Oscars

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Yay Wallace and Grommett!

[Spriggan]

Didn't bother watching and now that everyone on TV is talking about how bad it was, no thanks to John Stewards apparently horrible hosting job, I'm glad I didn't watch.

[42]

John Stewart didn't do a bad job, but he could have been a lot better. The biggest problem is just that the writing for the Oscars needs to be better. Course, that can be said about most things produced by Hollywood.

But I'm happy about Wallace and Grommett. Course, it was in the only category where any of the nominees (Howl's Moving Castle and Corpse Bride) could have won and I would have been happy.

I'm also pleased that March of the Penguins won.

Also, happy that King Kong and Chronicles of Narnia got some recognition.

I couldn't care less about the rest.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

John Stewart was fine. It seems like everyone is willing to blame the host for the series of bad movies released this year.

[House of Mustard]

I'm surprised by how many complaints there have been about Stewart.  I thought he was great.

I was also pleased by how non-political, relatively-speaking, the night turned out to be -- the five Best Picture awards were all somewhat controversial, and the host is a political commentator, after all.  But although there was a little "Hollywood is the moral compass of the nation" speaching, there wasn't any "Bush is Hitler" activism.

[Parker]

I also thought Stewart did a good job.  Very funny, great ad-libs.  Very well done.  I'd like to see him host again.  I really enjoyed the ceremonies last night, especially the fact that there was no one "landslide" winner.  Spread the love.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

I liked Stewarts comment on the Montage of movies that tackle sensative issues.

" And after these movies were made these issues were never a problem again."

[MsFish]

I'm glad Reese Witherspoon won.  I saw Walk The Line on Saturday, and both she and Phoenix did an amazing job.

[Fellfrosch]

Stewart wasn't fall-down hilarious like people hoped he would be, but that's a good thing--it would have turned into the Jon Stewart Show Featuring Some Incidental Awards, which is not what hosting is about. I thought he did a fine job.

[Tage]

I also thought Stewart was dead-on as a host. As a stand-up comedian it would've been a pretty lackluster job, but like Fell said, that's not what being the Oscar host is about. I'd love to see him do it again.

I was also pleased that Crash got picture. I saw it just a couple nights ago, and it's a beautiful, meditative movie about how racial issues are simple, but the people behind them are complicated.

[The Lost One]

I'm happy for Wallace and Grommit. As for the penguins, I'm still miffed that Grizzly Man wasn't even nominated for best documentary. This isn't to say that March of Penguins is bad but "Grizzly Man" is such a good and deep documentary. I don't know why it seems like Hollywood is shunning it.

Also, I'm happy that there was no run-away winning in this years oscars because with the number of political movies, a run-away winner could have been interepreted as if Hollywood was making a political statement.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

The Gibbs weigh in: http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=1266

[House of Mustard]

Regarding the Gibbs review, I agree that the song was a travesty -- I wouldn't be surprised if most voters voted for it simply because the name was strange.  (However, I do believe that Lose Yourself deserved the Oscar.  But that's just me.)

[Shrain]

"let's have a separate category for Best Rap, so that actual songs can get their due."

lol. Indeed! Of course, that leads to maybe splitting up the Best Song into even more categories and getting an Oscar Grammy thing going on. I guess that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, tho. You could have genre Best Songs and then one overall Best Song. hmm. Perhaps I'm taking this too seriously. Still, I'm -not- impressed with the winning tune this year.

Anyway, I also think the Gibbs' are on to something when they suggest expanding the number of nominees in the visual effects category.

As for Crash, huh. I mean, I didn't hate the film, but although I thought the racial issues were realistic and frightening (for their subtlety as well as overtness), I also felt like much of the plot was too contrived with too many criss-crossing plot lines. Like how the cop winds up saving the woman he intimidated and molested in front of her husband. And so on. Because of this deus ex machina vibe, I had a tough time being swept away by it or impressed with it as a story rather than a scripted film. But I guess I'm definitely in the minority here. (shrug)

[Fellfrosch]

I think it's pretty silly to claim that rap songs don't count as songs, and perhaps over the top to dig on the artists just because you don't like the genre they sing in. I didn't hear this year's song, but Lose Yourself was an excellent song and a worthy winner.