Some quick Oscar reactions:
* I got 16 out of 24 correct. Not bad. Of course, I was happy to get Best Song wrong.
* Crash winning Best Picture was an upset, sure, and I was shocked. I figured Brokeback had it all pretty much sown up. (Didn’t everyone?) I mean, It’s not like Crash is a bad movie or anything (hello, Shakespeare in Love), but even given how Lions Gate was aggressively marketing that movie in the last few months, I never thought it would pull out a win.
* Best Acceptance Speech: George Clooney, by a mile. That guy is just the most well-spoken, most intelligent, most underrated guy in all of Hollywood (despite his three, some would say four, nominations). Damn, was I impressed. No wonder I’m such a huge fan.
* Three 6 Mafia won. That was too funny (and totally cool). But what was up with the “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” production number? Truly bizarre stuff. Whole lotta “witches” jumpin’ ship? Where … in Salem? And those dancers? Huh? How come Dolly Parton didn’t have any backup entertainment?
* Brokeback Mountain, Crash, Memoirs of a Geisha AND King Kong all won three awards. That’s a pretty even distribution. No one film dominated.
* Jennifer Garner. Yes, I saw her trip. I even chuckled. Poor Jennifer. But it was still good to see her back in action.
* I turned quickly to the TV Guide Channel’s preshow to hear this comment from Dolly Parton to Joan Rivers: “Are yours all real? There’s not a real thing about me except my heart.” She then added, “You’ve known me since I was a B-cup.” That was when I quickly turned back to the E! preshow. Joan Rivers makes Guiliana DePandi seem so much more tolerable.
* Kudos to David Letterman for taking part in the opening montage.
* Bravo to Jon Stewart. Thought he did a really good, really different and unconventional, job. At times it was almost like he was too hip for the room, but I laughed the whole way through. And kudos to him for not overdoing the Brokeback jokes.
* Best dressed: A tie between Hillary Swank and Jessica Alba. Second place: Sandra Bullock.
* What was up with Jennifer Lopez’s makeup? Otherwise, she looked great too.
* Can we call a moratorium on all penguins talk from here on out? I mean, really — did the producers and directors of that film have to bring up those stuffed animals when they won? And on a similar topic, does this mean we can all move on from Brokeback and all the Brokeback jokes now that the Oscars are over and it didn’t win Best Picture and now it’s yesterday’s news?
* Really liked the M. Night Shyamalan AmEx commercial. Weird stuff, but it’s pretty cool compared to other ads out there.
* In general, this was the best Oscars in years. It hardly ever dragged, and it was thoroughly entertaining. I mean, really — no one expects the show to actually be over in three hours. And even if you took out two or three of the montages, you’d only be cutting out about 5 or 7 minutes.
* So to borrow and expand upon Jon Stewart’s thought, let me get this straight: Three 6 Mafia are Oscar winners, and Eminem is also an Oscar winner from a couple years back, but people like Robert Altman (not including his honorary one), Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorcese, and Paul Giamatti are not? Hmmmmmm. It’s always interesting to put things in perspective like that.
* No kidding, I’m a bit bummed the Oscars are over. As much as the Oscars are overexposed and overhyped, as a movie fan, it’s one of my favorite times of the year, and now it’s a bit of a let-down. When do the summer movies start?
Sometimes, when you set out to make a movie that’s wacky funny, you end up instead with something that’s strange and unfunny. Such is the case with The Men Who Stare at Goats, one of those classic misfires that has almost no redeeming qualities. Starring George Clooney (clearly doing a solid for his friend and producing partner, Grant Heslov, who makes his directorial debut here), Men Who Stare is about a reporter (Ewan McGregor) who tries to impress his wife by going to Iraq. There (or rather, in Kuwait), he meets Clooney’s character, a military man who may or may not be gifted with special psychic powers, who may or may not be retired, and who may or may not still be a part of a top secret military unit that specializes in nonviolent action (such as Jedi mind tricks performed on goats). The film is only sporadically funny, the tone just isn’t right, and Clooney, sadly, seems totally miscast. Just about the only thing worth mentioning positively is Jeff Bridges, who plays the hippie-like leader of the group and seems perfectly cast in his role. Otherwise, Men Who Stare is just weird and unnecessary, and I’m giving it a D.
Martin's Musings 