Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Since I didn’t get a chance to do a Oscars podcast this year I thought I should at least post some thoughts on last weekends extravaganza. Plus, this just so happens to be the first year I’d watched all Best Picture nominees beforehand. So why not lay down some of my thoughts?
Firstly, I was pretty much bang on with all my picks (with the exception of Foreign film and Documentary). As many of you know from listening to the podcast I absolutely loved Dallas Buyers Club and was certain that McConaughey and Leto were both going to win in the male acting categories. I was a little surprised the film didn’t get more consideration for Best Picture. People have pointed out some of the scripts flaws and I have to agree but would say that both Gravity and American Hustle (neither of which won) also suffered from some script problems.
Thought Ellen Degeneres did a great job hosting. Nothing too fancy, kept the show moving. Of course anything would be better than what Seth MacFarlane did last year. The mono off the top was a little hit and miss but I liked the giant selfie and loved the pizza delivery bit despite some people who thought those bits were “phoning it in”. A couple of friends of mine Mark Andrada and Julie Dumais did a similar bit with their improv duo 10,000 to Flight at a Fringe show where they would order a pizza at the top of the show and then the audience would give the pizza guy a standing ovation when he showed up. I think the Academy should have a 5 year host rotation with Ellen, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, bump Tina and Amy up from the Globes and then have Jay-Z and Beyonce one year for the cool kids.
Cate Blanchett was amazing in Blue Jasmine. Couldn’t see the Best Actress award going to anyone else unless Meryl Streep was planning to take 5 years off or something crazy like that. Overall I think Blue Jasmine is an underrated movie. That probably has to do with all the controversy resurfacing with director Woody Allen but I would have put in in the Best Picture category over Nebraska which I liked for its cinematography but that’s about it.
Was a little surprised to not see much of Joaquin Phoenix at the Oscars. I thought Her was a great flick and thought it very deserving of the Original Screenplay Oscar. After watching that movie I kept thinking about how long it takes to get a movie made (in the case of Dallas Buyers Club, 20 years) and when Siri for iPhone was introduced. Imagine how quick Spike Jonze saw that new iPhone feature, thought about falling in love with an OS, wrote the script, sold it and got it made. It’s insane.
12 Years A Slave was another great movie and if they made an Oscar Award for villain of the year it would have to go to Michael Fassbender who is made out of pure racist evil in that movie. If Jared Leto didn’t lose all that weight he would have been my first pick behind Barkhad Abdi in Captain Phillips, who just so happens to be pretty broke so it would have been nice to see him get the Oscar and make a few bucks. Also, Captain Phillips seems to be another movie that if released another year would have been a clear favourite for Best Picture.
Bill Murray’s tribute to Harold Ramis was wonderful. Instead of clips loosely about Hero’s or whatever I think it would be nice to show clips from the actors who have passed like Ramis and Philip Seymor Hoffman. Then have In Memory of slideshow for those who passed that worked behind the camera. I think having a theme in general is dumb. The theme is always Hollywood movies! This isn’t a prom for rich people. It’s an award show for rich people (with the exception of Barkhad Adbi).
Really think it’s cool that Pharrell is sticking to his guns with that giant hat. He inspires me to make bold fashion choices and to not care what people think or say about them. I enjoyed all the musical performances. A lot of people don’t for some reason but I think having music makes the show more of a spectacle. I understand that some years there might just not be enough movies with good songs in them but thankfully this year we had some solid cartoons. Was informed that Frozen is the second highest grossing Disney film behind The Lion King and it hasn’t even come out on BluRay. I thought it was a fun movie for sure, but still miles behind Wreck It Ralph.
This year I found myself categorizing movies into three different categories. Movies, films and motion pictures. The Wolf of Wall Street is a movie, Dallas Buyers Club is a motion picture and Nebraska is a film. I don’t have any real reason it’s just how I see them in my head so I’m gonna stick with it.
OTHER NOTES:
- Obviously Gravity won all the technical awards. Still could have won Best Picture considering how spectacular it was visually. If you know me you know my thoughts on the whole Hurt Locker / Avatar thing. I feel like movies that makes outstanding innovations in visual effects should be placed ahead of movies that are just “unbelievably good”.
- Liza Minnelli should put those droopy milk bags in a cheese sack. She’s probably the last of the “old Hollywood” generation so it’s nice to see her make it out.
- John Travolta’s wigs are the best. He should really just keep changing into more and more ridiculous wigs throughout the evening.
- I’m a bit over Jennifer Lawrence’s I’m so clumsy and normal it’s crazy I’m so much like you stuff. Not because I think she’s forcing it but I think the media puts a spotlight on it for no reason. Also, didn’t think her performance in American Hustle was anything special.
- Lupita Nyong’o has the best speech in my opinion. Very heartfelt. I hope she finds some great roles. She’s great in 12 Years a Slave. Hope she doesn’t go the way of Jennifer Hudson and Gabourey Sidibe.
- I think the exact opposite with Amy Adams. I feel like the backlash against her just because he’s in a lot of movies at the same time is dumb. Just was great in American Hustle and had a very understated performance in Her. She’s also been the most consistent actress in Hollywood for the last 6 or 7 years.
- Would have liked to see Steve Coogan a little more. He’s a guy I just want to see blow up in North America. Maybe he could host one year. Oh and more Tom Hanks. He could have been in there for Best Actor. Guys, watch Captain Phillips.
- I think the show could afford to lose 2 or 3 categories from TV. Make-up only had 3 nominees and I don’t think people would miss the Best Animated Short or Best Documentary Short. Lose them and you just turned a 4 hour show into a 3 1/2 hour show.
- Poor Leo. Poor sexy Leo. Didn’t really mention The Wolf of Wall Street. It’s a fun movie but a little too long. Could have lost a half hour.
- Overall, great year for movies and for the most part The Academy got it right.
There you have it. Some better late than never Oscar thoughts. See you guys next year on the red carpet (I spilt pasta sauce on my carpet)