Oscar 2007 Show Recap, Nitpick Thread

Cafe Society
1

OK, I have seen the Oscar show-watching thread, and the “whose dress did you like” thread, but how about a post mortem of things liked, hated, surprises, etc on the show itself? You know, things that you didn’t think of during the show but now hit you.

I’ll start:

Whatever happened to stars like Liz Taylor, Barbra Streisand, Paul Newman, Harrison Ford, Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, Michael Caine, Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, Shirley MacLaine, Oprah (yes, Oprah) et al showing up and lending some element of surprise to the show? Hasn’t Jack Nicholson handed out the Best Pic awards the last 2 or 3 years? That is supposed to be the biggest award of the night and Jack is the best they can do?

I’ll give Ellen a B+ for her first Oscars. She was cool and calm the whole night, but I thought her opening monologue was a bit of a snooze. The bits out in the audience were well done…Mark Wahlberg, Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood were all charming with her.

Weird, when did Melissa Etheridge start looking so much like Hilary Clinton?

Eddie Murphy did a good job not looking shocked when he didn’t win. But Beyonce looked a bit disgruntled that Jennifer was up there with the Oscar and not her (I know she didn’t get a nom, but you get my drift). Jennifer blew Beyonce off the stage during the songs…I had never seen JH perform before and I see what all the hype is about now. Girl can saaang!!!

I’ll admit it, I like Al Gore, too but c’mon people he’s really not that inspiring. The bit with Leo asking him if he wanted to announce anything was cute, though. But why did they trot them out there…they didn’t give out an award or anything. Just wanted to get Gore some face time in case his movie didn’t win (like that was going to happen!!!) In what way are the Oscars “Green” now? Or was that a joke that whooshed me?

Will Ferrell and Jack Black…excrutiatingly horrible. Will Ferrell has worn out his welcome in my book.

I will never understand why they have to show so many movie clips…if they take out these unnecessary fillers that will reduce the show’s running time by at least 45 min. Trot out the person to announce the clips…run the clips…then trot out whoever is going to give out the award.

2

According to some source I read - maybe Entertainment Weekly? - one of the things that was changed is that all of the stars are shuttled to the Oscars in hybrid vehicles rather than the old gaz guzzling limos.
Also - did anyone think the Michael Mann piece was good? Even with Will Smith telling me in advance “This is the message of the montage”, I couldn’t figure out the message of the montage. Unless it was “Michael Mann thinks America is full of racists and idiots.”

3

Agree with pretty much you wrote. A local critic started his column by writing, “You now it’s going to be a long night when the funniest guy in the house was Al Gore.”

By my watch, it was 22 minutes before the first award was handed out, and that was one that was of no interest to anybody but the family of the winner.

If they cut out all the weak jokes, boring entertainment, awards for things nobody but a Hollywood industry type cares for, and just gave out the awards for the best of the actors, director and picture, they’d have a very interesting one-hour show.

Never happen, of course. They all are so infatuated with themselves that they must think everybody else cares. They don’t.

Ellen was not bad, but not up to her usual witty stuff. Seemed scared to be edgy. After the hosts of the last two shows, I guess everybody was warned not to kitd the sacred Hollywood cow.

Next year I’ll definitely record it and then fast forward through all the dross.

4

I think the Academy sticks with people who are currently or recently filiming or in some sort of current setting. I could be wrong…And of course this excludes special performances and cameos…

Here! Here! My wife and I ate up the fact that JH got the Oscar! We hope to see much more of her. Plus she doesn’t carry the Gangsta aura that Beyonce unfortunately carries.

I thought Ben fleck looked hideous up there, no smile, no noth’in. Sorry Ben…it was a bad year for ya! And to have the fact that Matt Damon was and still is over shadowing you must sting a little too. :stuck_out_tongue:

5

This isn’t a nitpick. Just my major gripe.

I’d LOVE to watch the show if they only presented the big 5 or big 6, and filled in the gaps with entertainment. That would be a rockin’ show.

I flipped by a couple times last night, and I saw a chorus doing sound effects. I caught the end of what looked like a funny Jack Black/Reilly/Ferrell song, I saw people dancing behind a curtain that looked like penguins.

But, I catch only bits and pieces because 50% of the show is SOOOO boring. So boring. Poorly written copy, uncomfortable improvisational stuff (like when Clint’s babe wanted to take the picture instead of Spielberg, or Walberg trying to keep talking when she had the mic on Scorcese).

I can’t abide red carpet interviews, and consequently, I turned back too late to catch the introduction. I thought it was on at 8:00, but I tuned in at 8:15 and they were on the carpet.

I had to turn off Will Smith’s kid doing a presentation. I saw the end of Alan Arkin’s speech, and his Oscar was sitting on the floor.

So, while I find some of it quite entertaining, I simply can’t sit through it. You could trim that show to 2 hours and it would be the most entertaining 2 hours on television every single year. But as it is, I think it’s a terrible production.

6

My nitpick is with Anne Hathaway and whoever the other chick was that she presented with. First of all, Anne needs some voice lessons–her speaking voice is atrocious. Second, the little skit with Meryl Streep was stupid. Third, one of the chicks said something about some costumes being “literally eye candy.” WTF does that mean?

7

While I like An Inconvenient Truth I just was not sold on it as Best Documentary. I felt like the award was more an award for the cause than for the film. Personally I like documentaries that explore something more personal and hard to get at. I just think AIT was too broad and “macro” if you like.

8

I think they were referring to the costumes from Marie Antoinnette where the designer him or herself said they were inspired by french deserts and such, so it made some sense, actually. Personally, I loved Meryl Streep’s death stare.

9

Exactly, and I love MS’s stare too! Didn’t it seem she held it a little long…almost eerily long.

10

Too many montages! They’re like big dead spots in the show. Not that they were badly done, but I’d rather see them pop up between movies on TCM than making an already too long show even longer.

The Pilobolus bits were clever, but expendable. Big deal.

Chris Connelly backstage: Why, why, why? Although I did get a laugh from Tom Hanks’s response to him. And who were those people who introduced themselves at the long table backstage just before the first commercial break and why am I supposed to care?

I think the Brits keep getting so many nominations because they’re so much better at making acceptance speeches.

Jerry Seinfeld: the routine was cute enough, but he was just there to present an award, not deliver a monologue. Shut up and read the nominees.

What’s up with Will Ferrell’s hair? Is he doing a biopic of Carrot Top? Every time I see Jack Black lately, I want to slap him for some reason. But John C. Reilly, of course, outsang them both. It didn’t make the bit work, though.

Ellen was funny, if a little safe, but her bits in the audience were great. They wouldn’t have been if Walberg, Scorcese and Eastwood hadn’t been such good sports. That kind of audience interaction has backfired on hosts before, but I think it’s one of Ellen’s particular talents. Also, she made a good recovery from her Penelope Cruz/Mexican mistake at the beginning.

11

Wouldn’t help the Oscars if they had a host who could come out and do a funny monologue, or better yet a good skit, and then make really good pointed jokes about the proceedings all night long?

What was that? Ellen DeGeneres hosted? Is she auditioning for Heroes as the Invisible Girl? That was the lamest, least funny, least memorable hosting gig I’ve ever seen. It made David Letterman look good by comparison and he’s always been the gold standard for bad.

Agreed on Michael Mann. I thought the Enio Morricone tribute was going to be interesting, but then it put me to sleep just like all movie soundtracks.

When did the women receiving awards become as tall as the models that bring the Oscars onstage? Seriously, that was the tallest group of women ever at an awards show.

And the flattest-chested. The supermodel look has mostly won out.

Speaking of which, Nicole Kidman’s dress was spectacular, but there was one camera angle in which the bow looked like a pointed cap and I thought she was wearing a costume portraying an opened tube of Krazy Glue.

Personally, I thought the other two singers both were better than Jennifer Hudson. Doesn’t matter though: all five songs were unmemorable.

Liked the Errol Morris intro. Like the cartoons intro. Like the music playing over Gore. Liked Pilobolus. In fact, they were much better here than they were when I paid big money to see them live a few weeks ago. I feel cheated. Liked Tom Hanks’ sarcasm. Whatever happened to him? He used to be a star. Liked Will Smith’s son messing up his lines. And Helen Mirren going “awww” in the audience when he and Abigail Breslin came out.

Abigail Breslin sums up all of Hollywood for me. A ten-year-old in a fat suit playing a chubby seven-year-old. Because a real chubby seven-year-old wouldn’t look real enough. Is there anything more that needs to be said?

12

Not too hard given that, once his category was over, he bailed on the ceremony (wonder why there were no cutaways to him when the 3 DG songs were being performed?).

Gotta disagree re: Ferrell & Black. They were hilarious in their musical number a few years ago, and they delivered the goods again (certainly leagues better than Celine Dion or even James Taylor).

The opening montage (with the nominees) was short and sweet, and the Obit clip show is obligatory, but the Writers montage was irrelevant and the USA/Michael Mann assembly was completely pointless. The Foreign Language one was actually well put together, but on the whole, less would definitely have been more.

And every year, there’s always one shining example that the Academy thinks the general public are idiots. This year, in the Morricone montage, they listed just a handful of films that he composed for. Given that he wrote the music for such remarkably diverse films as **Once Upon a Time in the West, The Battle of Algiers, Fists in the Pocket, 1900, The Hawks and the Sparrows, La Cage aux Folles, **and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (all classics in one way or the other), what film did the Academy choose to list instead? Why Orca of course! You know, it may be ranked #210 on IMDB among Morricone’s body of work, but at least it’s in English! :rolleyes:

13

Especially since, every time they cut away to him, he couldn’t even get his facts right! Dude, you’re right there! Can you not keep track of who’s winning?

14

So you didn’t see Jennifer Hudson during the Dreamgirls songs? There’s some serious boobage on that award winner!! She looked fabulous. I did not like the brown dress on her, though, but the red dress was va-va-voom!!!

15

Since when does mostly = absolutely all?

Stop treading on my pet peeves! :stuck_out_tongue:

16

Montages are the best part of every year’s show!! I love film clips. The writer’s montage was good…but the Michael Mann was … uh…wha…?

I thought Ellen was excellent, but no one can beat Jon Stewart, because he brought the “gay cowboy” montage last year, which was the best moment in Oscar history.

(I thought Ellen’s best moment was the recycled Gilligan’s Island jokes, where she managed the difficult feat of telling the jokes (which were funny, in a dumb way) and mocking the joke simultaneously).

As far as I can tell, the Greening of the Oscars involved that random voice-over that told us whenever production on the winner’s movie was halted by brush fires, or whatever.

Not a single memorable acceptance speech. I was particularly disappointed in Alan Arkin’s, who just read something boring from a sheet of paper.

Weirdest moment, though, came during E’s red carpet show, which they made the Jennifer Holliday show. Ignoring the fact that she didn’t make a movie this year, or any year that I recall. And I’d never heard or seen her sing before…is she always like that?? With the bizarre face contortions, and adding “uh” after every syllable (“you-uh, and you-uh, and you-uh”)?? Ugh.

17

Oh yeah, she sure did…almost as if she was not amused…was it part of the skit, or just her response???

18

I’m with ArchiveGuy on this. I’m not a fan of Will Ferrell or Jack Black, but that number made me laugh.

19

You’re so wrong. I cared deeply about it and about all the other Artistic awards. One of my favorite films of the year, Pan’s Labyrinth won the first Award, for Art Direction (and the second, for Makeup). These are categories that make the movies what they are, and if all you’re interested in seeing are stars you might want to stick with the Screen Actors Guild awards.

No matter what kind of hoopla has come to surround the Academy Awards, they always have and always will be Industry awards, honoring the people who work on the movies. That includes art directors and editors and costumers and makeup people and composers and cinematographers and so on. Those are the people who make the movies look and sound and feel the way they do.

Weak jokes, oh my yes. Boring entertainment, yes (CELINE DION???). Awards for things that YOU don’t care about? No. Those are the whole point of the Oscars, no matter what glitzy entertainment magazines and programs would have you think.

I care. Lots of people who care about the movies care. They’re honoring their own, which includes the very important craftspeople, and if that’s being infatuated with themselves then good for them. Most of those craftspeople aren’t famous, and don’t make big bucks, and they’re almost certainly not wearing borrowed designer clothes. It’d be great if they could have their one night of the year in the spotlight without people griping (or getting played off the stage, which infuriates me to no end).

20

I thought this year’s cermonies were outstanding. But first; this was Ellen’s first time? I would have * sworn * she’d done it once before. . .? What award show am I misremembering?

Lets’ see. . .it took me about an hour to recognize Nicholson. Seriously, I absolutely didn’t realize it was him unil I put the constant shot of him and his shades together with the fact that I didn’t think I’d seen him elsewhere in the audience. Anyone know what was up with his look?

I thought Ellen did great. I’ve always been a big fan of hers.

I thought the fashions were fabulous overall, though I have to say I destest the trend of wearing one’s long hair( artificially extended or otherwise) hanging down whilst in eveningwear, Nicole Kiddman and Gwenyth Paltrow were especialy guilty of this. Hey, I know times have changed since the old days of Hollywood Glamour, but jeez, it’s just bad fashion sense, in my opinion.

I’m kind of surprised and a little bummed out that so many think the montages and song / dance numbers were superfluous. That’s all part of the magic of the evening, as far as I’m concerned.I didn’t care much for J.T.'s and Randy Newman’s number, nor Celine’s tribute to the Italian Maestro, and I absolutely HATED the Dream Girls medley, but, I never once thought of turning the channel. I view it as a whole Hollywood Exraveganza so I just watched what I liked and chose those other times to empty the litter box and whatnot.

I read (or saw on E! Sorry, can’t recall) that Jennifer Hudson said she was going to be text messaging throughout the evening because she just wanted her “friends to share it with her”. That immediately made me hope she didn’t win a thing.
The shadow dance group blew my mind and I would absolutely pay to see them. Again, I’m sad that many people didn’t appreciate them.

I saw Alan Arkin on the preshow and he seemed pretty darned cranky, though that may be due to his seemingly bad hearing. I’ve always thought he’s a great actor, but he seemed uncomfortably ungracious.

When Tom Cruise came out it felt surreal and uncomfortable. I’m not a great fan anymore, but I almost cringed thinking people were going to boo him, or at least, that he could feel the animosity.

I know that many wish the show would be shortened and lots of stuff would be cut out, but I love it all, even the stiff, cheesy dialogue between presenters. To me it’s a once a year spectacle and I kind of want to tell the detractors to just skip it if it’s so annoying (no offense to the OP or anyone; just a general sentiment).