Sometimes the best thing we can do, before ripping into a televised event that appeared to be disappointing at first glance, is take a few days to reflect on what we saw.
Several days after watching the Academy Awards ceremony, most of my initial reactions are still holding true: the movies this year were pretty good (and the awards reminded us of that), but the show itself was uninspired and boring.
Unfortunately for viewers, the ceremony was scripted where it shouldn”t have been (almost every category awarded an expected winner, leaving little suspense), while the show”s actual script needed a serious rewrite.
The problem started with the hosts. Anne Hathaway did an OK job, though her lack of on-stage comedic experience was evident, but James Franco completely bombed. He delivered punch lines like he was toasting a former lover at her wedding — as if he was entirely uncomfortable, really didn”t want to be there and couldn”t wait for the night to end.
The pair entertained audiences briefly at the very beginning of the show, with their “Inception”-inspired film montage honoring the Best Picture nominees. As soon as the cameras cut back to the hosts on stage, the show began its steady decline.
The exchanges between category presenters were often forced and unfunny (which isn”t exactly unusual for the Oscars), but because the hosts were such duds, this lack of hilarity stood out more.
The banter peaked midway through the show when comedian Russell Brand jokingly mistranslated Helen Mirren”s French introduction to the Best Foreign Language Film category.
The evening”s most memorable moment came early on when 94-year-old actor Kirk Douglas announced the winner for Best Supporting Actress. His introduction was hilarious, and he kept the nominees on edge by appearing, “you know,” distracted before revealing the winner.
Another tough thing was that Melissa Leo, the woman whose name was finally called as Best Supporting Actress, gave the most memorable acceptance speech — though probably not for the reason she”d hoped.
Leo dropped the “f-bomb” while referencing how easy Kate Winslet had made accepting an Oscar look in 2009 (when Winslet beat Leo for Best Actress). The audience laughed, Leo handled her slipup with dignity and it was edited out for home viewers: no harm, no foul.
Other than Leo, the Oscar winners gave bland, unentertaining speeches. Oscar night thrives on funny, heart-wrenching, unexpected or controversial remarks, but the winners were too mild-mannered and gracious.
Academy Award ceremonies are also aided by suspenseful races, but this year”s award winners were predictable, a trend in the past decade. Upsets can make shows stick out and sometimes result in memorable Oscar moments (think of Adrien Brody”s surprising Best Actor win and ensuing acceptance speech in 2003).
But all of this year”s awards went to the favorites. Colin Firth (“The King”s Speech”), Natalie Portman (“Black Swan”), Christian Bale and Leo (both from “The Fighter”) won a majority of the pre-Oscar awards, so their wins weren”t surprising.
“The King”s Speech” had won several best film and best director awards, and it”s the kind of movie Oscar voters like to honor (historical, biographic and heartfelt); there was little suspense when it won those two awards Sunday.
The writing awards seemed pretty self-explanatory as well: “The King”s Speech” was a riveting original film concept and Aaron Sorkin (“The Social Network”) seemed destined to add Oscar to his crowded mantelpiece collection.
Some awards were pretty evenly split among three enthralling and well-regarded movies, with no film winning more than four. “Inception” predictably won the visual and sound achievement awards, “The King”s Speech” won major awards but not any of the more technical ones and “The Social Network” nabbed three wide-ranging Oscars of its own (film editing, original score and adapted screenplay).
Perhaps most surprising, though not unpredictable, about the evening were the films that got shut out.
“127 Hours,” “The Kids Are All Right,” “True Grit” and “Winter”s Bone” were all Best Picture nominees with multiple nominations yet each went home empty-handed.
All were really good movies but didn”t stand out enough in any one category. Then again, lesser-acclaimed films such as “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Wolfman” each won Oscars.
My advice is to spend part of your spring renting those four shutout movies, along with all of the winners (including Best Foreign Language Film “In a Better World” and Best Documentary Feature “Inside Job”), because the upcoming theater releases appear in trailers to be less than stellar.
2010 ended up being a good year for films, despite a slow start and disappointing summer. Hopefully 2011 will be just as good.
Jeremy Walsh is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. He can be reached at 263-5636 ext. 37 or jwalsh@record-bee.com.
