Oscars 2011

[maherjunkie]

Did you watch the Oscars? I thought those two sucked.

[jeffan]

No and which two?

[maherjunkie]

Anne Hatheway and James Franco.

[Patcat]

I had some hopes with the INCEPTION idea at the start, but, oh, the show was a slog. Anne Hathaway tried and she looked great, but Franco was either too nervous or trying to be too cool. I'm very happy THE KING'S SPEECH did well. But The OSCARS are trying to be new and hip and they give us a CGI Bob Hope?

[dimarec]

Oscar night lost a lot of its glamour yesterday. It looked more like a comedy show than an award ceremony. Even so I loved the brown swan segment by Anne Hathaway, and I liked the chipmunked segment. On the good side I had the feeling that they gave more time for the acceptance speech.

[Moonbeam]

Haven't watched the Oscars in 4-5 years. Obviously I haven't missed much.

[Patcat]

I was doing other stuff and had the Oscars on in the background. I was interested in seeing how THE KING'S SPEECH did--I really liked the film, and was very happy to see Colin Firth, the director and the screenwriter win. At the same time, I recognize the Oscars aren't the best way of judging a film How seriously can you take a film award Alfred Hitchcock never won? An acting award Cary Grant never won? An award that gave best picture to THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH? And the show has degenerated into a fashion and comedy show.

The Tony Awards for Broadway theater achievement manage to give out just as many (if not more) awards, have at least three or four major musical numbers, and get it done in a little over two hours. And the show is usually entertaining.

Patcat

[alliehalliwell]

I rarely watch the Oscars. The categories I'm really interested in are: best actor/actress, best supporting actor/actress, and best picture. Those usually take a couple hours to get to so I never bother. This year was different. I felt that since I have my new PVR I'd put it to use.

I PVR'd the Oscars and fast forwarded through most of stuff that I wasn't interested in. I didn't mind Franco in part. I liked some of his subtle humor. I did NOT like the stupid dress thing he wore but I did like the comment he made about Charlie Sheen. I felt his performance overall was okay but I didn't like Anne Hathaways. She kept commenting about the oscars being 'young and hip' which was just annoying. Personally I think Franco would have been funnier if he could play off a true comedian.

Anne Hathaway isn't really a comedian. She's just an actress and to me the Oscars need comedians. Franco has done some comedic stuff in the past but usually if its played off another comedian so...yeah, I think he would have been better if he had someone else to work with. Hathaway...should stick to movies and not trying to be a host for...anything.

One thing I found rather sad was that for the In Memorandum (sp?) section of the Oscars, they were really lacking. Me and several other people I talked to noticed that Corey Haim's was forgotten off the list. It actually annoyed me. Probably because Hollywood kept saying he died of an overdose when the autopsy proved it was a heart condition (he had due to years of drug use). He was never using at the time of his death...Hollywood never publicized the results of the autopys they just kept saying he died because of drugs. And now they leave him out of the Oscars which is just insulting his memory 'cause the man had been in over 30 movies. Now maybe I noticed this because I'm at that age when he was popular when I was a kid but lots of people were talking about this. On Twitter, just a couple hours after the awards were over, apparently there were hundreds of Tweets about how upset people were with how he wasn't even mentioned.

I think the only real things I really liked during Franco and Hathaway's performance were: The shout out of their mom & grandmother. And that little music video thing for Harry Potter, Toy story, twilight...but then again I don't know if that was THEIR idea or someone else's.

I also really liked some of the actors/actresses' acceptance speeches because they did it with class. Problem with this is that it still doesn't make me want to watch the Oscars again. Oh and yeah, it didn't help make me want to put any time into it as the channel I was watching it on cut out the last half hour. I apparently had the news recorded at the end. My reaction? Meh. So obviously I wasn't TOO into it.

Oh and I don't know what this "Young and Hip" thing is that Hathaway kept going on about during the show except they all wanted a younger demographic to watch the show. How young? I'm not yet 30 and I found the overall performance Kind of lame and still don't really want to watch the show.

A friend and I were talking about this and we felt that if the academy wanted younger people to watch they should just stop trying to be so cool and choose people who could handle the show. My friend suggested...Will Smith. 'cause everyone I know (teenagers, middle age, elderly) loves him. He can handle being in front of large audiences, he's smart, funny, and can direct people (considering he and Jada have their own production company and he's a director)... I dunno, we just feel that if the academy gets someone like him, they would have a winner. Don't go grabbing two people just because they're somewhat big in Hollywood and they're under 30.

And...I'm rambling again so I'm gonna shut up. :0)

[skittles4me]

Ditto Alliehalliewell!

It IS sad that Corey Haim was left out. Have they always omitted celebrities who have drug related deaths? Wasn't Heath Ledger included? They should include all- even if just a reminder of how drugs can cut a promising life short. IMO

Anne Hathaway is beautiful and she can sing, but didn't fit the role of a host. James Franco...meh.

Did Jimmy Fallon host the Emmys once? He and/or Tina Fey would also do a good job. I agree Will Smith would appeal to many.

I'm way past 30 and even past 40 but I still feel "young and hip". However, my kids tell me otherwise! ;D

[Patcat]

Heath Ledger was still making a lot of money for a lot of people when he died. And his death was seen as an accident and not the result of a long time addiction to drugs. I'm too old to really have been a fan of Corey Haim, but he should've had his two seconds in the tribute.

The Oscars are what they are--a lumbering elephant that the audience hopes will fall down. It's impossible to host. You have to give out the awards, you have to have the salute to those who died, you have to perform the nominated songs, you have to have a TV show in the midst of this barn of a theater. No way you can win. Billy Crystal used to get criticized too.
I thought David Letterman was a terrific host, but he'll never get asked back because he really made fun of Hollywood. Robin Williams was great too, but far too wild and unpredictable.

Patcat

[Patcat]

Oh, (and I promise to shut up), I thought the overly familiar addressing of the Best Actress and Actors nominees by last year's winners Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock was extremely lame. Jeff Bridges almost pulled it off, but, of course, he is THE DUDE. But Sandra Bullock calling Colin Firth and Javier Bardem by their first names--she sounded like a waitress at TGIF's or Applebee's (and nothing against people who work at those restaurants) telling about the day's specials.

Patcat

[Techguy]

I haven't watched the Oscars in ages. I don't have time to waste hours on a slogfest, preferring to check online and find out in a few minutes what dragged on for hours on TV. I'm also not interested in the appeal to the younger demographic, as if teens and 20-somethings are going to sit through a 3+ hours telecast when their time could be better spent texting. ;D