I like Ellen DeGeneres. I do. She has a nice, innocuous presence on television and when her deadpan jokes work, they really work. I thought her opening routine last night was funny-ish, safe, not offensive – the opposite of last year’s debacle. But then a host’s job really begins, as Billy Crystal explains in his book. It’s a loooong evening and the show inevitably sags in the middle during all the technical awards, so a host needs to jump in during the breaks in the action and respond to whatever’s going on. Sadly, DeGeneres’s reliance on pizza delivery didn’t cut it. Not even a little bit amusing. The selfie with all those A-listers was cute, but enough with all the stuff about Twitter. I mean, don’t the movies matter? Isn’t that why everybody was there? To celebrate Hollywood, not social media?
(Oh, I must digress to say that my Oscar dinner was delicious. I’m still drooling over the short ribs and mashed potatoes.)
Back to the show….Well, first the dresses. Absolutely gorgeous were Cate Blanchett, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams and Naomi Watts. Pure goddesses. On my not-so-gorgeous list were Anna Kendrick (too much going on), Angelina Jolie (she can never look bad, but the dress was too matronly), Anne Hathaway (didn’t love all those thingies on top), Jennifer Garner (her dress looked like a chandelier) and Julia Roberts (too lacy-dowdy). Loved Bette Midler’s singing live. Didn’t love poor Kim Novak, Liza Minnelli and Goldie Hawn, whose plastic surgery fails made me wince. Very sad to see how frail Sidney Portier has become. I missed George Clooney. I missed Jack Nicholson. I missed Warren Beatty, Jane Fonda, etc. Old Hollywood, in other words.
As for the awards themselves, I had most of them checked off on my Oscar ballot so I was pleased with the results. I was surprised that “American Hustle” was totally shut out, but once “Gravity” started winning all those tech awards, I knew it had the momentum for director Alfonso Cuaron. And I also knew that “12 Years a Slave” would take the top prizes. Just meant to be and deservedly so. Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto and Cate Blanchett were locks for their awards, but I loved all their acceptance speeches too, although Cate needs to learn the meaning of the word “exacerbate.”
Lots of good movies last year should have made for a livelier show, but I can’t wait to see what rolls into theaters in 2014.
I was hoping you would do a recap of the Oscars! I totally agree with you that it was a snoozefest! I think I was more engaged by my iPad during the show than I was with the show. I don’t feel bad for Leo not winning. I think he needs to break out of his mold and totally reinvent himself in a role in order to win an Oscar. Matthew McConaughey deserved the Oscar.
I kept wishing Tina Fey and Amy Pohler would host the Oscars, Melissa, but I guess they’re committed to doing the Golden Globes. Anyhow, yes, I agree about Leo.
Hello Jane, long time. Loved your post about the Oscars, Ellen was good, but I started to drift away with all the social media themes. The pizza ting was unexpected and I didn’t liked it also. You are right about all the “Old Hollywood” school. Very happy about Mathew and Cate, and Lupita and Jared; and what can I say about Alfonso Cuaron, sadly he had to go to leave our country to see his talent recognized (here al we have is horrible tings like “instructions not Included” by Eugenio Derbez, It’s really unwatchable). Slow show, I expected more but from Ellen but in the winning department my ballot was very similar. 12 years a slave is a powerful tale and totally deserved the Oscar, Lupita made me cry with her scene with Michael Fassbender about the soap.
Nice to write to you again. I love all your movie posts from your club.
A big Hug.
James
Hey, James. Nice to hear from you. There are so many talented directors coming from Mexico these days, Cuaron included. He seems to have enormous respect among his peers in the Academy, so I’ll be interested in what he does next.
Thanks Jane. I hope is a nice movie, I was nice to see al his team saying good things about him. Sadly the transmission here was dreadful, the presenters in the local TV stations were “doing their best” to translate in real time and leaves away the real meaning of the speeches and the show in general. a delayed broadcast with subtitles would be nice, I think. Anyway. quick question, do you know a chili recipe easy to do and very traditional? My Wife has a Birthday party on Friday and I want to surprise her.
This one’s as basic as it gets: http://www.food.com/recipe/simple-chili-190598. Or you could try this one: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/simple-perfect-chili-recipe.html. Good luck!
again Tanks, I promise to send you pictures!!!