Bungling in general
> 3) Rush rush to the end. In the closing 15 minutes, you
> almost went looking for the cattle prods to rush people on
> and off stage. It almost looked like Nicholson was running
> to the mike. Some of the final acceptance speeches were cut
> short because we had to hurry off to a L'Oreal ad.
I've noticed this for the past few years now. Why they continue to allow the choreographer to blather on for a few minutes and then cut off the director, I'll never know. Hell, once you pass the 11pm ET mark...who cares?
And was it just me, or was this the first time in years where you didn't have everyone with the movie on stage for the best picture? It looked quiet on stage...too quiet.
>
> 4) I suspect this was more Bill Conti's doing, but I almost
> wanted to drop an IED into the orchestra pit with the
> overbearing music that seemed to accompany every acceptance
> speech. Someone take his baton away.
I think it was an experiment so it wouldn't be so obvious when they were getting played off...then again, when its not obvious to us, it might not be obvious to the winners, which is why so many got played off...or just cut off.
> Jon Stewart was obviously held back quite a bit, although
> the Stephen Colbert political faux ads were classic Daily
> Show. Did his audience give him a lukewarm reception or was
> it just the poor audience reaction miking?
He said he wouldn't dive into politics too much. I liked what I saw. I've been a fan of Jon's (we're on a first name basis) for a while now. And since I'm an imaging guy, I want a copy of the sound editor lobbyist spot. Also, "For those of you keeping score at home, Martin Scorese, Zero Oscars...3-6 Mafia...one". And the quick jab about pulling down the giant Oscar to see if democracy will flourish in Hollywood.
>
> What the hell happened to Dolly Parton? Oh... my.... God.
She's 60...percent plastic.
>
> Most of the skits and padded bits added nothing to the show.
> Cut them and the self-congratulatory clipfests and just get
> this whole thing over with by 11. Biggest laugh out loud
> unintentional moment for me: in the "films deliver social
> messages for our own good" segment, they showed clips of the
> god-awful The Day After Tomorrow. If you want to show
> environmental disaster, go find The China Syndrome or
> something better than that piece of dreck.
Or cut to a live shot of Joan Rivers...or the blood stream of countless actors inside.
>
> "Films are meant to be seen on the big screen" according to
> Jake Gyllenhaal who barely got that out of his mouth. Yeah,
> except for the fact it costs $9 and Gabby Gail's cellphone
> keeps going off every five minutes.
I liked his little "I know that joke sucked" laugh when he was on stage when he said "You know you can't see these on TV, or much less...video DVD..."*crikets*
>
> In fact, for actors, I was surprised by the number of
> flubbed lines on the air. I would have thought they would
> have practiced a bit. I was happy to see Lauren Bacall
> still going, but I was terrified for her when she seemed to
> be losing her place. I wasn't sure if that was a
> teleprompter problem or if she was trying to wing it, and
> she evaporated once her film noir clip reel started.
>
That was hard to watch. She is 81, so she might not see as well as she used to, or she might not be able to follow along like she used to. And she didn't do it once or twice...but everytime the prompt scrolled. I'm going to chalk that up to old age.
