So I watched the Academy Awards last night. My friend Rob had this party at his newly built house and we got some pizza, made some chili cheese dip, and watched them with a few friends of mine. The only movie I had seen up to the Oscar's that was up for anything was Django Unchained, which I of course loved.
I am a Quentin Tarantino die hard. Pulp Fiction is my favorite movie of all time. The way Tarantino develops his characters is a work of art. Having written a few screenplays in my day, I know how difficult of a task character development is. Django was a serious subject, inspired by Spaghetti Westerns, and had a dash of quirky comedy and violence that Tarantino is known for. The first award given out on the night was to Christolph Waltz. He has been nominated twice for two different roles in Tarantino movies and won both times he has been nominated. Waltz does steal every scene he is in, as he did in Inglorious Basterds. He does look quite odd without a beard.
Seth McFarlane hosted the show, which obviously they tried to gear the show towards a younger audience. The Academy had tried this once before with James Franco and Anne Hathaway a few years ago which was an absolute disaster. It is already a hard enough show to get through, and add to it terrible hosts. That's a no win situation.
McFarlane was the best host I've seen in a while. He actually got me to laugh a few times, which let's be honest, no one laughed last year at Billy Crystal except about how much larger his head has gotten as the years have gone by. The intro last night went on way too long. The William Shatner sketch was funny and unexpected, but I could have gone without the dancing skit with Harry Potter and Joseph Gordon Levett. The best part of McFarlane's hosting was the Boob Song which you can see below.
The show did drag for too long, which the Oscar's seem to do every year. I wish they could cut out a lot of those costume design and technical awards and give those out pre show like the Grammy's do with pointless awards but The Academy insists on them being part of the show. The tribute to the Bond Films was kind of boring and went on far too long as well. I think they just wanted an excuse to put Halle Berry on stage. She is nice to look at even with that Heatmiser/Don King hair she had last night. I almost ruined the longest relationship I've ever had early on when I met my ex girlfriend, and later on she text me and asked me what I thought of her. I said, "You're no Halle Berry," and of course that hurt her feelings and it took us about a month to see each other again, but it did last three years so I some how won her over. I think it is my wittiness sexiness, and of course uncanny charm.
The biggest surprise of the night for me was Jennifer Lawrence winning best actress. I have yet to see Silver Linings playbook. It's on my list to see along with Argo, Flight, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Les Miserables, Zero Dark Thirty and Lincoln. I did see her in The Hunger Games and she did alright in that. I can't judge her and say it was a complete surprise she won but I wasn't expecting it. She did trip and fall on her way up to accept the award which was humiliating but she made light of it when she accepted. If only she was as good at walking up steps as she is at archery.
Argo won best picture. I guess I should've said SPOILER ALERT, but if you are reading a review you have to expect this. I assumed it was going to win since it cleaned up the J.V. awards. Ben Affleck has come a long way. He started on a high with Good Will Hunting and winning an original screenplay Oscar then he starred in movies like Gigli and Armageddon. He co-starred along side his teeth in Armageddon. He definitely got them whitened or something before he starred in that movie. He dated J-Lo and became Bennifer. He dated J-Lo right after Puffy did. Does she have a random taste in men or what? You can't get much different than those two. He is now on top of the world though, directing Gone Baby Gone, The Town , and now best picture winner, Argo. I plan on buying Argo soon as I plan to own every best picture winner since my birth year of 1985. Argo looks very good from the previews and everyone says it is really good. Ben deserved a best director nomination but for some reason didn't get the nod. It makes no sense to direct the best picture but not get nominated for best director. It seems silly.
Daniel Day Lewis won best lead actor which he looks like Abe Lincoln in the movie and that's all Jamie Foxx needed to win for Ray so that sounds about right. It's his third time winning for best male lead so he's turning into the male Meryl Streep. He is a great actor though so he deserves it. He really deserves four because I don't know how he didn't win for his portrayal of Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York, one of the greatest characters of all time.
Overall grade for the Oscar's? C+. I'm not going to give it above a C until they don't make me stay up until midnight on a work night. The host was better but not all the way there yet. He's like a G rated version of Ricky Gervace. None of the speeches really had a 'moment.'
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