Not a lot of time to post today (damn you work and your "responsibilities"!) but things should ease up in a week or so. The GF and I went to an Oscars Party past night* and here is a list of things I think I think**:
- Oh, Anne Hathaway, you had an entire movie shoot full of fashion to learn about what looks good on you. One word - straps.
- The GF thinks Nicole Kidman is beautiful. I think that with her ever-growing forehead, ever-whitening skin, and ever-taller height she is increasingly looking like the martian girl in Mars Attacks.
- Since when did the Oscars become "The Jack Nicholson" show? I mean, sure, I like the guy as much as anyone else, but was the camera ever on anyone but him? Cripes, even when he was backstage the editor was always with the "cut to Jack!".
- Rule of thumb for future winners - nobody cares what you say...stop trying to be profound or eloquent. Just read off you list and get off the stage. God, the speeches this time made me pine for Joe Pesci's "This is an honor and a privilege, thank you very much".
- How much to I love Merril Streep playing along with the girls from Devil Wears Prada bit? Let's just say there isn't enough room on the internet to write it all.
- Wow, Hellen Mirren looks good! Sure, she's probably had some work done, but it was good work. She may be the hottest woman "of a certain age" since...well...ever.
- As the GF pointed out, why isn't Kirsten Dunst wearing errings? I didn't notice it until she brought it up, but then I couldn't get it out of my head! And why the *heck* do I care?
- I'm as impressed with the shadow-people as everyone else, but don't some of the shapes seem *too* good? How do I know there isn't a midget closer to the light simply raising a cardboard cutout right as they are all coming together?
- Hey Revlon, next year how about you stop pussyfooting around and just buy the Oscars outright? Sheesh, I've never seen so many commercials from one company before.
- The bit with Ellen, Clint Eastwood, and Steven Spielberg? Classic. "Could you take it again with us more in the center?"
- Montages are the Oscar's version of masturbation. Once or twice is fine, but doing it once or twice every hour is a sign you have a problem. Oscar - you have a problem.
- Wait a minute, when did Princess Leia become a writer for the Acadamy Awards? Or is there another Carrie Fisher lurking around Hollywood?
In general I liked the show. It was more self-deprecating than in year's past, and the bits were entertaining. But Little Miss Sunshine should've won best picture - if for no other reason than to stop the incessant references to Annie Hall being the last comedy to win that award.
* Which explains the lack of my usual live-blogging the Oscars post
** Or is it "things I thought I thought" since I thought these things last night?
Comments
There were way too many montages! If they had all been done by Will Ferrell, Jack Black, and John C. Reilly, I probably wouldn't have minded, though (can't wait for that Nader biopic!). I also enjoyed the comedic contributions of Tom Hanks (the off-the-cuff backstage comment to Chris Connelly) and Jerry Seinfeld.
"Children of Men" should have been Best Picture. And Best Many-Other-Things. I was upset it didn't get cinematography, as it seemed that Hollywood was at least vaguely aware of its contributions there. I saw Pan's Labyrinth last week, and although it was fine, it was no CoM. Heck, United 93 should also have been up for Best Picture.
Jack looked like a bigger, scarier James Carville.
And how weird is it that I still think of Chris Connelly as a VJ? I'm old.
The Departed was a pretentious version of the awesome Hong Kong original, "Infernal Affairs." The Hong Kong version was just a straight-up action movie, made for pure entertainment - none of this tedious, "deep" character development. And "adapted screenplay"? Please. About 3/4 of the script for the Departed was lifted, word-for-word, scene-for-scene, shot-for-shot, from the original! Besides which, Leo and Matt are nowhere near as hot as Tony Leung, hottest man alive, and Andy Lau, 2nd hottest man alive.
Nicole Kidman looked especially un-human when she was chatting with Little Miss Sunshine - the girl, to her credit, didn't look horrified. She's a fantastic actress.