Well the Academy Award hangover is over and now its time to sit back, and think about what happened. Think about the winners, and the losers, and those that weren’t even nominated. Time to think about how the show went about and why oh why it went on half an hour longer than its proposed running time. The bottom line is this: the award show did indeed run way too long, but for the first time in a while, it ran with some drama. Not a single movie was actually running away with all the awards, and most of the winners were definitely worthy. Nonetheless, my Best Picture winner did not win. Up didn’t win Best Picture, and I was pushing for this since the moment the nominations were mentioned:
“Call me a Disney fanatic all you want, I don’t care. Give the Best Picture award to Up. Yes, I did see Avatar, and I don’t think it was even a Top 10 of 2009 film. In a year with the likes of District 9, Inglorious Basterds, and 500 Days of Summer, Avatar shouldn’t even get a Best Picture nomination. It was a weak story covered in pretty packaging. Back to the worthy picture. Up is the best film of last year by far. The opening 10 minutes (now becoming a staple in animation history) are some of the most intense footage ever seen in a family movie. Very few movies can drive me to near-tears (yea I’ll admit it), but Up fires and hits on all sentimental cylinders. But let’s not forget the beautiful story full of memorable characters, memorable moments, hilarious scenes, and plenty of peril. Let’s also point out the 98% fresh tomato rating on Rotten Tomatoes (Avatar: 82%).”
I wrote that back in February, and the opinion still stands. And I saw The Hurt Locker. The Hurt Locker could have been film of the year, if it weren’t for the third act smacking a few clichés and the ending hitting sooner than expected. While 2009 did not contain a movie that I deemed 5-star worthy, Up was extremely close. But what’s even more upsetting is that not a single movie studio other than the producers of The Hurt Locker (and to an extent, Oprah) even tried to shoot for the main win. The Hurt Locker’s massive campaign to defeat Avatar not only was news-worthy, but even got a producer kicked out of the Academys.
In the meantime, the World of Disney doesn’t even contain a soundtrack for Up, and the freakin’ thing won Best Musical Score!! Why are there two albums for Alice in Wonderland, two albums for Cars, a Los Lobos album, but noting for Up? Not only that, but there’s literally no merchandise to promote the movie anymore. Two Academy Award wins, a Best Picture nomination, $723 million worldwide, and eventually the 35th highest-grossing movie of all-time and it still can’t get its own little section in the largest Disney merchandise shop in the world? This might be me overreacting over the lack of attention, but in all honesty, it looks like Disney never even attempted for the main prize like they sort-of-sort-of did for Wall-E. Come on Disney, Up really did have a chance. Avatar may have had the money, but its poor writing hit a sore spot with the Academy. Not to mention they should have realized that not a single sci-fi movie has ever won Best Picture.
The Hurt Locker wasn’t the only big surprise. Inglorious Basterds, the best script I saw last year, didn’t win Screenplay, and that went to a good movie with a ho-hum script. The Hurt Locker’s specialty was the direction and acting, not the writing. How can you top a World War 2 film that literally rewrites history? Precious winning Adapted Screenplay contributed to Up in the Air’s incredibly disappointing Oscar performance (not a single win). But I will not forgive the Academy for failing to nominate The Hangover and (500) Days of Summer and instead nominating The Messenger and a Serious Man. Monique’s win was a total surprise to me, as Precious winning anything at all was unexpected. Anyone else think that Tyler Perry secretly was upset that none of HIS films had been nominated for anything, while an Oprah-run production nearly hits Best Picture? I think the biggest surprise is Cinematography going to a movie that’s nearly entirely motion-capture and computer-generated.
The show itself needs to change format though in order to avoid a longer running time. And it needs to be run by Neil Patrick Harris, who provided the greatest opening sequence in any Oscar show in a very, very, very, very long time. Personally, I think the awards should be run beginning from awards concerning its inception and opening ideas (screenplay, art direction, costume design) and run up to the on-the-set awards (cinematography, makeup), then go through the post-filming process (music, sound mixing, sound editing, editing) and then give out all the non-Best Picture best picture awards (short film, documentary, animated shorts, animated feature film, foreign film). Lastly, we get the acting awards, and then Best Picture.
That’s for structure, now for timing purposes, there should be some awards that shouldn’t even mention the nominations, but mention the winners and then give them about 2 minutes of fame by discussing the procedure and why it wins. The awards that should be handed out without mentioning the nominees include: Documentary, Short Film, Short Animated Film, Makeup, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Costume Design). Give these winners 1-2 minutes and you’ll save at least 10-15 minutes of unnecessary Oscar time. Not diminishing these awards, but I actually think the audience would pay more attention if all the focus is on the winner. Kind of like what happened to Best Picture, minus the Tom Hanks rushing.
Bottom Line: The Oscars were good, plenty of drama, plenty of worthy winners, but the show itself needs to be shorter, and needs more Neil Patrick Harris. Honestly, in the Emmys he was the best host since Conan O’Brian a couple years earlier. As for Disney, I honestly am disappointed in the way you handled your movies last year, and Up was the best example (2nd place: Princess and the Frog). Last but not least, where is (500) Days of Summer?????
Here are the DIAC Oscar Picks (Much more important than what the Academy thinks):
Best Picture: Up
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges
Best Actress: Meryl Streep (She is due another Oscar, despite being nominated so much)
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz
Best Supporting Actress: Maggie Gyllenhall
Best Directing: Spike Jonze (Where the Wild Things Are)
Best Screenplay (Original): Inglorious Basterds
Best Adapted Screenplay: District 9
Best Cinematography: Where the Wild Things Are
Best Editing: Up
Best Art Direction: Sherlock Holmes
Best Makeup: District 9
Best Music: Up
Best Original Song: Down in New Orleans (Princess and the Frog)
Best Sound Mixing: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Best Sound Editing: The Hurt Locker
Best Visual Effects: Avatar
Best Animated Picture: Up
Ciao.
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