I have surprisingly little to say about the Oscars this year (at least by my standards), which is to be expected when the race is wide open and there's no clear-cut favorite to upset. Since the acting races went pretty much as expected (with the exception of Alan Arkin's mild "upset" of Eddie Murphy for Best Supporting Actor), there was even less suspense. Here are a few of my quick Academy Award impressions, with snappy little subheadings included free of charge:
Best Acceptance Speech
Forest Whitaker, who toned down the rambling from previous wins and came through with an eloquent, thoughtful and heartfelt acceptance speech after coming through with the most surefire pick of the night. Someone help me out though--I heard that Forest's beautiful wife was once a famous "video ho" who actually wrote a book about her experiences as an on-camera video extra, behind-the-scenes booty trophy for several of the music industries biggest names. Is this a rumor, a case of mistaken identity or the truth? If I don't hear from anybody on this before my next post, I'll research it myself and report the straight dirt.
My Grade for Ellen DeGeneres
She's never bad and she knows how to work her persona and her schtick to perfection. Honestly, she may be the best combination emcee/stand-up comic working in America today. I only give her an "A-" because that bit where she got swallowed up by the dancers behind the screen after doing (an intentionally) lame shadow puppet bit didn't work and slowed down the show's already slow momentum. Still, I'd pick Ellen to host just about anything now, even the BET Awards.
Worst Outfit (That I Saw)
As you can imagine, I'm not a big red carpet guy (read: I'm heterosexual), but I must confess that that half-space jacket Jennifer Hudson wore into the ceremony was ridiculous. It looked like she tried out for George Clinton's P-Funk group and was rejected. She wisely was never seen wearing it again the rest of the night once the Oscars started. A distant second: J-Lo's bejewled Cleopatra style dress. Marc Anthony is really ruining her...
Most Deserving Winner: Non-Obvious Division
Michael Arndt, Best Original Screenplay for LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. Runner-up: Gustavo Santoalalla winning Best Original Score for BABEL. The evocative, internationally-themed guitar based score is the thing I remember second-best about that movie (after Adriana Barranza's performance as Ameila, the Mexican maid).
Most Ridiculous Red Carpet Entrance
Sally Kirkland, who was either drunk, high or is just plain crazy, made Richard Roeper's life a living hell in the pre-show, ending her non-sensical, high speed rambling with the claim that she and Richard were former lovers. Flustered and speechless, Roeper tossed it to commercial.
Best Unscripted Banter
To Tom Hanks, who I normally can't stand at these things, for his deliciously sarcastic response "There IS much more to come, Chris!" to backstage host Chris Connelly's assertion that there are many more exciting awards to come.
My time is up and it's been fun. Until next time y'all...
Peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment