I actually thought it was one of the LEAST boring Oscar telecasts I've seen in a long time but then again I record the show on my DVR and only began to watch it at around 9.30 PM EST with a remote control in my hand. By the time 11 o'clock rolled around I was completely caught up, having not listened to any of the acceptance speeches I wasn't interested in or the commercials. (You do the math on that one.) I thought Billy Crystal got it right almost all night. I thought some of the choices on the video packages were strange especially the In Memorial segment which featured almost all still photos, odd for an event celebrating motion pictures. I didn't miss having to sit through the two ghastly Best Songs but the package assembled for Best Movie of the Year was wrong-headed, intercutting the clips from the best films so that one never got a taste for any of the nine films, just a stupid idea. I wasn't too upset with the actual awards last night, although I wish Hugo had taken either Best Movie or Best Direction. I was frankly expecting an old guard backlash with the totally ordinary The Descendants and George Clooney winning top awards and I'm glad that didn't happen. I would have preferred Viola Davis or Michelle Williams rather than Meryl Streep winning for a strong performance in an absolutely ghastly film but I'm also glad Woody Allen didn't win for his latest warmed-over opus. I guess I'm mellowing. FRANC
-----Original Message----- From: MoPo List [mailto:mopo-l@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU] On Behalf Of Joseph Bonelli Sent: Monday, February 27, 2012 9:55 AM To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Subject: Re: [MOPO] The Oscars Sorry to disagree, Bruce, but several of us thought that, though it wasn't the greatest, that last night's Oscar presentation at LEAST paid attention to the professionals, living and passed on, who make up the world of movies...unlike the last two years when the production tried to cater to the People's Choice and Teeny-bop Awards. We could actually see the entire audience in the beautiful theatre last night-- instead of having it decorated like a studio for a game show, complete with peanut gallerey screaming, "Pick me!" Sorry, but SOMEONE has to take the higher road. I believe that OSCAR needs to be that someone. There is a huge international audience for the Oscars which negates the necessity to cater to the US's Text-Sending Teeny-Set. Don't worry about them.. Michael Bay & the Vampire Crew. will see to it that they are well entertained and spend lots and lots of mommy-daddy money at the concession stands...and the grownups can snooze with pleasure through an Oscar program that honors "Hugo" rather than "Transformers". When Oscar becomes the People's Choice, excellence in film will be buried under a heap of poot jokes and CGI. Sorry if my comments seem old-fashioned, but that's the way this movie fan sees it. Joe B in NOLA PS-- I thought the awards were well-apportioned on the whole. This year was all about the Nomination being the thing--- an excellent year for film. PPS-- But the choice NOT to bestow special honors on the "Potter" series with it's decade-long history of excellence in everything, was unfortunate...the night's biggest failing in my estimation. Joe From: Bruce Hershenson <brucehershen...@gmail.com> To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Sent: Monday, February 27, 2012 6:55 AM Subject: [MOPO] The Oscars It's the morning after, and overall, I thought it was a real snoozefest, Billy Crystal was entertaining, but SO familiar in everything he did and said. And was I the only one who kept wondering if he might have looked and performed better if he hadn't had his very obvious plastic surgery? And isn't it a bad sign when the best segment was the circus art, which has zero to do with movies. It hit me when they did the "In Memorium" segment, and there were tons of behind the scenes people no one knows, with a few famous faces thrown in. They have successfully turned the Oscars into the Golden Globes, filled with insiders and inside jokes, where they pretty much ignore the viewing public, and give the awards to the movies THEY like. the kind that the critics fawn over, but which not many people actually see. Of course, this transformation has been going on for many years, but at least they used to pretend to care about the people who make it all possible, those who buy the tickets. And in a day when movies face more and more competition from all sorts of other kinds of entertainment, it may not be just the awards ceremony that sees its number of viewers continuing to fall in coming years. This was once must-viewing for me. and I have watched it every year, but I think I will skip it next year. Bruce -- Bruce Hershenson and the other 24 members of the eMoviePoster.com team P.O. Box 874 West Plains, MO 65775 Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we take lunch) our site <http://www.emovieposter.com/> our auctions <http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html> <http://www.emovieposter.com/unused/signature/20111028Frankensteinemployeegr oupphotosignature.jpg> <http://www.emovieposter.com/unused/signature/20111028Frankensteinemployeegr oupphotosignature.jpg> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
