La 82e cérémonie des Oscars

Well, the world has changed. So did the people (specially the people). Not being American, i never shared the prime time family moment of watching the Oscars ceremony. I suppose that would have a symbolic impact in the lives of the Americans, at least until a couple decades ago.

Not today. I mean, people still value the prizes. The Oscar is still, like Fellini would put it, the highest prize in the mythology of cinema. People care about the prize, because it is invested of somewhat a mythical proportions. It's showbiz, and Hollywood has always known much about that, much about illusion. But today the Oscars-prizes, is a thing totally separated from the Oscars-ceremony. The first one still matters, despite its so celebrated unfairness, its so celebrated politics within, its so celebrated consideration that "the bigger the better" and that less risk in films equals higher entertainment and higher box office receipts. That's what ruled Citizen Kane or Taxi Driver out of the award. But hey, the thing is still hard-wired in the unconscious side of film goers. But not the ceremony. That one fades, increasingly. Television cannot be the only catalyzer of audiences, it just isn't possible, and the very idea of the gala, the party where famous people get together, with fancy dresses and fake smiles, and deliver and get awards, just isn't appealing anymore. Not as it used to be. So in a way, these Oscars TV shows do not work for us today for the same reason that, for instance, Elizabethan plays won't work in the same way: our minds are simply not immediately tuned to it, not anymore. We no longer immediately assume that a couple guys telling some jokes in front of lots of famous actors and directors is amusing. So, Unless the show is exceptionally well conceived, we just won't connect. That's why today we only care about The very best Elizabethan plays. The average and bad ones that were entertaining back than, simply aren't anymore. That's the thing with this ceremony.

This one was Not exceptionally well done, rather poor actually. So i didn't connect to it.

My opinion: 2/5

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I always look forward to the Oscars! This was the most enjoyable one for me in a long time. Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin were great hosts -- very funny. Baldwin is the epitome of cool. The only real disappointment was that there were no real surprises in most of the categories. So I made a pact with myself next year not to read magazines newspapers or watch television shows that pertain to Oscar predictions. Just so there will be an element of surprise next year.

Regardless of that it was one of the best Oscar telecasts in a long time. The tributes to the lead actors and actresses prior to the announcement of the winners in those categories was a bit tedious for me, even though, as I said, I pretty much knew who would win. Even at almost 3 and a half hours, it was pretty entertaining.

"The 82nd Annual Academy Awards" will mainly be remembered as important because a woman won Best Director for the first time, and a movie about the Iraq War won Best Picture. I should admit that I haven't seen most of the nominated movies. I'll now have to see "The Hurt Locker", "The Blind Side" and "Crazy Heart" (I think that I'll pass on "Avatar"). Mo'Nique definitely deserved her Oscar. Christoph Waltz, who made one nasty Nazi, must be the first person who won an Oscar for playing a guy who eventually gets a swastika carved into his forehead.

I really liked it when Ben Stiller appeared made up to look like a Na'vi. Silly, yes, but anything that elicits humor is fine by me.

But the most important thing is that a woman has finally won a directing Oscar. To be certain, by awarding it to Kathryn Bigelow, the Academy really stuck it to James Cameron.

All in all, I liked what I saw.

This year's Oscar show was not exactly inspired (with rather sparse input from hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin) but quite tolerable altogether. As such there was little novelty (surprisingly, the individual presentation of the nominated songs was dropped but, then, there was still the usual ostentatious dance number which tried to 'illustrate' the nominated scores – the one for THE HURT LOCKER was particularly idiotic!), and the embarrassing display of reverence for the acting candidates (though this time it was restricted to the leading roles) from last year was reprised. Though appropriately featuring the accompaniment of The Beatles' track "In My Life" (beautifully played on guitar and sung by James Taylor), the "In Memoriam" section was not as moving as that of previous shows (due to the fact that, thankfully, no true cinema giant passed away during 2009); the individual tribute to John Hughes – by several of the (grown-up) actors he had honed – was an unexpected but pleasant surprise…as was the presence among the audience of Lauren Bacall and especially Roger Corman (recipients of an Honorary Oscar in a smaller-scale ceremony held back in November). The apologetic ode to Horror movies really came out of nowhere and, despite the obvious inclusion of clips from beloved classics and popular modern fare, mostly stuck out like a sore thumb! Again, none of the 'Thank You' speeches were particularly stirring – though Jeff Bridges dedicated his victory to his late parents, Mo'Nique acknowledged Hattie McDaniel (who had set a precedent with the first black win back in 1940), and costume designer Sandy Powell saluted those of her field typically involved in projects boasting contemporary settings (which she readily admitted were seldom recognized by the Academy). With respect to the results, apart from the AVATAR fiasco, the only real unforeseen victories were those of the Best Adapted Screenplay (won by PRECIOUS, complete with pretentious and baffling subtitle, rather than UP IN THE AIR) and Best Foreign-Language Film (Austrian Michael Haneke's highly-touted THE WHITE RIBBON missing out in favor of the Argentinian entry THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES). Typically, the night culminated with the Best Actor, Actress, Direction and Picture statuettes – all of which saw the winners venting their elation uninterrupted; though it was a given that Kathryn Bigelow would triumph (and receive a well-deserved standing ovation into the bargain) over her ex-husband James Cameron, thus awarding a woman director the first Oscar after 82 years, this became even more obvious when Barbra Streisand turned up to present that particular category. In the end, while hardly memorable, the show emerged (as ever) to be worth a watch for hardened movie-buffs.

For me, "The 82nd Annual Academy Awards" will mostly remembered by because of two things; it was one of the ceremonies with the most predictable winners of all time and it was one of the worst Oscar shows ever televised.

I must say I'm really disappointed overall with the evening. I mean, this is the Oscar's, the biggest and most important movie award show of all time but however nothing about this evening felt big or important.

Because of the constant dropping number of viewers, the Academy once more decided on a different approach. This was most apparent with the fact that for the first time since 1944, 10 pictures got nominated for the best picture award. But also with the show itself they tried out some new things. Here is what they did; they got rid of of basically everything that was surrounding the actual handing out of the awards. No real musical intermezzo's and just one pathetic montage. Also the main host of the evening were given very little to do in between. They thought that in order to make the overall show better was by given it more pace, with basically trowing everything that made some the previous years shows so great to watch. It all felt extremely rushed, which also made it all very awkward and unpleasant to watch. In theory and on paper it of course all seemed like a good idea to get people involved who worked on faster paced and popular other award shows, also to connect more to the younger audiences. This only just seemed good in theory though.

To me it seemed like they had cut down the number of people being involved behind the screens of the show by halve. There is really no creativity with the show, also not with the writing. I'm sorry but the comical dialog for Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, the main presenters of the evening, were lame beyond the extreme. There also was nothing edgy or controversial about the whole evening because of the lack of any political jokes and statements made this year. It was a very safe show. I have also never seen so many things go wrong, directing-wise. I'm not even talking about the breaking down of the auto-cue at the beginning but more about the constant fact that you saw people who were working behind the scenes of the show walking around in basically every shot.

It also all really gave me the feeling that the show got put together by a bunch of people who aren't even too involved with movies and just don't care much about it. All they seemed interested in was to keep the show going, without any real respect to the movies of this year and that out of the past. Only one montage is far too less for the most important evening for movies and those who love movies. The montage was one that was supposed to pay homage to the horror genre but the montage, was like the entire evening, such a predictable and safe one. It was as if they said to a kid; find out what the 20 best known horror pictures are and the most iconic scenes within them. So all we have is the usual line-up, without the classic movies that truly influenced and changed the genre.

And well about the actual winners of the evening, it was nothing surprising. The acting categories all went to the winner that were predicted and expected. Best picture could had either gone to "Avatar" or the "The Hurt Locker" and best director to either James Cameron or his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow but either way it would had gone, it wouldn't had been a big surprise for anyone. I don't make a too big deal out of it that Bigelow is the first female to have won for best director and I also don't exactly see this as a turning point in cinematic history. Regardless of sex, political views, sexual preference or ethnicity, the best one should always win and in my opinion the Oscar's have always done this throughout the years.

Of course there were still some positive things, such as the king of B-movies, Roger Corman, receiving a lifetime Academy Award (though this got also REALLY pushed to the background) and the whole tribute part to John Hughes. In my opinion Hughes also really earned this, since he was one of the few, if not only directors, who could connect so well to teenagers and their real struggles with his movies and stories. One of the greatest and most underrated directors out of modern movie history and now that he is gone you start to actually realize this all the more.

So next year different presenters, different writers, a different director and some more creativity, humor and show element please. This year was quite bad and uninteresting not because as much because of its predictable wins but more because of the way the entire evening got presented as a rushed, disrespectful and not enjoyable or entertaining evening for the the overall movie industry itself and more importantly the lovers of it.

4/10

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