411's 2010 Post-Oscar Roundtable
Posted by Chad Webb on 03.09.2010
So the show is over. The 2010 Oscar ceremony has come and gone, but how was it? Click to read all the thoughts from sopme of the 411mania staffers that watched it!
The Post-Oscar Edition
In case you weren't aware, here are the quick results:
Multiple Award Winners:
6 - The Hurt Locker
3 - Avatar
2 - Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' By Sapphire
2 - Up
2 - Crazy Heart
Best Picture - The Hurt Locker
Best Actor - Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Best Actress - Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Best Director - Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz, Inglorious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress - Mo'Nique, Precious: Based On The Novel 'Push' By Sapphire
Best Original Screenplay - Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Best Adapted Screenplay - Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious: Based On The Novel 'Push' By Sapphire
Best Cinematography - Mauro Fiore, Avatar
Best Editing - The Hurt Locker
Best Art Direction - Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, Kim Sinclair, Avatar
Best Costume Design - Sandy Powell, The Young Victoria
Best Makeup - Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow, Star Trek
Best Original Score - Michael Giacchino, Up
Best Original Song - "The Weary Kind," Crazy Heart, T-Bone Burnett & Ryan Bingham
Best Sound Mixing - The Hurt Locker
Best Sound Editing - The Hurt Locker
Best Visual Effects - Avatar
Best Animated Feature - Up
Best Foreign Language Film - The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos, Argentina)
Best Documentary Film - The Cove
Best Documentary Short Film - Music by Prudence
Best Animated Short Film - Logorama
Best Live Action Short Film - The New Tenants
As for who came out on top with number of correct predictions from the 411mania staff, here are those results:
Chad Webb: 17 points
Ben Piper and Bryan Kristopowitz: 16 points
Len Archibald, Jeremy Thomas, and Erik Luers: 15 points
Mike Gorman and Leonard Hayhurst: 14 points
Arnold Furious: 13 points
Shawn Lealos: 7 points
Your Opinion of Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin as Hosts
Chad Webb: They started off horribly, with some of the worst jokes anyone could throw together (The Last Station spoiler alert?), but as they gradually appeared for less and less amounts of time, they were fine, mostly because they acted as the glue to hold the segments together, which is all they are good for anyway. The Taylor Lautner & Zac Efron diss was cool, as was the Paranormal Activity and Snuggie gags. Overall, Baldwin and Martin will fall in the middle of the pile of Oscar hosts. Some will like them, some will hate them, but most won't care in 10 years.
Bryan Kristopowitz: I thought, for the most part, they did an okay job. Baldwin seemed a little too stiff at the beginning, but he loosened up later on and got better. Martin was his usual brilliant self. I wouldn't mind seeing them come back and host again. I don't think the "Paranormal Activity" skit worked, though. It was kind of funny but it probably needed another minute.
Ben Piper: I think that they did a good job overall. The opening began a little flat. It seemed to me to be all, "hey there's (insert name here), let's clap for them before making a joke." But as the segment wore on it got better. And over the course of the night they managed to do what was required of them; Keep the show moving along while also making the audience both in attendance and at home laugh. They had good chemistry working together and it showed. And yes, I liked the "Paranormal" spoof. And that Snuggie visual joke was pretty good as well.
Arnold Furious: I thought they did fine after a bit of a rough start. Steve took a while during the opening monologue to realize he was supposed to be the lead. Once he realized that it was all good. They did some fun stuff although the monologue wasn't a patch on any of the recent comedians who've hosted. It was a bit safe. Steve Martin's "Hitler memorabilia" gag was a good one though.
Trevor Snyder: I think they did just fine, but were nothing special enough to seem to justify the return of the dual-host format next year. I was hoping they would play up their fictional feud a bit more through the night, as those were usually their best moments. But, overall, they kept the show moving and their jokes worked more than they didn't. Still, I think next year the Academy should either try to woo Hugh Jackman back, or ask Robert Downey Jr.
Jeremy Thomas: I thought Martin and Baldwin were all right. They weren't anything hilarious, and in fact compared to some of the more entertaining Oscar hosts they fell really flat. I didn't find their opening monologue all that funny, outside of the Meryl Streep Nazi memorabilia reference, the threesome gag and the Dame Helen Mirren joke. Throughout the rest of the night, they were just kind of bleh. I laughed at the Paranormal Activity thing; not so much on the Snuggie. They certainly weren't Dave Letterman bad, but they were no Billy Crystal either.
Mike Gorman - I actually found them enjoyable. I had a few strong chuckles during the opening monologue, especially during the Dame Helen Mirren joke. I really enjoyed the Paranormal Activity spoof and the Snuggie scene, both caught me off card and captured their comedy well. I would like to see them do something together in the future. Probably not host the Oscars again per se but I think they could be hilarious together.
Erik Luers - Like many of the recent Academy Awards hosts, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin just seemed kinda there, showing up once every twenty minutes to provide a quick throwaway line and an unnecessary segue to a presenter. Our masters of ceremonies, like so many prior, faded into the background and didn't leave much of an impact. For starters, the opening monologue/banter was excruciating and started the show off on a negative wimper. I strongly believe that Baldwin and Martin had written their jokes back in 1962 and decided, hey, now might be a good time to use them. Luckily, some later bits (the Paranormal Activity skit, for example) seemed somewhat more inspired, but they were too little, too late. Does anyone still look forward to the hosts these days? This may have challenged you not to.
Biggest Surprise of the Night
Chad Webb: As far as shocking wins or losses, the fact that Up in the Air got nothing was a surprise, and a disappointment I might add. Geoffrey Fletcher winning for Precious and Mark Boal winning for The Hurt Locker in the two screenplay categories were not what we thought, but hardly surprises. The horror montage was not expected certainly, but the goal was to appease all the people that complain about horror films not getting enough love. Expect a comedy montage next year Hangover fans. The horror clips were interesting, but sloppily put together and a bad way to fill time when we could have seen Roger Corman and Lauren Bacall give honorary Oscar speeches.
Bryan Kristopowitz: I was surprised by "Logorama" beating out the Wallace and Gromit "A Matter of Loaf and Death" in the Animated Short category. I mean, it's Wallace and Gromit. What is better than them?
Ben Piper: In terms of who won and who lost I'd have to go with both writing categorys. Basically most of the 411 staff believed that Tarantino was due for his second Oscar (kudos to Mike for not drinking the kool-aid) so it was a bit of a surprise that Mark Boal took it for The Hurt Locker. Although, if you go back and read my pre-Oscar thoughts, I mentioned that if QT didn't get the nod, I thought that Boal would win. (Damned hindsight!) Geoffrey Fletcher winning for Precious though? That truly stunned me, as well as the writer himself as he was seemingly dumbstruck and emotional as he took the stage. Everyone (Outside of Gorman again, good call) thought that Up In The Air would take it in a bit of a runner-up cakewalk, but it was not to be.
Arnold Furious: The shorts. Music By Prudence and Logorama in particular. Did they voters stab blindly at their ballots for those two? I don't agree that Wallce and Gromit deserved to win because their film was the worst of the series and disappointed throughout. But Logorama? Did nobody see La dama y la muerte?
Trevor Snyder: As expected, there weren't really that many surprises. A lot of people (including me) were disappointed that Tarantino lost Original Screenplay, but Mark Boal was always considered a strong contender in that category as well, so you can't really consider it shocking that he took it. The other writing category, on the other hand, was a lot more unexpected. Everyone was expecting that one to be Up in the Air's token Oscar, but instead a visibly surprised Geoffrey Fletcher won for Precious. I guess that was the biggest surprise of the night, but I don't know how surprising it was to the casual viewer. It was probably only surprising to the more hardcore film buffs who get really invested in trying to correctly predict everything.
Jeremy Thomas: Of all the surprises, the single-biggest one for me was Precious winning Best Adapted Screenplay. I don't think that anyone really expected Up in the Air not to win this, and I was seriously surprised to see Geoffrey Fletcher take home the award. Now don't get me wrong--it was a great little feel-good moment because Fletcher's speech was pretty cool. At the same time, it's a sad thing to see that a film as deserving as Up in the Air didn't win a single award. I hope it really is an honor just being nominated.
Mike Gorman - Hmm... well really I was not shocked by any of the awards, even the ones I got wrong. Instead I will say my biggest surprise was at Neil Patrick Harris' opening performance. I caught a whiff of their being a surprise opening guest during E!'s pre-show red carpet coverage but I did not expect an award's show repeat from the "How I Met Your Mother Star."
Erik Luers - Well, one of the biggest surprises of the night was the appearance of multiple clips of Friday the 13th Part 2 and Leprechaun on the Academy Awards telecast. I'm starting to think the Mayans are gonna be right about this 2012 thing now. In fact, that whole horror montage was a big surprise, although not in a way in which I can classify as satisfying. If you've ever wanted to see a montage where Nosferatu was shown side by side with Twilight, this was for you. And what was up with its tacky presentation? It felt like outtakes from that Boogeyman - The Killer Compilation DVD from ten years back. It was something that Spike TV would have been proud of to produce, but the Oscars? It's inclusion was odd, and it was a bizarre way of saying "here are clips from all the genre movies we decided to snub over the past eighty-two years". I hope you're looking forward to next year when they have Lauren Bacall introduce a blistering montage honoring Torture Porn.
Best Overall Moment of the Night
Chad Webb: No can deny that Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges gave great speeches, and their wins were emotional, but Katherine Bigelow becoming the first female to win Best Director is hard to beat. Barbara Streisand's announcement of it was pretty spectacular as well. I also loved the speech from Sandy Powell, who won for Best Costume Design for The Young Victoria, mainly because she called the Academy out on the ridiculous way they judge that category. Hopefully her words sink in and maybe next year we will truly judge what the best costume design is and not just give it to the same genre. The John Hughes segment was great, as were the introduction to the Best Animated Film and the explanations for what the sound categories exactly mean.
Bryan Kristopowitz: It's a toss up between Jeff Bridges speech after winning Best Actor and Kathryn Bigelow's speech for Best Director. They were both great. I also liked the "Salute to Horror Movies" thing. I could have done without the inclusion of the "Twilight" sequel in that section (where the heck was Romero's "Dawn of the Dead"?) but it was still dang cool to see Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, Pinhead, Leatherface (not the real Leatherface but, hey, you work with what you have), and Chucky at the Oscars. Who would have ever thought that would happen? The John Hughes thing was pretty nifty, too.
Ben Piper: For me there were several. Tina Fey and Robert Downey, Jr. introducing Best Original Screenplay was a comical delight. Horror movies getting their own Oscar montage? How awesome was that? Unlike Bryan, I liked Ben Stiller's Navi interpretation and the comedy that played out as a result. The Dude abides, and finally gets his richly deserved rewards. Helps that his speech wasn't as rambling as the previous ones that he had given, and the fact that he centered it all around his family? Nice touch. Sandra Bullock giving the best acceptance speech of the night. And in my eyes, the top two prizes went to the director and movie that deserved it the most. And the John Hughes tribute was pretty awesome, not to mention that his entire family was in attendance to see it.
Arnold Furious: Jeff Bridges winning. His speech was on point, emotional and covered his entire career quite nicely. Like a lifetime achievement award. Sandra Bullock's speech was also surprisingly strong with her covering a lot of ground in her speech.
Trevor Snyder: There were quite a few good speeches (both Bridges and Bullock, in particular), but for me there was nothing better than seeing Bigelow win her very deserved Best Director prize. Even though she was the front-runner, she still looked genuinely surprised and moved (and, it must be said, incredibly hot). A great moment, and I think we can all rest easy now that the director of Point Break finally has an Academy Award.
Jeremy Thomas: The Best Actor and Best Actress speeches were great for their own reasons. Both Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock took it in stride and had a good sense of humor about it, and that helped them stand out from the other speeches. I know its overall moment and not overall momentS, but I can't pick between those two and while people may not like Bullock winning, it's hard to deny that it was a great speech and so was Bridges's.
Mike Gorman - Awards-wise for me it was Up winning Best Score. I was a big fan of the movie and enjoyed seeing it get credit outside of the animated category. The winner's speech was also great when he spoke of not suppressing creativity in kids. As for the acceptance speeches I really like Sandra Bullock's self effacing manner. She knew she was winning a career award and not just for the one role. I also appreciated her thanking her mother for teaching her that being good at something creative takes practice too.
Erik Luers - "Well, the time has come....." said Barbra Streisand before announcing Kathryn Bigelow as the first female recipient of the Academy Award for Best Achievement in Directing. That was quite a moment. And a deserving one. It was also fitting (albeit a slap in the face) to have Streisand presenting the award, as she had notoriously been passed over by the Academy for directing nominations for some of the pivotal highlights of her career. I guess this was a way of everything coming full circle. Let me not also forget to mention the crowning of our first ever African-American screenplay winner in Geoffrey Fletcher. Hardly anyone expected that significant moment to transpire. And just like that, over the course of three and a half hours, two Columbia University independent filmmakers made history. More statistics to note in the record books!
Worst Overall Moment of the Night
Chad Webb: The time constraints are always a factor, and that can explain many of the "worst" moments people will pick. The "In Memoriam" segment was disappointing of course, for the omission of many people, and the Academy's excuse was they didn't have time. No one should be surprised. That segment will never satisfy everyone. What I noticed more than anything was horrific Ben Stiller gag. Even though having someone close to the nominee standing up and praising them in the lead actor categories made more sense, I still don't like it. Other categories should have that too. I suppose the leads are the most important. There were a lot of minor problems, and I could never cite all of them. One was the camera panning to the Cohen brothers right after a joke about Jewish people. Another was Chris Pine talking about the Best Picture nominee District 9 was an obvious slap in the face. He was of course in Star Trek, which was superior. Yet another was the female producer from Music by Prudence rudely interrupting the director. I could go on.
Bryan Kristopowitz: The Ben Stiller gag really didn't work, but I think the worst moment of the night had to be the dance routine thing for Best Score. The dancing as dancing was okay, sort of interesting to watch, but what the hell did it have to do with the scores up for the award? I didn't really get that. And, once again, the producers screwed up the "In Memoriam" section. You don't need goddamn James Taylor to sing over the photographs of the dead people. Just use somber instrumental music, put the dead people front and center, and just let it play. Where the heck were Farrah Fawcett and Bea Arthur?
Ben Piper: Coming in second in the staff Oscar pool for the third freakin' year in a row. No, I'm not bitter. Not at all. Kidding. Kind of. No, in all seriousness, the female producer of Music By Prudence, which won Best Documentary Short pulling a Kanye on the film's director by interrupting his acceptance speech and taking over? Uncouth and extremely tacky. Shame on her.
Arnold Furious: Mo'Nique's selfish speech where she ignored her fellow nominees saying that the Academy had voted "for the performance not the politics". That basically means; "me, me, me, me, me, me, me". Whatever happened to it being an honour just to be nominated? Let's face it she hasn't exactly deserved the honour for a body of work!
Trevor Snyder: Don't get me wrong, I like that the Oscars honored Horror (and rightfully acknowledged it as the world's most popular genre). But the video package they threw together was a little obvious and lazy, if you ask me. It seemed to be a collection of no-brainer clips. The problem is, it seemed to ignore one of the general ideas they were going for - that horror is a breeding ground for future acclaimed stars and filmmakers. Oh, sure, they included Johnny Depp from Nightmare on Elm Street, but why not also throw in clips of Near Dark and Piranha 2 (you know, the first films of this year's two leading contenders in Best Director)? Why not show a little of Dead Alive, to show where Peter Jackson cut his chops? How about Brad Pitt in Cutting Class? Jeremy Renner in 28 Weeks Later? I know they wanted to stick to the big stuff, but they could have had a lot more fun with the montage. And don't even get me started on including Twilight in there, or letting Stewart and Lautner introduce the segment. That was pandering of the worst kind. I mean, you had Eli Roth attending...why not just let him introduce the damn thing? I know he's not as big a star, but he's well-known enough, and at least is recognized as being part of the genre. I don't know...their heart was in the right place, but it seemed like a big missed opportunity to me
Jeremy Thomas: There were several bad moments, to be sure. Showing Leprechaun not once, but TWICE in that whole horror montage was pretty surreal. For me though, the Tacky/Tactless Moment of the Night has to take it with the "In Memorium" segment. Once again, it was presented in the background with a singer in the foreground, making it hard to follow (though at least not as bad as last year). The kicker here was Farrah Fawcett not being listed, while Michael Jackson was. It's bad enough the poor woman's death was overshadowed by the King of Pop when it happened, but to have the Academy recognize a man primarily known as a musician over a women who accomplished far more in the field of acting was pretty damn bad.
Mike Gorman - Farrah Fawcett and Bea Arthur being left out of the In Memoriam were pretty bad. I also think that the John Hughes tribute was great but that they could have done a better clip package. Don't get me started on the films selected for the Horror tribute either.
Erik Luers - The In Memoriam segment was disappointing once again, primarily for their notable exclusions. Farrah Fawcett was a big one, and guess what? They snubbed Brad Renfro one more time (some people thought he wasn't eligible for last year's segment, but he was). And why no mention of Robin Wood? Before you say the Academy doesn't honor critics, last year, if memory serves me correct, they did honor Manny Farber, so what gives? I guess they really needed those extended shots of Brittany Murphy to increase ratings. Ugh. Hey, why not include the dolphins from The Cove next year. That would get people talking. At least we were rid of the swooping cameras. Also, being pressed for time can sometimes suck: Tom Hanks had to skip over the ten nominees in order to quickly announce the winner for Best Picture before midnight. The last time the presenter didn't mention the nominees? 1985, when Olivier simply walked out and proclaimed Amadeus the winner.
Best and Worst Dressed
Chad Webb: Ok, all the guys dress basically the same. Unless you know a lot about the designers, or have a secret crush on one of them, no one stands out really. As for the women, Sarah Jessica Parker and Zoe Saldana both had hideous dresses on. They stand out. For the best, I would say Kate Winslet and Sandra Bullock. And as for her bright red lipstick, hey, that can be hot once in awhile.
Bryan Kristopowitz:
Best Dressed Woman- Penelope Cruz
Best Dressed Man- Jeff Bridges
Worst Dressed Woman- Sara Jessica Parker (she's looking more and more like a full on zombie every day)
Worst Dressed Man- Ben Stiller
Ben Piper:
Best Dressed: Carey Mulligan & Sandra Bullock
Worst Dressed:Sarah Jessica Parker & Vera Farmiga.
Arnold Furious: Everyone was dressed. That much I'm sure of. The woman who won best costumes looked like she bought her dress at a charity shop but otherwise I didn't really notice how anyone was dressed.
Trevor Snyder: Seriously? OK, ummmm...well, I thought Sandra Bullock looked good (although go a little easy on the lipstick next time, Sandra). Kate Winslet was also looking good, as usual. As for worst dressed, well, Sarah Jessica Parker's dress was noticeably hideous, even to a guy like me who doesn't give a damn about fashion.
Jeremy Thomas: Best dressed is always a little more boring, so let's to the fun one first. What the hell was Sarah Jessica Parker wearing, and when did she go on a heroin bender? The poor woman looked like she weighed fifteen pounds soaking wet and with fourteen and three-quarters pounds of rocks in her pockets. That dress looked like she watched Enchanted and was inspired to make an outfit out of her shower curtain, with minimal results. And while I thought she looked good overall, Anna Kendrick's dress made her look like a twelve-year-old. But then, maybe that's what she was going for, 'cause those kids do well at in Best Supporting Actress. Right, Tatum? As for Best Dressed, I have to agree with my fellows that Kate Winslet and Sandra Bullock both looked great. Of course, Sandra also had the dressed-down, non-pompous attitude, and that's a look that always plays well at a high-fallutin' place the Oscars.
Mike Gorman - Best would be Queen Latifah, Robert Downey Jr. and Anna Kendrick. Worst for me hands down was Sandra Bullock. She reminded me of a baked potato. Sure food usually entices me but not this time.
Erik Luers - I'm not sure. I mean, if this in terms of Those I Would Like To Tap The Most (or T.I.W.L.T.M., for short), best dressed would be Penelope Cruz, Anna Kendrick, and Kate Winslet. But in terms of most creatively dressed, I'd have to give it to Mo'nique, the Oscar winner who dressed in the same color and wore the same flower in her hair as Hattie McDaniels did when she accepted her Academy Award seventy years earlier. That was cool for Oscar geeks like me. And yet some will still try to bash Mo'nique and claim it was a way of making herself look more important. To me, it was a historically moving (and relevant) gesture. Oh, and all the men dress the same, so....yeah. Weird hair on Clooney there.
