Amazing. Simply amazing. That’s what I thought of the Oscar ceremonies held earlier tonight up the street at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. So much was done completely right, and only a few things didn’t work very well. It was a very different show than in previous years, but refreshingly so.
BEST LINE OF THE NIGHT: “And now ladies and gentlemen, the Craigslist Dancers!”
I guess I’ll start off with Hugh Jackman as the Oscar host. I’ll be honest with you, I was really hoping to see him in the Wolverine outfit at some point and that didn’t happen. That being said, I was SO HAPPY to see an actual MOVIE STAR hosting the Oscars this year instead of some television personality. That’s been an issue of mine for a few years now. Call me crazy, but I think a night commemorating and celebrating the best of the year in the MOVIE business… should be hosted by someone IN the movie business. Hugh Jackman fit that description, and was a fantastic host for the show. I’ll go as far as to say it was the best job done by a host since Steve Martin did it. He was fantastic. I hope he returns next year.
I LOVED the way they presented the acting awards. Having 5 previous winners come out to name and honor the nominees was a brilliant idea and I thought made those categories very special. I was hoping they were going to do the same thing for the Best Director award as well. I hope this is a tradition they continue in the future for the show. It was also very symbolic having 5 performers who are already immortalized welcoming in the newest member making the ascension. Beautiful.
The one major misstep I think the show made was with the top hat musical number with Jackman and Beyonce. I can understand why they did it… and I thought it was a good idea… but it just didn’t work. It felt a little clumsy and lacked spark or any sense of excitement. Instead I just kept waiting for it to end so we could move on. Other than that I have no real complaints.
The 3 most obvious locks of the evening (Ledger for Best Supporting Actor, Man On Wire for Best Documentary and Wall-E for best animated) all won their respective categories. So really… besides Departures winning best foreign film over Waltz with Bashir, there were no real BIG surprises… which is fine.
I think most people knew Slumdog was going to be the big winner on the night. 8 Oscars was a wonderful evening. By the time it came down to Best Picture there was no more drama left… we all knew it was going to win. Well deserved win for a beautiful film.
Some people seem surprised that Mikey Rourke didn’t win Best Actor. I’m not sure why. He did indeed give an Oscar worthy performance in The Wrestler… but clearly (in my opinion anyway) not AS Oscar worthy as Sean Penn in Milk (which I contend is the best performance Penn has ever given. It was such a strong and wonderful group of nominees for Best Actor. You wouldn’t have heard me complain had any of them won. It was nice to see Richard Jenkins getting the recognition he so well deserves too!
I think there would have been riots in the streets if Heath Ledger didn’t win. He did deserve it and it was a nice touch that his family accepted the awards on his behalf.
Thank goodness they cut the “Best Song” nominees down to just the one medley. I’ve always hated that so much of the Oscar screen time got dedicated to one of the least important categories of the evening.
Less montages! Yay!
Once again the “In Memoriam” part of the Awards were very special. However I didn’t like how the director of the show kept pulling the cameras away from the screen so that I couldn’t really tell who was up on the screen or read their names properly. I wish they just kept it on the screen the whole time. Other than that it was well done.
The show felt like it had a really nice pace unlike some in recent years.
So that does it. Sorry… but the Oscar Party here at the house was a little too lively to do a Post-Oscar Podcast.
Viva the 2009 Oscar show. I loved it. Here’s hoping next year’s goes just a smoothly and is just as entertaining… just no more top hat song and dance numbers please.
I loved the opening song where they talk about The Dark Knight not getting nominated
“What part of a billion dollars do you not understand?” Or something like that.
Oh and also: “The Reader…I didn’t see The Reader.”
imo, Penns best work is in Casualties of War.
I liked it…and loved Hugh as the host. Just hoped to see more of him. I mean he was on stage for like 10 minutes in total…and would have been nice if they had less singing.
The first song was brilliant, and it was a great way to get the audience pumped up for the show…but the performance with Beyonce was just too much.
Gotta love our aussie actors! Go Hugh!! :P
It was a good show but it felt like a broadway show not a oscar shiow, next they need to put less dance numbers.
The camera work was awful in the ”in memoriam” it as so far away that you coundt read the names of the actors/actress, they need to fix that.
But Conan need to be the host next year.
and i just think its weird that we saw more footage from space chimps then we did any of the films nominated for best picture…..
i didn’t hate it. i just thought it was average and that jackman wasn’t that great as a host. i would take a comedian over a guy like that any day.
and the ben stiller thing was a funnier then what he actually did with the gag.
The most entertaining acts/lines were:
Steve Martin to Tina Fey: “Don’t fall in love with me!”
Ben Stiller as Joaquin Phoenix – simply hilarious!.
Hugh did a great job as host.
you guys notice spielberg called it slumdog billionaire, btw?
funny lines from jackman
“The budget’s taken it’s toll on everyone, next year I’ll be starring in a film called New Zealand”.
“Oh, Nixon…”
and the craig’s list dancers line, to mention a few.
Don’t forget, the guy isnt a comedian but still delivered jokes and songs beautifully. I think they were looking to get away from the comedian host. Ben Stiller (and Natalie Portman, actually), Tina Fey and Steve Martin to name a few brought the funny.
Can I just say it’s a pleasure to read so many comments praising and reflecting what I thought of the ceremony too.
I’ve been reading so much snarky film industry criticism of the ceremony that its really good to see honest fans liking it.
matt you cant have an issue with a film winning something when you haven’t seen it.
and john don’t get me wrong…it was a fine oscars…i just didn’t think it was anything special. it just felt like the oscars. I am not one of these jerks who every year complain about the same shit year after year. I just didnt see what set this one apart. except for a host who wasn’t very funny. again I ask for an example of something funny he said or did?? something that stood out? that opening number was embarrassing.
and i really found the long winded way of introducing each acting nominee lame. i would rather see a clip from each performance than hear whoopi goldbergs thoughts on it………
Did you guys see the montage at the very end of the Oscars. It featured clips of the upcoming movies of 2009. There was a little sneak peek of Sherlock Holmes !!
I thought that they got the whole performance of the show right, but the nominations and winners really upset me.
My main issue was Slumdog. I didn’t see it, so maybe it was amazing, but I find it hard to believe that sound wise it did anything better than Wall-E, which was entirely composed of different sounds. Also, from what i’ve seen, that movie has awful cinematography, so I don’t know what that was.
Hugh Jackman. Best. Host. Ever.
I love how Hugh Jackman made fun of the fact the Academy did not nominate The Dark Knight, and that nobody saw The Reader. That was hilarious!
The best line of the night was Hugh’s at the end of his opening number, “I AM WOLVERINE!!!!!!”
Yes, it would have been cool if he came out in the costume…but that right there was awesomeness enough….Hugh’s the man…even the Wolverine movie sucks, he’s still Wolverine…all hail!
is it me or was the in memorial montage sans heath? john, and idea?
Heath died LAST year. He was in last years In Memoriam.
And I officially declare Anne Hathaway to be the best dressed of the night, as well as one lucky chick for getting to be all up on Hugh Jackman like that. Go girl!
That opening song jackman did was awful. Seriously was there even one funny line in it?
all the praise he is getting from you guys as host….i am confused. what did he do exactly? did he even have one really good quip or one liner?
And that idea of having five previous winners come out to give awards was the most long winded way to do things. I would rather see a clip from the film then hear a little speech from one actor to another about how great the teleprompter tells them they think he or she is.
lack of montages?? you mean apart from all the montages?
and for every montage they dropped they added a song and dance number.
these were typical average oscars no more no less and jackman was a capable host but he hardly “rocked the house”
I have to whole heartedly disagree with you Alfie.
The opening number was flat out hilarious imo. It was creative, funny and just felt different from any other Oscar broadcast I can recall.
The “montages” were all very short and used as intros into a relevant category which they were going to award next. It was a great fit and they were much shorter than the pointless ones of years past.
Long winded???? Dude… it’s the Oscars. The ONE NIGHT a year we honor excellence in the film industry. I’m sorry you don’t see the beauty in what they did to present the acting awards or appreciate the symbolism, history and honor of the moment.
Added a song and dacne number??? There was the opening, and then the one Beyonce number. That’s it.
If all you saw was “a typical average oscars” then you weren’t watching the same show as me.
I’m really sorry you didn’t get as much enjoyment out of it as I did.
Am I the only one who thought “O Saya” should have won over “Jai Ho”? Same guy, I know, but still.
Did anyone catch Robert Pattinson over Mikey’s shoulder near the end? He looked like he was falling asleep. He looks like a vampire off camera…kinda creepy.
I do too! I love O Saya, would’ve loved to see M.I.A perform with him that song! But M.I.A was, you know,…. MIA (due to her having a baby last week)
I mostly agree with your review of the show, but I did like the dance number with Hugh and Beyonace; however, I’ll say it did go on just a tad too long. Defintely could have cut out Efron and Hudgens from that number, that boy cannot sing.
Hugh was an even better host than I thought he would be and I hope he comes back next year his opening was the best since Billy Crystal.
I enjoyed how they went about the acting awards and would love to see them keep that format. Who ever came up with that idea is genius.
This year’s Oscars was fantastic! Lets hope we get another awesome show next year.
i know that it wasn’t a huge suprise but i am still thrilled about slumdog cleaning up as well as they did!! and the song jai ho that they won for is awesome!!! i haven’t been able to stop listening to the pussycat’s version.. i found it for free on demand at iheartmusic . com so if you haven’t heard it yet CHECK IT OUT and lemme know what you think!!!
as far as the otehr winners ago- all were well deserved, especially heath, whose acceptance was soo touching. great oscars night in general :)
wow really? other then a pretty awesome story i thought the actors in the movie sucked balls…IMO
Thank you Sean Penn for the shout out to Mickey Rourke. Did anyone see the Barbara Walters special right after? Mickey Rourke’s interview was the best. My fave line in the interview -” You can’t eat it, fuck it, and it’s no guarantee that it’ll get you into heaven”
For the most part I liked the show. I still would have gone with a comic host( although Jackman was entertaining) but they did do alot right and moved it pretty well for its 3.5 hr running time.
chuck
He did indeed
Bill Maher acted like an A-Hole.
yeah he and ryan seacrest were up for the biggest duschbag of the night award….its all about you isnt it Bill…tells you something when Hollywood (the most liberal community in the world) doesnt even consider you for an award…
Bill Maher was great.
He made a documentary about how ridiculous religion is, what did you expect he would say.
And another point.
Why are people so offended by freedom of speech?? a million people thank “god” on this show….do you get offended by that as well?
He also said how wonderful it was that he lived in a country where a movie like Religulous could be released. How true, we should enjoy such freedoms while we can.
Well, I slept on it and I still can’t get over how much recognition “Clone Wars” and “Space Chimps” got during that montage. They weren’t even contenders on that list. In fact, several of the actual contenders weren’t even mentioned. Gaaah.
Well, at least Wall-E won, but everything else about that category felt like the Razzies.
yeah the clone wars recongnition puzzled me as well
Hey Mr. Chris,
The montage wasn’t for the films being nominated… it was a “yearbook” for animated films that year which was leading into the actual best animated film category.
In those yearbook montages through the film there were lots of films highlighted that had no Oscar nomninations at all.
thanks john, lol i was wondering what the clone wars was doing in there.
No clip of Igor, though…
but here’s the real odd thing. Okay, I was no lover of The Clone Wars -a film which didn’t even make the first cut of possible nominees…heck, Delgo did! Anyway, for all the animated clips they did show..Desperoux, Horton, Madagascar2, etc. they all credited them by name. All but one.
Star Wars The Clone Wars!
:z
I knew it was a scrapbook for all the non-nominated movies – but when I say they weren’t contenders, I’m talking about how neither of those movies even submitted their names for Oscar consideration (the list was posted here on the Movie Blog.)
From what I recall, the montage only acknowledged Clone Wars, Space Chimps, Despereaux, Horton, and Madagascar. Considering there were at least eight other animated films out this year (including $9.99, Sky Crawlers, Igor – heck, even Delgo,) I can’t help but wonder why they honored the films they did. Even “Waltz for Bashir” didn’t get mentioned in that category in spite of being nominated in another.
That was good too
And who could forget Steve Martin’s line, and one of the funniest lines of the evening
“The guy who wrote that is dead” Oh man that was funny
DONT fall in love with me
I thought the evening went really well, but with 1 hour left when Beyonce and Hugh were dancing, I was like “ok ok, just get on with it i wanna see who wins best actor”
I was pulling for Penn, with a few minutes left I thought “Mickey’s got this” but then Penn won, awesome1 So happy for everyone involved with Slumdog, it deserves best picture and I just don’t get all the criticism for it. Milk deserved all that it got too, but I think we pretty much knew Slumdog was going to win, especially by the time it got it’s second Oscar, no not any big surprises, and finally Kate won. I?t was a great night.
THE reason people are complaining is cause the actors where not that great just the story…that song is stupid too.
Ben Stiller as Joaquin Pheonix!!!!
I totally forgot about that…Brilliant
My only two problems with the show were this… how did wall-e not take at least ONE of the sound awards. That movie was almost entirely sound and little dialouge. Two was, and I know he had his moment when he won for Best Supporting, but why in the hell did they leave Ledger off the in mem. at the end of the show? And I was yelling at the tv with all that bullshit panning too. it should have cut to a full screen and left there. Let those at the Kodak be awwed by the set. I just want to see the screen.
Ledger was on the in memoriam last year
was he really? how did i miss that? thanks for the correction..but the memoir still sucked…felt like i was on a bad rollercoaster ride
The group of actors presenting the four acting awards was a nice touch, BUT I don’t like that they did away with showing clips from the performances. That needs to be re-introduced. We need to see WHY these people were nominated. That was the biggest drawback from the ceremony this year.
I agree with you guyz in every point…the musical with beyonce was kinda bad…maybe because she only limitated herself to sing, also the other players but hugh…hes the man…
One thing John didn’t mention is how they dressed up the Kodak. I think it kept the awards exciting to watch, never really stale. When Hugh Jackman started the opening number, I thought it light fun, but then when he brought out Anne Hathaway…GOLD. It looked spontaneous, and when Anne got into it I didn’t know if it was improvised or cleverly staged. The Oscars started off with a big bang and never felt dull. I liked that a lot.
Best acceptance speeches were …well, just about everyone. What I generally like to see and hear are either people who are excited/happy that they have won (that includes folks who can balance Oscar on the chin) or those who are so surprised that they are near speechless. I liked seeing folks running up to the stage. While I thought some PC content in Sean Penn’s speech was a bit much, calling Mickey Rourke ‘his bother’ made up for it in spades. I, too, was also feeling five past Oscar winners giving out awards – and saying cool acknowledgments on the nominees- was great stuff.
While presenters giving out multiple awards (Will Smith; Daniel Craig & Sarah J Parker) were not used to the new format and it showed, it DID shave off a few minutes off what could have been a longer telecast. If anything, it gave more time for accepting speeches -esp. those awards w/ multiple winners. But, wow-! That show never put me to sleep.
While I don’t agree with John on individual songs being done throughout the night as in past Oscars-it resulted in Peter Gabriel not attending/performing the song from WALL-E- I will say this: John Legend performing it, and mixing it surprisingly well with AR Rahman…priceless! The dancers were nice too. Alicia Keys presenting…I am like an M&M. I would melt in her mouth, and in her hands.
I was very disappointed in the In Memorium; the odd angles, the pull away shots. Yeah, you could ID some of those who passed on, but there was a good chunk where I had to say “who’s that”?
I couldn’t tell you. AND what was with no applause for Charlton Heston? And I didn’t know James Whitmore passed! (There’s always one, sadly)
Seth Rogen & James Franco. Nice. At first I didn’t like it because they showed clips from the bad comedies (The Love Guru, BTW, won the Razzies) and not the good (Get Smart, In Bruges, What Happens In Vegas) except one (Tropic Thunder)
Get Cuba Gooding Jr off the stage.
i agree with you EXCEPT your calling of get smart and what happened in vegas as being good comedies…
and not the good (Get Smart, In Bruges, What Happens In Vegas) except one (Tropic Thunder)
Are you on dope or dogfood? In Bruges was a great movie that was so overlooked to only get a nom for screenplay was ridiculous. For you to even lump it in with Get Smart and Vegas is insane. Did you even see the film? I do agree with Cuba tho, instead of honoring RDJ he was just trying to steal some shine. Dude is a clown.
In Brugges was great… “Cause Im still in Fucking Brugges!”
JohnZ:
I assure you I am not on dope or dog chow; yes I have seen In Bruges.
What I said was that the “comedy clips” highlighted only a few of the past years comedies/dark comedies, and two of the four were Zohan and Love Guru (the other two was Step-Brothers and Tropic Thunder) but more time was spent not ‘showcasing comedies of 2008’ but joking about some of the dramas. I’m not saying the bit wasn’t funny. I’m saying that there were other films, such as as In Bruges that could have been in the clip.
Yes, I laughed most of the time during What Stays in Vegas w/ Cameron Diaz. I thought Get Smart was well done. But I also said with the exception of Thunder, the clip reel showed more of the bad comedies rather that the good ones (although I’m aware that there is a segment that loved Step-Brothers) … I didn’t say ANYTHING bad about In Bruges.
But the insane bit?
I’ll have to zip the lip on that one.
:z
darren i thought in bruges sucked IMO
Was it just me or was the teleprompter moving too slow? It seemed that a lot of the presenters were pausing a lot for their next line. Or is it just that a lot of movie stars can’t read?
I wanted Rourke to win best actor, but as soon as Sean Penn won the SAG award I knew he would take home the oscar. That’s cool because Penn’s performnce waa good too. I really loved Slumdog, but the best movie of the year was Wall-E. This makes me think that no animated movie will ever win best picture, no less be nominated.
Beauty and the Beast was nominated for Best Picture.
Last year, the audience in the US was 32 million viewers.
Does anyone has this year figure for the show ?
36.
agree 100%
broke my heart that Mickey didn’t win… but i also predicted Penn would take it, even though my heart wanted Rourke to get it. But Golden Globe, BAFTA and Spirit award (plus all the other indie awards) is not a bad second place.
Well said John…Everything thing you said was 100% TRUE.
I’ve been watching OSCARS live in India since the last 5 years & i’ve to admit this was the most spectacular event of them all.
Ben Stiller & Jack Black were damn funny.
Hugh was a great host.
Presentation of best Actors award was very well done.
I’m personally very happy with the following awards:Heath Ledger(Supporting actor); A.R.Rahman(Best score); Danny Boyle(Director); Wall-E(Animated film); Resul Pookutty(Sound mixing); AND a special thanks to the Academy for choosing “Smile Pinki” as the best SHORT DOCUMENTARY (I’m very glad).
I haven’t seen Sean Penn in Milk so i cannot comment on his win BUT if he has beaten Mickey Rourke then he must have given a HELL of a performance…because I’ve seen The Wrestler-Mickey was the best i saw from the lead actor last year…He was exceptional! Words cannot describe his performance, you have to see it yourself.
I was also expecting “Waltz with Bashir” to win but again i haven’t seen “Departures” so can’t really predict.
Congratulations to all the winners.
I completely agree with John, the Beyonce/Hugh act was boring…I was also waiting for it to get over quickly.
Slumdog ruled as expected-8 wins is awesome!
Kate Winslet finally won an OSCAR.
It was disheartening to see Wall-E & TDK missing out on the best picture nomination.
But i’m sure PIXAR will be back with a BANG again next year with “UP”. As Jack Black told PIXAR is the safest bet of all every year.
Hey John what do you think about Kate Winslet’s win & Slumdog’s 8/10 win??
Did she deserve for “The Reader”?
BUMmer no wrestler!
and how the fuck didnt “down to earth” win over those 2 stupid ass slumdog millionaire songs!? wtf slumdog!!?
im almost as pissed as when the golden compass stole an oscar from transformers…
hey HAZMAT…have you closely listened to A.R.Rahman’s work over the years…He is the most deserving guy to get the recognition in this world.
YA BUT THAT SONG SUCKED
dude im sorry, i have not examined the guys music…
but down ot earth was a really good song and the slumdog millionaire song was simply annoying
“and im wolveriiinnnee!!”
i LOVED, LOVED LOVED the gay/lesbian speech by the guy from milk, the first award milk got was followed by a great speech (some skinny blonde guy, god knows who that is) but he gave a hell of a speech
and why the hell didnt they show as many videos as last year?! that suuucks!
i was pissed that the little bunny magician short animated movie didnt win….there IS no god
slumdog didnt deserve some of the oscars it got…best picture i get, but it got a couple i didnt like
And in light of the Slumdog nominee who was willing and accomodating when it came down to shortening both of his songs for the medly, Peter Gabriel (who was in attendance, I saw him on the red carpet and they interviewed him) looks like a royal ass for pouting and refusing to sing the Wall-E song because the producers DARED to make him shorten the damn thing. Ass. Jai Ho FTMFW.
Yeah, I thought the Actors awards were really freaking awesome. Would have been cool for director’s too. I loved that stuff, though.
Didn’t I tell you Jackman would rock the house? He kicked ASS. The Pineapple Express bit was aweosme, especially when they laughed at Doubt. They fucked up In Memorium SO badly.
But I hope and pray that they keep the format of having the five actors up there giving a presentation to the nominees. It really was moving to see how touched the nominees all were by it, particularly Anne Hathaway, who was in tears after Shirley McClane spoke of her.
I live in Australia, and for the first time we got it live.
Was so good to see Hugh as the presenter
Wow, John. I agreed with you word for word about the show. It was great.
Too bad about the podcast. I was looking forward to it.