Gay night at the Oscars includes victorious "Milk"

The two speeches are very moving,and they showed cilps of Milk quite a few times,especially kissing scenes.A great night for gay visibility.

Anne Hathaway was a breath of fresh air,but Beyonce was quite dull.I love Queen Latifah`s performance but HATE the camera work.We need to see their names.

The Joaquin Phoenix joke was hilarious.I did have to explain it to my friends who watched with me though.

One thing I don`t really understand is why Will Smith got to present FOUR awards,seriously?

Forgot to mention,I think I much prefer the first music number to the second one,since it`s pure fun and you got to see Hugh nailing all different kinds of dance moves and having a good time,and they used the material really well.While the second one was kind of chaos.The only highlight for me in that piece was seeing the Mama Mia! kids.

I also hated they mixed the songs in WallE and SM together.I would rather they did it separately.No wonder Peter Gabriel turned it down.

I thought the Pineapple Express skit was really funny actually, and most people I know loved it. Maybe you had to love the movie though? The Ben-Stiller-as-Joaquin-Phoenix for me was actually a bust - I don't know, I guess I just have a problem with relentlessly mocking someone who is clearly having some kind of mental breakdown. Call me sensitive. I didn't find Tina Fey and Steve Martin all that hilarious either, I guess I was expecting something great from those two and it was just average.

I loved the way they had past winners present tributes to the nominees. It wasn't just the usual reading of names off a cue card.

I loved the speeches.  But it should be noted he didn't stop on the stage.  After I crawled in bed, I flipped on E! for the press room backstage, and Sean took questions on gay rights - Sean wasn't as smooth as he was on stage, as he'd obviously thought about that speech.  Responding to reporters backstage, he was a little more real, stammering a bit, but to me that made it all the more powerful.  I found the first part of his interview here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLXW-JCyOLg

I still haven't found the second part. 

DLB was adorable trying not to cry when he did press back stage - I can't get it to imbed, but you can find it over on the oscar site.:

http://oscar.com/video/index?tab=PressRoomCam&playlistId=181044# 

 

I wasn't a big fan of the opening musical number but most others seemed to like it.  I did not see "Pineapple Express" but thought the skit was rather funny.  Kinda cool that they showed same-sex kissing scenes during the Oscar broadcast including in that skit.  I thought Tina Fey and Steve Martin were amusing but not as funny as they could have been.  And Ben Stiller's impersonation of Joaquin was hilarious.

I thought having 5 past winners introduce the nominees for the acting categories was really cool.  Seeing Anne Hathaway's reaction to Shirley MacClain's introduction was priceless.  BUT... 

My main gripe with the whole show was there were few clips of the nominated films/actors!  I really enjoy seeing those snippets of films showing a great acting scene.  Those are the things that actually make me want to go out and see (or rent) some of the nominated movies so I really missed that.

Love the speeches by Dustin Lance Black and Sean Penn and I was thrilled that Sean Penn won.

I was disappointed there were only a couple of white knots worn.  :(

Okay, I admit I enjoyed DeNiro's comments to Pean. And McClaine's comments to Hathaway were pretty stunning. (Speaking of which, Shirley's just really good at this type of award show presenting. I still remember her extremely intimate presentation of the career achievement Golden Globe award to Barbra Striesand about 10 years ago.)

But overall the four acting award presentation were totally off-tone in my book. The focus ended up being on the five previous winners in each category and whether they really believed what they were saying to the nominees. Or how much of the a presenter's ego was going to take over the preceedings (Cuba Gooding, Jr.!) And most disappointly, the vast majority of the presenters speeches could have been read by anyone -- to anyone. "You showed us the inner workings of a brilliant mind -- brilliantly."

There were moments I thought I was watching a) a lame-ass sorority inducting a new member or b) a reality show judging panel responding to karaoke.

And the whole presentation segment ran so long that they couldn't possible show us clips of the nominees' work -- the whole point of the award in the first place -- because doing so would have made each segment another 2 minutes longer.

 

 I was disappointed that they went for the 'gay panic' gag on the Pineapple Express skit, especially given Franco's involvement, but it seems like no-one else noticed. Maybe if it had been sponsored by Pepsi...?

I posted a long rambling entry a few days ago about how I feel about the Oscars--it's definitely a love/hate thing, like trying to extract onself from an emotionally abusive relationship.  When you've given your heart over and over and seen it repeatedly stomped on for the stupidest choices or logic, it's hard to even hope anymore.

Having said that, every acting choice was solid (though I would've carped about a couple nominee snubs), and there were no weird "political" decisions this year--I honestly thought the way the press has been sucking off Mickey Rourke that he had, unfortunately, become the favorite.  (It was serious news this week that Rourke's little dog died.)  There were no choices that reeked of "favoritism," political calculation, obvious make-ups, etc.  True, Penn has won before, and Cruz, Ledge, and Winslet were all previous nominees who were due (especially Winslet), but they all did fantastic work, and there was no Al-Pacino-"Scent-Of-A-Woman" stench.  And "Wall-E" and "Man on Wire" deservedly won in their categories.  Having said that and claimed a blaseness about the whole thing, I was astonished that when DeNiro read Sean Penn's name, I felt my whole body unclutch and relax in a way I didn't even realize I'd been holding in.

I wasn't a big "Slumdog" fan--I still think it's a slick piece of work, and am not surprised it's connecting with people as a "feel good" film, if you focus on the last half-hour and not the previous 90 minutes.  However, it's won a ton of preceding awards, so it's win last night wasn't nearly the grotesque perversion of 2006.  (Would've been nice if voters had tossed a couple more crumbs to "Benjamin Button" though--"Slumdog" sometimes looked like it was shot on a cell phone, compared to "Button's" gorgeous cinematography.)

As for the show, I thought it was surprisingly entertaining.  The opening song and dance was cute and the sets adorably "homemade."  I loved the flow of keeping the different categories together and the sets that backed them, and almost no intros bombed.  (OK, Ben Stiller did milk things a bit.)  I appreciated "Milk" being included in the year in romance montage.  Though I did miss seeing the clips of the nominated performances, it was incredibly classy and moving to have former Oscar winners laud and "toast" current nominees.  (Did the writers help them shape their own words?  Some of them felt very personal, especially Maclaine toasting hathaway and DeNiro honoring Penn.)  All the acceptance speeches were nice, especially from the actors, but Ledger's family, of course, was especially lovely and poignant.

I actually thought the 3-Best Song number (despite the idiocy of non-nominees like "The Wrestler"--but I digress) was great.  I didn't care for the big musical extravaganza, but it was well-done on its own terms.  (My partner: "Why did they chop all these songs into tiny bits and puree them together." Me: "Well, I guess if you're the kind of person who liked 'Moulin Rouge,' you'd like this."  Hugh Jackman: "Ladies and Gentlemen, our choreographer, Baz Luhrman!"  Me: "!!!!!!")

Thank you Sean for your witty, political speech and your deserved win.  Thank you Lance Black for your gorgeous speech and your touching emotion.  Thank you Gus Van Sant, for reaching a career-high level of artistry.  Thank you Focus Features ("Brokeback Mountain") for once again gambling big on a gay movie, and for it paying off.  The Oscars are always going to be a hit-or-miss affair, but this year they actually hit a surprising number of targets dead-on.

I thought the use of five-way presenters for the acting categories was fantastic. And I thought the first two musical production numbers sucked smelly donkey weenie...especially that horrible, unmusical, clueless Beyonce thing. It was even more painful than Snow White and Rob Lowe.

 

 

The blog had strong opinions too.

Hmmm...  I'm afraid I thought the opening number was simply terrible, and didn't bode well for the night, but the ceremony wasn't bad overall---though not great either.  I'll admit that I found Stiller's bit funny, but at the same time I felt really badly for Phoenix, who was being so mercilessly mocked.  The Martin/Fey Scientology joke got a big thumbs up from me, though!

The tribute segment was a major misfire.  For goodness sake, they should have just showed all the photos/clips directly on the television screen, instead of doing that ridiculous panning around, ensuring that you couldn't even properly see half of the names/occupations of those being honoured....

For me, high point of the evening was Dustin Black's speech; very touching.

(PS---I do think Eartha Kitt should have been in the tribute section; she had a decent line-up of film credits.  Earliest thing I remember seeing her in was St. Louis Blues, back from 1958.)

I'm like a superhero, with no powers or motivation...

I guess because I'm a huge Oscars and movie buff, I've seen all the nominees before the ceremony, so I didn't miss the acting clips at all. Based on what I'm hearing at my Oscar forum, the international audience didn't care for the 5 previous winners presenting the acting awards, but I overwhelmingly loved it! To see again the classy, still splendid Eva Marie Saint--better preserved than Sophia Loren! To see Anne Hathaway nearly lose it when Shirley MacLaine rhapsodize about her! Marion Cotillard nearly lose it when she's rhapsosizing about The Great and Glorious Goddess Known to Mere Mortals as Kate Winslet! To see Robert DeNiro crack a genuinely funny joke about Sean Penn! Loved it, loved it, loved it!

But the musical numbers. Sigh. The opening number was too reminiscent of Billy Crystal's schtick. The Baz Luhrman number was pure chaos, like his movies--just dreadful.

Tina Fey and Steve Martin were undoubtedly the best presenters--the Scientology joke got a big response here. Ben Stiller was funny. Will Smith was on far too long--what a boring excuse for a "movie star." Presenting 4 categories in a row is too much--they should've brought in somebody else to handle 2 of them, at least.

But the most memorable moments were provided by the winners: obviously, Sean Penn and Lance Black's blistering, powerful denunciations of bigotry; the very moving acceptance by Heath Ledger's family; and the joyous responses from Danny Boyle, Penelope Cruz and La Winslet.

Am I the only one who loved ALL of the musical parts of this show? The opening act was fantastic and funny and I loved the musical mash-up, even though the camerawork in this segment could have been better and I think HSM is an insult to all musicals in the world, even the bad ones. But Dominic Coopers and Amanda Seyfrieds appearance was a pleasant surprise. I even liked the Pineapple Express part and the gaypanic wasn't insulting, but actually kind of funny and sweat. What I really hated, like all of you and all the people who watched the Oscars with me, was the "In Memoriam" part.

I can confirm that I, as an international viewer, didn't get the Joaquin Phoenix allusion but still laughed about Ben Stiller.

I also have to highlight the German winner for the animated short, who was also kind of sweet and not so arrogant like our last years winner Mr. Henckel von Donnersmarck, whom I really an't stand.

Strangely I only had tears in my eyes twice during the show. Not when Heath won, not during Kate Winslets speech, but Dustin Lance Black and even Sean Penn made me cry a bit. I still can't believe he won. 

All in all these were the best Oscars I have ever seen. The Stage and especially the set during the more "technical" Oscars were not so sterile and cold like in the previous years; the "5 presenters" thing was very personal and emotional; Hugh was fantastic, funny, charming but too rare in the last third and one guy (I think it was the Japanese director for best foreign language film) even said that the Oscar was heavier than he tought ;) By the way. Why didn't Waltz with Bashir win? What a fantastic movie. 

I think I forget so much I wanted to write down here but I'm a little tired right now because here in Germany the Red Carpet Show started at 1 a.m., the Oscars about 2 a.m., so you can guess how much sleep I got.

I thought it was pretty good.  I enjoyed the opening number, I thought Hugh did a good job, kept it light and got out of the way when he wasn't on.  I enjoyed the speeches for the most part--especially Lance Black and Sean Penn but also liked several of the others.  I thought the medley was okay, though it suffered from too much "Moulin Rouge" endless snippets of unrelated songs.  I also liked bringing on the past winners, it was uneven but in general I found it quite touching.

Before feeling too warm and fuzzy about ''Milk's'' 2 wins last night at the ''Slumdog'' Oscars, there's a report at Towleroad.com that seems to indicate that all references to ''Milk'' or clips from the film were censored from the encore broadcast in India. Apparently, homosexuality is illegal there; wonder if any other countries did the same thing.

Glady DLB's speech was so good I've watched it enough to finally notice that he and many other were wearing white knots.

http://www.whiteknot.org/oscars.html

I expected more hosting from Hugh - the producers might have wanted to play it safe just in case Hugh showed his claws, in a bad way. Hugh standing all big, tall and handsome on the stage was really an eye candy. The man can sing, dance, act, jump off buildings, have good hair and is muslcy, what more can you ask for?

The first musical number was surprisingly great. Anne was a good sport and she was ever so lovely. Loved to see Hugh in a musical!! The second one, Baz was trying too hard to recreate what he had done in Moulin Rouge, except it didn't work quite as well this time. The songs started OK but as they went on, they became convoluted and I lost what it was tryin to do. I doubt Baz would be able to reclaim himself by literally doing a New Zealand number at the Oscar, after Australia.

I loved Kate when she said to Meryl that she just had to suck up the 15 Oscar nominations. I also loved how the veterans presented the awards - I know it's a different way, but having your predecessor hand you the award, I think the winners must have felt more proud and privileged. That said, I also understand that why some people might have wanted to understand why the nominees were nominated. As for myself, I had already done my homework in watching most of the nominated movies.

Will America know Hugh Jackman after the Oscar? I think the answer is mixed. Although Hugh did make a big promotion of the movie Wolverine, I felt that his air time was far too short to remain relevant, especially with the second musical. Speaking of musical, I didn't think that Beyonce was a suitable candidate. I would have preferred someone with more credible acting credentials. 

At the risk of sounding repetitive, yes, Dustin Lance Black and Sean Penn gave brave, personal and touching speeches. And Dustin is CUTE. Seeing their winning of the awards reminded me how Brokeback Mountain lost the Best Picture award 2 years ago. Personally, I would have love if BBM won the Best Picture and Best Actor awards.

To the next upcoming gay-themed films, I hope the Academy will have recruited more open-minded panel and will never quit loving everyone (esp the gay ones =P)! 

I actually enjoyed the show last night. I though that the 5 former winners present the current one is a great idea and would like to see it return.

The only thing that failed for me was the horrible camera angles for the review of those who had passed. As I don't have a big screen I missed at least half of their names. Really a poor decision on the directors part. I thought Queen Latifah's song was perfect.

I thought Hugh Jackman did a good job hosting he seemed to enjoy doing it and I thought it went well. As for all the presenters they all performed the assigned task well.

 

. . .I fell asleep right after Dustin Lance Black's acceptance speech and woke up just as the Best Actor nominees were commencing. . .

*sigh!*

. . . just as well:  I fell asleep during Slumdog Millionaire, too, and dat's da name of dat tune!

;-)

 

'nuff said.