Oscars Roundup

Some random impressions of the Oscar, while watching the telecast:

They shouldn't have nominees as presenters; give other actors face time; keeps up the mystique. Great clips of old winners, as usual. But see below for more on that.

Back in the day, only major, MAJOR stars were solo presenters. Today we have "The Rock?" As a SOLO presenter?

I was fairly certain Amy Ryan would win for Gone, Baby Gone, and if you didn't think Tilda Swinton, an actress I admire (and with whom I share a birthday) wasn't surprised to find herself climbing the steps to accept her Supporting Oscar for Michael Clayton, then you didn't look at her face. She's a worthy winner, however. And so was Javier Bardem for No Country For Old Men, the prohibitive favorite. Their acceptance speeches were short and to the point. The category of animated and live action films intrigues me. How does one get to see them? Where do they play? How many hundreds of shorts must've been submitted?

Nice to see Josh Brolin as a presenter. He and co-presenter James McAvoy were overlooked for nominations which they deserved. Good to see the Coen brothers win for adapted screenplay for No Country For Old Men, though actress/director/screenwriter Sarah Polley would've been a nice alternative.

Sid Ganis, Academy President, didn't go on until 9:50pm. I wish ABC would move the Barbara Walters special back an hour, and start the Oscars at 8pm. It's always interminable and kids on a school night have to go to sleep. You'd think Major League Baseball were running it. Who needed that little vignette about how people vote. Stewart was right to spoof it as "amazing."

Miley Ray Cyrus? As a SOLO presenter? I liked her one movie... a concert film at that... but the honor of being a solo presenter (see "The Rock" above) is, like the word "awesome", devoid of its value.

At least the Oscars seem finally to take a cue from the Tony Awards and have improved the staging of nominated songs; either solo as with Amy Adams, who sang that song in Enchanted, or Kristin Chenoweth, a Tony winner for Wicked, doing another song from that show. They've come a long way from that awful Snow White number with Rob Lowe, the nadir of live performances on Oscar night. Unless you count Telly Savalas growling a song. And did you notice how George Clooney, one of the biggest stars in the world, appeared early as a presenter? Usually they save the megastars for the last few awards.

Did Jonah Hill say "animation" instead of "sound editing" when he presented?

I noticed one of the montages, by the way, showed Peter O'Toole holding an Oscar. Last time I checked, he's been nominated for best actor eight -- count 'em EIGHT times...But the next Oscar he wins will, incredibly, be his first...Incidentally, all his nominations were for best actor; no supporting roles. That's a star! But his long drought is in contrast to Hilary Swank: 2 nominations=2 wins.

Unlike other years, we saw some of the movie scenes we've already shown on REEL TALK; usually it adds to the luster to see scenes never before broadcast. Perhaps the small window which now exists between theatrical release and DVD availability has something to do with that.

We featured The Counterfeiters on last week's REEL TALK, and I'm delighted it won for Best Foreign Language film. It brought to light "Operation Bernhard," the Nazis' sinister plot to flood the UK with counterfeit Pound notes, made by imprisoned Jewish engravers, counterfeiters and other craftsmen, saved from the gas chambers by their skills. Just when you think that every part of the story of World War II has been turned into at least one movie, along comes a brilliant one like this.

I still think they should perform all five nominated songs in condensed versions in one medley; performing all of them makes the evening ENDLESS...I remember watching the movie Once down at NYU; not the usual place to see a movie. That that song won the Oscar, competing against three from Enchanted, is the biggest upset of the evening. And well deserved by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova! And good for Jon Stewart to let Ms. Irglova to come back after the commercial to get her moment of glory and complete her remarks.

The hookup with soldiers in the field in Iraq to present the nominees and announce the winner of Best Documentary Short film was a first in Oscar history, to my knowledge. Nice touch. Again, where can we see those movies? Maybe HBO, or the Sundance Channel.

"The handsomest bludgeon in town," is the way Daniel Day-Lewis described the Oscar I suspected he'd win, even though I wasn't a fan of the movie, its first twenty minutes notwithstanding. His tribute to his grandfather and father, both departed, was touching. It was, it must be said, a plum role and the favorite won.

Nice to see the Coen brothers take home the gold. It was no surprise and unless I'm mistaken, brothers have never won Oscars for the same picture. And though it matters little, this reporter picked four of the top five Oscars. Proving nothing, but there it is. My congratulations to my co-host Alison who knew all along that her countrywoman Tilda Swinton would be a winner. If you haven't seen No Country For Old Men, this should convince you! And now, only 364 days until the next Oscars! As Judy Holiday said, holding up her statuette, "It's crazy. The whole thing's crazy!"

Comments

[Phaedrusnyc]

If even Jeffrey Lyons has no idea how to see the nominated shorts, everyone else is pretty much screwed.
Have to disagree about the musical numbers, though- watching the cheeseball numbers in the montage made me nostalgic. At least the music breaks up the grim faux-"professionalism" of today's ceremonies.

[Leper]

>>It was no surprise and unless I'm mistaken, brothers have never won Oscars for the same picture.

You are mistaken:

1) The Coen Brothers won best original screenplay for "Fargo."

2) The Mitchell Brothers won best foreign film for "Behind the Green Door" (it was foreign to the MPAA).

[MyThought]

I won't be watching next year - it gets worse every year. Best music? What a disaster. No one able to write music anymore?

Besides, the awards are paid for by marketing and promotion - it's a scam.

Nah, I've had it.

Too many untalented overnight stars with the lasting power of ice on a hot day.

Disgusting.

[wildflowermaven]

If you don't know how we can see the short films, we're in trouble. I happened to be in LA the week before the Oscars, and they had a showing of all the nominated short live action films. But as you said, where do these come from, how are they chosen? I second your idea to condense the songs -haven't they tried that before? They could bring back showcasing each best picture nominee with a few clips like they used to do. And although it was interesting to see all the past best picture winners, it was a very long static presentation. And I think I'll skip No Country for Old Men, nothing I've heard about it even nudges me to see it. Now Sweeney Todd, that was a good movie, as well as Ratatouille.

[DaveMacaray]

Well done, Jeffrey. I pretty much agreed with every comment you made. Good observations.

[Zuni]

God, I am befuddled about No Country for Old Men. What is the obsession with lovable serial killers? Javier Bardem basically played a killer robot. Can someone explain where the acting came in? I am not being sarcastic...I just did not like that movie. Loved Michael Clayton.

[Citizen54]

Most baffling thing about the Oscar nominations:
3 songs nominated from the same movie.

Meanwhile, the songs from Into the Wild, by Eddie Vedder, are ignored. (The score won a Golden Globe.) Vedder too liberal for Hollywood?

[dannyo152]

365 days -- there's a Feb. 29 this year.

[3rdCitizen]

I don't have any opinions about this year's Oscar choices since the only nominated film I've seen was "Once" (nice little film). I'll watch some of them on DVD in the coming year.

But here's my favorite topic of conversation about the Academy Awards: What were the all time worst choices in the history of the Oscars?

My own top two are, second, "Crash" winning Best Picture over any of the other nominees that year (and especially "Brokeback Mountain"), and, probably never to be surpassed as number one, "The Hellstrom Chronicle" winning Best Documentary over "The Sorrow and the Pity."

[raker]

The Coen brothers didn't look happy to be accepting Oscars. They looked like they'd just stepped in poo. If Hollywood phonies and their crappy movies are so contemptible, stay home for cripes sake and let some talented kid who wants it get the trophy.

[fitconnection]

No Country For Old Men - violent and depressing with little substance. Possibly one of the worst best picture winners ever in the weakest field of best picture nominees I've ever seen. What a terrible year for film.

The best film I saw all year, Lars and the Real Girl - didn't really get nominated for anything.

[LoRiseAntlers]

Blahblahblahblahblah.

Bullshit in,bullshit out.One more "message" movie that will forgotten about by next year's Oscars.

[artwohl]

Peter O'Toole won an Academy Honorary Award for his body of work at the 2003 Oscar Awards.

[NMR]

I saw the shorts at a theater that plays lots of indie films in Chicago...you paid for a normal ticket and saw all 5 animated shorts or all 5 live shorts. It was interesting!