Oscar thread…

Updated on February 23, 2009 By Ken Begg 41 Comments

I don’t watch the Oscars (that’s not supposed to be a ‘statement’ of any kind, I just don’t get anything out of them), but I thought I’d start a thread for any observations you guys might have.

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  • Ericb

    India is happy.

  • sardu

    Beyond the fact that I am once again stunned at how far an industry can shove its own genitalia in its mouth on national TV… no, I have no comment really.

  • The Rev. D.D.

    I tried to figure out the reasoning for Hugh Jackman hosting.

    After seeing the opening abomination, I still did not understand. And that was about the time I went ahead and got a book and stopped paying attention.

    The lady of the house said he was barely a part of the show, and that’s probably just as well. She said Tina Fey and Steve Martin should’ve been the hosts, since their minute or so of time onstage was more amusing than everything else combined, save for some tribute to comedy in cinema that featured the guy who played Harry Osborn.

    I meant to come out for the tribute to the dead, but she forgot to call me. Anyone know if that’s up on Youtube or anything?

  • If not check out last December’s TCM Remembers video, which is on YouTube.

  • Joe11

    I didn’t watch the Oscars either, but I saw the results.
    I’m so “shocked” that Sean Penn won for Best Actor. Who would’ve thought that the Hollywood Elite would choose someone who shares most of their political views than Mickey Rourke who had the audactiy to defend Bush on a few occasions? I guess this is Hollywood’s way of fighting for gay rights.
    Slumdog Millionaire deserved to win (an Oscar Winner that actually has a happy ending) cause its the only one of the nominees I saw at the theater. It’s a big ripoff that The Dark Knight, The Wrestler, & Wall-E (which had to settle for the condescending Best Animated Film) didn’t get nominated for best film.
    When will the academy gets over its snobby attitude & realize that a comic book or animated film deserves the same recognition as the one billionth World War II Nazi film?

  • Ericb

    The Oscars are like the gay Super Bowl.

  • BT

    Joe, I agree with almost everything you said. However, I can’t imagine Penn and Rourke’s political views had anything to do with the voting. If that were the case, shouldn’t Eastwood’s “Unforgiven” have been drubbed by Reiner’s “A Few Good Men” when they were both up for best picture?

    I haven’t seen either movie, so I have no idea which of those 2 “deserved” the Oscar, but from what I have read, both Penn and Rourke were amazing.

  • Bryan

    Oops, I was watching the Villanova game…..

  • I watched the second episode of The Amazing Race. It’s an indication of how far the Oscars have fallen ratings-wise that the other networks weren’t moving programming out of its way and just playing old movies or reruns. I haven’t see the ratings for last night yet, but I’m not expecting ABC is going to be particularly happy with them.

  • Joe11

    To be fair I’ve seen The Wrestler, but not Milk. BT, I’ve also heard that Penn’s performance is amazing. I should’ve added the Academy also chose Penn was because of the gay character he was playing. I believe politics played a role in this cause this was the Academy’s way of sticking it to all those who voted for the Prop 8 gay marriage ban last November. The George Clooneys of the world were ticked off when that happended so they voted for Penn, which means they can congratulate themselves for being “progressive” & “fighting for gay rights”.

  • andy80

    There was no way Rourke would win, sentimental comebacks choices like Travolta, Burt Reynolds, and Eddie Murphy never do.

  • Ericb

    “There was no way Rourke would win, sentimental comebacks choices like Travolta, Burt Reynolds, and Eddie Murphy never do.”

    That’s just cruel. Didn’t Penn win over Bill Murrey one year as well? He sure is a sentimentality killer.

  • fish eye no miko

    Frankly, I’m annoyed that Benjamin Button got some of the visual awards (make up and visual effects). Aside from making Brad Pitt look old, what effects where there? Especially compared to some of its competition like Iron Man, Hellboy, and The Dark Knight?

    Please tell me I’m not the only one who HATED the way the did the In Memorium (sp?) part…

    Also, I’m not too fond of the “have former winners come up and sing the praises of this year’s nominees” thing. Just say their names, show a clip, and announce the winner.

    Lastly (to end on a positive note), the Jerry Lewis thing was really nice (he won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award). I’ve seen clips and images of him in the last few years where he looked terrible (Predisone really screws up your metabolism–I know this from experience), but he looked fabulous last night. It was great to see.

  • John M. Hanna

    I stopped watching the Oscars years ago. I just realized one day that these ‘we’re so great’ backslapping ceremonies put on by a bunch of criminally overpaid rich Hollywood twerps who think what they do is indespensible and important, doesn’t change my life one bit. The same can be said of any televised awards show or major sporting event.

  • Ed Richardson

    I didn’t watch but I heard Sean Penn got to lecture everyone on gay marriage – that great last bastion of civil rights discrimination.

    Imagine that punk years ago placing himself (and personal photographer of course) in the middle of a national tragedy trying to bail out a boat with a plastic cup while the world media took note. It’s heartwarming.

  • “Imagine that punk years ago placing himself (and personal photographer of course) in the middle of a national tragedy trying to bail out a boat with a plastic cup while the world media took note. It’s heartwarming.”

    Speaking as a Katrina survivor, I’ll take the efforts of the self-serving Hollywood actor trying to help people even if it is in part a PR stunt over the efforts of the guy who uttered the immortal words, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”

  • Petoht

    Brown had problems, but I’ll note that Ivan, which made Katrina look like a minor squall, didn’t obliterate Alabama. New Orleans and Louisiana itself deserve the lion’s share of the blame, I’d say.

    Anyway, the point I wanted to raise dealt with come-back actors never winning. andy80 listed Eddy Murphy as an example. I’d say the reason Murphy didn’t win had more to do with the Norbit than any kind of snub. He was the front-runner for his work in Dream Girls until that abomination was released.

    As for the Oscars in general, as far as I’m concerned, they might as well dump having a host. Other people announce the awards (and PLEASE ax the painful “banter”, I’m begging you) and the Disembodied Voice announces the announcers. The host just opens the show and kills time. Since one of the biggest complaints about the Oscars is the length, you’d think that killing time is something they don’t need to worry about. Ax the host, the banter, and the musical numbers.

    And for the love of God… have the actors learn how to give a freaking speech. The acceptance speeches are even more painful than the banter!

  • “Brown had problems, but I’ll note that Ivan, which made Katrina look like a minor squall, didn’t obliterate Alabama. New Orleans and Louisiana itself deserve the lion’s share of the blame, I’d say.”

    I’ll take “Statements only a Republican water carrier in deep denial would say” for a thousand, Alex!

  • Mr. Rational

    “Speaking as a Katrina survivor, I’ll take the efforts of the self-serving Hollywood actor trying to help people even if it is in part a PR stunt…”

    Wait. In part?! He showed up with a photographer, for God’s sake! On the list of people Sean Penn was trying to help, he occupied places #1-#3,387. So FEMA mismanaged the disaster. They were at least trying to bail out other people, instead of their own friggin’ boats. And Blanco and Nagin indeed DON’T get blamed enough for their lack of effort in the crisis; your attempt to respond to that assertion by launching an ad hominem abusive is just sad.

    If this is the kind of “help” you will accept in a crisis, please drop me a line next time you find yourself in one. I will personally come over to your house with a video camera and tape myself standing across the street, affecting a mildly concerned expression.

  • andy80

    Ahh Bill Murray I knew I was forgetting someone! Don’t want to get dragged into the Katrina argument but Penn was definitely the PC choice, whether he was great in Milk or not!

  • “your attempt to respond to that assertion by launching an ad hominem abusive is just sad.”

    Hello, Mr. Rational. Clever name there. Sad? Be a little less melodramatic. I chose sarcasm because I have no interest in debating the topic. I shouldn’t have said anything in the first place because daring to speak against the accepted party line around these parts brings a lot of partisans out of the woodwork. There shouldn’t be any right wing/left wing posturing when it comes to Katrina, just a list of names of those that played major roles in what may have been the biggest national disgrace of our lifetime, regardless of their political leanings. I’m afraid the buck stops at the top, as much as some of you want to softball it. You want to know why Nagin and Blanco don’t get more blame? Because the feds botched the Katrina response to such a degree they actually managed to make a political hack like Nagin look like some upright man of the people. Blanco was a deer in the headlights during the whole crisis and Nagin was a major part of the problem yet still managed to make himself look like a hero to many because the federal response proved so inept. Pardon me if I get annoyed when some blind partisan chimes in trying to downplay the monumental screw-up that was Brown as saying he was “having some problems” – that’s like saying Bin Laden is “kind of a jerk” – and trying to make some half-assed comparison between Ivan and Katrina: two different devastating storms that did different kinds of damage to different degrees. Sorry, that’s 100% drivel, well deserving of a sarcastic response. Try saying that down here where I live and you’ll ever find many a card-carrying Republican will give you a dirty look or just outright hurl a few colorful words your way as well. At the end of the day the only people who give a damn about Sean Penn’s Katrina foolishness are conservatives wanting to laugh at the expense of a blowhard Hollywood liberal. That was just an egoist’s folly. Trivial in comparison to those that really made a mess of things in the aftermath. Now that is sad.

    Anyway, enough about Katrina. I didn’t mean to hijack this thread. Move on. Get back to talking about the Oscars.

    I have no problem with Slumdog winning best picture because it is one of the year’s best, but for my money, both The Dark Knight and Gran Torino got undeservedly snubbed.

    And how about that set? Be perfect if they ever put on a Broadway musical version of Tron.

  • GalaxyJane

    OK, I know we are getting off-track here, but I was part of the federal response for Katrina (National Guard in my case) and I can assure you that all of our frustrations in getting to work came strictly from the local government. We dragged a whole friggin’ field hospital from VA to NO in three days, only to be told by the State of Louisiana that they didn’t need any medical support! I spend time in the command center watching the cluster that was the State response and I am sick of the rest of the government being blamed for the rampant small-mindedness and corruption on display there.

    My equipment sat in a muddy field at Belle Chase for 5 weeks while my medics sat around in an abandoned shopping mall for a week before finally getting some work clearing streets. There may be plenty of blame to go around, but putting the majority of it on the feds is just plain wrong.

  • Sandy Petersen

    I will just say that I think people in New Orleans can reasonably have a bone to pick both with the federal government AND with their local leaders.

    I will now point out, with Texas Pride, that much of the assistance that came to Louisiana was actually from Texas. Including my son, as an unpaid volunteer from the Mormon Church.

    In other bright Texas news, when Rita hit, the damage, while great, was not nearly as disastrous as the boondoggle in New Orleans. I think part of the issue is that Texas simply has a stronger infrastructure than Louisiana.

  • Joe11

    I’ll try to get us back on topic.

    “Frankly, I’m annoyed that Benjamin Button got some of the visual awards (make up and visual effects). Especially compared to some of its competition like Iron Man, Hellboy, and The Dark Knight?”

    This goes back to my original argument about the Academy’s snobby attitude toward comic book films.
    Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth won 3 Oscars (Cinematography, Makeup, & Art Direction) while Guillermo’s Hellboy II which features as many creative designs & creatures comes up empty-handed. Why? Labyrinth is considered a R-rated foreign language story tale while Hellboy II is (to the academy) another “popcorn” comic book movie. I’ll admit Labyrinth is clearly a better film that Hellboy II, but they’re even when it comes to Makeup/Visual/Special Effects.

    To go off topic, in an earlier blog, Foywonder warned us about the GI JOE Super Bowl Trailer. Foywonder, I may disagree with your politics, but you were 100% right about that one. That movie looks cheesy as hell!

  • Sandy Petersen

    In an attempt to defuse the growing tension let me just say that I hope we can all agree that:

    1) Sean Penn looked like a retard in his leaky boat.

    2) After his decades in Hollywood, Sean Penn probably is unable to perform a genuine act of mercy WiTHOUT the publicity stunt angle. To him I’m sure both factors are bound together inextricably.

    3) every evil Right Winger on the site has had to put up with left-wing knee jerk reactions on the web. It’s just how it is.

  • Bryaqn

    Screw the Oscars, Academy Awards, & whatever the music one is called. As others have said, it one great masturbation event.

    I have to disagree with John Hanna, though, about the sporting events. At least there is an actual competition going on between the athletes. Of course the ancillary events, promos, and announcers are stupid.

    And I’d like to give props to GalaxyJane for trying to help out. I have much respect for those who serve.

  • Ericb

    Well, Penn came accross like a gentleman compared to Bill Maher. Geez, what an a**.

  • Judging from this thread, I’d have to say one of the problems the Oscars have been having of late (ratings were up this year, but still the third worst ever) is how few people are actually interested in talking about the movies. And it’s not just here, I’ve seen very little discussion of the films anywhere. Seriously, would it have killed the Academy to acknowledge that Dark Knight was a better movie than, say, The Reader? Which one will people be watching fifty years from now? And the near shut-out for Gran Torino? Weird.

  • Ericb

    I’m not really a film buff so I’m probably not a good sample but I never even heard of The Reader or Slumdog Millionare until the Oscars.

  • I think that’s the point of the Oscars, Ericb. The big money makers don’t need attention. I’m not sure if that’s a good rationale, since this is an award ceremony and movies should be judged on content rather than a desire to raise tiny movies, but that seems to be the prevailing thought among movie buffs.

    That said, I’m glad Slumdog Millionnaire won the big prize, and also that Peter Boyle won the Best Director … just so I could watch him do his Tigger hop.

  • Chris

    Slumdog Millionaire was one of the worst movies I have ever seen, but then terrible garbage does tend to win awards. Whatever, I’m still high from No Country for Old Men and The Departed winning the last couple.

  • Lawyer Ku

    I’m am energy lawyer in Houston. I deal with clients who own coal and oil terminals and oil and gas pipelines along the Mississippi. I also deal with lawyers who operate in the regions affected by Katrina. My uncle is a professer at LSU. To a man, they chastise the local and state response far more than the feds. I have one buddy lawyer in Mississippi. He said their state response was better even though – and here’s something you don’t hear about – they got whacked harder in MS and eastern LA.

    Houston took in a great number of Katrina refugees, as did Dallas, San Antonio and Austin. Texans have a long history of such generosity. The resultant shocking rise in crime in Houston from Katrina refugees is well documented. Lest any charitable soul think they were starving and stealing food and such, I invite you to contact the Harris County Sherriff’s Department or the Houston PD about the nature of the crime increase. Indeed, my secretary’s husband is an LEO with the HPD. His experience also reflects the remarkable rise in violent crime those people brought with them.

    I think, speaking very broadly and setting individuals aside, what we saw in New Orleans and what we saw here in Houston is a reflection on the people affected in New Orleans. More philosophically, some blame could more probably be laid at the feet of the federal government – reaping the whirlwind they have sown when they gradually turned away from Boetcker’s final two maxims: “You cannot build character and courage by destroying men’s initiative and independence.” and “And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.”

  • “Well, Penn came accross like a gentleman compared to Bill Maher. Geez, what an a**.”

    At this point I don’t think it’s even humanly possible for Bill Maher to not behave like a condescending douche. I saw Religulous and it’s an alright movie that does make some salient points about religion. But then comes his big end speech where he completely derails his whole movie by giving this hate-filled speech about all religion needing to be wiped out that sounds exactly like the kind of fire & brimstone speech a religious fanatic would spew against non-believers.

    I think another major problem the Oscars have is that they moved up the date of the show by a month shortening the time the voting members have to watch movies and vote on the films, thus eliminating the chances of their being any genuine surprises. I think everyone that won a SAG Award a few weeks prior went on to win their respected acting Oscar. It might also help that the whole show took itself a little less seriously. And speaking as someone who had to run that whole blasted program, did we really need a six minute musical number saluting the musical making a comeback? I mean Friday the 13th made $50 million the previous weekend; where was the musical salute to slasher films?

  • Terrahawk

    I think that’s the point of the Oscars, Ericb. The big money makers don’t need attention. I’m not sure if that’s a good rationale, since this is an award ceremony and movies should be judged on content rather than a desire to raise tiny movies, but that seems to be the prevailing thought among movie buffs.

    I would say that is a problem then. I didn’t watch them but haven’t watched them in years.

    One reason I think for the fall-off is that people would watch them to catch clips of the films they had seen during the year and liked.

    Secondly, I think they really need to start punishing films that get “released” only as Oscar bait at the end of the year.

    Finally, along with the previous line, Americans like a good debate. You can’t debate which film should have won when you haven’t seen a lot of the contenders because they were release in NY/LA at the end of December.

    Foy, the Feds can’t just walk into a state and take over. That’s not the way the Constitution works. A governor literally has to request Federal assistance. Even then the state dictates a lot of how the Feds respond. I’m not saying the Feds acted great, but Louisiana is the first responsible party.

  • Bryan

    Terrahawk- “Finally, along with the previous line, Americans like a good debate.”

    I must disagree with you on this, and this in only my opinion from reading editorials and watching CSPAN, but I have the feeling that Americans only want to spout whatever they think is right, facts or not. I never knew that housing foreclosures were a racist move until ‘Acorn’ filled me in. Yup, they even had a press conference about it. Ah, forget it, who cares anymore.

  • Ed Richardson

    Foywonder,

    Katrina was a glaring example of the failure of people, not government.

    Now then, when celebs insert themselves into disaster zones that only adds one more variable for the professionals to deal with. They can help by financially supporting the rescue effort.

    All Sean Penn did was sink a boat and harangue bush about not doing enough in a state run by Democrats.

    It was, after, the Democrat governor’s responsibility to mobilize the National Guard, not Bush’s. FEMA can bring in fresh water and MREs, but they don’t have a fleet of helicopters and thousands of soldiers and people trained in search and rescue.

  • “I mean Friday the 13th made $50 million the previous weekend; where was the musical salute to slasher films?”

    I haven’t watched an Oscars telecast in probably 20 years. But if they did stuff like that, I definitely would! Hollywood, call Scott Foy!

  • “All Sean Penn did was sink a boat and harangue bush about not doing enough in a state run by Democrats.

    It was, after, the Democrat governor’s responsibility to mobilize the National Guard, not Bush’s.”

    “DEMOCRATS!!!! GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!” – Homer Simpson watching Fox News

  • fish eye no miko

    Foywonder said: “I mean Friday the 13th made $50 million the previous weekend; where was the musical salute to slasher films?”

    Well, in their defense, it’s really hard to dance with a machete embedded in your skull…

  • Ed Richardson

    Object all you want, it was a “chocolate city” (words of racist Democrat Mayor Nagen) with a liberal Democrat welfare society that went to looting and mischief a’la LA Riots.

    And I say that as a Louisianian born and bred. I have a front row seat.

  • I prefer the Hong Kong Movie Awards. This year, for example, the three films that got all the nominations were a historical battle film (Red Cliff), a martial arts biopic (Ip Man), and a period piece martial arts/fantasy film (Painted Skin). Say what you will about Hong Kong cinema today, at least they appreciate their genre films.