Hollywood's Best?
I haven't cared about the Academy Awards since 1982, which is also when my movie love started dying.
Unfortuneately, the only decent television in the house is in my den/bedroom and my sister insists on watching the damn show.
Several years ago, when the film The English Patient won awards, I happened to see a few minutes of Billy Crystal's shtick where he was inserted into scenes from some of that year's films and I thought it was rather clever and funny.
The opening animation on last night's show was a bad portent for the rest of the ceremony. It was not only amateurish but slightly surreal as well as having been put together by someone who doesn't know their film history. A brief flash of James Dean as he appeared playing the aged Jett Rink in Giant walks by, yet he speaks a line of dialogue from Rebel Without a Cause.
I insited my sister plug in headphones for the rest of the program after I watched Jon Stewart's monologue. Stewart was awful. Yes, I know he doesn't write his own material, but if you're going to put yourself in the limelight and hope for the accolades, you have to take the brickbats as well. Stewart had plenty of opportunity to review what he'd been given in advance and call for some much needed doctoring, which he evidently didn't do.
Every year's host always mouths some platitudes about "how we are here tonight to celebrate the best films Hollywood has to offer."
With all the supposed talent in Hollywood, you'd think they could put together one show, once a year with some entertainment value.
If the Oscar telecast is representative of Hollywood's best, it shouldn't surprise anyone that movies are as bad as they've become.
Unfortuneately, the only decent television in the house is in my den/bedroom and my sister insists on watching the damn show.
Several years ago, when the film The English Patient won awards, I happened to see a few minutes of Billy Crystal's shtick where he was inserted into scenes from some of that year's films and I thought it was rather clever and funny.
The opening animation on last night's show was a bad portent for the rest of the ceremony. It was not only amateurish but slightly surreal as well as having been put together by someone who doesn't know their film history. A brief flash of James Dean as he appeared playing the aged Jett Rink in Giant walks by, yet he speaks a line of dialogue from Rebel Without a Cause.
I insited my sister plug in headphones for the rest of the program after I watched Jon Stewart's monologue. Stewart was awful. Yes, I know he doesn't write his own material, but if you're going to put yourself in the limelight and hope for the accolades, you have to take the brickbats as well. Stewart had plenty of opportunity to review what he'd been given in advance and call for some much needed doctoring, which he evidently didn't do.
Every year's host always mouths some platitudes about "how we are here tonight to celebrate the best films Hollywood has to offer."
With all the supposed talent in Hollywood, you'd think they could put together one show, once a year with some entertainment value.
If the Oscar telecast is representative of Hollywood's best, it shouldn't surprise anyone that movies are as bad as they've become.
posted by Peter L. Winkler | 4:56 PM
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