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Ghulam

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:04 am

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 4742 Location: Upstate NY

I couldn't imagine how Sean Penn could have not won.

inlareviewer

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:40 am

Joined: 05 Jul 2004 Posts: 1949 Location: Lawrence, KS

Well, let's see. After the 3 year post-Crash boycott of watching the telecast live, was bemused to note that, visually and structurally, this year's Rodeo Drive-eo was the spectacle that last year's hastily patched-together-in-wake-of-writer's-stike 80th anniversary rites ought to have been, and that's only understandable. Starting with the positives first, loved the way the set worked, with its shattered-Crystal-Cathedral drapes and the 40s-era bandstand (though that was hardly utilized to its maximum potential), and the way they sectioned off the Kodak to seem somehow almost cozy. Huge Ackman had a nice, relaxed quality, his signature charm in ample supply. I rather enjoyed the intent of the garage-materials opening (and La Belle Anne wins this year's Amy Adams Good Sport honor for her Nixon imitation. If Huge gets his Carousel remake green-lit, there's his Julie Jordan). It didn't exactly suck, but it did make me wistful for Billy Cryst-ful, and that says much, if hardly all. Loved all four acting acceptances (including the Ledger family, who made me weep, as pretty much every A-Lister they showed close-ups of during was also doing). La Belle Penélope set a tone of prepared spontaneity at the outset -- happily not lost on the majority of winners, far fewer time-chewing "I want tos" and "I have tos" and agent/lawyer/hairdresser laundry lists than usual -- adored her Spanish snippet and the shout-out to The Divine Pedro. Even though he pulled a La Belle Marion by not naming the person whom playing won him his award, was thrilled that Penn said what he did -- and to those here saying his Milk will be forgotten against Randy the Rourke's immortality: you know I love you, but you're overlooking the simple fact that "I'm Harvey Milk, and I'm here to recruit you" and "You've got to give them hope" will now figure periodically in future Racsocasts, ensuring that it isn't forgotten. Also, Mickey's career rebirth will no doubt lead to a statue-grabbing role that doesn't carry lingering in-town perceived parallels to his own trajectory. I laughed out loud when La Winslet's dad whistled to her, as well as her impishly cheeky nod to SASSY's Icon amid the transparently sincere nod to her fellow nominees. Her shampoo bottle/bathroom mirror speech surely struck a resonant chord of recognition across the globe. As always hoped for, the true spontaneity came from the acceptances. The mater summed up Dustin Lance Black quite succinctly when she said, "He should run for office, that's the best speech I've ever heard at the Oscars." The first time I started to cry: "Thank you, God, for giving us Harvey Milk," and I thought, "Thank you, God, for giving us Dustin Lance Black." Other moist-makers included that marvelous Japanese director of Departures -- "We will be back, I hope"; Andrew Stanton's shout-out to the high school teacher who cast him as Barnaby in Hello, Dolly!; the Queen Latifah-sings-Tallulah's-Theme-Song-while-we-see-dead-people eulogy, albeit because of the dead people -- the song went around in concentric never-ending circles; the Slumdog sound mixer, the Smile, Pinki director, and Jerry Lewis, but I digress. Danny Boyle's acknowledgment of the inadvertently uncredited Slumdog choreographer was also beautifully classy; his omission of Loveleen Tandan was curiously contradictory. Phillipe, the Man on Wire himself, doing the coin trick and balancing the statue on his nose was at once corny and an endearing hoot. Very much liked the way they presented screenplay, that worked for me (though how much of that had to do with affection for Steve Martin and Tina Fey, am sure I couldn't say -- "Don't fall in love with me." They should do a movie together, or rather, one that isn't Baby Mama). Also, the Yearbook 2008 run-down of various genres felt like a smart solution to the eternal problem of clips, particularly enjoyed when the cockroach got the award that Wall-E threw away and the inclusion of Wall-E and Eve in the Romance segment. Franco and Rogen doing their Pineapple Express routine to some most un-comic movies made me snort my milk out of my nose, especially when Janusz showed up. Got an irreverent kick out of Ben Stiller's Joaquin riff, and La Belle Natalie played along nicely, though he ought to have known when to back off -- taking focus from the cinematographers' displayed work was so not cool. Still, on the whole, scripted patter is just that, and seldom comes off as well as they hope it will, so that actually seemed kind of familiar. Absolutely didn't care for the "Musicals are BACK!" number, felt like the Tony Awards on steroid-and-hormone-therapy overdrive, under-rehearsed, wrong-headedly costumed and very Old-School in the most obvious way. Nonetheless, the mater enjoyed it, and first-hand information says it played better in the Kodak where the attendees could actually make out all the clips upstage. The five previous winners talking directly to the nominees was an interesting idea that came off only spottily (not least as, from the perspective of someone currently co-producing this city's drama critics circle awards, the presenters should be setting off the nominees and the recipient, not overshadowing and/or outstripping them, which sort of happened more than it didn't, though DeNiro's crack about Penn was priceless. Maybe they should have dropped the curtains back over the veterans after the winner got to the stage). And what was up with not alphabetizing the nomineeees? On the other hand, colleagues reporting back from the Kodak to the desk say that the show played like gangbusters ...in the theater, and that the Oscar winners-to-Oscar nominees business was hugely appreciated....by the front four rows. Will Smith made the most of his techno-load, and, as predicted, the Slumdog win in sound started the real sweep (Beaufoy was expected to win adapted screenplay, -- sound mixing and then editing put the lock on its end-of-night fate). Liked the idea of the Slumdog/WALL-E song melée more than its actuality, Bollywood meets Vegas en route to a Young Americans-go-to-the-U.N. concert, and no wonder Peter Gabriel refused to sing. But there were no severe upsets, generally the awards went to the deserving...maybe not always the most deserving, but there weren't really any "You're kidding me" moments among the recipients. Then again, there wasn't a great deal of suspense, ultimately, either. Oh, and my editor brazenly declared a few weeks back that there was no way Slumdog would win, so am perversely figuring out how to say "Told you" without losing what's left of my job. Best dresses: Mrs. Mendes' stunning dark-green-grey-blue-whatever-color-it-was formalism, Mrs. Gummer's lush charcoal Grecian classicism, La Belle Penélope's 60-year-old vintage Balmain gown, Mrs. Brad Pitt's black elegante simplicity, Smile, Pinki helmer Megan Mylan's dropped-back classic 30s crimson satin, La Belle Natalie's pink princess glamour, Frieda Sweetest's turquoise beads-and-lace one-armed number, and La Belle Anne's silver-pailletted form-fit (though at certain angles I couldn't stop thinking of an amputee mermaid on LSD). The past winners were dominated of course by La Belle Marion's black grandée gown and Sophia The Eternal's Eternality (though the color seemed off). Her Reeseity's blue/black business was striking and over-built at the same time, Amy Adams' red-red-redness was only marred by that children's-mosaic-project hanging around her neck. That also applied to the piece of the Phantom chandelier that drew the eye away from Teraji's creme-scalloped va-va-voomerie, and La Davis is probably not ideally built for a gold plunge, though she wore it with aplomb. Melissa Dearest's box-cut gown was appropriate for her maturity, but the color was too close to her hair color, Evan Rachel Wood's goddess-look only marred by a certain over-self-conscious posery (but she looked scrumptious in totum). Now, Miley Cyrus looked like she was auditioning for the Wicked movie or sump'n, Mrs. Matthew Broderick's grandly frothy ballgown was marred by too low a cut for her cleavage, and lord only knows what Jessica Biel was thinking with the kangaroo pouch hanging over her left teat. Hair? Winslet's reverse page-boy, Streep's upsweep, Jolie's bouffant looseness, and someone else I'm forgetting. Men? Well, more of them seemed to take the notion of scaling-down the glamour to heart, though I did enjoy seeing Le Franco on the red carpet in simple haute-couture-business-suit-age, and all those Slumdogs in their tuxes, though my favorite fashion accessory of the night -- the white marriage equality ribbon -- curiously disappeared when he appeared onstage. Quite dug Rahman's and the Slumdog sound mixer's Nehru jackets, and was quite glad to see Mickey displaying his usual sartorial insouciance. Now, here's the question: what was Philip Seymour Hoffman wearing on his head? Second favorite fashon accessory: Brad Pitt, naturally. it was all I could do not to try to see where Jennifer Aniston was looking during her (sort of lame) business with Back Jlack. No kudos at all to whomever in the control booth picked that moment to cut to Angelina, very tasteless. All in all, though, not a horrid show, it certainly moved at a clip (despite the commercials' best effort to derail the momentum). It came in at 3:26, which is about par for the course. I did have a certain twinge of pleasure when they did the montage of some non-winning Great Films leading up the Award of the Night, though the absence of the Film(s) that started me boycotting the telecast in the first place made me perversely snort knowingly, tee-hee. Well, I did, so, whatchagonnado? That goes double for how many of the eventual Racso winners were forecast at the (infinitely snappier and zippier) Blanches (congrats again, Lorne, it was a winner across the board), so there you have it. Boycott over, back to work, thank the gods that Sid Ganis is stepping down (don't get me started), and aren't the AMPASites happy the SAG negotiations didn't break down into renewed strike potential before last week? You bet your Wolfgang Puck Oscar-shaped baguettes, they are. Happy cinematizing, alle. inla out.

Last edited by inlareviewer on Tue Feb 24, 2009 6:12 pm; edited 6 times in total
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marantzo

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:28 am

Guest

The piece honouring those who had died in the last year was badly done. They kept focusing on the singer and with their artsy presentation, often had the pictures and names of the departed so small and secondary that you couldn't see who they were or what their names were. I was very frustrating. I was really pissed off!

Rod

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:35 am

Joined: 21 Dec 2004 Posts: 2944 Location: Lithgow, Australia

Seconded.

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billyweeds

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:48 am

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City

Thirded.

This forum was locked this morning, so I posted some things in Current which belonged here. I'll copy them.

lissa

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:59 am

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 2148 Location: my computer

Feelin' slightly schizophrenic...

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mo_flixx

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 10:05 am

Joined: 30 May 2004 Posts: 12533

Re-posted here. The Forum was locked earlier.

SLUMDOG:

Why was Loveleen Tandan (co-director) not thanked or acknowledged at the Oscars?
Here is an interview with her in which she discusses her involvement with the film.
Does anyone know why Danny Boyle didn't thank her?

Was there some sort of consideration at work involving the Indian unions?

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/oscars/article5772395.ece

Joe Vitus

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:28 pm

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 14498 Location: Houston

Fourthed.

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Marj

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:53 pm

Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 10497 Location: Manhattan

I'm kind of fifth. It would have worked beautifully had she begun singing and then moved away when the pictures appeared. She did later but by then it was too late.

I was still so taken by Queen Latifah's voice. But that's me.

bocce

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:45 pm

Joined: 24 May 2004 Posts: 2428

i kinda feel for rourke. first the dog, then the oscar...

i've been following his career since the early 80's when his ten minutes in BODY HEAT completely electrified me. his other stuff from that decade was standout including POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE and DINER...

other than some supporting roles as in WHITE SANDS, the 90's and the new millenium (THE PLEDGE a nice, albeit brief exception) were catastrophic for his career...

i'm glad to see he's pulled himself back together and prepared to do great work again...

mo_flixx

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:36 pm

Joined: 30 May 2004 Posts: 12533

Mickey Rourke impressed me last night...both on the red carpet, and in being a graceful loser.
And yes, it made me sad. He talked about the loss of his beloved dog Loki just a week ago. He had already had a tux made for Loki and was wearing a special lapel button in Loki's honor. I know that Rourke is an animal lover and has other dogs.

Losing his dog and the award has got to be heartbreaking, but I believe he has a lot of courage and a lot of heart. Let's hope his great performance in "The Wrestler" will help get his career back on track.

inlareviewer

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:44 pm

Joined: 05 Jul 2004 Posts: 1949 Location: Lawrence, KS

marantzo wrote:

Rod wrote:

Seconded.

billyweeds wrote:

Thirded.

This forum was locked this morning, so I posted some things in Current which belonged here. I'll copy them.

Joe Vitus wrote:

Fourthed.

Marj wrote:

Sixthed. Am always taken with Queen Latifah doing just about anything, but, as we said in the (soon to be edited, just giving fair warning to the anti-edit factions) Endless Paragraph dashed off last night before racing to a post-Racso partay from which we have not yet recovered, it was the dead people that made me choke up -- the song just kept repeating the same two verses on a loop, and if I were the Cyd Charisse heirs, I'd sue, or sump'n. It was

lissa wrote:

Feelin' slightly schizophrenic...

Welcome to my whirlled.

mo_flixx wrote:

It's because the Aclademy refused to revise the rule of one director per picture.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0849164/news

bocce wrote:

mo_flixx wrote:

And Brother Sean's final acknowledgment insured that he will receive the Bald Gold Man With A Sword the next time he does so. Bank on it.

Treasured colleague Mary McNamara didn't care for Huge Ackman much

http://theenvelope.latimes.com/awards/oscars/la-et-oscarreview23-2009feb23,0,5636262.story

and endured colleague Patrick Goldstein didn't care for the show, at all

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2009/02/the-oscars-not.html

Will have to wait for tomorrow's edition to see what Uncle Kenneth thought. Interestingly, the theeyaytur peeps at the party last night sorta loved it, the Industry types sorta hated it. Well, the Tonys have been trying to become the Oscars for the last few rounds, so there's something ironically apt about the inverse occurring.

Last edited by inlareviewer on Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
_________________
"And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim

marantzo

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:45 pm

Guest

Rourke has won many awards for his performance so I don't think it was as much a disappointment as you imagine. And there is no way that his performance as Randy won't put him in high demand. His performance was stunning.

Joe Vitus

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:55 pm

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 14498 Location: Houston

Inlare,

When did the Acadamy go for the one-director-per-picture rule? Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins both got a statue for directing West Side Story. And it's still weird that Boyle didn't thank or acknowledge Tandan, isn't it?

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marantzo

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:57 pm

Guest

Quote:

...and if I were the Cyd Charisse heirs, I'd sue, or sump'n...

Thanks for reminding me. I finally recognized Cyd Charisse just before that little (in size and length), clip was done. And I don't blame Latifah unless the staging and the unending song were her idea. How they could keep giving her most of the screen while little pictures of dead industry people flickered off to the side is just mind-boggling. Who needed to watch her singing. We could all hear it, or is she supposed to only have a few weeks to live.

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