Sunday
Oscars live-blogging
1) Chris Rock was weak. I was disappointed in that. I liked the joke about sending Cuba Gooding, Jr. $80, and the return of that theme in mocking himself for Pootie Tang. The rest of it was weak.
2) They appear to be going incredibly fast.
3) Good for Morgan Freeman. I think this cements Jamie Foxx for best actor.
4) The Pepsi/Spartacus ad was better than any commercial at the Super Bowl, and the Cadillac one wasn't half-bad either.
5) Robin Williams just provided a welcome contrast to Rock's weak opening, though I would not want to see Williams doing that shtick for the length of the show.
6) I didn't say Shark Tail and don't plan on it, but Incredibles was head and shoulders better than Shrek 2. In fact, that's understating the difference.
7) This man on the street skit isn't bad. The line about DiCaprio and The Beach was good. And Albert Brooks is excellent. But this skit is funny even when Leno does it, and Leno isn't very good, so I don't know how much credit to give Chris Rock for it.
8) "...boring us to death with his politics." The Tim Robbins introduction was very funny.
9) I have no opinion on Best Supporting Actress, I haven't seen enough of those films.
10) I haven't seen the Aviator, but given her reputation, how could Thelma lose?
11) This Counting Crows song is really good...for me to poop on!
12) See the Teleprompter leads to them saying really inappropriate comments because Catherine Zeta-Jones isn't really there. Isn't that clever.
13) Sunset clearly deserves this.
14) Man, an award where I've actually seen enough of the candidates to have an opinion, and they get it wrong. Sideways is good, but the script for Before Sunset is clearly superior.
15) Lumet movies I've seen, ranked:
1. Network
2. Dog Day Afternoon
3. 12 Angry Men
4. Murder on the Orient Express
5. Night Falls on Manhattan
6. Family Business
The drop off between four and five is the biggest, though I also think one is much better than two. Notably, I've never seen: Serpico, the Verdict, the Pawnbroker, or Fail-Safe.
16) Question to those who for some reason chose to see the film version of Phantom of the Opera: Where does that song fit into the narrative?
17) "Dog's bollocks" is now the phrase of the week. Try to work it into conversation.
18) Both giving some awards out in the audience area and having all of the nominees on the stage for some awards are interesting changes from the standard format. I think they're both good ideas, but I'd have to think more about it.
19) I'll bet you Dan Drezner loved that Selma Hayek joke.
20) The set for this song would have been too cheesy for Spinal Tap. And I had no idea Antonio Banderas could sing.
21) Travolta being on stage reminds me: I officially predict that Be Cool will be disappointing. Not just that it will obviously be worse than Get Shorty, but that given the capabilites of the ensemble and re-uniting Travolta and Uma, it will pretty much be bad.
22) This is a rough year for film deaths, and getting Yo Yo Ma to perform is a very tasteful way of commemorating it.
23) Singing the winning song was the most interesting acceptance speech of the night.
24) The speech Sean Penn just made was reminiscint of people who say, "Behind every good man is a great woman." This is sort of a sexist idea. And his "defense" of Jude Law, which seemed quite sincere, demonstrates rather thin skin, though loyalty is a nice trait also.
25) Kate Winslet should have won.
26) Classy speech by Swank though.
27) That joke about Gwyneth breastfeeding an apple went over my head. Until further notice, I assume she named a child Apple, or Macintosh, or possibly Golden Delicious. Anyone want to enlighten me?
28) Nice job Charlie Kaufmann, you deserve that one.
29) I'm done with this, I'll update tomorrow on the other awards.
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2) They appear to be going incredibly fast.
3) Good for Morgan Freeman. I think this cements Jamie Foxx for best actor.
4) The Pepsi/Spartacus ad was better than any commercial at the Super Bowl, and the Cadillac one wasn't half-bad either.
5) Robin Williams just provided a welcome contrast to Rock's weak opening, though I would not want to see Williams doing that shtick for the length of the show.
6) I didn't say Shark Tail and don't plan on it, but Incredibles was head and shoulders better than Shrek 2. In fact, that's understating the difference.
7) This man on the street skit isn't bad. The line about DiCaprio and The Beach was good. And Albert Brooks is excellent. But this skit is funny even when Leno does it, and Leno isn't very good, so I don't know how much credit to give Chris Rock for it.
8) "...boring us to death with his politics." The Tim Robbins introduction was very funny.
9) I have no opinion on Best Supporting Actress, I haven't seen enough of those films.
10) I haven't seen the Aviator, but given her reputation, how could Thelma lose?
11) This Counting Crows song is really good...for me to poop on!
12) See the Teleprompter leads to them saying really inappropriate comments because Catherine Zeta-Jones isn't really there. Isn't that clever.
13) Sunset clearly deserves this.
14) Man, an award where I've actually seen enough of the candidates to have an opinion, and they get it wrong. Sideways is good, but the script for Before Sunset is clearly superior.
15) Lumet movies I've seen, ranked:
1. Network
2. Dog Day Afternoon
3. 12 Angry Men
4. Murder on the Orient Express
5. Night Falls on Manhattan
6. Family Business
The drop off between four and five is the biggest, though I also think one is much better than two. Notably, I've never seen: Serpico, the Verdict, the Pawnbroker, or Fail-Safe.
16) Question to those who for some reason chose to see the film version of Phantom of the Opera: Where does that song fit into the narrative?
17) "Dog's bollocks" is now the phrase of the week. Try to work it into conversation.
18) Both giving some awards out in the audience area and having all of the nominees on the stage for some awards are interesting changes from the standard format. I think they're both good ideas, but I'd have to think more about it.
19) I'll bet you Dan Drezner loved that Selma Hayek joke.
20) The set for this song would have been too cheesy for Spinal Tap. And I had no idea Antonio Banderas could sing.
21) Travolta being on stage reminds me: I officially predict that Be Cool will be disappointing. Not just that it will obviously be worse than Get Shorty, but that given the capabilites of the ensemble and re-uniting Travolta and Uma, it will pretty much be bad.
22) This is a rough year for film deaths, and getting Yo Yo Ma to perform is a very tasteful way of commemorating it.
23) Singing the winning song was the most interesting acceptance speech of the night.
24) The speech Sean Penn just made was reminiscint of people who say, "Behind every good man is a great woman." This is sort of a sexist idea. And his "defense" of Jude Law, which seemed quite sincere, demonstrates rather thin skin, though loyalty is a nice trait also.
25) Kate Winslet should have won.
26) Classy speech by Swank though.
27) That joke about Gwyneth breastfeeding an apple went over my head. Until further notice, I assume she named a child Apple, or Macintosh, or possibly Golden Delicious. Anyone want to enlighten me?
28) Nice job Charlie Kaufmann, you deserve that one.
29) I'm done with this, I'll update tomorrow on the other awards.
