If they find the body in the basement in the very house that she was raised in

[sovay]

Yesterday was pretty much a waste of consciousness. But I did watch the Oscars for the first time in my life, albeit while lying flat on the couch with a headache that could crush a coelecanth, and that was surprisingly entertaining. Everyone and their second cousin has posted on the ceremony, I'm sure. But I'm too tired to go against the flow.

I loved Jon Stewart as the host. His incomparable deadpan was used to as great effect on Hollywood as on politics, and he is a master of the unforeseeable zinger: when he started in on how Brokeback Mountain had tarnished the noble image of the cowboy, I genuinely wasn't sure where he would end up.* Of the lines I remember, I think my favorites were about Björk ("She was trying on her Oscar dress . . . and Dick Cheney shot her") and celebrity poverty ("There are women here who can barely afford enough dress to cover their breasts!"), but if anyone can remind me of other favorites of theirs, I'm sure I'll have liked them. ("Holy crap! We've run out of film clips.") He was seconded only in awesome by Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin, whose overlapping, improvisational, extremely funny introduction for Robert Altman, full of sentence fragments and self-reference and interstitial commentary about who'd gotten the better laughs, was mindblowingly appropriate. If there was an Oscar for Best Presentation of an Oscar, they should have won it then and there.

As for the awards themselves, I was very sorry that Good Night, and Good Luck did not win in a single category for which it had been nominated, but I was very pleased with Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit's Best Animated Picture and Rachel Weisz's Best Supporting Actress for The Constant Gardener.** I haven't seen Syriana, but I was already fond of George Clooney for Good Night, and Good Luck, so I was entirely fine with his Best Supporting Actor: and I was going to write that I've never seen Reese Witherspoon, so I can't comment on her either, but then I realized that she was in Freeway and Pleasantville and terrific in each film; I imagine she deserves her Best Actress. And the look on Queen Latifah's face when she realized that "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" had won for Best Original Song was totally worth staying up for.

I am absurdly pleased with the number of film noirs and epics I recognized from their respective montages. Good stuff.

*Thank God, with a hilarious montage of smoldering looks, unbuckled gunbelts, bare chests, and lines like, "Do you want to see my Winchester?" Although I still think my life would have been complete without the concept of John Wayne / Charlton Heston slash, thank you very much.

**Although I'm still bewildered that Tilda Swinton was not nominated for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. She still amazes me.

Comments

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

Personally, I liked Jon Stewart's comment regarding Schindler's List and Munich: "I think I speak for all Jews when I say I can't wait to see what happens to us next! Trilogy!"

[sovay]

"I think I speak for all Jews when I say I can't wait to see what happens to us next! Trilogy!"

*snerk*

I'd forgotten that one. Also the following look on Spielberg's face.

[xterminal.livejournal.com]

I realized that she was in Freeway and Pleasantville and terrific in each film;

[bewildered]

Someone else on the planet actually LIKED Freeway? Every time I mention it, I get odd looks...

[justbeast.livejournal.com]

Liss and I just saw Freeway, a month or so ago. I, personally, really liked it!

[sovay]

I saw Freeway in college for a class on myth and folklore: I remember liking it very much. I was especially impressed because it worked both as a retelling and a story in its own right. And Reese Witherspoon, whom I hadn't even recognized. I am definitely going to see Walk the Line.

[spectre-general.livejournal.com]

Following the award presentation for Best Original Song to "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp":

Jon Stewart: I think it just got a little easier in here for a pimp.


- Ainsley (once again posing as Andrew)

[spectre-general.livejournal.com]

I'm just pissed that King Kong only got four(?) nominations, though I'm happy that it won three of those: the same number of wins for Brokeback Mountain. Stupid Academy!

- Andrew (posting as Ainsley)

[sovay]

the same number of wins for Brokeback Mountain.

And I can only hope that Brokeback Mountain's complete score was better than the little clip they played every time the film won something, otherwise I don't know what the judges had in their ears.

[sovay]

I think it just got a little easier in here for a pimp.

Yeah. That was brilliant.

[malamyn.livejournal.com]

I loved Jon Stewart as the host.
...
If there was an Oscar for Best Presentation of an Oscar, they should have won it then and there.

...
And the look on Queen Latifah's face when she realized that "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" had won for Best Original Song was totally worth staying up for.

Ditto, ditto and ditto.

What interested me most about John Stewart hosting was how the audience seemed slow to laugh at first and then continued to warm up to him throughout. The boy did good.

I also LOVED the political ads for Best actress and for Sound editing. The sound editing one may have been even funnier because it was so random.

[sovay]

The sound editing one may have been even funnier because it was so random.

The technical criticisms were so impenetrable to anyone who wasn't a sound editor that I appreciated it on sheer geekery. Also the fact that the ad was paid for by "[whoever]'s Mother."

[gwynnega]

I liked how, after the montage of "films that changed the world," Jon Stewart said: "And none of those issues were ever a problem again!"

[justbeast.livejournal.com]

Hee, same here -- watched 'em for the first time yesterday!

(Agreed re: Tilda Swinton! Wholly amazing)

[kraada.livejournal.com]

I only watched the first 15 minutes to see Stewart's opening bit. For any who don't know, I love The Daily Show. But I really thought he fell flat. He looked nervous and sounded more nervous. There was barely anything above a nervous titter from the audience until Cheney shot Bjork. Maybe after he warmed up and became less terrified it got better . . . from the first 15 minutes, though, I was quite saddened.

And I read the Fark.com discussion thread to make sure I wasn't alone . . . I wasn't . . . but, then again, that is fark . . .

[sovay]

I think the Oscars were a hard audience: but I did think they warmed up to him, and I didn't think that some of his opening salvos were so bad. And some of his later lines (see comments above) were inspired. If nothing else, there was the cowboy slash montage.