It's Oscar night, and I feel pretty prepared this year; I haven't seen everything, but I have seen a lot more in anticipation of tonight than in previous years. If I had one more week, I would knock out another three or four films, but that's not the case, but I'm excited anyway. The goal isn't to write any complete reviews, just capture the night and perhaps initial reactions as to whether I agree or disagree with the winners. There's nothing scientific about it, just what I liked and didn't like. The opening ceremony is about to start; we'll see how Seth MacFarlane does. I am looking forward to Adele's performance, and I'm sure she'll knock it out of the park. This opening sequence is killing me. He doesn't seem very comfortable up there, and he isn't very funny so far; the William Shatner bit is annoying, except for mentioning that he wishes Amy Poehler and Tina Fey would host (me too). Ok, the opening is almost over.
Octavia Spencer (who won last year in The Help) is presenting the Best Supporting Actor: I'd like Tommy Lee Jones or Alan Arkin to win, but I think it will go to Robert DeNiro. Christoph Walz won for his role in Django Unchained, he also won for Inglorious Bastards. I haven't seen Django Unchained yet, but I do want to see it. It has a great cast.
The winner for the Best Animated Short was Paperman, the only short I have seen so far (it opened for Wreck-It Ralph), and I thought it might win because it was pretty universal and flowed really well. The others looked good, so I look forward to seeing those in some fashion. The Best Animated Film is a tough one, I have seen all of the nominees. Brave won; that surprises me, to be honest, but it's nice to have a film with a girl as a main protagonist. If you haven't seen the other nominees, you should check them out. I liked ParaNorman and thought Frankenweenie was very interesting with some references (maybe a little unsettling for little kids).
Life of Pi just won two visual awards, cinematography and visual effects. I haven't seen this one either, but it does look stunning, and to think it was all done in a huge water tank. I was pulling for The Hobbit, because I thought that was stunning and Middle Earth was amazing. Well, that means I don't have to write a review of Prometheus since it didn't win its only nomination. Whew. It wasn't horrible, just far too complicated to try and explain.
Oooh, costume design. Anna Karenina won. I thought it might because it was a beautifully looking film. If you are at all prone to depression, do yourself a favor and skip it. Hair and makeup - you have to pick The Hobbit, seriously. Ugh. Apparently not. Les Miserables just won. I don't know, I'm thinking that dwarves and Orcs and such should be taking home Oscar right now.
They just did a tribute to James Bond. It is hard to believe that this one movie franchise and character have been around for fifty years. That's just crazy. Did you see Skyfall? I liked it a lot, and I'm hoping (and I think she will win) that Adele wins. She can do know wrong and it's a great song. Anyway, Dame Shirley Bassey just sang "Goldfinger" or as I like to say 'Goldfingaaaaaaa'. Man, she has a big voice, and the trumpet was just hot.
The Live Action Shorts can be really tough to find, but the nominees look good. Curfew just won; I was hoping for the film about the Afghani boys because I read an article about it and sounded really interesting. Best Documentary Short Subject (another category that can be hard to track down, but they are usually worth the search). Inocente won, and it's about a young girl who is an artist and homeless (I was trying to do some more searching online about it and the databases kept crashing); those are the stories that need to get made and it's always so powerful when they get told on a stage like the Oscars.
Seth MacFarlane's jokes are really hit and miss.
The documentaries are coming up, and I really hope that The Invisible War wins. What just happened? Searching for Sugarman won, and I know a little about the story, and it's really cool, but I am really disappointed that The Invisible War didn't win. I just watched that today, and if you have not seen it, you should, the stories of those women and men who served our country will break your heart. It is very powerful (as is 5 Broken Cameras, which I also have already seen).
Best Foreign Language film, another category where I am really lacking in any context, but have a soft sport for Kon Tiki (Norway) and A Royal Affair (Denmark). We'll see......Austria's entry, Amour won; that looks really good.
They are now doing a tribute to movie musicals and Jennifer Hudson just knocked my socks off. What a voice. Hmm, maybe a song with Shirley Bassey and Adele? What would that be like? Crazy brilliant, I think. I don't think it's fair to the cast of Les Miserables to make them sing after her. One Jennifer Hudson to the entire cast of Les Miserables, still doesn't seem fair.
It's 9:07 Central time and they have only given out one acting award after 90 minutes. This doesn't bode well for those of us who have to get up early in the morning.
Two sound awards were just given out, with three winners. Les Miserables won for Sound Mixing; and there was a tie for Sound Editing with Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall winning. I did think Skyfall would win with all the stuff happening, you know, the explosions and such.
Wow, Christopher Plummer really looks old, I don't mean that in a bad way, but he looked really young (really is probably a little too emphatic) in Beginners from last year. He is announcing the Best Supporting Actress (I hope it's Sally Field, she was Mary Lincoln). I really want to see The Sessions and hope I get it from the library soon. Jackie Weaver has been nominated twice in the last several years, but is always up against really tough competition. Oh boo, Anne Hathaway just won. Bummer. I'm sure she was great (can't bring myself to see the movie yet, Les Miserables), but I really think that Sally Field embodied Mary Todd Lincoln and was such a part of Lincoln's struggles and who he was. Insert sad face. I actually just turned off Anne's breathy thank you speech.
Argo won for Best Film Editing. That was a really good movie, very suspenseful, even though I knew how it turned out. I enjoyed the other movies that were also in this category.
Ooh. Adele is on. Amazing. The other nominees can just be grateful they even got nominated.
Lincoln won for Best Production Design; I loved the movie and I think the sets were great, but I still somehow think that Middle Earth got the shaft again, I mean, it was THE SHIRE for goodness sake.
They just announced the winners of honorary lifetime Oscars, including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian award. Jean Hersholt was in Grand Hotel.
The In Memoriam piece is coming up; weird, but I enjoy this part because it reminds us of those who have made movie history. They never give us enough information on what they did, especially if it was from a long time ago, but it always makes me run to Wikipedia. Ernest Borgnine, Jack Klugman (12 Angry Men), Celeste Holm (All About Eve), Michael Clarke Duncan, Charles Durning, Tony Scott, Hal David, Nora Ephron (Silkwood, When Harry met Sally), Ray Bradbury, Robert Sherman (Mary Poppins), Marvin Hamlisch, were among the honored and remembered tonight.
The Life of Pi is sure cleaning up tonight. I think that came out of nowhere, at least it seems that way, because I don't think it was really on the radar. Oooh (that is my standard response now whenever Adele is up), Best Original Song goes to Skyall. Whoo hoo. I love her speeches, this should be good. She was so emotional.
We are closing in on hour 3 and six awards to go. I should have taken work off tomorrow. Poor planning on my part, although I just can't justify taking a day off because I'm a wimp and can't stay up past 9:00.
This is the writing award. Argo won for best adapted screenplay.I'm pulling for Moonrise Kingdom in the original screenplay category; it's not for everyone, but I liked the quirkiness and found the characters endearing. Django Unchained and Quentin Tarantino just won for Best Original Screenplay. I really like how he totally acknowledges and recognizes the contributions of the actors and what they bring to the film. And he seems to really enjoy the process as well. I don't like everything he does, but you can't deny he is passionate about films.
Best Director will go to Steven Spielberg or Ang Lee, I think. Let's see......Ang Lee, the same man who brought us Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain wins for Life of Pi. He really is a great director (except for the whole The Hulk debacle).
I hope Jessica Chastain wins (I like Jennifer Lawrence, too, but I really like Jessica Chastain). Emmannelle Riva is probably a sentimental favorite, and I wouldn't object to that at all. Jennifer Lawrence won, Silver Linings Playbook. Damn, I need to see that movie (I did like her in Winter's Bone, which is a totally different type of role). She is very refreshing and real; boy I hope that doesn't change, she could be fun to watch for a long time.
Meryl Streep is presenting for Best Actor (she won last year for Iron Lady, I still think Glenn Close or Viola Davis should have won). Joaquin Phoenix looks like such a tortured soul. And Daniel Day-Lewis won for Lincoln. He was amazing. It was such a great movie and he is so incredible. He looks really choked up, but now he's showing some Irish humor. He is a true artist, check him out in My Left Foot or In the Name of the Father. He doesn't make a lot of movies, but when he does, you can almost bet he's going to win an award.
The Best Picture is finally up, presented by Jack Nicholson. He's pretty funny. I still have to see Chinatown. The FLOTUS is co-presenting for the Best Picture. I don't know if that has happened before. Argo wins the big one. It is a great movie of an event that I remember very clearly, an act of great heroism.
That's it, that's all there is. Time for bed. More detailed reviews of the winners will be coming soon.
Whiling away the time while staying at home
There is no denying that these are very strange and tumultuous we're living in. Obviously I haven't been blogging too much lately, i...
