The Oscars were last night, as many or all of you are aware. I did my best to see as many of them as my sanity would allow although I missed the big winner The Artist. I'll have to get to that one, seeing as it's the first silent film to win Best Picture since 1928. I'll put a full list of the winners below but let's talk about the ceremony for a minute.
They dragged Billy Crystal out of retirement in order to make up for the shitshow that was last year's Oscars. I didn't even see the camera stop on Anne Hathaway or James Franco. Billy was a professional but I would have liked to see someone a little edgier, like Ricky Gervais, as host. Then again, that didn't work for either Jon Stewart or Chris Rock.
The presenters were lovely and it really seemed like they were trying to loosen up and give a much more festive tone. At least Jennifer Lopez and Cameron Diaz did, although the phrase "loosen up" did not apply to J Lo's skintight dress. They presented the awards for Best Costume (The Artist) and Best Makeup (The Iron Lady) and quoted famous movie costumer Edith Head.
The theme this year was The Magic of the Movies and so there were a number of vignettes with A-listers talking about how they feel when they watched movies, or the first film experience they ever had. Those were nice, as was the piece by Cirque du Soleil, but overall it felt a little stodgy. The memorial segment for all the star and tech people who died over the past year was also lovely but I personally hated the inclusion of "What a Wonderful World" as accompaniment. That song puts me to sleep. I appreciated that they managed to add Whitney Houston in, but I was super confused as to why Steve Jobs made the cut. I can only imagine that Apple designed software or something that helped production...? No idea.
Apparently, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol won some sort of techie Oscar (They get their own ceremony a month or so before the real thing.) which was why it got included in Billy's opening clip where he puts himself into each film nominated for Best Picture. It confused the fuck out of me until I saw the part about the tech Oscars.
Anyway, here's the list of winners:
Best Picture: The Artist
Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Best Actress: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, The Help
Best Animated Film: Rango
Best Cinematography: Hugo
Best Art Direction: Hugo
Best Costume Design: The Artist
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Best Documentary: Undefeated
Best Short Documentary: Saving Face
Best Editing: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Best Foreign Film: A Separation
Best Makeup: The Iron Lady
Best Original Score: The Artist
Best Original Song: "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets
Best Animated Short: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
Best Live Action Short: The Shore
Best Sound Editing: Hugo
Best Sound Mixing: Hugo
Best Visual Effects: Hugo
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Descendants
Best Original Screenplay: Midnight in Paris
I think Meryl Streep gave the best acceptance speech of the night, Octavia Spencer had the best winning reaction, and Martin Scorsese got the most number of thank-yous. If you were playing the Martin Scorsese drinking game like Rose Byrne and Melissa McCarthy were (you take a shot every time his name is mentioned at the Oscars) you were probably wasted by 10 p.m.
Now we just get to look forward to all the films coming out this year.
John Carter- 09 Mar- Rob is really interested in seeing this one. He even read the first book the movie is based on to get an idea of what to expect.
The Hunger Games- 23 Mar- Also a Rob wish-to-see. He loaned me the trilogy so I knocked it out in a couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see how much makes it into the movie.
Mirror Mirror- 30 Mar- Frankly, this movie looks a little stupid. Julia Roberts hams it up as the evil queen but it's a Tarsem movie so it's already got my money. What can I do?
The Raven- 27 Apr- John Cusack playing Edgar Allen Poe solving crime! Win!
The Avengers- 04 May- Again, already has my money.
Dark Shadows- 11 May- Johnny Depp playing a vampire. It's like they can see my dreams.
Snow White and the Huntsman- 01 Jun- This one might be good despite Kristen Stewart.
Prometheus- 08 Jun- It's the Alien prequel.
Rock of Ages- 15 Jun- I love Adam Shankman. I will totally watch this musical.
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter- 22 Jun- Everything about this seems hilarious.
Brave- 22 Jun- It's Pixar's first animated film where the main character is a girl. Plus, it looks adorable.
The Amazing Spider-Man- 03 Jul- I really don't know how many times they can tell this story but I like Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone so I'll suffer through it.
The Dark Knight Rises- 20 Jul- My number one must-see movie of this year.
Looper- 28 Sep- Joseph Gordon-Levitt fights crime while jumping through time. Sounds awesome.
Frankenweenie- 05 Oct- Tim Burton is doing an animated film. Love it.
World War Z- 21 Dec- Kind of fitting to open this movie on the final day of the Mayan calendar.
The Great Gatsby- 25 Dec- I never finished this book because I found it horribly boring. Let's see if the movie is any better.
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