Snoozefest 2007

Oh what have they done to my beloved Oscar telecast? They have ruined it, I tell you!

This year was just unbelievably long, mostly dull, and full of too many unpleasant surprises. It wasn't all bad, though. Certainly many moments to celebrate. And despite the sometimes agony that ScottE, Joyous and I were going through, I found some hilarious people on EW's live blogging page to snark with.

So let me proceed with my thoughts on this year's show.


The Fashion

I don't know if all the ladies were afraid to try something daring, or they thought what they chose actually could be called daring. By the end of the red carpet, I was so ready for Top Model to premiere so I can really see some pretty girls workin' it!

Best dressed by a long shot for me was Kate Winslet. She was divine in a simple and elegant Valentino in mint green. I'm telling you, ladies - you can't go wrong in Valentino.

Honorable mentions go to Cate Blanchett for her interesting metallic number, and to Emily Blunt in a midnight blue strapless dress. And how about a shout-out for Diane Keaton? Not only was she not wearing a man's suit with gloves, she looked great!

Worst dressed? Eva Green from Casino Royale. Her dress looked like saran wrap, and her makeup looks like it was designed by Tammy Faye's goth child. Runners-up for this dubious distinction go to Nicole Kidman (I did not want to unwrap that present) and Penelope Cruz (for wearing a nude-colored ostrich to keep her legs warm).

Split decision on Gwyneth Paltrow. I think her dress would have been great had it been in a bold color, like purple or emerald green. The coral just wasn't working for me.

As for the men, I was partial to Djimon Hounsou, who stepped outside the box in a dark chocolate tuxedo. Yum!

Worst dressed? Phillip Seymour Hoffman. There was nothing wrong with his tux, per se - but comb your hair, man - it's the Oscars!

Split decision on Clive Owen's shirt - no collar...odd.

The saddest of all was seeing Jennifer Hudson wearing a perfectly lovely dress ruined by...a shrug? Bolero jacket? Whatever that thing was, thank heaven she ditched it when she got inside the theater.


The Production

The opening montage of nominees was very clever and enjoyable. What a great way to get faces (both famous and not) out there for us to enjoy.

Ellen as a host? Not my favorite. Which pains me to say. I love her, but it just didn't work as a whole. She had some brilliant moments (the picture with Clint - hilarious), but others just fell flat (the vacuum?). I'm glad she got to live her dream, but I fear her career as Oscar host is going to be very brief.

Please put an end to the clip montages! Can I lobby my congressmen about this? All they do is drag out an already long show (which really needs to start earlier to begin with), and remind us that in the past there were a helluva lot of better movies than we get today.

Pilobolus, I think you're a great dance company. But this was just bizarre. With the exception of Snakes on a Plane - it was painful.

Someone shoot Chris Connelly backstage, seriously.

Best presenters of the night were Abigail Breslin and Jaden Smith. So cute, and so funny. Put them in a movie together!

Loved the Jack Black song - saying Helen Mirren is hot is so 2007! (And blessedly, she has the type of sense of humor where she got the joke and embraced it.) Also really liked the bit with the Prada women. Hee!

Far too late into the evening, we finally got to see the Dreamgirls song montage. It was great, but damn if my best friend Anika Noni Rose didn't steal the show both with those pipes and that dress!

Don't get me started on Celine!


The Awards

On the plus side, I'm thrilled to see Jennifer Hudson and Helen Mirren toting golden statuettes. Two short films I loved also won (West Bank Story and The Danish Poet).

And how about the night of Al Gore? He was not only polished and witty, but his film won both awards it was up for. Awesome.

Speaking of which, although I was bitter that Dreamgirls only won one award all night and lost Best Original Song, at least it went to the wonderful Melissa Etheridge. She got to kiss her woman on international TV!

Beyond that I was pretty bitter. Wasn't happy to see Eddie Murphy lose. VERY unhappy to see The Departed win so much.

And as for my picks, let's not discuss it. Ugh.


At the very late hour the show ended, I was so ready for bed. Thank goodness I have Heroes to entertain me tonight!

Cinematic bon-bons

Once again this year, I had the pleasure of taking in the Oscar-nominated short films playing at the National Archives. A good time was had by all (Stef, Onyah, Joyous and ScottE)! This year's crop was heavy on the comedy and light on the terminal geriatric Scandanvian drama. Here are some highlights.

Live Action Short Films

All five pieces turned out to be funny this year, which was a nice surprise. The Saviour was clever but wasn't my favorite. Both the Spanish All We Needed and the Norwegian Helmer & Son provided witty twists on parents' aging. But the two best films were at the beginning and end.

West Bank Story was an uproarious send-up of the musical classic, but set in Israel, with the Muslim-owned Hummus Hut facing off against the Jewish-owned Kosher Shack. It's hard to describe, but it's incredibly zany and well worth downloading if you can find it!

That being said, my favorite (and my Oscar vote) is Binta and the Great Idea. It's a funny and poignant story set in Senegal, as told through the voice of a precocious young girl. The film fires the imagination and shares an important message about the march of progress for women in Africa. Sponsored by UNICEF, this one is a winner. Bank on it!


Animated Short Films

This year there was a little (heh) something for everyone. Enjoy funny computer animation? Then you'll have fun with either Pixar's Lifted (about a trainee in alien abduction), or Ice Age's Scrat making a return appearance in No Room For Nuts (a new twist on time travel).

Or perhaps you prefer classic 2D animation based on a children's tale. Then you might like The Little Matchgirl (although this one bored me).

For a real short charmer that you'll find yourself trying to puzzle out, don't miss Maestro - very clever with some complex animation.

But my favorite has to be The Danish Poet. Simple Schoolhouse Rock!-style animation accompanies a convoluted but witty story about how the narrator's parents met. Delightfully narrated by famed Ingmar Bergman actress Liv Ullmann, this one is a real charmer. It faces some stiff competition, but this is the one I'll be voting for tomorrow night. (Surprising trivia - the story referenced in the film - Kristin Lavransdatter - was turned into a screenplay written by...Liv Ullmann herself.)

One other note - you can download and watch 9 of these on iTunes. (The only one you can't is Pixar's Lifted, for some reason.) You can also check out some past nominees, including the excellent Badgered, the creepy Ausreisser and the affore-mentioned depressing Icelandic The Last Farm.

And the winners will be...

OK, here they are - my Oscar picks for 2007. I'm only going to discuss the "big" categories in detail. The rest I'll cast as part of my official ballot which I'll be emailing to Sterfanie, so she can verify I'm telling the truth after the show airs! (In particular I still need time on the shorts, as I plan on seeing them the Saturday before.) Also this year I decided to follow an old EW model, and talk about who I think will win, and who should. (My official ballot will have the "wills" not the "shoulds.")

Best Actor
Should win - Ryan Gosling
Will win - Forest Whitaker

OK, I admit I've only seen one performance in this category, so I'm a bit biased. But the quiet, understated performances are rarely rewarded, and it's about time they were. Still, all the momentum is around Forest. Run, Forest, run!

Best Actress
Should & will win - Helen Mirren

The biggest challenge in a biopic is emulating the person you're portraying without doing a straight-on impression. Considering how little we really know about Queen Elizabeth's private life, it's impressive how Helen Mirren was able to imagine it for us. Still I'll give kudos to incredibly strong performances from Judi Dench and Penelope Cruz. (Meryl Streep was terrific, but the character doesn't get much range.)

Best Supporting Actor
Should & will win - Eddie Murphy

If there's one thing the Oscars love, it's an actor doing something very different from their past work. And although those horrible ads for Norbit are everywhere, I still think the Academy will reward Eddie Murphy as a comeback kid.

Best Supporting Actress
Should & will win - Jennifer Hudson

The other thing the Oscars love is a breakout performance from a newcomer. Despite the apparent Dreamgirls backlash simmering in Hollywood, I think the vast majority still agree that Hudson rules the movie. The darkhorse will most certainly be Cate Blanchett. (The Babel babes may have impressed, but will split the vote - had either of them been nominated alone, I bet she could have won.)

Best Director
Should win - Alejandro González Iñárritu
Will win - Martin Scorsese

Juggling very different plots across the globe is an impressive feat, and is perhaps the one thing in Babel that truly deserves recognition. Also he had the challenge of working with children, through interpreters, no less. But Hollywood will want to reward Scorsese so he'll quit making movies in major New England cities with all men where everyone dies.

Best Picture
Should win - The Queen
Will win - Little Miss Sunshine

Setting Iwo Jima aside (didn't see it), the only one of these films I walked out thinking, "Loved it!" was The Queen. It really satisfied, and did what it set out to do, without going on too long. But considering the Academy is mostly full of actors, and they (for some reason) have this dumb love affair with Sunshine (which was good, but not incredible), I predict that it will come out on top and we'll be left scratching our heads the next day. Still, there is a good chance that Babel will win for its overall scope, which I would find to be a more satisfactory conclusion. (Never mind that the true winner should be Dreamgirls.)

Best Original Screenplay
Should win - Pan's Labyrinth
Will win - Little Miss Sunshine

In this category I really think the award should go to something very different and creative. And although Sunshine was certainly different, I think Labyrinth was the most inventive of the 5 nominees.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Should win - Children of Men
Will win - The Departed

This is my need to reward what I thought actually could have been a Best Picture contender. Having read the novel, I can attest that Men was adapted really well, losing none of the book's power, but keeping the audience's interest. Instead, I'm going to bank that the Academy will give the only other award here for The Departed.

Just one more

Babel

Wrapping up my Oscar watch for 2006, I rented this one yesterday.

I liked the movie. Best movie of the year? Not in my book. Much of the criticism you may have read about the film is accurate. It's too long. The relationship between the various stories are slight (and in the case of the Japanese story, not even believable).

That being said, there is a lot to appreciate. Rinko Kikuchi is engrossing as a Japanese deaf-mute teenager who finds the only way she can cope with her isolation is through overt sexuality. (Frankly I'd rather have seen a whole film about her, and forgotten the rest.)

And Adriana Barraza makes a simple woman heartbreaking in her final scenes.

I just wish some of the lingering questions had been answered. How did Chieko's mother really die? Where did Richard "go" after his son's death?

Filmed in beautiful detail, Babel is a movie worth watching. Just enjoy it for what it is, and forget the hype.

Lost and back again

After that (if I can be honest) most disappointing season start for Lost, it's finally back. And the first two episodes have been decent.

First we learned that Juliet hasn't always been an Other. And her speciality is something to do with fertility treatments, including impregnating male mice. Curious, no? And she's basically a prisoner as well. And most importantly, we learned that she looks way better with straight hair.

But the really mind-twister was last week with Desmond's...flashpresent? Is he living his own version of Groundhog Day? Is he really a hero? And how do you just ditch a beautiful woman like Penelope?

Of course the big "Whoa!" came at the end, when we learned that Charlie has the Grim Reaper sniffing over his shoulder. But does the fact that he's escaped death so many times explain his miraculous survival from Ethan hanging him? And more importantly, what if Desmond is wrong? My guess is we'll be watching all season waiting for Charlie to kick the bucket, and instead it will be someone else first. (Please let it be Paulo and what's-her-butt!)

And the odd coincidence of the week - Fionnula Flanagan (the time-space continuum guide or whatever she was) was seen in a movie you might have heard of - The Others. As if that's not enough, that movie also featured one Christopher Eccleston - who's now on that other great show wrapped in mysteries - Heroes!