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February 27, 2005

Oscars 2005 III

Robin Williams does a fine job of outing several Disney and Warner characters prior to a brilliant swap of Marlon Brando for Elmer Fudd. Brando hunting Bugs Bunny was good, but Fudd as Stanley was simply inspired. "Stewwa! Stewwa!" The bankruptcy of the Best Animated Film category is quickly acknowledged with the realization that of the three films nominated, only The Incredibles was worth a damn. It ought to be a Best Picture nominee, and this ghetto category should go away. Good speech by Brad Bird.

You know you've been watching the Oscars too long when you recognize several nominees for Best Makeup. Weird acceptance speech dissing Lemony Snickett for corrupting the children. Strange.

So, did Drew Barrymore fall asleep in the makeup chair or is she auditioning for Rocky VI? Amanda wants to know if the castrati are accompanying Beyonce. (Castrati? I don't know what that is, but I'm sure it's spicy.)

Good new MasterCard commercial with the service station attendant trying to figure out precisely what is priceless about a young couple on a date. The Budweiser clydesdales having a snowball fight wasn't bad either, although it does make me wonder how it is you can have an ad that never shows your product pay off.

Chris Rock is quickly becoming a top-flight host. He deflates a great deal of the hype regarding the Oscars with a quick trip to a local theater, where he tries in vain to find someone who saw any of the nominated films. At least I'm not alone.

Scarlet Johanson proves Rock correct in his claim there's no acting to be seen at the Oscars, as it seems pretty clear she was not at all thrilled to present the Scientific and Technical Oscars despite her claim to the contrary. Although the fellow who noted that while there were others more deserving of his award than he, he was still keeping the award stands out as the best speech of the night.

The selection of Edna Mode to help present the award for Costume Design. Her assessment of the award as the 'most prestigious of the night' was doubtless appreciated by the nominees, and Pierce Brosnan played a fine straight man to Mode's strangeness. The Aviator outsmarts me again, beating Finding Neverland.

Rock introduces Tim Robbins as the man who when he isn't dazzling us with his performances is boring us with his politics. Marvelous. Cate Blanchett is the obvious winner for Best Supporting Actress for her spot-on portrayal of Katherine Hepburn, marking the thirteenth time Hepburn has been involved with an Oscar nomination. Picking acting nominees is frightfully easy thus far, and thank goodness for that, since I'm doing so horribly in all other categories.