BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
The Oscars have come and gone again. The 85th Academy Awards was hosted by Seth McFarlane. I’m not a fan of Family Guy at all. Over the years I’ve grown to dislike Seth because of this. It’s just easy to associate my hate for the show to the creator and main voice actor. With the movie Ted and other appearances I’ve gotten to see McFarlane outside of the world of the show. He’s a funny and entertaining guy. I went in to the show with an open mind. It seems like I was alone. Critics and those who typically review these award shows were on the edge of their seats with anticipation of shitting on Seth McFarlane’s hosting. It was as if the bitches and haters had their shitty reviews done already and just plugged in random specifics. He did a good job. He got in some “dirty jokes” and made some celebrities uncomfortable. Some jokes flopped and some were hilarious. His opening monologue might have been like five minutes too long, but it was far from the lamest opening I’ve seen. I’d rather have Seth McFarlane having bad banter with Captain Kirk than see some boring actor or washed up comedian charm their way through a song and dance routine. I think the issue is that guys like Gervais and McFarlane are technically “in Hollywood”, but they’re outsiders and don’t seem to kiss much ass. Is THAT it? Whatever, nerds. Family Guy still sucks, but dude was a decent host.
Awards were won too! I saw more than half of the big Oscar nominated movies this year. I had no desire to watch any musical or critically acclaimed foreign film. I just can’t get into musicals and it seems that any foreign film that gets nominated is depressing and long. There are plenty of bad ass and good foreign movies, but if they don’t make you sad and sleepy they’re not “important enough”. Whatever, nerds. Of what I saw of 2012, I thought Argo was the best movie. Thankfully it won the Best Picture. Daniel Day-Lewis was the best actor and the best supporting actor was Christoph Waltz. This stuff was obvious. Other films were great and other actors rocked the screen, but these three statues should have been engraved months ago.
I didn’t expect it, but Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook. That’s pretty awesome. I was never really sold on her. I hadn’t seen Hunger Games and Winters Bone never made it into my DVD player. I saw her on SNL, but I’ve not really had to encounter her. I heard all of this hype and praise for her though. Then I saw Silver Linings Playbook and it all made sense. She’s a great young actress. I’m happy she won. She deserved it. I was also kind of surprised about Ang Lee winning Best Director for Life of Pi. I didn’t see it, but that movie looked beautiful in the trailers and clips. I expected Speilberg to take it for Lincoln though. That was a damn epic movie and the visual feel and Daniel Day-Lewis was the main reason for that. The biggest bullshit was Brave winning. I didn’t see it, but why would I have to? It looks exactly like every Disney cartoon that comes out. I’m sure it’s quality, but Wreck-It-Ralph should have won. Dammit!
Overall it was a pretty decent show. The musical numbers were okay, the host was unfairly hated on, there were surprises, obvious picks, cool moments, and it didn’t feel as tedious to watch. Most movie nerds are half-excited going in and by the end of the first hour it’s dreadful. Not so much this year…
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