Oscars, part 11

[cleolinda]

"Our next presenter is either an acclaimed actor... or an auto dealership. Please welcome! Harrison Ford!" Okay, I laughed. Here's Original Screenplay. Of course Diablo Cody wins. She's wearing a leopard-print halter dress with a very high slit. I do like her bangle bracelets a lot. "What is happening! This is for the writers!" She thanks, among many others, "the superhuman Ellen Page" and Jason Reitman, "who I consider one of my family," and her actual family, for accepting her "exactly the way I am." And then she leaves the stage in tears. I mean, happy tears, obviously. Again, very sweet.

Oh, btw--starlady42 points out that only Academy members are mentioned in the Death March, which at least explains the Renfro omission. (Notice, for example, the difference in the Oscar list and the SAG list.) Anyone nominated for an Oscar is automatically a member, IIRC--thus, Heath Ledger.

So, here's Helen Mirren to present Best Actor to Daniel Day-Lewis. What? You know it's true. "Greeeeeeed. Ambitionnnnn. Venalityyyy. Miseryyyyyy. And... good old fashioned... cojoneeeeeees." Heeeeeee. Of course, they are contractually required to run the "I have abandoned my CHIIIIIIIIIILD" clip. I'm still so sad that this happened the same year as Sweeney Todd, because Johnny Depp was sad and scary and pitiful and awesome and he did it all through song. And I can't speak for Viggo Mortensen's performance since I haven't seen Eastern Promises, but he did what he did with a flawless Russian accent. It's just not fair that there's only one award sometimes.

Heeeee, Daniel Day-Lewis kneels before Mirren so she can "knight" him with the Oscar. (He's won, of course.) He seems much more cheerful than last time. "It seems to me that this [movie] sprang like a golden sapling out of the head of Paul Thomas Anderson," he says. Why yes, his father was a poet, why do you ask? Whom he thanks, along with his grandfather and his own children. Very nicely done.

Best Director. I like how they go out of their way to show James Cameron shouting that he's KING OF THE WORRRRLD! Also, Martin Scorsese asking them to double-check the envelope. Man, we came so close to civil unrest last year. And here he is! I have no idea who's going to win--Paul Thomas Anderson? The Coens? (Scorsese mentions that he may be awarding it to one director--"or two of them.") The Coens win. Yeah, Best Picture is pretty much sewn up at this point. "I... uh... I don't have a lot to add to what I said earlier," says Ethan Coen, which I know, because the other one says, "Ethan and I...." It's a short speech, and Joel Coen's mention of an early effort called Henry Kissinger: Man on the Go draws a laugh. (I honestly can't tell you if it's real or not.)

Here's Denzel Washington with Best Picture. We're not even anywhere near the stroke of 11 pm (CST)! What kind of show is this? No Country for Old Men wins. Producer Guy thanks Cormac McCarthy (damn straight you thank the writer) and their actors and the Coens and many, many others, because that's what producers do. Joel Coen looms over him and Ethan like a beneficient giant. "Get home safe, everybody!" says Jon Stewart. And... we're out.

Huh. Good people won; no travesties; no truly dumbass montages or intepretive dance; no really hilarious gaffes; nothing they're going to regret ten years from now. What planet are we on?

Comments

[pscopathictiger.livejournal.com]

It is hard to take Daniel Day Lewis seriously when the only thing you've seen him in is The Crucible. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F8MSFNV6Jk)

[christwise.livejournal.com]

GOD! IS! DEAD!

[luindilwen.livejournal.com]

Huh. He was the only thing I liked about that movie.

Check out "In The Name Of The Father" and "My Left Foot".

[kismeteve.livejournal.com]

DDL is one classy dude. (and I'm convinced PT Anderson was jacked. Not one win? BALLS, I say.)

[sound-of-bells.livejournal.com]

I know. I was hoping he'd at least get screenplay or something...

[dancingbarefoot.livejournal.com]

They also include in the list, those folks who are invited to join the academy as well.

[callmesyd.livejournal.com]

Good people won; no travesties; no truly dumbass montages or intepretive dance; no really hilarious gaffes; nothing they're going to regret ten years from now.

That was the most surreal Oscars broadcast I have ever seen.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I know, right? My only explanation is the writers' strike. They just really didn't have time to come up with dumbass shit like the Crash Best Song presentation where someone groped the Thandie Newton stand-in in slo-mo while cars were on fire.

[pygmymetal.livejournal.com]

Good people won; no travesties;

I read that as no transvestites.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

None of them either. I mean, we at least had that one year when the South Park guys showed up in dresses.

[clodia-risa.livejournal.com]

Helen Mirren had the best presenting speech - and so much poise and dignity, jeez.

Summary: After seeing the Oscars I now want to see

No Country for Old Men (mostly for Javier's performance. I got chills)
Juno
There Will Be Blood (for DDL)
Once
Enchanted
Elizabeth (II) (for Cate)

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

Diablo Cody has awesome Skull and Crossbone earrings and a ring too!

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

That's awesome. I know everyone else hates Cody, but I still think she rocks.

[sound-of-bells.livejournal.com]

What planet are we on?

That's kind of how I feel right now. I'm used to being totally outraged after the Oscars -- at the very least, extremely displeased. And this year I feel... content? Like they've done everything... right? I mean, I thought There Will Be Blood was the best film of the year, but No Country for Old Men was pretty goddamned good too, and Daniel Day-Lewis won, which was all I really cared about, so... huh. This is strange.

[msilverstar]

I was surprised at how much I liked Eastern Promises. Viggo was fantastic, but the ensemble worked too, and the violence wasn't overwhelming.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I actually really wanted to see it--this was apparently just a bad year for me in terms of motivating myself to get out and see things.

[agentsculder.livejournal.com]

I was wondering where DDL came up with that beautiful acceptance speech. Nice to know poetry runs in the family. Once the Coens won Best Director, I knew Best Picture was all sewn up as well.

Loved Producer Guy giving the shout out to his partner.

The most surreal thing was how FAST the whole thing went by. That's the quickest show they've had in YEARS.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Like, I thought the year where they had everyone present from the audience went quick, but you could also feel them sweating really hard to make it go faster, and it kind of didn't work. This year it just really genuinely did. Go fast, I mean. Like I said to someone else, I really think the writers just didn't have enough time to think of dumbass shit to clog up the show.

[luindilwen.livejournal.com]

God. I feel like I should record everything Daniel says. It always sounds so important.

Also, he will never stop looking devastatingly handsome. sufhisughdfg.

[sound-of-bells.livejournal.com]

I concur. With everything.

*flails*

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

assaultdoor's dad's name is Jack Ryan. He went to great lengths to obtain a license plate frame from a dealership called Harrison Ford. XD For real.

He's always threatening to write a book starring a character named Tom Clancy...

[brainchild129.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about Johnny Depp - he did all of those things you said, and almost entirely with his eyes. That impressed me a lot. Someday...someday, he and Kate Winslet will will their long deserved Oscars.

And as for Eastern Promises, I highly recommend it. It's a good Cronenberg film for those who don't like his gorier fare. Viggo is amazingly in his subtlety, and it's hard to describe it more without spoiling it. Just watch it. It's worth it.

[agentsculder.livejournal.com]

Viggo was so good in Eastern Promises, I knew it was a long shot he would win, but I was hoping for a possible upset if the vote got split between DDL and Johnny Depp. Really, all those guys this year were great.

However, it helped that I found Viggo's character the absolute epitome of scary sexy in that movie. Good lord. The hair, the accent, the tats . . . . guh.

[enid-keaner.livejournal.com]

The only award I'm pissed about is Original Screenplay for Juno. That's it. Everything else, I'm totally over the moon about or really stoked about. It's been a strange year.

[ter369.livejournal.com]

Huh. Good people won; no travesties; no truly dumbass montages or intepretive dance; no really hilarious gaffes; nothing they're going to regret ten years from now. What planet are we on?

Could it be the strike scared everyone? Just a focus on the moment, instead of striving to be too clever.

I would like to thank Vanessa Paradis for wearing stockings. The bare-leg look with overwrought pedicures just doesn't seem dignified considering the price tags of the gowns and bangles.

[sienamystic.livejournal.com]

I have to say, the only reason I watched the whole thing was because it moved briskly. Usually at some point I roll my eyes and change the channel and just forget to change back. Plus, I love Jon Stewart, so there was a little more motivation to hang around.

Yay, Tilda Swinton! She's so fantabulous.

[mysticowl.livejournal.com]

Who was the little girl sitting near Viggo Mortensen? His niece?

I'm still kind of amazed at how short it was, but also... kind of anticlimactic. I mean, I know the Oscars are plagued by their length, but at the same time, I want the interpretive dances and hilarious gaffes. I feel like there was nothing memorable about tonight. What happened to the show that had Whoopi Goldberg swinging from the rafters!

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

The Coens (especially Ethan) were sort of douchey about the whole thing. Dudes, if the awards are beneath you, you shouldn't have shown up. Their wives seemed much more excited.

And you're right about Depp and Mortensen - especially Mortensen, whose performance was just as good as Day-Lewis's, only different. And I was so charmed by him bringing his little niece. What a guy. I think he might win for The Road in 2010 or something, which would be way overdue.

[agentsculder.livejournal.com]

I think Viggo is one of those guys who everyone figures will HAVE to win eventually. The problem is, with actors like that, it always seems like the Academy either ends up giving them an honoray Oscar, OR they get the makeup Oscar, instead of winning when they really deserved it.

I mean, look at Christian Bale. He's probably one of his generation's BEST actors, but he's never even been NOMINATED.

[izzy-unkempt.livejournal.com]

The only category I'm confused about is Best Song...Not that I don't love Once, and actually I'm thrilled it got the Oscar because no one seems to know about it....but no Hairspray? Why not split the Enchanted noms, because they weren't so hot anyway, and have a big number with John Travolta and Elijah Kelley and Queen Latifah and Zac Efron, etc etc. How much fun did we miss, right? (Did Hairspray get a nod for anything?)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Did Hairspray have an original (i.e., new) song?

[shebit.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a rather dull ceremony. Where's the glitz and madness of the Billy Crystal years?

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

Crap. I missed Denzel. I was confused because I was in the other room and for some reason I thuoght the Best Director award was best pic, and I turned off the TV.

[okaasan59.livejournal.com]

I confess that I do not watch the Oscars because, well, I'm just not that interested. I do, however, avidly read your recap posts. Now THAT's entertainment! ^_^

[falco-conlon.livejournal.com]

Producer Guy thanks Cormac McCarthy (damn straight you thank the writer)

I feel like if the writer in question has just won the Pulitzer Prize, you better fuckin' thank him.