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Monday, February 27, 2012
Film / Film News CL goes to the Oscars
Posted By Matt Brunson on Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 4:44 PM
- Michael Yada / ©A.M.P.A.S.
- Jim Rash (middle) as Angelina Jolie
By Matt Brunson
The Academy of Harvey Weinstein Arts & Sciences — for those who didn’t hear, the organization’s name was officially changed this morning — handed out their Oscars last night. Here are our thoughts on the evening.
Highlights:
- Michael Yada / ©A.M.P.A.S.
- Chris Rock
* Chris Rock. He was hilarious in his introduction to Best Animated Feature, and he gets my vote to serve as next year’s host.
- Michael Yada / ©A.M.P.A.S.
- Ben Stiller and Emma Stone
* Emma Stone. She was a comic delight as she and Ben Stiller introduced the Visual Effects category, with Stiller and Jonah Hill serving as wonderful foils.
* The speeches by Best Supporting winners Christopher Plummer (Beginners) and Octavia Spencer (The Help). Plummer was dashing, gracious and dryly amusing (looking at the Oscar statue, he started by saying, “You're only two years older than me, darling. Where have you been all my life?”), while Spencer was wonderfully human in all her excitement and emotion (“I’m freaking out! Thank you, world!”).
* The five Oscars for Hugo. While it was unfortunate that Martin Scorsese didn’t pull off the upset in the Best Director category, the year’s most dazzling technical achievement still managed to win five awards. It even beat frontrunner Rise of the Planet of the Apes for Best Visual Effects, a fitting victory given that one of its characters, film pioneer Georges Melies, was the man who invented visual effects.
* The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for Best Film Editing. In addition to being a smart selection, this was appreciated because it was the only completely out-of-left-field winner of the night. That’s mainly because Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter won just last year for The Social Network, and back-to-back wins seemed highly unlikely.
* The Descendants for Best Adapted Screenplay. While the best film of 2011 should have won more, at least it was honored for its exceptionally fine script. The win also gave co-writer (and Charlotte native) Jim Rash an opportunity to mock Angelina Jolie’s ridiculous look-at-how-hot-I-am pose.
Low Points:
* Meryl Streep for Best Actress (The Iron Lady). Look, Streep’s one of my favorite actresses, and I never thought I would be rooting against her. But I’m not the only person who has wondered how much of her victory was because of Harvey Weinstein’s usual heavy-handed campaigning rather than the actual merit of her performance. She was fine in an otherwise poor film, but no way did she deserve to beat The Help’s Viola Davis. Hell, even Streep herself had previously stated that this was Davis’ year.
- Michael Yada / ©A.M.P.A.S.
- Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow
* The banter between Iron Man co-stars Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow as they introduced Best Documentary Feature. Painful.
* Billy Crystal’s opening song. While his traditional skit of placing himself inside the nominated films yielded some hearty laughs, his other surefire gag in the past — mentioning the films in song — failed miserably this time around. And sorry, but that plastic surgery work proved distracting throughout the evening.
* The shut-out of the entire Harry Potter series. I’m not exactly crying over this, but c’mon. When The Lord of the Rings wrapped, they gave the final film just about every Oscar under the sun; on the other hand, no HP film has ever won a single Oscar. This year’s final entry, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, should have won Best Makeup over The Iron Lady. Applying makeup to a middle-aged woman to make her look like another middle-aged woman beats out Voldemort, a de-glamorized Helena Bonham Carter, and various goblins? Seriously?
* Those clips in which various celebrities discuss the magic of the movies. I got a kick out of Brad Pitt talking about “The Gargantuas” (actually, The War of the Gargantuas, a Japanese monster flick), but hearing Reese Witherspoon rave about the forgettable Goldie Hawn-Kurt Russell vehicle Overboard and Adam Sandler discussing what makes a movie good (how would he know?) was cringe-worthy.
* Not enough Muppets. It was great seeing Kermit and Miss Piggy in the balcony, but why not bring out the whole gang just as they brought out the whole Bridesmaids gang? Luckily, the best commercial of the evening featured lots of Muppets: the Google+ ad with our lovable friends singing the classic Queen-David Bowie song “Under Pressure.”
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