God that is funny. I wish Ellen had done that joke it would have brought down the house. Speaking of Ellen, if I become a lesbian can I get Portia Del Rossi instead of a toaster oven?
I thought she was awesome. It takes chromium-plated comic timing to pull off that “Spielberg, can you take a picture? Get us both in the shot!” gag. I’d be delighted if she came back next year.
Pilobolus blew my mind. I’d heard of them, but never seen them perform. Snakes on a Plane?! WOOT!
Loved seeing two of my favorite guys on stage: Hugh Jackman and Jack Black!
I want J.Lo’s gown. Never thought I’d say that.
Also loved the foreign-films montage, although it made me tear up. Non-Americans don’t only make sad films, but it seems those are the only ones we get to see!
And boo to Dreamgirls not getting Best Song, with two chances at it yet!
Hoffman should wash his fucking hair and at least be presentable. I know this is all ridiculous, but still. At least comb it or something. Or shave it off like Jack. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, all 3 names, is a dick. His disgusting display unfortunately turned me off to him.
Is that your sole reason for thinking PSH is a dick? Because I believe the hair is for a role.
Three nominated songs.
D’oh, she says quietly. Well, it just goes to show that the Oscar does not always go to the nominee who connected most with the audience. I don’t recall people standing up and applauding for the Etheridge song, like they did in the cinema where I saw Dreamgirls.
Does the role require that he never wash or comb it, either? It was like a Nick Nolte mugshot!
I think the Best Song category, more than I’ve ever seen, was all about the politics behind it. Melissa wrote a good song, but not a great one, about the Issue of the Second in Hollywood, so they chose to reward the song for talking about the issue.
N.B. I have a great deal of respect for the seriousness of global climate change, just not Hollywood’s generally fickle commitment to issues.
Moderator interjection: Look, I Know, it’s about four pages back, but…
Equipoise: calling another poster “offensive” (back in post # 248) is not permitted in this forum, not even if you’ve been drinking and watching the Oscars.
Thank you all–I was too tired after work to stay up and watch, but now I feel like I’ve been there.
Yay to Mirren, and Scorcese, and to Inconvenient Truth. Guess I’ll have to see Pan’s Lab now…
I’m glad Lil Miss S got something. Too bad about Dreamgirls, though.
If I recall my Hollywood history, Lucas was Coppola’s protege (Francis produced American Graffiti)…but didn’t they have some major falling out during Apocalypse Now? If so, they’ve kissed & made up in the past 30 years.
I’m late (real late) to the party. Sat through the entire bloody thing, except for Celine Dion and the Dreamgirls song and dance number that went on for.EVER, when the boy commandeered the remote and switched away for several minutes.
The only dog I had in this fight was wanting to see Pirates win the awards it was nominated for…won Best Effects, hooray! I don’t think the first Pirates movie won any Oscars, did it? I have not seen Pan’s Labyrinth, don’t have a real strong desire to. I wanted to until I found out the beautiful, surrealistic scenes in the previews were just a small part of the film and that it is, for the most part, a war movie. But I’m sure it’s lovely.
Ellen did well, made me crack a smile a couple times. I enjoyed the completely random “Celebrate! Celebrate!” gospel choir in the beginning.
I was shocked, actually, that Anna Nicole Smith was not in the Parade of the Dead. Not only was she in the aforementioned Naked Gun film, but she was in one of my favourite movies ever: The Hudsucker Proxy! The Oscars seem to shove everyone who ever walked across the set of a movie into that montage, I was positive she’d be in there.
Jack Nicholson looks very strange bald. I would not have recognized him if not for the sunglasses.
So funny to think how far we’ve come in the last couple years. I remember when Michael Moore was booed for insinuating that Bush stole the election; now the host of the show cracks a joke about Gore having won in 2000 and practically gets a standing O.
I was another one of those who were like “Clint Eastwood speaks Italian??”, but I guess it does make sense considering. I thought that was one of the most real moments of the evening - very touching and obviously not rehearsed. You could tell the gentleman starting speaking and everyone in the crowd was like “Uh, I guess we’ll just keep smiling like we have any idea what he’s saying?” until Clint stepped in.
All in all not bad, not remarkable.
slight hijack.
El Laberinto del Fauno or Pan’s Labyrinth, was so much more than mostly a war movie. The war part just set the background for the fantastic part and the story of a misplaced girl. There was no shortage of the fantastic and only enough war to set the mood and move the plot.
It was truly magnificent. I thought it should have been nominated for Best Picture, not just best foreign.
Jim
I can’t believe you missed Forest in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”… (I’ve always been a big fan of Forest’s work, and think it’s a hoot to watch him in FTaRH.)
Forest Whitaker was also in Good Morning Vietnam and Bird, which was directed by Clint Eastwood.
Some impressions:
Biggest Disappointment: Emmanuel Lubezki has not only been the most deserving Cinematography nominee two years in a row, but for my favorite movie of 2005 & 2006. I really thought he had a great chance of winning for Children of Men (he won the guild award from his peers of DPs), so seeing him lose was a royal bummer (though if he had to lose, I’m glad he did to Pan’s).
Biggest Cheer: In an industry continuously overwhelmed by CG, it was gratifying that the best animated short (The Danish Poet) actually won despite being “old school”. A lovely little film.
Biggest Relief: Marty. No, it’s not his best film, but it was the best of the 5 and that’s good enough for me (and it wouldn’t surprise me if he won another down the road–Clint was in his 70s when he won #2).
Worst Trend: The freakin’ pieces of paper! Only Whitaker used it effectively as a crib sheet for a speech worth making. Everyone else—read & list & read & list. Booooo!
Worst Win: Dreamgirls sound mixing award, since I thought the music/dialogue/fx balance was always overblown and bombastic. I’d rather have seen any of the other win.
Worst Luck: Yes, Kevin O’Connell’s a 19-time loser, but he’ll get more nods. I think this was it for Peter O’Toole, and it was a bit sad to see him show up only to lose…again–though, to be fair, I would have been more bothered if he won–1 Lifetime Achievement award (Arkin) was enough.
Best Montage: The nominees assembly by Errol Morris that opened the show. Good fun.
Worst Montage: I love Michael Mann, but his “The USA, uh, rocks?” assembly was pointless filler.
Classiest Act: Guillermo del Toro hugging the Foreign Language winner (though he may not have had much of a choice). Despite getting 2 nods each, the 3 Amigos themselves (Innaritu/del Toro/Cuaron) all went home empty-handed.
The ceremony as a whole went down rather painlessly. I liked the Will Ferrell & Jack Black musical number, the dancers were interesting without taking up valuable time, and Ellen delivered the goods (and she’ll be back eventually, but not next year). None of the presenters really bombed, though the show could’ve used more moments of sheer honesty like Jerry Seinfeld’s Documentary intro. I also like that for the second year in a row, the Academy decided to spread the wealth a little (and to mostly deserving candidates).
jsc1953, I was joking about the fact that Coppola, Lucas, and Spielberg all looked the same, as if they were the same person only cloned. That was pretty bizarre.
I figured Mark Sheiman (probably misspelled) wrote the Black/Ferrell musical number. I’d still love to hear what the song about cartoon controversies ABC wouldn’t let Robin Williams sing a couple years back would have sounded like (the lyrics to which were printed in Entertainment Weekly shortly after the ceremony, along with Sheiman’s comments).
I know; I just used your astute observation as a launching point for my (semi-related) question.
I just wanted to post up and say I’m glad Eugene Levy finally won for Best Director.
She died in 2007, so she would not be featured until next year in any case.