kungfuwaynewho | Live Blogging the Oscars

11:02 pm - The show's been over for awhile. Am still basking in wonderful TKS-wins glow. I do think, though, that tonight's show was the second-worst Oscar show in terms of production and pacing that I've seen. (The worst is still the one where they gave out awards in the audience, or had the technical award nominees all cluster on the stage together, to save time - because God knows things like sound mixing and cinematography are totally unimportant when it comes to making movies.) Like, everything was just so painfully unfunny, except for the rare few presenters who actually have some natural comic timing and were able to save themselves, if nothing else. The set was weird, the homages to past films that had won was scatterbrained and confusing, the introductions of the nominees was boring, and on and on. I mean, is it really that hard to put together an entertaining show, where pretty people in nice dresses win shiny things?

They should just hire the people on YouTube who make the awesome montages. And skip the host, and just have people present without dumb scripted chatter. And actually, like, TALK ABOUT MOVIES. I swear, that auto-tuned turning dialogue into songs thing about halfway through rivaled Rob Lowe singing with Snow White for I'm Going To Seriously Kill Myself, This is Too Embarrassing to Live moments.

10:45 pm - I'm happy with both lead acting winners. Natalie is not my favorite actress in the world, but she was amazing in Black Swan. And Colin Firth of course was brilliant and perfect.

And The King's Speech wins. I knew True Grit, which was my other favorite movie of the year, didn't have a chance in hell, so I was obviously enormously pleased with the outcome. I was still so nervous, though; goodness. And for the first time since 2003, my favorite movie of the year, and the one I truly felt was the best, actually wins the Best Picture Oscar. Tonight ended up a whole lot better than it started.

10:08 pm - TOOOOOOOM HOOOOOOOOOOPER FINALLLLY THANK YOU GOOOOOOOOOOOD.

I think some of the happiest moments in my life have been when people I like when awards.

9:57 pm - Hi, Sally! Bye, Sally.

I'm incredibly glad they turned off the Death Clap-o-Meter for a change. I still can't quite believe Dennis Hopper is gone.

9:49 pm - Thanks a lot, Oscars, for reminding me that Jennifer Hudson has won one of you. Also, what is wrong with her boobs.

Those were like four of the worst song nominees ever. At least Randy Newman was funny? I just want to know who keeps telling Gwyneth Paltrow she has a good singing voice; it's flat and awful.

9:37 pm - Oh God, The Social Network is going to win, isn't it? Ughhhhhhh.

Also, WTF is up with Hereafter getting a Visual Effects nomination. That wave looked like something from a video game from 2002.

9:23 pm - So far, The King's Speech has won a single Oscar, and True Grit has won zero Oscars.

At least Cate Blanchett looked ethereal and perfect and gorgeous.

Also, that Tangled song was the blandest shit I've ever heard. For this, Jonsi didn't get nominated? Mmmkay.

8:51 pm - I cannot believe Trent Reznor has an Oscar. Fucking Social Network, damn it. This Oscars is balls so far. Balls!

8:35 pm - Screenplay went as expected, does not clarify the race at all. I'm happy to see Christian Bale win, even though I would have liked John Hawkes or Geoffrey Rush to win as well. Helen Mirren's dress was gorgeous and she was stunning, as per usual. I think she's been in my top three best dressed for about the last five years at this point.

I am so over Oscar hosts and their random, unfunny shtick. Seriously. I'd rather have a bunch of random montages; at least they're ostensibly about movies.

8:09 pm - Well, not the best start. I'm 1/5. I was hoping this would be the year when the voters realized that the best acting =/= the most crying and yelling, but alas. No such luck. And even though I picked Toy Story 3 to win, I wanted How to Train Your Dragon to win - but I knew that wasn't going to happen. So far, underwhelmed by dresses. I liked Mila Kunis's color and basic idea, but it was a tiny bit too low-cut for my tastes.

I refused to watch Melissa Leo's acceptance speech. I stirred the pizza bites in the oven, and angrily ate some popcorn. Grr.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hailee Steinfeld totally should have won. And I also love her dress more than Melissa Leo's, so she doubly should have won.

No, I am not drinking and watching the Oscars...

She was amazing. I have no doubt she'll be nominated again before too long, though.

I really like looking at James Franco.

Caro

I wish he was doing more crazy stuff, though. Even the dress thing wasn't that funny.

They just need to find new people to produce the show. It's so staid and boring. Auto-tuning scenes to turn them into songs? Really? We cut all the montages for that?

I know. He's just so handsome.

Ah, I am rooting for The Social Network. I thought it was legitimately the best movie out of the ones I saw, and its almost an underdog at this point. I liked The King's Speech a lot, but it was a little Oscar Baity. Its almost more impressive to me that such a gripping movie was made about, like, programming and intellectual property.

The song thing was stupid, but the Twilight bit amused me.

Caroline

Don't make me have a fight with you about "Oscar Baity." I'm serious. We have been friends a long time; I don't want to end it over movies.

(SHOULD THEY JUST NOT MAKE MOVIES ABOUT OLD BRITISH PEOPLE, THEN, HUH?)

Oh, it is so not an underdog. It's neck and neck with TKS; think of the other poor eight nominees, languishing with no hope of winning whatsoever.

Nah, I just mean that traditional period pieces seem more destined to be nominated/win Oscars than movies about programmers. I thought TKS was excellent; I just liked The Social Network more and think that its actually a really important piece about our current social landscape and would prefer to see it win for that reason as well.

Caroline

Oh and the chatter around town lately has just made it seem like TKS is destined to win, and that TSN was losing ground.

Yeah, TKS stormed the guilds; it was a weird thing. I think it gained momentum right before the race. It's the most glaring divide I've ever seen between guilds and critics.

Welllllll, it's one of those things where it seems like traditional period pieces always win, but they don't, actually. Nominated, sure, but the Academy's been pretty progressive the last ten-fifteen years. I don't think a traditional "Oscar Bait" movie has won since The English Patient.

Eh, I don't care about what movies say about our world or any of that; I'm just in it for technique, artistry, and storytelling. So I'll never argue for "this is an important movie" for our times. NB, though - I still have not seen TSN, and dislike it for purely arbitrary reasons, most of which having to do with its total domination of the critics awards.

This sounds really pretentious, LOL. Obviously I can't argue against TSN on the basis of merit since I haven't seen it, though I have no doubt it's very well made. Fincher is, if nothing else, the most meticulous filmmaker working today.

I think one of the reasons I was pre-bitter about TSN and its acclaim is that I would have rather seen Fincher get this kind of attention for Benjamin Button and/or Zodiac, which I loved. Zodiac didn't even get nominated!

Yeah, fair enough on the period pieces not winning in recent years but they always do rack up the nominations.

I thought True Grit, The King's Speech, TSN, and 127 Hours were all extremely well done artistically, but TSN just really felt the most special to me for many reasons. So, while I agree that I don't necessarily root for movies because I think they are IMPORTANT, this one really speaks to a a unique moment in our culture which made it extra resonant for me. And, as I said, there is just something very cool to me about the fact that Fincher was able to make, like, WATCHING PEOPLE TYPE very exciting.

I really didn't like Benjamin Button, tho.

Haha, I remember that you didn't like Benjamin Button. That is one of those movies I love but freely admit I can see where it wouldn't be for everyone. And it was far from flawless, too - it could have been tightened up a lot, for one thing.

I'll publish my whole post when it's done. I have thoughts. While I agree that Franco is attractive, I find him incredibly bland in this venue.

Yeah, he seemed really strange and awkward. Which, he does a lot of the time, but I usually find it kind of endearing and funny. It wasn't the right energy for this, though.

I wish they'd just get rid of the hosts, and the opening silly things, and all that altogether. It just doesn't work anymore.

And OMG, I agree that the auto-tuning thing was abysmal. Good Lord. I actually thought Anne Hathaway was charming and generally lovely, but James Franco just looked like he didn't want to be there.

I do love me some montages. Even the final one they had tonight kind of saved the show for me.

I love Aaron Sorkin, but I think he did far better work on The West Wing and A Few Good Men. I still don't understand why The Social Network is up for anything. It's not a bad movie, but it's not all great, either. Or did I miss something that really sets it apart from the pack?

Firth and Portman winning? Awesome, they both deserved it, especially Portman. Black Swan was a grrrreat movie, I watched it without blinking.

I liked Social Network! It was a tough storyline, but they managed to make a verrry interesting and entertaining movie out of it.

LOL everybody's bitching at the award show, even some of the celebs I follow on twitter.

Edited 2011-02-28 06:48 (UTC)

Either this was after I went to bed, or while I was not paying attention because it was, IDK, commercials and so I was getting a drink or food or feeding my own cats or whatever, but apparently Bruce was in a cat food commercial during the Oscars?

*sigh*

*headshake*

Bruce, sweetie. New agent. Please.

I, too, am so, so, so, so, so happy that Mr. Firth and TKS won! I adored every single second of that film.

Is it really that hard to put together an entertaining show, where pretty people in nice dresses win shiny things?

Looks like it. I'm not watching Oscars for so long and I'm still mad I missed Ellen DeGeneres (I hope I speller her last name rightxD) as host, but for me they became rather awkward last year when they decided to have 2 hosts.

I never pay much attention to the songs but was not inspired this year. I think 'Country Strong' is a much better song and Gwyneth voice sounds better there.
But well my favorite song for now is 'Falling Slowly' anywayXD

And I never get how they pick Best Score...I wanted Inception or King's Speech (just found the sheets for the piano theme which I love and will learn \o/)

I refused to watch Melissa Leo's acceptance speech.

I haven't seen 'The Fighter' yet and I tried to ignore all the fuss about her but I never wanted her to win. I rooted for Amy or Helena.

Live Blogging the Oscars

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