Congratulations, Philip, but the Oscars ... sucked
I only have time for a brief mention of last night's Academy Awards, so I have to go with my heart rather than my head. Apologies for the insouciant tone of this entry: I'm genuinely glad that Fairport's own Philip Seymour Hoffman won the Best Actor Oscar for his wonderful performance in Capote, which I really liked (and I got a chance to see him in person at Rochester's George Eastman House last year). But for the most part the Oscars ceremony really, well, sucked! No other word for it. They were dire. Here's why. Fortunately we had friends over last night so we could commiserate with one another, but it was still, IMHO, one of the most boring, lifeless, anodyne performances I've seen. Even Jon Stewart couldn't make it work (see BBC the piece headlined "Stewart's Oscars show lacks edge"--although I think the problem lay more with the producers and the audience than with Stewart). The only injection of life came when Best Song went to Three 6 Mafia (whose "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp," from Hustle and Flow, finally gave Jon Stewart something to work with.) I'm too old and boring to get into rap, but I am very glad those guys managed to get up on stage for a while.Enough.
posted by hdougie at 3/06/2006 11:08:00 AM
7 Comments:
Yes the show was predictible except for Three 6 Mafia and the Crash upset, and it wasn't particularily exciting. That isn't saying much considering the show hasn't been that memorable in the past few years. Just like last year with Chris Rock, there was a lot of hype and excitement with Jon Stewart hosting and the hope that he would be edgy, political, and above all funny. I think that Jon did pretty well, the opening monologue wasn't superb, he did better as the show went on reacting to events, like Three 6 Mafia's win. Jon Stewart is consistently hilarious on The Daily Show, so I think the lukewarm response has to do with the Oscar's writers who usually go for stale and obvious jokes (Brokeback Mountain-gay cowboy punchlines come to mind). Also, I think the Hollywood audience in general is either above the humor or not interested in having jokes made about them. I think the bigger problem with this years Oscars was Crash winning Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain. Both were well told, and wonderful films, but it seems the Oscars either chose to go with the "safe" choice or were just tired of Brokeback winning everything. While there was so much hype on Brokeback, and the controversy from certain groups over its content, that shouldn't have taken anything away from the subtlety and cinematic beauty of the film.
Kelly Logue
I disagree - I really liked the Oscar's! I thought Jon Stewart was hillarious - a little nervous, sure, but he hit his stride. I'd like to see anyone get up there in front of all those people and not be nervous! Personally, I loved the fact that while it was themed Old Hollywood - which was beautiful, by the way - almost every single person acknowledged Geroge Clooney in some way. He's probably the hottest guy in Hollywood and absolutely hillarious. I loved his speech. While I was kind of hoping for Heath Ledger or Joaquin Phoenix to win best actor, I was really happy for Philip Seymour Hoffman. He's so talented and has been playing supporting roles for so long, plus he's from Rochester, like me. One of my professors said he looked like a big golden retriever - I don't think there's any better way to describe him. In his speech, he asked everyone to congratulate his mother. The next morning, his mom was on TV saying that George Clooney came up to her at the after party to do just that. I love hearing stories like that. And I could not tell you how happy I was to see Reese Witherspoon win. Aside from being absolutely incredible in Walk the Line, she is such a great role model for young girls. She balances a career and family and just seems like an all around nice person. I think I might have liked her speech better than George Clooney's. And for a rap song to win Best Song - that's history in the making. I guess maybe it's just my friends and I, but we thought the Oscar's were great this year.
^ woops, sorry, I just wrote that post.
-Lindsay Parker
In my opinion the Academy Awards are usually pretty boring. I must say that I do love Jon Stewart's sense of humor. Three 6 Mafia should definitely not have one best song. To be honest, I didn't even watch the whole program. I might catch it on reruns though.
-Amanda Olszowy
I have to completely agree that the Oscars were boring, but I also have to ask... is this much different from normal?
I'll admit, this year was pretty bad: almost all categories were predictable, we were subjected to the Hustle and Flow song, and (unfortunately) Billy Crystal wasn't hosting. Billy Crystal's presentation, along with the likeliness of Jack Nicholson presenting or being nominated, is one of the very few things that I actually look forward to during the Oscars.
I wish that the producers of the Oscars would shorten the broadcast to cover the categories that the public actually wanted to watch: although the people deserve the credit and recognition, nobody wants to watch the award for the best sound editor. Celebrities sell, and humor that appeals to more than just Hollywood makes an event that would be boring interesting.
Despite all of its narcotic...er, qualities, the Oscars did have its bright points: the films were the source of "controversy" instead of the acceptance speeches of the winning actors.
That's a breath of fresh air.
~Jessica Domres
Comn 160
I thought that this years Academy Awards Ceremony was particulary disappointed and didn't live up to the expectation of humor found in a host. While I enjoy The Daily Show, it just didn't seem that Jon Stewart had it in him to keep an entire three hour broadcast from lagging. In past year, I have really enjoyed entertainers, such as W. Goldberg and Billy Crystal. Crystal especially seems to do a brilliant job time after time of keeping the Oscars fresh, even though I believe he has hosted it more times than anyone else. Having watched the Academy Awards since my days in elementary school, I can easily say that there are some staples to the ceremony that Stewart overlooked...such as poking fun at Jack Nicholson...they do that every year! Being a Rochestarian, it was certainly exciting to see a Fairport native win, but that was just about it. I had more fun watching Joan and Melissa Rivers (who usually make me want to turn off the TV forever) critique the Oscar fashions. And as for the rap, that was certainly better than some of the other music selections which were featured. I enjoyed the violinist, but some of the female vocalists were quite poor. Next year, the Academy Awards needs to bump it up a notch to keep viewers from tuning out...
-Mary Kate Scanlon
I am a big movie fan, even if it is horrible, I have to watch a movie at least once. I also enjoy seeing actors and actresses get awarded for their performances but this years Academy Awards was horribly boring. But, to me, that seems to have been the trend for the past few years and the Award Ceremonies just keep getting worse and worse every year. There were many unnecessary parts, including the part with Ben Stiller and the green screen--this was completely dragged out. For me, the Academy Awards is only interesting for the first hour (the pre-show where I get to see the dresses and the celebrities) and the last fifteen minutes when the main awards are presented. But on a good note, yay for Philip Seymour Hoffman! (I am also from Rochester).
-Kaitlyn Collins
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