Monday, 27 February 2012 04:56 pm
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deckardcanineAgainst my own expectations, I watched the entire Academy Awards show last night, running a little more than three hours with ad breaks. Billy Crystal was funnier than I dared hope (even if he kept chuckling at his own jokes), with a better-integrated opening sequence than the three I’d seen before. He continued to beat several presenters’ awkward, possibly lazy attempts at humor.
Another reason I thought I’d tune the show out was that I’d seen only five of the nine Best Picture nominees, but I got enough of the references. It turns out that the same five were the ones to net at least one statue, so perhaps I prioritized well.
It also turns out that the most disappointing aspects were announced ahead of time, such as the raw deal given to the Best Original Song category. Once I knew the nominations, the wins weren’t too upsetting. My dad got an unshabby 75% right in his office’s pool. You may think that a relative lack of surprises made it worse, but at least there wasn’t a severe domination like in 2004. I was glad for pretty much all the choices I cared about, and whenever my first pick didn’t win, the winner still had my sincere respect.
The Academy did not waste much time with montages, interesting or not. We did get a welcome faux-retro review of The Wizard of Oz from the Christopher Guest troupe. Cirque du Soleil was, well, Cirque du Soleil.
And how about the delicate balance between letting winners talk too long and cutting them off too soon? I think they handled it well this year, tho you might say the main suspense of the evening was in whether a given speaker had budgeted their time well enough. We rarely heard the music, let alone a muting, before someone finished. Jean Dujardin had an apparent afterthought too late to be heard, but that’s rather fitting, no?
The real problem with the mikes was their metallic, electronic sound. Early on, I thought I could barely make out someone’s phone. It was actually a semi-melodic undertone that repeated through the night, regardless of which mike, even with mere music.
Overall, I’d say it was above par for the course. I say that as someone who’s seen 14 shows in full and 4 in part. Make of that what you will.
EDIT: Cocoa spent most of those three hours purring on Dad's lap. I said she was extremely loud and incredibly close.
Another reason I thought I’d tune the show out was that I’d seen only five of the nine Best Picture nominees, but I got enough of the references. It turns out that the same five were the ones to net at least one statue, so perhaps I prioritized well.
It also turns out that the most disappointing aspects were announced ahead of time, such as the raw deal given to the Best Original Song category. Once I knew the nominations, the wins weren’t too upsetting. My dad got an unshabby 75% right in his office’s pool. You may think that a relative lack of surprises made it worse, but at least there wasn’t a severe domination like in 2004. I was glad for pretty much all the choices I cared about, and whenever my first pick didn’t win, the winner still had my sincere respect.
The Academy did not waste much time with montages, interesting or not. We did get a welcome faux-retro review of The Wizard of Oz from the Christopher Guest troupe. Cirque du Soleil was, well, Cirque du Soleil.
And how about the delicate balance between letting winners talk too long and cutting them off too soon? I think they handled it well this year, tho you might say the main suspense of the evening was in whether a given speaker had budgeted their time well enough. We rarely heard the music, let alone a muting, before someone finished. Jean Dujardin had an apparent afterthought too late to be heard, but that’s rather fitting, no?
The real problem with the mikes was their metallic, electronic sound. Early on, I thought I could barely make out someone’s phone. It was actually a semi-melodic undertone that repeated through the night, regardless of which mike, even with mere music.
Overall, I’d say it was above par for the course. I say that as someone who’s seen 14 shows in full and 4 in part. Make of that what you will.
EDIT: Cocoa spent most of those three hours purring on Dad's lap. I said she was extremely loud and incredibly close.