Monday Morning Poll: What Was The Best And Worst Oscar Moment?
Filed under: Awards, Fandom, Oscar Watch, Monday Morning Poll
If I had to describe last night's Oscar ceremony in one word, I'd have to go with 'predictable.' There were no real surprises, only a few minor "Oh, that was pretty cool" moments scattered amongst a slew of fairly boring, and fairly routine acceptance speeches. Judging by most of your comments, it seems the biggest snub came in the best supporting actor category when Eddie Murphy lost out to Alan Arkin. But c'mon, did you really think they were going to give one to Eddie? Heck, I was surpised Dreamgirls managed to score even two Oscars -- the whole best song part was laughable. Are we sure no one put a curse on Bill Condon?
And what about Scorsese? Are we happy about that? Granted, The Departed was far from his best work, but it was nice to see him have a chance up there at the mic ... even if he (and the rest of the cast) should have been up there at the end. Graham King standing by himself on stage to end the show was pretty -- how shall I say -- pathetic. If Little Miss Sunshine won, half the theater would have been on that stage. But, did the Oscars get anything right? Ellen played it safe, but she didn't "Letterman" bomb. The rolling shadow-dancing was pretty cool, albeit a bit annoying early on. They let the acceptance speeches for the major awards go without bringing up the music. Will Ferrell, Jack Black and John C. Reilly made the night with their little song and dance routine. Leo looked good, Jack looked bald and no one mentioned Anna Nicole Smith ... thank God.
So, I ask you: What were your favorite (and least favorite) highlights from last night's Oscar ceremony?









Reader Comments (Page 1 of 16)
2-26-2007 @ 10:23AM
bgdc said...
Highlights:
Alan Arkin winning. And...yeah that's it.
Flubs:
Ellen Degeneres - this "comedian" is about as edgy, topical and funny as a white Chevy Malibu. She's as safe as can be and utterly boring.
All the awards for useless things like lifetime achievement and humanitarianism. Skip that garbage and the worthless live renditions of bad songs. Additionally, dump ALL the montage sequences. Do we need a montage supposedly dedicated to writers or even worse America? Gag. Dropping all that stuff will get you a 1:45 minute show.
Proof Hollywood is about longevity and not quality:
Every award that went to that shlocky, borderline retarded remake known as The Departed. A film so utterly lacking in creativity, intelligence, wit, flair or anything approaching quality, The Departed would have been totally ignored had Scorsese's name not been on it.
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2-26-2007 @ 10:44AM
Kayla Hamilton said...
Hollywood has taken on a new turn. I dont know what criteria they used to choose this year's Best Picture
but it was not the same criteria they used in the past. The criteria should include any movie which
is ENTERTAINING. It should include any movie which
is "clean", and if any part of the movie contains
a realistic male body part (as the one Jack Nicholson was having fun with in The Departed), or at least 60 times using the F word, or guns here and
blood all over the place there....then I ask you--should this movie win an Oscar? It wasn't entertaining! It wasn't anything! So whoever and
whatever chose the criteria for The Departed to
receive the Best Picture is from a new and different
pool of voters at the Academy. They came from
somewhere like Surreal City.
Let me give you some people to think about:
Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cookcoo's Nest
Harrison Ford in Star Wars
Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones
Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind
The Movie--The Queen
The Actor--Cary Grant
To name a few, THIS, ladies and gentlemen is acting
at its best and these movies were definitely of high standard and entertaining to all audiences.
I rest my case.
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2-26-2007 @ 10:50AM
bgdc said...
Clean? Whatever. While I thought the Departed was poorly written and in no way a match for its Hong Kong inspiration, the language, drug use, violence had no impact on my enjoyment of the film. Rather, the lazy screenwriting, simplistic characters, lack of emotional content and utter disregard for the intelligent members of the audience ruined the film for me.
And Harrison Ford is not a good actor. He's a star, not an actor.
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2-26-2007 @ 10:53AM
skw said...
first thing, i love the oscars. they're my favorite awards show.I've been watching since at least sixth grade(and i'm 50 now lol).
last night's ceremony was so dull i was waiting for the memorial segment just to have something interesting to look at.
ellen was passibly funny.she was ok but not sure if she will be asked back.
didn't care for her clothes. that first outfit was the worst(looked just like what djimon hounsou was wearing.)the blue was the best.
maybe she should ask rosie o'donnell for fashion tips. even though rosie would have also worn pants,i'm sure hers would have been a more elegant
evening look.
it is nice they give chances to different people every year. not like when johnny carson was host every year.(and before him bob hope).
jon stewart was good last year,liked chris rock and steve martin too.billy crystal is the best.and even david letterman wasn't that bad.
who should do it next? hmm maybe jay leno
w
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2-26-2007 @ 10:55AM
matriculated said...
Did anyone else hear that crack by (I think) Diane Keaton? I could have swore she said "this is the first movie by Scorcese that had a plot." as Graham King was coming onto the stage.
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2-26-2007 @ 10:58AM
Erik Davis said...
Actually Matriculated, the line was uttered by whoever was doing the "walk to the stage" voice-over, and it was a Scorsese quote. I believe it actually went like this: "Martin Scorsese has said that The Departed was his firt movie with an actual plot." Or something like that ...
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2-26-2007 @ 10:59AM
tedgwells said...
So no love for The Departed, huh? "bgdc" thinks it was "borderline retarded" and Kayla dismisses it because the caracters swear. Meanwhile, it has a 93% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it won the Oscar for best picture, and to my mind was the best film of the year. "bgdc", sorry you didn't like The Departed, but maybe you should give it another chance...people who love film the most have given it high marks. Maybe there is something there you missed. And Kayla, perhaps you should shy away from films that are rated "R", so as not to offend your sensibilities.
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2-26-2007 @ 11:05AM
GG said...
Where did Jennifer Hudson get that dress it looked like she was from out of space and I wish she would stop bouncing.
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2-26-2007 @ 11:06AM
GG said...
Where did Jennifer Hudson get that dress it looked like she was from out of space and I wish she would stop bouncing.
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2-26-2007 @ 11:07AM
eurotransient said...
I was pretty satisfied with the Oscar outcome. "The Departed" wouldn't have been my first choice for Best Picture (or even my second choice), but I wasn't upset by the pick by any means.
My favorite part of the night was actually the Errol Morris montage that opened the show, on "The Nominees". I thought that was really well done. The rest of the montages were absolute garbage, though. In particular, I was really annoyed by Giuseppe Tornatore's montage on previously nominated foreign films. It was unnecessarily convoluted, jumping from film to film with no rhyme or reason. I appreciated the choice of clips, but there was no reason to not treat each honored film with a more solid collection of clips, rather than clustering them into random themes that made little to no sense.
My biggest shock of the night was Pan's Labyrinth taking the Cinematography award. Not that it was undeserving, but given the remarkable praise for Children of Men's cinematographic achievements, I was a little surprised with the ultimate choice.
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2-26-2007 @ 11:20AM
Marilyn said...
Poor Jennifer Hudson. Why didn't someone stop her from wearing that horrid dress? The entire time I could only think of Spongebob Squarepants!
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2-26-2007 @ 11:30AM
emilio garibaldi said...
observing the oscars last night was entertaining and short, Ellen was playing it too safe as far as the monologue was concern, best picture was a mistake simple and confusing, I thought "letters from iwo jima" was a whole lot better, I think Jennifer Hudson was not prepared to win anything, just been there was enough for her, no acceptance speech, no nothing.
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2-26-2007 @ 11:34AM
Tiffany Leigh said...
I only caught the first 47 minutes and am grateful that I didn't catch the last 180.
The telecast was stultifyingly stiff probably the most AWKWARD one in history -- directorly speaking (was it Louis Horovitz again?) camera-cuts and moves from moment to moment were always *just* off -- like a series of pauses between small talk in an elevator -- strung together over four hours.
I thought Ellen did her thing, which I liked, but that her hiccuppy sly stumbling self-deprecating style didn't project large enough on such a big stage in front of a huge audience. And sticking her in the framework of joke/punchline/laugh is as out of sorts as if she was wearing an evening gown. If she did it in character as Finding Nemo's Dori -- or even in the laconic loose vibe she emits in her AmEx ads -- it may have gotten a better reception. I think she was more a victim of her starched beyond belief environment.
And ergonomically the lack of a podium onstage led to a lot of Awkward: "let me put my Oscar on the FLOOR next to me while I give my speech." Sounds silly, but having a podium to put the hardware on while you speak not only gives you a nice shot of "winner with Oscar" but avoided all the futzing, putting it on the floor, having disembodied strange shots of it isolated there (like during Alan Arkin's speech).
Highlights: Alan Arkin winning, Martin Scorsese winning, Departed winning (thank Zeus).
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2-26-2007 @ 11:35AM
mj said...
I love Ellen, but she was a little too bland. Oh, a few cute things, but the whole show was soooo boring. Alan Arkin has a dry sense of humor, but his speech was nothing. And what was with nowhere to put the award? The presenters had a table, but not the winners? Peter O'Toole should win.
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2-26-2007 @ 11:39AM
K. VIC said...
i DIDN'T WATCH AWARDS. I WATCHED PATTON EVEN THOUGH I'VE SEEN IT TWICE BEFORE. LOT MORE ACTION. THE AWARDS ARE BORING
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2-26-2007 @ 11:39AM
Angeline said...
I noticed that half way through the Dream Girl's song some one must have pulled Jennifer Hudson off stage and tucked her back into her dress. There was almost a big "bouncy" fallout disaster. I'm all for full figure but lets keep it under wraps in public, especially on stage.
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2-26-2007 @ 11:42AM
Fred said...
There was a lot of pre-show activity concerning Peter O'Toole. This man has more acting talent in his little finger than anyone honored last night. How long will it be before the Academy recognizes this great talent. I was hoping for a Lifetime Achievment award, but they didn't rvrn have that?
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2-26-2007 @ 11:43AM
Bert said...
Union Busting. All Actors: In different Roles.
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2-26-2007 @ 11:50AM
George said...
The Oscars are boring, dull, and lame. Departed? Give me the Golden Globes anyday!
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2-26-2007 @ 11:51AM
Lynne said...
Oscar song choice was political and Eddie Murphy was robbed!!!!!!!!! Hollywood is sooooooooooooo liberal.
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