Having watched the Academy Awards for many years, this gray-haired observer of countless Oscar presentations feels qualified to say, after watching the 2010 show…
Bring back the vibe of the good old days: wilder, crazier, less structured, more unpredictable. Somehow this year I felt like a lot was missing from the Academy Awards even though it ran three and a half hours.
When Sean Penn walks onto the stage to give an award and is utterly well-behaved, something is wrong. When Steve Martin, the original "wild and crazy guy," is reduced to 99% reading of scripted lines and 1% spontaneity, something is wrong.
When the camera quickly pans away from the single show of genuine social outrage (during the acceptance speech for best Documentary won by makers of a film about Japan's cruel slaughter of dolphins) — a guy holding up a placard with a save-the-dolphins text message number — something is wrong.
When the dance/music numbers are ho-hum, and there's no real hilarity, just some mild chuckling moments, something is wrong. When the hugely talented Sasha Baron Cohen is banned from the show because it was feared his Avatar spoof could ruffle James Cameron's feathers, something is wrong.
That said, I found the 2010 Academy Awards to be pleasant and entertaining, as the Oscars show always is. I just frequently thought, as I sat through the 210 minutes, about memorable moments that I remember from past years.
A naked streaker. Jack Palance's one-armed push ups. Roberto Benigni going wild. Sacheen Littlefeather refusing to accept Marlon Brando's best actor award, at his request, because of the film industry's mistreatment of Indians.
These sorts of uncontrolled moments don't happen much any more, because the Academy apparently prefers bland over real.
Sad.
Hollywood is filled with talented actors who make us feel things we've never felt before. But the Academy Awards has turned into a predictable "I've seen this before" show.
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Plus the awards were predictable. And the way Streisand went on about a woman winning best director, it’s obvious that award didn’t go out on best job but based on something else. That’s what the Oscars are about– something else. I found it blah; and after the opening monologue with Baldwin and Martin, only watched off and on while doing something else.
OK, I just came across a report about one genuine unscripted weird moment at the 2010 Academy Awards that seemed strange to me when I saw it, but I wasn’t sure what to make of it:
http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/2010/03/07/music_by_prudence_burkett
When the black guy started to accept the award for best documentary short, and was interrupted by the pushy woman who didn’t make much sense, the back story is that the two of them (director and producer) weren’t talking to each other after a rift. She surprised him by coming on stage and “doing a Kanye.”
The best part, which sadly we didn’t get to see, is the report that his 87 year old mother tried to block the woman from getting on stage with her cane. Ah, moments like those are what I love most about the Oscars.
And Clooney looked boring, annoyed, and wanted to have nothing to do with the camera in his face. That’s not the kind of attitude that wins you oscars. HE definitely lost his charm….
I found Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin to be a poorly matched team, and I’m normally a huge fan of Martin’s. I just didn’t find them funny at all. Did anybody notice that a good few times when the camera panned the audience, people were not laughing. Ouch, I felt embarrassed sitting in my own living room.