The 82nd Oscar Show
Directed by: unknown
Written by: also unknown
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin
Written by: also unknown
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin
Last Sunday was the 82nd edition of the Oscars show. As a show it wasn’t very bad but it wasn’t very good either. Every year there’s always the hype that this year’s show will be better, smoother, grander – and shorter – than last year’s, and every year it’s the same old same old. This year they increased the Best Picture nominees from five to ten, but – as always – it came down to a fight between just two of them: “The Hurt Locker” and “Avatar,” and pretty much everyone’s money was on “The Hurt Locker.” Which also meant that Katharine Bigelow, the director, would also get it – the first woman ever to get the Directing award. Think of that.
In fact, picking winners this year was easier than it’s been in years. Everyone knew that Jeff Bridges would get it for “Crazy Heart,” and he did. Everyone knew Sandra Bullock would get it for “The Blind Side.” What? You didn’t? Shame on you. She was a lock. As was “The Hurt Locker,” no pun intended. Can you even remember the other nominated films? Okay, “Avatar,” but that’s it.
The problem was that the two presenters – Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin – weren’t funny, in fact were embarrassingly bad in their opening duologue. All together now: Let’s bring back Billy Crystalw He knew what the hell he was doing, and he did it perfectly.
All the other categories were also foregone conclusions. Cristoph Waltz for his brilliant work in “Inglourious Basterds,” Monique in “Precious,” which might have won more if it hadn’t had that stupid subtitle attached to it like a little dog that’s bitten your pants and won’t let go. Even a documentary that most people hadn’t seen turned out to be a lock once you’d seen it: “The Cove,” about the slaughter of dolphins in a small town on the coast of Japan.
Okay, there was one category that was a surprise, and that was the foreign language film, which went to the Argentine film “The Secret of their Eyes,” instead of “The White Ribbon,” which I at least thought was also a lock. But pretty much this year’s Oscar show was a recitation of films and people we already knew would win. Even my dog Oscar slept through it; I don’t blame him.
2/8/10
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In fact, picking winners this year was easier than it’s been in years. Everyone knew that Jeff Bridges would get it for “Crazy Heart,” and he did. Everyone knew Sandra Bullock would get it for “The Blind Side.” What? You didn’t? Shame on you. She was a lock. As was “The Hurt Locker,” no pun intended. Can you even remember the other nominated films? Okay, “Avatar,” but that’s it.
The problem was that the two presenters – Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin – weren’t funny, in fact were embarrassingly bad in their opening duologue. All together now: Let’s bring back Billy Crystalw He knew what the hell he was doing, and he did it perfectly.
All the other categories were also foregone conclusions. Cristoph Waltz for his brilliant work in “Inglourious Basterds,” Monique in “Precious,” which might have won more if it hadn’t had that stupid subtitle attached to it like a little dog that’s bitten your pants and won’t let go. Even a documentary that most people hadn’t seen turned out to be a lock once you’d seen it: “The Cove,” about the slaughter of dolphins in a small town on the coast of Japan.
Okay, there was one category that was a surprise, and that was the foreign language film, which went to the Argentine film “The Secret of their Eyes,” instead of “The White Ribbon,” which I at least thought was also a lock. But pretty much this year’s Oscar show was a recitation of films and people we already knew would win. Even my dog Oscar slept through it; I don’t blame him.
2/8/10