Wednesday, March 2, 2011

the oscars, revisited

there seems to be one thing that can be agreed upon after sunday's academy awards telecast: it is one of the most polarizing in recent history (or ever?!).  the internet went wild with "worst ever" and "best ever" proclamations, james franco was either a hero or a villain (more on that in a minute), and the king's speech either deserved everything it got or was "typical oscar bait" and "highly over-rated." 


before i get into some of my thoughts on the night, i’ll just explain really quickly that the pictures accompanying this post (unless otherwise noted) are of the little get-together i had of the event.  it was just a few girls, a lasagna, champagne, and nutella mousse for dessert.  when you’re hosting an oscars party you don’t want anything too kitchen-intensive once the show starts or you won’t be able to fully enjoy.  so a made-ahead lasagna worked brilliantly.  no matter how the show actually went, we had a blast with it.


so why am i still talking about the oscars?!  i guess because i'm a bit of (ok, a lot) an oscars junkie and because i love movies in general.  i usually have at least a few people over for the ceremony (as i did this year) and "force" them to fill out a ballot - even if they haven't seen any of the nominated films!

{while the ballot was from oscar.com, the pretty front was downloaded from twig & thistle}

i know that the oscars and awards season in general are an endless parade of self-congratulations, that hollywood egos reign supreme and there's a whole lot of not-so-nice-stuff that the public doesn't see, but i can't help but be caught up in the glamour and the history of the night.


and that's why i'm mad at mr. james franco.  i'm usually on his side when people attack him, but not this time.  you can be aloof and above your celebrity "status" all you want every other night of the week, but when you agree to host the oscars?  you need to give it the respect it deserves or get off the stage.  show a little deference to those who have gone before you.  that's all i ask of him!    


which leads me to anne hathaway.  she brought out everything in her arsenal in her attempt to save their hosting reputation, and it just couldn't overpower franco's detracting (and distracting) presence.  she may be talented, but she's not an oscar host (or a miracle worker).  but sidenote?  get anne in a movie where she can use that voice of hers asap.  that came out of nowhere, didn't it? 


as for the king's speech, it was a brilliant movie.  until i saw the fighter the next week, i couldn't believe people could be thinking anyone but geoffrey rush would win best supporting actor.  that all went out the window when i saw mr. bale's performance, but that didn't take anything away from geoffrey.  and my dear mr. darcy - colin firth - was just extraordinary.  hbc - fantastic as always.  but best movie of the year?  my pick was the social network.  love or hate facebook, the movie is powerful and sums up the current era in a way nothing else has. 


i know not everyone takes this stuff this seriously.  and i know i'm not a movie blogger, so i hope you'll accept this post as something just a little different today. 

 
i just have a mild obsession with old hollywood.  you know that line in the holiday?  kate winslet ("iris") asks eli wallach ("arthur") something like, “was hollywood really as wonderful back then as i think it was?" (paraphrasing), and his reply, “no.  it was better.”  whether that’s true or not, that’s how i think about the oscars. 

 {the party "favors" - i used the girls' facebook profiles as tags - thought of it at the last minute, was a little bit 
impressed with myself for the idea (better if the social network had actually won though) lol}

so i’ll keep on celebrating.  sans franco.

what were your thoughts?

xo. di.

10 comments:

  1. such a fun oscar party! i love the idea of doing ballots. overall i thought the show was dull...sadly.

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  2. We need to be friends! I liked the opening of the show, the little movie they did with Alec Baldwin, but other than that, James and Anne didn't "wow" me. Anne did great with her singing and the Hugh Jackman stuff, but sometimes she seemed like she was trying too hard.

    Unfortunately my fella and I only saw True Grit and The Town. We love movies, we just hate movie theaters. Or maybe the people in our area who ruin the theater experience!!

    But my Netflix queue is overflowing with Oscar movies!

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  3. 1. had so much fun at the party.

    2. i think you should have been doing the media for social network. they should have been promoting the hell out of it in the days before the awards in just the way you described it.

    3. so happy you'll be watching my fave, Giant, while you're in this frame of mind . . . old hollywood and 10 oscar nominations to boot.

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  4. I want to come to your oscar party ! AWESOME in every way.

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  5. As Karen Crary stated, "She did a bit with that hottie 2 years ago and sang" haha responding to Anne's incredible singing talents coming out of nowhere, she should have done the show solo!

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  6. haha not only am i glad you guys agree, but i would like to invite you all to virtually attend next year! perhaps a live blogging/tweeting session?! we'll see!

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  7. I love, love, LOVE this post!!! I'm an Oscar junkie too and now I have so many amazing ideas for next year from your pictures. I didn't get to have a party because I was visiting my parent s(we had a small family party, which was nice)... but I'm going all out next year, like you did! (And ballots are definitely a MUST when watching the Oscars! We made my mom fill one out... and she almost beat me with her guesses.)

    And, I agree about James. I love him. But he did a bad job.

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  8. I just loved this Oscar Party Post. The little champagnes bottles and the ballots were brilliant! I thought the lasagna idea was perfect, too. You're right, you want to enjoy the show with everyone else.. I'll have to keep that in mind. Great ideas, and it looked like a ton of fun. Thanks!

    -xx Noe ADELLA AVENUE

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  9. happy to be of help, amy rene!

    thanks, adellaavenue :)

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thanks so much for the note! i love reading your comments. xo. di.

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