The Academy Awards: Could I Care Any Less?
You no doubt noticed that I didn’t say anything about the Academy Awards.
That’s because, in all honesty, I didn’t care…
That may sound a little mean, but I just can’t help it. I mean, I like Hugh Jackman and all, but I haven’t seen any of the nominated movies, and the only nominated performance I have seen was Heath Ledger’s. So I just didn’t see any point in watching.
And the Academy really didn’t give me any reason to change my mind since they didn’t nominate “The Dark Knight” (Popcorn movie snobs!) AND they insisted on shuffling the presenters in through the back entrance to keep up the suspense of who the presenters would be. Isn’t that part of the reason people tune in? To see their favorite stars—that they know are going to be there—present?
I did turn over out of curiosity and was thankfully just in time to watch Heath Ledger win (I must admit that I did care about that one.). But what was up with those former winners singing the nominee’s praises? What happened to just showing a clip and then handing out the award?
And did anyone else observe that they held off the Supporting Actor award until the 10 o’clock hour, knowing that was the main reason people would be watching? Supporting Actor has been, for many years that I know of, the very first award given. Think about how long they could have gotten people to watch if the Academy had actually nominated a film that people saw…
I turned over at 11 p.m. to see if the show was still on—it, of course, was—and saw John Legend doing some kind of song and dance number. No wonder Peter Gabriel got mad and backed out of performing. Good for him! And in all honesty, could you even take this category seriously without Bruce Springsteen’s song from “The Wrestler”? I’ve never heard the song, but it’s the Boss and it won a Golden Globe. How could it not be good?
I turned back over again around 11:40 p.m., just to see how behind the news was, and I was totally chagrined that the show was still on—and only handing out Best Actor for goodness sake! And I’m sure Sean Penn was great, and I’ve already added “Milk” to my Netflix queue (since it didn’t play anywhere around here), but wouldn’t it have been more fun to see Mickey Rourke win? I’ve got to believe he would have given a less political speech (I know “Milk” was based on important issues, but it was 11:45. Just say thanks and get off the stage. People need to go to bed on the east coast!).
Since it was almost over, I continued watching to see Best Picture. The montage of the nominees was well done, but why were all of those clips from other movies in it? Didn’t that make it a little confusing to see Michael Sheen’s David Frost interspersed with images of “The Queen” where Sheen played Tony Blair?
I am happy that “Slumdog Millionaire” won, just because it kept Harvey Weinstein from winning for “The Reader.” Weinstein—who you know is on my list for all of this “Project Runway” nonsense—had been running a pretty strong campaign to push “Reader” over the top. Thankfully, it didn’t work.
So, what did you guys think? Did you make it through the whole thing? Do you wish they would just shut up and hand out the awards as much as I do?
And the Academy really didn’t give me any reason to change my mind since they didn’t nominate “The Dark Knight” (Popcorn movie snobs!) AND they insisted on shuffling the presenters in through the back entrance to keep up the suspense of who the presenters would be. Isn’t that part of the reason people tune in? To see their favorite stars—that they know are going to be there—present?
I did turn over out of curiosity and was thankfully just in time to watch Heath Ledger win (I must admit that I did care about that one.). But what was up with those former winners singing the nominee’s praises? What happened to just showing a clip and then handing out the award?And did anyone else observe that they held off the Supporting Actor award until the 10 o’clock hour, knowing that was the main reason people would be watching? Supporting Actor has been, for many years that I know of, the very first award given. Think about how long they could have gotten people to watch if the Academy had actually nominated a film that people saw…
I turned over at 11 p.m. to see if the show was still on—it, of course, was—and saw John Legend doing some kind of song and dance number. No wonder Peter Gabriel got mad and backed out of performing. Good for him! And in all honesty, could you even take this category seriously without Bruce Springsteen’s song from “The Wrestler”? I’ve never heard the song, but it’s the Boss and it won a Golden Globe. How could it not be good?
I turned back over again around 11:40 p.m., just to see how behind the news was, and I was totally chagrined that the show was still on—and only handing out Best Actor for goodness sake! And I’m sure Sean Penn was great, and I’ve already added “Milk” to my Netflix queue (since it didn’t play anywhere around here), but wouldn’t it have been more fun to see Mickey Rourke win? I’ve got to believe he would have given a less political speech (I know “Milk” was based on important issues, but it was 11:45. Just say thanks and get off the stage. People need to go to bed on the east coast!).
Since it was almost over, I continued watching to see Best Picture. The montage of the nominees was well done, but why were all of those clips from other movies in it? Didn’t that make it a little confusing to see Michael Sheen’s David Frost interspersed with images of “The Queen” where Sheen played Tony Blair?
I am happy that “Slumdog Millionaire” won, just because it kept Harvey Weinstein from winning for “The Reader.” Weinstein—who you know is on my list for all of this “Project Runway” nonsense—had been running a pretty strong campaign to push “Reader” over the top. Thankfully, it didn’t work.
So, what did you guys think? Did you make it through the whole thing? Do you wish they would just shut up and hand out the awards as much as I do?
Photo Credit: Copyright 2009 A.M.P.A.S., Michael Yada, Photographer
