The 83rd Annual Academy Awards

I have looked forward to the Academy Awards telecast every year for as long as I can remember and I am 57. The best part of this particular year was replaying Bob Hope EmCeeing ("Master of Ceremonies"), and being introduced by one of the very best more recent EmCee's, Billy Crystal. However, showing those two, merely made the point that this year was a disaster.

It was not the fault of Anne Hathaway and James Franco, I don't believe. It was the writing behind it all. Hathaway and Franco tried so hard. And a good EmCee should never have to do that. By comparison to the telecasts of the Golden Globes, SAGs, and BAFTA Award shows of this year, the "Oscars" were pretty pitiful. The writers took away so many of the awards formerly given at the big night, and put them in special, separate ceremonies. One would think that this would shorten the length of the "Oscar Night" show, yet it did not. I found it an especially *bad* decision that they separated out the "Lifetime Achievement Award" and the "Irving Thalberg Award" from that special night. It was a disgrace.

I also found it irritating that Halle Berry got to give a special "In memoriam" to her idol, Lena Horne, yet there was nothing special for that absolutely, spectacularly special movie musician, John Barry. Jane Seymour was a personal friend. She could have been asked to give a special tribute to him. The BAFTA show had one of his award winning pieces behind their montage of those who passed away. I know Barry was English, but he won four Oscars, and countless other music, film, and television music awards here in the USA.

Here is a thought for next year...Tina Fey. Or Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin (both have been in movies). Or Tina Fey and Steve Carell (both have been in movies). Or Tina Fey and *anybody else*!!!. Those people are naturally funny, can wing it like Crystal used to, they can write their own stuff, or make someone else's funny, and they all know how to behave as Master (or Mistress) of Ceremonies!!!!

This year's Oscars "The 83rd Annual Academy Awards" was a pretty pleasant event to view really the awards handed out produced no surprises, yet a treat to the eyes was seeing the beautiful and talented Anne Hathaway as a co host. Actually the beauty changed dresses and outfits about 7 or 8 different times! The academy certainly went with a change of pace nabbing young talent to host as the beautiful actress Anne Hathaway and jack of all trades actor James Franco both sparkled and shined as hosts! The duo were both funny and witty with catch fire sayings and their skits and monologue that opened the show was in top form! As much of the show's montage was highly enjoyable and entertaining.

As for the awards they went as expected really no surprises as clearly Colin Firth already had the best actor trophy wrapped up and he accepted gracefully like the professional he is. And in a royal and rightful manner the picture that Colin starred in "The King's Speech" was crowned best picture holding off the youthful picture "The Social Network" and best drama ensemble "The Fighter". And as expected Natalie Portman won best actress for her wicked and emotionally raw turn as a conflicted ballet dancer in the thrilling drama "Black Swan", hopefully many more awards will be for miss Portman.

A few funny moments were Melissa Leo's F bomb after her deserved win for best supporting actress, and the worn down and old legend Kirk Douglas trying his best to present the award. And as always seeing clips and footage from old Oscars and Hollywood history is a treat. The show certainly entertained with it's typical gold and sparkle as things in Hollywood change as more youth is filling movies still the Oscars still reward the best films and people as it was hail to the king! And it was a great eye treat watching the beautiful and talented Anne Hathaway be a co host it wasn't the best Oscars, but it was entertaining and it did it's job getting all the awards to the right people who deserved to win the most.

After panning last years Academy Awards program, I was quite pleased with this year's efforts on a number of levels. Hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco were a refreshing duo after last years debacle. I felt that it was a mistake last year to have co-hosts but Anne and James gave it their best and succeeded in every respect. I guess you have to have the right co-hosts. The writing was also crisper and there were no lame insulting jokes which, last year, only made the audience and viewers cringe and feel uncomfortable and left a bitter aftertaste. I apologize for comparing this year to last year's but can't help it because this year's show let's us all know how enjoyable and fun the program can be in the right hands. It appears as if The Academy listened to the critics from last year's program and made several changes which only enhanced this year's program.

The Memorial was especially touching and respectful this year and I was pleased to see that a perfect song was added and that, for the first time, the audience showed respect by not clapping at familiar names. I would love to know if, during the break or in written communications, the audience was told to not applaud or if they held the applause because Celine Dion was singing. In any event, it was about time. I agree with other reviewers that a few notable names were omitted.

I liked the tasteful homage to some of the old films, performers and hosts. Think that should be a staple of the Oscars. Good form to have Sandra Bullock, the highlight of last year's show, present the Best Actor award. I am also glad that the program did not try to do something weird with the best film scores and just showed how they sounded in and impacted the films.

I gave this year's Academy Awards an "8" and would have given it a higher rating except the sound mixing was messed up on the music, at least on my home theater system - not sure if that was due to editing a certain comment earlier. I also missed the thumbnail descriptions of the documentaries and international films. Can't recall if they were included last year.

All in all, though, this year's program was a noble effort and breezy show which only tended to enhance the suspense of the awards presentation.

I only saw Melissa Leo in "The Fighter". Her character made me feel as if I was walking on eggshells, and so she certainly deserved her win.

As I understand it, a lot of people were irritated that the expected winners all won, and that James Franco and Anne Hathaway hosted: the common meme is that their opening montage was funny but they fell flat afterwards. Well I liked their performance; it was especially cool when Franco appeared dressed as Marilyn Monroe.

I've seen very few of the nominees, so my judgment was biased, although I did consider "The King's Speech" the best choice. Movies that got totally snubbed include "Mother and Child", "The Good Heart", "Please Give", "Get Low" and "Fair Game".

All in all, I liked the show. Probably the best part of the broadcast was when Charles Ferguson, accepting his Oscar for "Inside Job" (about the causes of the financial crisis), noted that none of the people responsible for the crisis have gotten indicted.

Yeah, where was Anne Hathaway when Kirk Douglas was making movies?

The only times I tune into the Oscars is to find out who wins the acting awards and who made and who didn't make the In Memoriam tribute.

I suppose the reason why some acting luminaries are omitted is that too much emphasis is laid on to the deceased, who because of their occupations (screen writers, hairdressers, wardrobe, cinematography, and so forth) must be considered relevant, even though their screen time (aside from the credits at the beginning and/or ending of the film)are, to me, at least, unimportant. For example, I have barely heard of Theoni V. Aldredge, aside from the fact he created the costumes for the "Ghostbusters" movies.

The Oscars are all about the movie industry - the actors, the composers, the directors, that is all I care about. John Barry, Blake Edwards and the other featured in the directing/music category deserve to be remembered.

Then we come to the stars themselves: the overlooked:

Peter Graves - Leslie Nielsen (a co-star of his in the Airplane movies) was remembered, yet he was not. Betty Garrett Corey Haim Lisa Blount Kenneth Mars Janet MacLachlan Rue McClanahan George DiCenzo James Gammon Michele Nicastro and others supposedly too nondescript to rate an honour.

There may be others, lost and eventually forgotten, but the contributions of most of these stars of the stage, the screen and TV are, perhaps, of more importance than those whose connections to the movie-making medium are, tangential, to say the least.