Tastic. The camera work ruined the segment--some shots were so far away you couldn't tell who was being shown or read the words that told you who it was, but it was worth struggling through to hear her singing.

My favorite moment was "Domo origato, Mr. Roboto."

I wanted Anne Hathaway to win because of her musical number. She's hilarious.

[littlebeast13]

I was watching this game on MLB Network while everyone was thanking The Academy last night....

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1981 ... OS1981.htm

lb13

[TheCalvinator24]

I loved the opening number.

I saw Penelope Cruz be named Best Supporting Actress. Then, I turned off the TV and went to sleep.

I was worn out.

[silverscreenselect]

I enjoyed the show even though the lighting was criminally bad.

Dana Owens was da bomb. Fan. Tastic. The camera work ruined the segment--some shots were so far away you couldn't tell who was being shown or read the words that told you who it was, but it was worth struggling through to hear her singing.

Extremely bad camera work there, but her singing made up for it. I noticed that last year, they specifically included a disclaimer that it was based on people who died before February 1 (Roy Scheider wasn't in last year's tribute but they included him this year, and Heath Ledger barely made the cutoff). This year they didn't mention a cutoff date but included James Whitmore who died Feb. 6.

It was also nice that they included a film critic, considering the grief they encountered when they omitted Gene Siskel a few years back.

[nitrah55]

Full disclosure: missed the first hour or so.

Liked the set. It was grand and cozy all at once.

Jackman seems able to do anything except look bad.

The "congrats" intros by former winners to nominees was a nice melding of old and new, but...no clips of the nominees' performances and only passing mention of what movie they were nominated for. I'm sure the producers thought they didn't have time for both- they were right- but seems a shame, particularly for folks like Richard Jenkins and Melissa Leo, whom hardly anyone has seen before.

I think it is high time the Academy faced facts- the only way they're going to get an audience for this show is by coming up with new categories. If they want to devote a few minutes to action movies and comedies, then make them categories, just like best animated film. And put the technical awards where they belong- in the technical awards event. Nobody cares about sound editing, sorry.