Okay, so it's taken a while to get over being up all night, more to deal with what happened objectively and even more to get around to sitting at a computer and tackling it but finally i am ready to look at the 2008 Oscars for the final time. To put it to rest so we can look ahead happily to a brighter future of 2009 glories!So Sunday night i felt kind of like we had just seen the worst Oscars ever. Not just the awards given. Not just the ceremony changes. Not just the excruciatingly twee red-carpet nonsense. It was the whole thing. Now i accept i was somewhat prepared for this - i knew they were screwing with the format, and i already hated many of the nominations.
With more thought there were a few things that bothered me less than i thought or did actually like. Therefore what was going to be the top 10 reasons these were "Worst Oscars ever!" has become same but with tacked on saving graces just to be fair!
1. The songs, oh god the songs! - So Hugh, we get it you're a song and dance man. The problem i had with the songs was they hurt each other. One would have been fine but not two. The first was entertaining but not as funny as Billy Crystal used to do, but that's okay. But then the musical-medley in the middle showed up the flaws in the first song. While the first song, and it's sensible "launch the ceremony" placing showed up the grinding halt aspect of the medley, which was kind of like watching a movie musical. When it ended it was just kind of "well, and now..." Added to which what the hell was the point of Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper being involved? They looked like backing dancers. When they first came on i was peering at the screen to see if, as i suspected, it was them. They may not be the singers Jackman and Beyonce are but to not even give them a line to sing on their own seems bizarre. I mean one of the songs was from Mamma Mia and Hugh and Beyonce took that and drowned out the Mamma Mia actors there too. Pointless waste.
Saving grace: the only real surprise of the night (and no Penn was not that surprising) Anne Hathaway should be on Broadway damn it! That girl's got lungs!
2. Mickey lost, damn it! - I love The Wrestler and more than I love the film I love Mickey Rourke in it. I was a fan of his 80s work like Diner, Pope of Greenwich Village and Angel Heart and had been so pleased to see him re-emerging at the top of his game recently in films like Man On Fire and Sin City. Then came The Wrestler and a palpable chance at Oscar glory. But it was not to be. I wasn't stunned. The writing was on the wall when SAG gave it to Penn and Mickey has been down-playing it of late saying he hoped Penn won and he didn't think he'd get it - obviously getting good advice from advisors on the Penn possibility. But still i'm sad Mickey didn't get it.
Saving grace: Penn was excellent in Milk, deserving an Oscar far more than in Mystic River. It was Dead Man Walking good so i can't really fault his win. He also gave a good funny and self-deprecating acceptance speech and gave a shout-out to Mickey. Plus the nomination will arguably do everything for Mickey's career he needs regardless.
3. "I can't see dead people"! - Okay, big bug-bear! What was with In Memorium? I have no issue with having a song accompaniment but why does the director of the show have to keep pulling back to see Queen Latifah singing it? We know she's singing it we saw her come on and can hear her. Every time they pulled back you couldn't fricking see who they were honouring. I assume they had Cyd Charisse cause i couldn't damn well tell. Major directorial snaffu!
Saving grace: None, appalling behaviour, sort it out!
4. Presenters - Who decides on these pairings? Okay some work great but as many are awkward and bizarre. This year we had that scary freak-show ugly-bastard Twilight guy on stage. We had Frieda Pinto paired with Liam Neeson for no reason I can fathom. We had a terrible Daniel Craig tripping over all his lines while "it that a man in a dress" Sarah Jessica Parker pretends to be glamourous next to him. We had Jennifer Aniston about ready to vomit from nerves while staring down the barrel of Angelina's front-row icy stare. The scripted jokes are invaribly lame. It has quickly got around that Stiller's brilliant parody of Joaquin Phoenix's Letterman appearance (featured on this blog a couple of weeks back) came about because Stiller thought the script was terrible and said he'd do something else. Comedians and class acts like Jack, Meryl etc seem the only ones that can pull these off. Learn Oscars, learn!
Saving grace: Tina Fey and Steve Martin - the funniest he's been in years!; Jack Black delivering the line of the night when talking about how he makes money off animation movies "I do a film each year for DreamWorks then i come to the Oscars and bet it all on Pixar!"; The aforementioned Phoenix impression.
5. Speaking of Jack - where the hell was Nicholson? The Oscars without Jack is like...well... the Golden Globes!
Saving grace: We had current favourite bad boy Mickey Rourke in the front role wearing shades throughout the ceremony. Jack may have been missing but his spirit was alive and well in Rourke!
6. The Slumdog sweep - look i don't hate Slumdog Millionaire. Of the poor choice of films up in best picture this year (where were Dark Knight, Revolutionary Road, WALL-E, Wrestler, Doubt?) it was the best of the bunch and deserved that gong. Hell, give it best director for the same reason but it didn't deserve the sweep it got, winning all but one of the categories it was up for.
Saving grace: It did lose that one and it did deserve Editing!
7. Ben Burtt robbed - part of that evil Slumdog sweep was sound mixing. The sound mixing may have been excellent in Slumdog but it was arguably the most important and stunning element of WALL-E next to the animation itself. Damn it Ben Burtt's 'voice' for WALL-E (and M-O) was a key, genius part of it. Burtt should gave gotten this with his collaborators and i will never forgive Slumdog for stealing it from him.
Saving grace: WALL-E got best animation (even if this should have gone to robbed of a nom Waltz With Bashir).
8. Departures gets foreign - the Oscars do this to me every time! Amelie, Pan's Labyrinth and now Waltz With Bashir. Every time there's an amazing foreign film that is my film of the year the ancient Academy cadavers refuse to recognise the innovative genius of said film and give the Oscar to a more old school traditionist film. Damn it, damn it, damn it. This one really pisses me off.
Saving grace: None, and what's worse is they were so infuriatingly dismissive of Waltz With Bashir that when they did their 'recap of animation of 2008' it was only studio titles. Crap like Star Wars: Clone Wars and Space Chimps got numerous clips but not a single one for Bashir! Let it be known that if i find out who put that clip-show together i will hir Liam Neeson and he will find you, etc!
9. Winslet win - you know i'm glad after 6 noms Kate has an Oscar but this is the wrong film. She should have won for Revolutionary Road, and perhaps in a way she did - at least the combo. I feel that if Kate already had an Oscar under her belt she would not have won this year for The Reader. She could have for Rev Road however. Either way the two best actress performances of the year (Kate in Rev Road and Kristin Scott Thomas in I've Loved You So Long) weren't nominated so i guess it doesn't really matter but out of these choices i'd have given it to Streep or Hathaway. Winslet was the obvious choice in more ways than one. Deserved in body of work maybe but solely on this performance i am not convinced. And how come all those protesters that always get up in arms about gay cowboys and Roman Polanski and such have no problem with a Nazi paedolphile character winning best actress and an acceptance speech mentioning this "beautiful" character? Explain that one to me. I couldn't care less but it seems double standards to me!
Saving grace: It is about time she got one! This was her 6th nom - Meryl was 4 years older than Kate before she had 6 (although she did have 2 wins in the first 4 noms!)
10. I lost money - for the first time ever i didn't win any of my bookie bets and didn't at least break even on Oscars betting. This was because all the short-odds favourites came in (yes, even Penn again). There was no long-shot outsider surprise. Damn it Oscars we rely on you for at least one 4/1 or 5/1 upset!
Saving grace: None, I'm out of pocket in a recession!
And! I said top 10, but i have to add: Duchess winning best costume - how fricking lazy is that? The easiest way to win an Oscar has got to be to design the costumes for a period drama. You might as well write your exceptance speech while you hem!
Saving grace: None, lazy, lazy, lazy!
What they got right:
Cruz winning supporting actress - a tough category i liked all of them this year, although i kind of think Viola Davis' was least deserved since it was stunt performance - come in for one-scene barnstorm of superb writing. But Cruz has never been better than in her hilarious performance in Vicky Cristina Barcelona and it's the first time since Mira Sorvino in 1995 that a Woody film has got an Oscar. Good to see recognition go to a Woody film again.
Man On Wire winning documentary - wonderful win for a wonderful film, and generated an exceptance speech moment from Philippe Petit that is destined to make Oscar moments clips ad infinitum!
CC of BB getting make-up and SFX - correct, well done!
Peter Gabriel not getting best song - okay so i don't like the Slumdog songs either. They are sub-par Bollywood songs. The Academy never bothers to nominate far better songs from Bollywood fare like Jab We Met or Jodhaa Akbar so why do it for lesser Bollywood songs in a western film? And where was the excellent Wrestler song from The Boss, that really deserved it? Well, never mind, for me "Down To Earth" was the one thing i didn't like about the otherwise brilliant WALL-E so i'm glad Gabriel didn't get it by default!
The 5 presenters for best acting categories - okay so Alan Arkin got PSH's name wrong! But this idea grew on me. I wasn't sure at first and i like clips from the movies. I wondered if they had chosen to do this to dodge the bullets of an audience in tears from a Ledger clip, the problems of a Tropic Thunder clip, and trying to find a Reader clip of Kate with clothes on! Ultimately though the concept grew on me and provided quality moments such a Shirley Maclaine's classy presentation of Anne Hathaway's nom and DeNiro's hilarious presentation of Penn's. Plus it seemed a nice, supportive structure for the winner, especially in actress cases where they get a group huge and congrats from people that have been through it before, before they have to face the speech. We actor and actress this had me on side. I wonder if they'll continue it.
Ultimately it could have been worse but there was much to annoy me and make me angry. Still, on to next year!
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