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Post-Oscars 2014

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by bigpern23, Feb 23, 2015.

  1. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    Since there was no running thread last night, thought I'd start one to post some thoughts about the show.

    • Wayyyyy too long. I know it gets mentioned seemingly every year, but it ended just after midnight last night. That seemed long even by their standards.
    • Neil Patrick Harris' opening was the best one I've seen in years. Unfortunately, it was downhill after that. You could probably count on one hand the jokes that really worked.
    • One that did work was the Oscar predictions bit. I was prepared for it to suck, but it turned out pretty funny, particularly the Travolta gag.
    • Common and John Legend put on the best performance of the night (and best in recent memory) and their acceptance speech was equally moving. Major goosebumps and David Oyelowo's reaction was pretty powerful.
    • I didn't think Travolta deserved a chance to present and "redeem" himself after last year's debacle. And his wig was horrendous.
     
  2. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    The speeches were pretty good, especially Common/John Legend, JK Simmons, Patricia Arquette and the young guy who wrote The Imitation Game. But a lot of dud moments otherwise.

    I wish Zadan and Meron (the producers again this year) would stop making every Oscars a tribute to musicals, since nobody in America has given a shit about musicals in like 40 years. That said, Lady Gaga knocked it out of the park with the Julie Andrews tribute.

    The one part I always look forward to is the In Memoriam, and they fucked it up again with the stupid water colors, no film clips and the overly long Jennifer Hudson song that just happens to be from a TV show (Smash) produced by Zadan and Meron (shocker!).

    Also, Sean Penn ... what a dick. I know he and Inarritu are old friends and he was trying to make a joke, but it just came off as unfunny and stepped on the biggest moment of the guy's life.
     
  3. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    I thought the painted style of the In Memoriam was pretty neat, though I do prefer to see clips of the films. Thought it was odd that Robin Williams was randomly in the middle of it. I get that the Academy doesn't like to "rank" the deceased, but come on. Guy should have been last.
     
  4. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    The Lady Gaga song blew me away. My wife was in the other room, and I actually ran in there to tell her to turn it on -- as much because Gaga was dressed like a normal person and singing a normal song as for the performance itself. It was jarring (in a good way) to see her in that light.
     
  5. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    I was fine with Mike Nichols being last. His films were nominated for like 50 Oscars during his career.
     
  6. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    Kimmel destroyed his after show again. His "School of acting" is one of the funniest things you'll see all year.
     
  7. WriteThinking

    WriteThinking Well-Known Member

    The highlights, in my opinion:

    1.) A lot of the music segments, especially Lady Gaga with the "Sound of Music" medley, and Tim McGraw with Glen Campbell's nominated last song, "I'm Not Gonna Remember You." Lady Gaga looked, well, normal, and was appropriately and, I think, appreciatively, respectful of some great stuff and was truly amazing. She relied on her talent alone and the only reaction, probably, was "Wow." And McGraw's performance hit a lot of people in the heart.

    2). Julianne Moore with her acceptance speech for "Best Actress in a Leading Role." See comment about McGraw's performance. Such true, heartfelt words.

    3). Neil Patrick Harris' opening performance. I had no idea he could be such a "performer," per se, and I thought he did a good job keeping things moving along well all night, too, except for the awkward "best and whitest, eh, brightest" joke early on. I get it, given the some of the run-up to the Oscars about diversity, and it was a little daring, as intended, I guess. But it really wasn't funny and didn't work, in my opinion.

    Overall, it was a really good show, though. I didn't think I'd sit and watch the whole thing, but I did, happily.
     
  8. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    I haven't seen Birdman yet, but I was glad Boyhood didn't win. I just didn't think it was on that level. It was good, even very good, but not Best Picture quality.
     
  9. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    What was really jarring were the tats on her arms in contrast to her normal dress and song.
     
    jr/shotglass likes this.
  10. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    I heard Ethan Hawk talking about Boyhood on the red carpet. I know he was trying to say, but every time he tried to describe the movie, it sounded awful. "This movie is a collection of scenes that get cut from every other movie." "There's nothing really memorable about it. Pretty mundane stuff."
     
  11. WriteThinking

    WriteThinking Well-Known Member

    Yeah, she could've used the red dish-washing gloves. :)
     
  12. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

     
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