BY MIKEY MIGO
The Oscars are typically something I look forward to. In most cases my favorite movies aren’t even nominated, but I love the grandeur and celebration of film. For a while I’d pride myself on seeing the Best Picture nominations. Then last year they made it 10 and this year it’s 9. That’s too many “task movies” for me. By “task movie” I mean it’s a movie I generally wouldn’t want to see but would end up appreciating once I finally talked myself into watching. There are quite a few of those movies this year.
I’ve seen about half of the major nominations this year. The other half is split up between movies I still want to see and the others are War Horse and things that I’ll probably forget exist after this week. Then the actual award show is hosted by Billy Crystal? He’s my least favorite comedy figure of all time. His voice and presence are enough for me to swear off laughter for the rest of my days. Still I manned up and watched some of the 2012 Oscars in between flipping back to the NBA All Star Game.
The show ended up being pretty much exactly what was expected. Billy Crystal proved that cheesy shtick isn’t reserved for pity laughter for the really old comedians who force us to politely smile and eventually fake laugh at their outdated jokes. Jokes outdated since movies became “talkies”. The flavor of the month, “The Artist”, won tons of trophies. I’ve not seen the movie I’m betting that it’s going to blow my mind and be a magical movie watching experience. It’s the hype and the people that do talk about that makes me want to avoid it. It’s as if I know it won’t be THAT great. How could it? The expectations for it are going to be crazy when I finally sit down with it. Other than that, just about everything else went to “Hugo”, a floppitiy-flop-flop, and “The Help”, the Blindside meets Precious meets Driving Miss Steel Magnolias. Didn’t Dakota Fanning and Queen Latifa make this movie a few years ago?
I was happy Meryl Streep won. She should always win. The screen plays were about right. Woody’s “Midnight in Paris” and the script for “The Descendants” were the best picks. Its bad ass Bret McKenzie won an Oscar for best song. I think one of my favorite parts of the entire show was Emma Stone’s whole shtick with Ben Stiller. She was over the top and funny. A lot of times those wacky comedy segments come off hokey and embarrassing. Stiller is guilty of that for sure. Stone managed to pull it off perfectly. I was already a big fan, but I like her more for it. It was better acting than a good portion of the nominees and winners.
Overall, it was a little on the boring side. I really didn’t want any horses in the race this year outside of “Midnight in Paris”. I had a way better time watching the seventeen hours of The Independent Spirit Awards on IFC. Their nominations, winners, and laid back presentation are by far more my cup of tea. I should have reviewed that.
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