Initial Oscar Response
I've been asked by the Republican National Committee to deliver a response to Mrs. Obama's Oscar speech:
I thought she did great, but if she thinks her extraordinary like-ability is gonna make us cave on sequestration, she's nuts.
Speaking now as an individual, I have this to say:
Seth McFarland comes right out of the gate with a cheap shot directed at the French actor who won last year for his role in Whatever. Although I can't remember the name of the thing, both he and it were great. So it angered me when McFarland, a man whose claims to fame are fairly modest, pointed out to the billion or so people watching that the guy hadn't been getting a lot of work lately.
The first rule of hosting, as I see it, is that you can give the people with the maximum credentials the most shit. You can make as much fun of George Clooney as you want. Likewise Streep or Nicholson. But it's cowardly to pick on the little guys, even if they have won an Oscar.
Update: The Artist is the name of the movie; Jean Dujardin is the actor
Me? I was so annoyed I decided to fast forward through every significant thing McFarland had to say after that, so I can't really comment about him except that he's alarmingly clean-cut for an animator. And he's a coward.
Quickly on a couple of other topics:
That Playbook movie was a charming romantic comedy, but it surprised me that it placed someone in all four of the top actor categories. Plus Best Picture? Please -- this is what's wrong with the new unlimited Best Picture category.
That said, the adolescent in me is drawn to Jennifer Lawrence and would have been delighted if she had become completely unhinged from her dress when she fell on the stairs. Although she would have been (even more) mortified, so maybe I'm okay with the way it turned out.
And aren't they supposed to have an usher near the stairs to lend a hand to the ladies in their massive dresses, to avoid just such an event? They do at the Golden Globes, but that may just be proactivity in the face of the notion that everybody at the Globes is intoxicated.
The singing was great. Streisand's number was one of the best moments of the night; Zeta-Jones sounded worse than everybody else (meaning she was okay, but not great). And just for the record, I'm not a big Streisand fan.
Daughter #2 loathes Anne Hathaway. While I don't share her feelings, I can understand the urge to slap Ms. Hathaway's face every once in a while, most particularly during her awards acceptance speeches. I will say, however, that other than the first thing she said, which was sorta to herself but also sorta sotto voce, I thought her speech was charming this time.
I'm very fond of Ang Lee. Best line of the night: "Thank you, movie god."
I thought she did great, but if she thinks her extraordinary like-ability is gonna make us cave on sequestration, she's nuts.
Speaking now as an individual, I have this to say:
Seth McFarland comes right out of the gate with a cheap shot directed at the French actor who won last year for his role in Whatever. Although I can't remember the name of the thing, both he and it were great. So it angered me when McFarland, a man whose claims to fame are fairly modest, pointed out to the billion or so people watching that the guy hadn't been getting a lot of work lately.
The first rule of hosting, as I see it, is that you can give the people with the maximum credentials the most shit. You can make as much fun of George Clooney as you want. Likewise Streep or Nicholson. But it's cowardly to pick on the little guys, even if they have won an Oscar.
Update: The Artist is the name of the movie; Jean Dujardin is the actor
Me? I was so annoyed I decided to fast forward through every significant thing McFarland had to say after that, so I can't really comment about him except that he's alarmingly clean-cut for an animator. And he's a coward.
Quickly on a couple of other topics:
That Playbook movie was a charming romantic comedy, but it surprised me that it placed someone in all four of the top actor categories. Plus Best Picture? Please -- this is what's wrong with the new unlimited Best Picture category.
That said, the adolescent in me is drawn to Jennifer Lawrence and would have been delighted if she had become completely unhinged from her dress when she fell on the stairs. Although she would have been (even more) mortified, so maybe I'm okay with the way it turned out.
And aren't they supposed to have an usher near the stairs to lend a hand to the ladies in their massive dresses, to avoid just such an event? They do at the Golden Globes, but that may just be proactivity in the face of the notion that everybody at the Globes is intoxicated.
The singing was great. Streisand's number was one of the best moments of the night; Zeta-Jones sounded worse than everybody else (meaning she was okay, but not great). And just for the record, I'm not a big Streisand fan.
Daughter #2 loathes Anne Hathaway. While I don't share her feelings, I can understand the urge to slap Ms. Hathaway's face every once in a while, most particularly during her awards acceptance speeches. I will say, however, that other than the first thing she said, which was sorta to herself but also sorta sotto voce, I thought her speech was charming this time.
I'm very fond of Ang Lee. Best line of the night: "Thank you, movie god."
posted by Geoffrey at 8:48 AM
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