2013 Oscar Thoughts

For the first time in 33 years, I did not watch the Oscars live.  The Oscars has always been a tradition and my mother and I would yell, scream, laugh, cry, sing along and dance with all the selections.  There was a time, long ago, when I would have seen a good number of the movies involved.  This year, they are few, if any.  I am a film fanatic, but I detest the theatre, because somewhere along the way, we've broken the social contract of acceptable public behavior and to save myself from possible incarceration, I've decided to forego the mass viewings and wait til each masterpiece appears before me, whilst laying, most likely in my underwear, under a comforter with a cup of coffee and my dreams.

Not seeing was interesting, because I had to live vicariously through the likes of Roger Ebert, Patton Oswalt, John Hodgeman and a host of comedian and B-list celebrities and journalists I follow on Twitter.  This made, for what I can assume, a much funnier night than to watch Seth MacFarlane poke fun at people in person that he's been poking fun at through a cartoon for many years.  It also gave me the chance to go back and view videos with some kind of perspective.  

Please realize one thing about me. I'm not a fan of movies.  We all are to some extent.  I haven't seen any of the Transformer movies or the Avengers.  I haven't see any of Channing Tatum's movies (since people have known who he is) and I hated The Hunger Games.  I fancy myself a bit of a film historian, viewing films from the likes of Griffith, Marnau and Eisenstein.  I'm obsessed with the works of Bergman and more recently the horror master Takashi Miike.  I find Anderon and Baumbach more up my than Apatow or Sandler.  I despise American cinema for the most part but there are numerous exceptions.  So I ventured into the speeches, the performances and the follies with full knowledge of what to expect and was not, for one second shocked by any.  Here is my very subjective opinions.

Ryan Seacrest was on the red carpet and say what you will about the man, he is charismatic, charming and a hell of an interviewer.  His ability to make big name stars feel humble and relaxed enough to let their guard down is a gift that few have.  We don't always like his trademark hair and smile, but the man is a power in his field and the reason why is because he is good at it.  Anyone who watched any of the red carpet, realizes how incredible his interviews were and how bad Kristin Chenowith's were.

I loved Shirley Bassey, hated Jennifer Hudson and Catherine Zeta Jones, was blown away by that one guy, who isn't a star from Les Miserables and then there is Adele.  The greatest voice we've heard in years. Even the greats like Janis, Tina and Stevie don't hold a candle to her power.  She evokes memories of better times, when Bessie and Ella sung.  I don't know who they'd hold up against her.  She's a voice, a passion, a heart that we haven't seen before.  She's 24 by the way.  Kudos for Barbra Streisand too, for coming out for the first time in ages and completely killing her classic "Memories."

Ang Lee's "upset" win for Best Director is not an upset.  He is in fact, the best director of the bunch and he's been doing it for a while.  Everyone loves him for Life of Pi and Brokeback Mountain, but let's not forget about The Ice Storm, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Eat Drink Man Woman.  This man is just about the best there is not named Coen.  Sorry Ben, Steven and all the rest.

Jennifer Lawrence is a young, beautiful and talented woman.  Sadly, she's known best for her role as Katniss in the Hunger Games, which is absolutely dreadful, but thankfully will make her enough money so that she can do passion projects like Silver Book Linings, which I have yet to see, but was dubbed by the writer Bret Easton Ellis as the movie of the year.  What angers me slightly is the thought that maybe this wasn't about Linings at all, but about making up for a snub.  The year the amazing Natalie Portman won for her role in Black Swan instead of Lawrence for Winter's Bone.  Winter's Bone is one of the best movies in the last twenty years and while it received critical acclaim, nobody I know has even seen it. A few who have called it boring.  What makes me laugh, is when I first saw Lawrence at her first Oscars, I didn't know who she was until they posted the name of the movie under her name.  Watching Winter's Bone, I had no idea that a woman as beautiful as her was in the lead.  She brought memories of Theron's Warmus character in Monster.

I won't get into a long speech about the greatness of Daniel Day Lewis, but it should be known that this incredible man has only done five movies in the last fifteen years and has won major awards in four of them, including three best actor nominations.  The Ballad of Jack and Rose was the only one not recognized and in many ways, might be his most beautiful performance.  Also note, that this classy gentleman gave the speech of the night.

While there can only be a few nominees and even fewer winners, it should be noted that there are a few notable omissions.  Jack Black's lead role in the comedy/thriller Bernie was absolutely brilliant and should not be ignored.  He absolutely commanded every scene he was in and carried what could have been a ridiculous, but true story, into a place where I never thought it would go.  Jiro, Dreams of Sushi should have gotten a documentary nod, as it is one of the most beautiful food pieces I've ever seen and the back story is superb.  I was also upset not to see Bully represented, if only to give weight to a serious social crisis.  The performances for Best Actor are always the elite of the elite and while this movie doesn't hold the weight of the others, I would like to see Richard Gere get his due and his performance in Arbitrage was stellar.  

We love the Oscars more for the glitz and glam than for that of the art for which we should be thankful, so for to end this, I'll stoop to the materialistic depths to which society has found acceptable and talk about who looked great.  Nobody in my opinion looked better than Naomi Watts.  Pure elegance and at 44, I must give kudos.  Salma Hayek, Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence were close behind and while people love to hate her, I found Anne Hathaway charming.  For the men, there is an always will be two men on Oscar night.  George Clooney, who can roll out of bed at 90 and still be one of the best looking men on the planet and Hugh Jackman.  Tuxedos have been around for years, but Jackman makes them look like he was born in one. Comfort in a tux is nearly impossible and he moves like he's wearing a sweat suit.

Until Next Year....and a sincere golf clap to the amazing Jennifer Lawrence.