Tuesday, March 1, 2011

2011 Academy Awards

For this post, I am going to stray a little bit from reviewing films to reviewing this year's Academy Awards. I have a lot of issues about this year's Oscars, so bear with me. It may be a bumpy ride.

First of all, I love Anne Hathaway and James Franco. Really I do. Both are extremely talented actors with extensive acting ranges. Hosting talents? Not so much. I love historic events, and this year marked the first time in the Academy's history that a male/female duo hosted the show together. Pretty cool right? However, if you watched this year's Academy Awards and thought that the young actors did a good job, I apologize. Mostly for your questionable taste. I would go as far as to say that Anne did an o.k job. She tried really hard, and really looked like she wanted to be there. At times it came across as a bit desperate and awkward, but she gave it her all. Franco? Half of the time he looked like he barely wanted to be there as he stumbled awkwardly through his lines. When Billy Crystal came onstage, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. Most likely out of desperation for him to stay there.

I am pleased that this year, the Academy brought back the live performances of the Best Original Song category. However, they cut them so short that the segment seems a little abrupt and out of place. Also, where was Corey Haim in the tribute to those we lost this year? Granted he wasn't exactly an Academy Award winning actor, but to include publicists and not him seemed a little odd and insensitive.

All the winners were entirely predictable. This was not the year of the upset by any means. I love the Academy Awards. To me, it is my Superbowl. This year, however, did not meet my expectations. The ratings seemed to reflect my feelings. According to Nielsen, this year's telecast was down 10 percent. Next year, bring back Billy.

6 comments:

  1. I do agree that the winners were predictable. I think Anne did a great job by herself because she seemed to be left alone. Is it wrong to say that with my group that watched the Awrads that James Franco looked like he was high? He barely knew what to say or why he was there. And, we have to know it is live, Melissa Reo's F-bomb was hilarious.

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  2. Courtney - I couldn't agree more, especially on the hosting. I love both Anne & James as well, but they had absolutely ZERO chemistry. I watched a talk show recap the next morning, and one announcer commented that he didn't even look at her once! (& I love your line about the audience desperately wanting Billy Crystal to stay - so true!) Great post!!

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  3. I only caught the ending if the Oscars and the performance by the PS 22 Chorus. Perez Hilton reported that Andy Cohen has some awful things to say about their performance: http://perezhilton.com/2011-03-02-andy-cohen-slams-ps-22-chorus They're 10 year old kids! How could someone say such terrible things?

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  4. Great post, terrible show. I don't usually watch the Oscars since the movies that win are always instant comas in my opinion. I do usually enjoy watching the hosts open the show and it was painful this year. Last year was hilarious, both Alex and Martin had great chemistry. I don't even know who these two people are!!!! That's right exclamation

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  5. Courtney I love your post! I thought the Oscars really tried to create big buzz about the hosts this year, but James did not deliver as well as Anne in my opinion. The chemistry that was expected from the two was clearly not delivered by their performance.

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  6. I am totaly agree with your oppinion. To me Anne and James did not have any chemestry at all as britt said. The worst moment was when Franco came dressed as marilyn monroe. Totaly awkward Oscars.

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