Ellen was so-so. I think she played it too safe, too nice; it was so middle-of-the-road. But I suppose “safe” is a lot better than just plain “bad,” as in, the production number of “For Your Eyes Only” by Sheena Easton-bad.
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I actually wanted The Departed to win over Babel. I liked the latter, but I found it over-reaching. The Departed is slick, but it has a pumping dark heart—and a mean funny bone—underneath the Hollywood gloss. Too bad I still haven’t seen Little Miss Sunshine; many in the office liked that film a lot, but I suspect they are responding more to the content than to the total craft given their comments: “It’s such a cute film.” “It’s so feel-good.” Anyway, I’ll reserve my comments until I’ve seen that movie as well as The Queen and the big surprise for the night, Pan’s Labyrinth.
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For me, the most surreal moment was during Helen Mirren’s speech. She thanked HM Queen Elizabeth II, saying that without her, Mirren wouldn’t be onstage accepting the Oscar. Then she raised the statue to the audience, and with an awkward smile on her face that EW.com best described as “dopey,” she announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you THE QUEEN.” Calling a naked, bald, golden man holding a staff to hide his little Oscar “the queen” is, uhm, a royal head-scratcher.
4 comments:
Norm saw "The Departed" (I didn't, because I'm very wary of Martin Scorcese's mobster films), so I can't make a judgment on that. I was expecting "Babel" to win, to "cap-off" the diversity of the nominees that night. However, both Norm and I were rooting for "Little Miss Sunshine." It was really a quirky film that really deserved its screen writing Oscar, but I guess not enough for Best Picture. "The Queen" is very good, but I think its somewhat documentary style may be a little bit confusing with trying to capture the film's drama.
I was very glad Jennifer Hudson won. She was really an excellent performer (take THAT Beyonce!). Bad dress though. It's funny because she was accompanied by Vogue's Andre Leon Talley to pick out her outfit for the Oscars (this is the "Road to the Oscars" special).
We were all gushing over Canadian Ryan Gosling. Ang cute-cute ng pootah!!!
Babel had no business being on that Best Picture shortlist. not over far superior movies like Pan's Labyrinth or United 93.
Jennifer Hudson's win has got to be one of the biggest and most shameful Oscar jokes in recent memory. they awarded her for her singing. that's for sure. coz her acting sucked. very amateurish performance. i can't believe it: for the record... it's Peter O'Toole - ZERO, Jennifer Hudson - ONE. shameful. tsk tsk tsk.
in fairness to Helen Mirren, she deserved her award. no one was better than her talaga.
as for The Departed, i loved it enough to be okay with it as Best Pic. pero i was rooting for Little Miss Sunshine. it's not just a cute movie, it's satirical and moving. oh well. at least Sunshine won 2 big awards.
best Oscar moment this year: Dreamgirls having 3 nominations for Best Song and STILL losing. vote splitting at its best!!
NELZ: I sooo agree with you, Jennifer's dress on the red carpet was BAD. Period.
JAKE: Hmmm! Maybe my officemates found Abigail so cute, and that haloed to the whole film. "Satirical" is definitely not cute. I really should get "Sunshine" on DVD. Is it already out? Official DVD release ha, not pirated. :-)
Oh yeah, and "Dreamgirls" losing in Best Song: hahaha! Natawa din ako when Beyonce and the third girl (who's she?) made hataw-birit din. Parang both of them were saying, "Aba Jennifer, akala mo ikaw lang ang bida ditoh?! And I am telling you... kaya ko rin bumirit!" Hahahaha!
I haven't seen the Oscars yet. Star Movies will be airing it only on Wednesday. Been catching up on the nominees and just saw Pan's Labyrinth last night. Yes, that was an excellent film. I also liked The Departed (I was rooting for Marky Mark), but Little Miss Sunshine was a real charmer. I was laughing through my tears, corny as that may sound. Completely loved it. United 93 was difficult to watch, but a terrific accomplishment, and I'm glad that its director was noticed at least. Babel did not move me, and I can see why Joel says it was over-reaching. The three Dreamgirls nominated songs? Can't remember any of them. But Jennifer Hudson was phenomenal, and I am glad she won. Haven't seen The Queen or The Last King, but if you ask me, my favorite movie of the last year was High School Musical. We're All In This Together, yeah!
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