Last night, I watched the Oscars, expecting some of the things I reported–the projected sets being one of them–to wow me. I also expected hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco to be fun, hip, and charming. Well, a valiant effort was made to impress the attending and home audiences, but overall, not much pizazz was to be found. Here’s the good and bad of the event:
The Good
Presenters like Billy Crystal, Kirk Douglas, Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law , Russell Brand, Helen Mirren and Oprah Winfrey gave us flashes of what the Oscars were supposed to be like: classy, exciting, funny (on occasion), and even slightly cheesy. Many liveblogs, like EW.com’s, had streams of people saying which of their favorite presenters should have hosted the award show, but talk like that shouldn’t have been happening since we had two hosts.
The Lena Horne tribute, given by Halle Berry, was particularly nice, especially since it’s Black History Month. The fact that Berry got a bit blinky and teary-eyed shows just how much Horne, who was the first African-American to score a long-time contract with a major studio, not only meant to actresses of African-American descent, but also to African-American history as a whole.
The live orchestral medley was also very good as it, like the presenters mentioned above, reminded us what the Oscar telecast is supposed to be about–a lilting love note to the world of cinema. It was a fun walk down memory lane to hear themes from “Star Wars”, “E.T.” and more.
Great heartfelt speeches from the likes of Christian Bale (“The Fighter”), Natalie Portman (“The Black Swan”) and David Seidler (Best Original Screenplay, “The King’s Speech”) also gave some heart into an otherwise sterile show. To see winners who were humbled by their good fortune is always fun to watch.
The Bad
Writing what was good about the Oscars was tough, because there were only a few moments that were actually good. As far as I’m concerned, the blame can be spread to more than the hosts.
Anne Hathaway was not terrible. In fact, she did her job to the best of her ability. James Franco, however, seemed missing in action, even when he was on stage. Now, I’m not one to be what they call a “hater”, because I did enjoy their “banter” from time to time, but the most I can say is that they did the best they could do.
The autotuned “song” section was ridiculous. It was an obvious ploy to say to young viewers (who probably weren’t watching by this time because Monday’s a school day), “We’re hip! We know you love autotuned songs!” If you’re going to do a digital short, get Andy Samberg. To an extent, this also applies to the beginning montage, which, while interesting, went on way too long.
The projected sets are something that personally rankled me. The producers of the show said that the projected sets were something new, that there wouldn’t be traditional sets. What the audience actually saw wasn’t so eye-popping as people were led to believe. Big letdown.
Having the supporting actor and actress awards at the beginning of the awards show was an interesting choice as well. It doesn’t make much sense to me, as it seems to be more fitting to have all of the actor and actress awards in the same chunk of time instead of having one half at the beginning and the other half at the end. Similarly, it was weird to have the Best Original Song performances stretched out between commercial breaks.
I think most of the blame for this year’s Oscars falls with the team behind the Oscars. Mistakes were made, but what are mistakes if not learning opportunities?
