[IanDP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marvin

Was everyone getting these little sound drop-outs at several points during the show? At first (during the Supporting Actor thank you speech), I thought maybe it was a time-delay censor thing. But afer a few more, it seemed more like a glitch in the HD broadcast.

I noticed about 5 sound drop-outs. And yes, the first I noticed was during Javier Bardem's supporting actor speech, but he was speaking in Spanish at the time so I assumed it wasn't the censors (unless it was some Spanish profanity).

I have DirecTV, by the way (going on 4 months), and usually my audio and video is flawless.

[Michael Reuben]

I too was getting sound dropouts, and I was pretty sure at the time that it was the broadcast, not my reception, because I've had almost no problem with sound since I switched from a cable box to CableCARD.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thi Them

There doesn't seem to be much feedback on this forum for this year's show. I'm gonna guess this will be one of the least watched Oscars.

The ratings may be bad, but the lack of forum activity has its own cause. The Movies forum area has been relatively quiet for the last year or so. Most of the activity on HTF has moved to the hi-def areas, and a lot of the people in those areas have been too preoccupied with recent tech developments to spend much time at the movies.

M.

[Sam Favate]

I thought the production was lacking on the Enchanted numbers. Amy Adams deserved better (and deserved to be nominated!) than an unflattering dress and an empty stage. Kristen Chenoweth wasn't the best choice for her song, and that production felt flat too.

[Thi Them]

Now that you brought it up Holadem, the best picture build up was missed by me, too. Those old clips of past winners in the acting categories didn't do much for me, but I did like the best picture montage.

Something else that made it less special was that alot of the presenters seemed to announce the winner right after the final nominee was announced, instead of pausing for several seconds.

Besides for the honorary recipient, there were no other standing ovations given.

The intro with Seth Rogen and the other guy was bad. Makes me miss Will Ferrel, Ben Stiller, the funny Owen Wilson ... The Rock was really funny bringing up how frightening the face melting scene in Raiders was for him as a kid.

~T

[Ennsio]

Bourne Ultimatum really cleaned up on the technical awards, which was surprising but nice to see.

I wonder if the wins were based on rewarding the achievements of the entire trilogy (ala ROTK), or solely on Ultimatum?

On another note, in Canada we got the Oscars via CTV's feed on both CTV and ABC and the audio track was off by a fraction of a second the whole show. Did anybody else have this problem? It made it extremely difficult to watch the speaker's face.

[Bob Turnbull]

Quote:

I didn't know that this was the song from Once that was nominated. Pretty annoyed at that, I liked the one during the recording session much better.

Though I too like the recording session song better ("When Your Mind's Made Up"), I think they got it right by choosing "Falling Slowly". It's the first time the pair sing together, shows them working through the song and is really the core of the film. Their relationship takes off from there. Would have loved to see "When Your Mind's Made Up" also nominated though (in place of that awful third song from Enchanted - the crappy ballad that was the last song played).

What I didn't like so much was the way the song was arranged for the Oscars - with sweetened strings and other accompaniment. It plays so much better and emotional as a duet. IMO the proof is here.

The other two songs from Enchanted were pretty good actually. My wife (who saw the film) mentioned that Amy Adams made them a great deal of fun in the film. Not sure why she didn't sing the second one...

Other random thoughts about the show:

- Tilda Swinton's acceptance speech may have been my favourite moment. She was genuinely surprised, thankful and yet still very funny (her comments about Clooney being really dedicated to the Batman costume...).
- I really enjoyed Jon Stewart's hosting. He was a bit flat last time out, but seemed more relaxed and even spontaneous (about Glen Hansard - "Boy, that guy was arrogant").
- I'm a bit bummed about "Madame Tutli-Putli" not winning the Best Short Animated film, but I haven't seen any of the others, so I can't comment. But the clips from "Peter The Wolf" just didn't compare...And why did they have to pick a story that's been done a hundred times already? Not fair I suppose...I'm sure the winner is quite deserving...
- Marion Cotillard was stunning. Wowza.
- And I have to say that I'm even curious to see La Vie En Rose now (not just because of Cotillard).
- I totally missed the section on Sunrise. What was the context? Just a tribute to one of the Best Picture winners from 80 years ago?
- I also missed the roll call of the dead - maybe I can find the video on Youtube. I can't say I "enjoy" it every year, but it's a nice reminder of those that have passed away. For the broadcast, they should really just mute the audience and play recorded music over it - even if you tell people to hold their applause, they usually can't.
- "Henry Kissinger - Man On The Go"
- Daniel Day-Lewis kneeling before Helen Mirren. She was pretty damn stunning too.
- The spoofs on the montages were pretty funny, in particular the bee one that included The Swarm. I mean, did you ever expect to see a clip from The Swarm at The Oscars?
- I liked the montages of the previous winners, but I agree with those that said there wasn't a great deal of focus on the Best Picture nominees.
- Marion Cotillard really was gorgeous...
- I still think Steve Carrell is one of the funniest people around.
- The audience really seemed to approve of the win by "Falling Slowly" - that was probably the biggest round of applause of the night.
- Not only were all the acting awards won by Europeans, it seemed most of the other awards were too.

Did I mention Marion Cotillard is really good-looking?

[Patrick Sun]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Reuben

Cute name and role, but I preferred Tina Lombardi, the vengeful prostitute she played in A Very Long Engagement.

M.

I have that DVD, just need to find some time to watch it. I probably picked it up for $5-$8 last year when the DVD went on sale.

[Holadem]

Thi, my feelings about the song are somewhat colored by the movie as a whole. At the time the song showed up, I wasn't fully in the film yet. So it doesn't carry as much emotional weight for me as it perhaps should have.

Of the films whose songs were nominated, Once is the only one I saw.

Purely based on last night's performances, I was rooting for August Rush to win. That 11 y/o was flat out amazing. And while I am not about to run out and buy the DVD, the performance alone put the movie on my radar. On the other hand, the performances from Enchanted nearly dropped the film from my to-watch list. Go figure.

Bob, what do you think of Marion Cotillard?

--
H

[Michael Elliott]

Before the show there was some conversations going on about the public not being interested and I guess they weren't. I just saw on MSNBC that this had the lowest ratings in history.

[Chuck Mayer]

H, Amy Adams performance in the film totally sold two of those Enchanted songs, which were a lot of fun in the theater because of her powerhouse performance. Don't judge the film on the Oscars' poor interpretation. Like I said, having NOT seen Once and truly liking Enchanted, I believe they got Best Original Song exactly right. But they didn't do Enchanted any favors.

I'm unsurprised by the tepid criticism of Stewart from some of the "insider" blogs. They did the same thing last time he hosted. He's laid back and calm, and he isn't as star struck as some of the LA d-bags would like. He basically got famous and popular on his own terms. I think he is a GREAT host, and he was the big reason I tuned in last night. He can take the piss in a nice understated fashion. But subtlety doesn't play well at the Oscars. I didn't like everything he did, but he even handled the bad jokes pretty well.