Oscar rants and raves!
 

Last year, if I remember correctly, Patrick started a post Oscar post. Since he's not around, sadly, and I don't see anything on this topic, forgive me for asking -- did you watch and what were your faves and disses?

Rave: Jon Stewart and George Clooney!they both were on top of their game!

Rant: Crash won best picture. BooHoo, I thought it was stereotypical and manipulative. I was hoping for Brokeback...

Rave: my hubby got to see Selma Hayak, lol! That always puts him in a goood mood!

Oscar LIVES in LA...All I heard over the weekend was that "Crash" would win, but I live in LA as well.While in Dallas earlier in the week, it was "Brokeback for sure"...

I saw all the nominated movies except for Munich. BBM was definitely a well-directed movie but I really did like Crash a lot. I was rooting for Felicity Huffman as she was really outstanding in Transamerica. I was also rooting for Michelle Williams who was terrific as the stunned and trapped wife of the Heath Ledger character in BBM. I liked how Kathleen Bird York reacted when Three 6 Mafia won. She was shocked.

The only film I saw was Capote and I did think at the time that Hoffman should win for his performance.

As for the show - BORING! Didn't care for Jon Stewart at all.

Lily Tomin and Merrel Streep were the best.

Selma Hayak's dress was really nice. Charliez Theron's looked washed out.

I love Jon Stewart, but I think he was very constrained last night. I don't think the real Hollywood crowd "gets" him; I think Billy Crystal does the Oscars best ...

I think Salma Hayek is the prettiest woman in the world, period! Nicole Kidman needed some color last night, and I thought Charlize's bow was a bit jarring. I don't think Uma Thurman is as beautiful as some others, but she looked like a vision in that dress last night, and Keira Knightly was just gorgeous.

Very disappointed that *Brokeback Mountain* did not win Best Picture! :-( (Actually, now that I think of it, Jake Gyllenhaal was the most gorgeous creature there. OMG, those eyes! :p ) Hoffman deserved the award for *Capote* ... he became Truman! I, too wanted, Michelle Williams to win for *Brokeback ..*

Rant: Very disappointed with the fashion this year! Thought Jessica Alba and Hilary Swank looked great and everyone else was blah. Was a little disappointed that neither Heath Ledger nor Joaquin Phoenix won for best actor but I can't really find fault with Philip Seymour Hoffman either so oh well.

Raves: Jon Stewart, George Clooney and the Three 6 mafia (they were a riot). Also thought Reese's acceptance speech was well done.

Borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring! And, I'm a fan of Jon Stewart.

I liked Jon Stewart.

I was disappointed that BBM did not win best picture but have to admit it was the only one of the five I saw.

I was glad that Reese Witherspoon won for Best Actress. I thought she was wonderful in "Walk the Line" and I loved her in "Election".

Salma Hayek is so beautiful, isn't she? I thought Reese Witherspoon and Kiera Knightly were also beautiful last night.

Boring, boring, BORING....Ho Hum...tedious...a genuine waste of time.
((S))((*))

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

And what was up with the orchestra starting to play music AS SOON AS the winners started speaking (I mean, admittedly, most of the acceptance speeches were a dull list of names, but still).

Yes, Salma Hayek looked fabulous.

I agree with the zzzzzzzZZZZZ sentiments. I think it is such a shame that they put all the best awards last, then rush all the speeches and basically cut them off. We had to listen to looonggg speeches on best BLAH awards (hey, who won for best coffee and snacks on the set?) but when it came to best picture they didn't get to say didly. I don't know why I bothered staying up.

LOL about Selma Hayek. My DH says he can't tell the difference between Selma and Penelope Cruz. My response: Selma is much more beautiful.

I saw Felicity Huffmans winning speech at the Spirit Awards and thought that it is too bad the Oscars cannot be more like this- more free-style and loose. They are all so stiff and uncomfortable looking for hours waiting for each other to sashay out onto the stage and pose a minute then read their lines..

I like Jon Stewart too, but thought he was unable to really let loose..tight crowd and all.
George Clooney is funny when he just rolls his eyes, I like that he seems to not take it all so seriously..of course, with that amount of money and power, he can be loose :)

I saw Crash and really liked it. I thought Sandra Bullock was brilliant in it.

I sort of liked the small film compilations they did, a bit more entertaining than past shows..but yes, Billy Crystal is still the best...I would even take Robin Williams!

And I thought Reese Witherspoon looked perfect and had a perfect speech..praising the woman that she played..and it was true- we should all try to Matter.. I liked that :)

Since when has the Oscar been about TRAVEL??

Geez, there's MORE then plenty of message boards to discuss televition on. Why don't you let your fingers TRAVEL to one of them to discuss then NON-TRAVEL b.s.?

You might even wish to go to "the other place" where the door is open to discuss anything and everything.

My husband and 17 year old son were absolutely enthralled with Salma last night--LOL--she really is stunning in that wonderful old Hollywood way.

Was disappointed that Joaquin Phoenix didn't win but thought P.S. Hoffman was a good choice. Nice for him.

I like Reese Witherspoon and was happy for her--it's refreshing to see a Hollywood star who isn't a party queen/dimwit. She's not afraid to be smart, tough and thought of as b....y (if she was a man, she'd be 'assertive') :-)

Thought Jon Stewart was kept on too tight of leash, for some reason. He's the reason I watched the show. Hopefully they'll give him another chance. LOVED the opening with Steve Martin, Billy Crystal, etc. That was hilarious.

Have never been on the George Clooney love train.

United Airlines was teh official airline of the Academy Awards. Does that cover the travel part?

Which airline should I fly to next years Oscars? I will be leaving from Birmingham, AL. ;)

crap...I wanted to beat rb_traveler to the punch! "What does this have to do with travel...blah, blah, blah"

rb: for someone so worried about non-travel posts, you sure do post a lot to those you criticize.

My trip report for the Oscars: traveled between the couch and box of Girl Scout cookies that were on the counter. They were exceptionally well produced Samoas and Mints this year. Don’t forget to bring your credit card to pay for them.

lol, Suzie. There was some travel in my home too, my DH traveled to the kitchen/bar and made us a nice margarita ... perhaps I should've posted on the Latin American board!

Oscars are not about travel - but this is a fairly tight little community and it's fun to share thoughts about some United States fun stuff.
i thought the show was very boring. the speeches could not have been more boring. Enough, already, about the names of everyone you ever met! Something meaningful would be of interest.
the gowns were subtle, but I thought most of the women looked pretty gorgeous.
Jon Stewart was very professional, but subdued. Not bad; not great, either.
Meryl and Lily did an excellent job of displaying their talents!
IMO - Munich was best picture.
Crash moved along very well, but seems SO contrived!
BBM was beautiful, but a bit slow. I did enjoy it alot anyway.
This is a fun topic for a change!

Are you sure Oscar is not about travel? Then what is it about Bjork (?) who couldn't get to it this year? Per Jon Stewart she would love to come, but Dick was hunting again...

So, Hollywood got it share of "crash" diet, huh? Loved to see Spielberg's dissapointed face! If I'd be there, I'd deliver a personal message: "spielberg, call home"

Loved Reese's dress! But it was a bit too brave for her to admit it was a 2nd hand... errr... vintage. How can anybody go public about a GoodWill shopping? But I love her anyway :)

Wow after the faux Pas at the Golden Globes when Reese wore a vintage Chanel that was worn by Kirsten Dunst at another event I wouldn’t think Reese would go with vintage again but there she was in vintage Dior. It is amazing how those dresses look so good after all those years. That dress was reportedly from 1955.

Rave: "It's hard out here for a pimp"--best song. Ten years or so from now there will be an orchestral version in a greatest movie songs ever album.
Just kidding. Actually, I really enjoyed the group's enthusiasm with their acceptance speech.
Also liked the guys from the Wallace and Grommit film. Nice to see that not everyone there takes themselves so seriously.
Did anyone notice how many times we were told how great the in theater movie experience is? I think the movie studio's are getting a little nervous about the rush to put films out on DVD.
Not sure how effective that montage of big movie hits was (intended to show us how great the big movie screen experience is). We saw it in the comfort of our living room big screen high def TV and thought it looked pretty good. We still enjoy going out to movies but I don't think that was a very good way to make their point.

The best joke (and there weren't that many good ones) was about how Bjork couldn't make it this year because she was trying on her dress and Cheney shot her...

No the best joke came after the montage of films about really serious subjects and then Jon says something like “And none of those issues were ever a problem again." LOL sometimes Hollywood is so self important and congratulatory.

I liked the lady who won an oscar and then thanked the Academy for sitting her next to George Clooney at a nominees' luncheon.

Of course this is about travel! Well, for me it was AVOIDING travel and hosting a few friends at home for dinner and (too much) bubbly.

Rave: Clooney's acceptance speech. "Out of touch" and proud.

Rant: <b>Crash</b> winning the Big One. It IS stereotypical and manipulative and shrill. It's earnest and well-meaning and unsubtle in pointing out everyone else's Internal Racist Pig. It's contrived and wholly unbelievable. So it appealed strongly to Academy voters who just wouldn't vote for a film about gay cowboys but WOULD vote for a film about ethnic and racial prejudice, which, as we all know, IS A VERY VERY BAD THING. And they don't feel they turned in their Good Liberal card.

Is the irony lost on everyone...?

I didn't watch or miss the show. Today's Hollywood is a far cry from the industry that Goldwyn, Mayer, DeMille, Ford, Capra, Cukor and the Warners built 75 years ago. The best 100 films in a given year, like 1939, are twice as good as the Oscar winner of our modern times.

The Academy gets the Oscar for the longest and most boring Oscars ever in the history of the world.

The actual award part lasted 8 minutes out of the two plus hour movie clip-a-thon.

Jon Stewart as host was exactly like Dave Letterman as host. It doesn't work.

Loved Crash, disliked Brokeback, didn't see Capote or the other movies.

Love Reese, love Cloony, think Halle is an idiot, and Nicole and Charlize are classic beauties.

My two cents.

Well Go, I'll always be delighted to agree to disagree with you!

I hope you and your family are holding up OK through your recent tragedy....

Did anyone else feel like hopping into their television to help poor Lauren Bacall?? I felt so sorry for her. She seemed to recover, but....

Whew, good to see I'm not the only Jon Stewart fan who thought he stunk. He looked so incredibly nervous in the beginning - I thought he actually lightened up with the rappers (whatever their name was). Otherwise, long, boring, and am so glad that Clooney won!

Didn't watch the entire show but kansasmom, I found that hilarious, too.

Also found it funny when Billy Crystal and Chris Rock were too busy in the tent to host the Oscars.

Schmerl, Yes! I so cringed for Lauren Bacall--did she possibly need reading glasses?

There was an awards ceremony last night?

Huh.

all I saw on ABC last night was bored millionares staring at some scared looking college student wannabe guy.

Apparently the ratings were down even from last year. &quot;Small&quot; movies (and some not released widely nationwide, or for too short a time) can't compete against junk food TV.

I think they're going to have to change the format and timing. Our collective attention span doesn't make 3+ hours work except for Super Bowls, and even then it's only because the ads are 60% of the draw.

I thought Jon Stewart did well enough, but the engineers should have predicted that he would bang on the lecturn - every time he did our dog jumped. In general, I thought the direction and engineering were a bit off - poor sound balancing, obviously a teleprompter problem with Lauren Bacall, poor guiding of winners off the stage. Quibbles, but they add up to extra time being used, hence cutting off the best picture winners' thankyous in mid-sentence.

As for the films, I thought neither <i>BBM</i> nor <i>Crash</i> deserved all the hype. I liked <i>Good Night and Good Luck</i> a lot (and really really liked David Strathairn's channeling of Murrow) but I don't think a B&amp;W movie has a chance nowadays.

So I went in with low expectations and came out okay.

Can't wait to see <i>Tsotsi</i> in light of our return <b>travel to South Africa</b> later this year. There.

ahhnold, old buddy, the people in the audience weren't the only bored ones, unfortunately. (However, a few jokes here and there were good....)

I had a nice nap. B O R I N G ! ! !

I'm with you Gardyloo -- I cannot wait to see <u>Tsotsi </u>!!

I'm really pleased to see that some people on this board share my sentiments about Crash - it is a good movie but I found it contrived and oversimplified - if this is the depth of society's ability to understand how racism works, we have a ways to go. I was really rooting for Brokeback too - aside from the social statement it makes it is a gutwrenching love story. Heath Ledger really exemplified how it would be to feel like society wasn't allowing you to be who you really were...I was happy that Reese won though, she's been overlooked as an actress until now. Voila, my two cents...