Well, let's get it on, shall we! Its time for our annual running diary of the Academy Awards. I'm here in the recliner, laptop open, keyboard in lap, while The Lovely Steph Leann is over on the couch, snuggled up in a Snuggie, ready to go.
She has been out a bridal shower in East Podunk, Alabama, so when the sat down, the first thing she saw while watching the Red Carpet special was Robert Downey Jr, and the first thing she said was, "Oh no! He's wearing a navy blue suit? Really? Robert!"
Its time.
732p... a quick recap of the best picture nominees with some of the classic lines from the last year... "If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you'd have invented Facebook."
732p... we open with a classic parody of nominated movies, this time involving Oscar hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway, with an appearance by Alec Baldwin, first intersparsing themselves in Inception, then with The Social Network and then The Fighter. They appear on a horse in a clip of True Grit
(James Franco tells Jeff Bridges, as Rooster Cogburn, "Hey, I loved you in TRON!").
735p... Morgan Freeman and his voice! More Alec Baldwin! And James and Anne are in the Back to the Future DeLorean! This is a fun little opening...
739p... James and Anne, who looks AB-SO-LUTE-LEE GOR-GEE-US by the way, hit the stage. She even tells James, "You look very appealing... to a younger demographic..." They banter back and forth, even talking to Anne's mom, and James' mom and grandma, who smiles and says, "I... just saw... Marky Mark..."
Its common knowledge that Mark Wahlberg hates the Marky Mark reference, but he seems to go along with it with a smile, if not a smirk.
Tonight, they are going to be looking back at some great Oscar winners from the last century, and they kick this off with Gone with the Wind. The Lovely Steph Leann absolutely loves this movie, all seven hours of it.
742p... Tom Hanks comes out, and discusses Gone With the Wind's awards in 1939. And he also discusses those films who have previously won Art Direction and Cinematography, and says the last movie to win these two, plus Best Picture, was my 9th favorite film of all time, Titanic.
Art Direction prize goes to "Alice in Wonderland". Crap. I'm 0-1 already. I tell The Lovely Steph Leann that I picked "The King's Speech" and she says, "Really? Kings Speech? Hmmm..."
746p... Tom Hanks now introduces Cinematography, and the Oscar goes to, "Inception". And again, I picked "The King's Speech". I'm 0-2. The Lovely Steph Leann just laughs. She didn't pick the winners, she is just laughing at me.
750p... Commercial break. I say, "Well, those goes my attempt at going 24-0. I'm Oh for 2 right now." She laughs, hard.
751p... James and Anne greet us after the break, and introduce Kirk Douglas, who comes out with a cane, and gets an immediate standing ovation. I have been watching Kirk Douglas movies since I was like, 3 years old, no joke. He's struggling to talk, with the effects of a few strokes. He tells James Franco, "You look much better out of the cave... and Anne Hathaway... SHE'S GORGEOUS!! Where were you when I was making pictures?!"
752p... Kirk Douglas is doing the Supporting Actress Award... usually, last year's Supporting Actor gives out this years Supporting Actress, and vice versa, and the same with Actor/Actress. I am wondering if they are letting screen legends do the acting awards? That would be cool.
754p... So, the guy is just standing there with the golden envelope, while Kirk Douglas ribs Colin Firth and Hugh Jackman in the audience, and he opens the envelope and holds the winner in his hands, and just keeps talking. We are cracking up here.
757p... The Oscar goes to Melissa Leo for The Fighter. Now its a race to see how many in a row I can lose. Standing next to Melissa Leo, Kirk Douglas says, "You are much more beautiful than you looked in The Fighter". She starts stammering, and The Lovely Steph Leann whispers, "Get it together, dear, you don't have much time..." She manages to even drop the F-bomb...
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| Mila on tonight's Red Carpet |
8p... Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake come out together, and Mila Kunis might be the hottest dressed one here tonight. They are doing the Best Animated Feature, and Best Animated Short... finally, at least I'll get one right! For Best Animated Short, the winner is The Lost Thing. Yay, 0-4.
805p... And here's the Biggest Lock of the Night. Toy Story 3. When Mila makes the nominee announcement for Toy Story 3, the audience gives a huge applause. Toy Story 3 wins. Finally, I get on the board... 1-4.
812p... Anne meets us from the break, and tells us about the very first Academy Awards in 1929, happening at The Roosevelt Hotel, across from the Oscars current location, the Kodak Theater.
813p... Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem comes out together, to give the Adapted and Original Screenplay awards. They also are dressed almost exactly alike. Not a great look. My picks for Adapted are The Social Network and The Kings Speech for Original.
814p... And the Oscar goes to... Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network! I got 2 right! Aaron comes up and gives a pleasant speech, and its based on a book called "The Accidental Billionaires". I've got 2 credits built up on Audible.com, think I'll use one of them on this. The orchestra starts to play, but doesn't play him off, because he keeps talking.
816p... Now, its Original Screenplay, and I went with The King's Speech. Josh and Javier, the White Tux Twins, gives the Oscar to The Kings Speech. I lost four in a row, but have now won three straight!!
818p... David Seidler, who wrote The King's Speech, is probably in his 70s, and starts his speech with, "My father always said... I'll be a late bloomer..." The audience, and us, laugh heartily. The gave Kirk Douglas as much time as he wanted, because he's Kirk Douglas, but now they are having to play catch-up by rushing winning speeches.
823p... Anne, still smoldering, even though she's in a tux, is back from break. She begins singing a version of "On My Own" (for Les Mis) calling out Hugh Jackman for standing her up for a duet she was supposed to sing. James Franco comes out in a pink dress, blond wig and horrible lipstick, saying, "You wore a tux, I wore this. Weird part is, I just got a message from Charlie Sheen..."
825p... Russell Brand and Helen Mirren, the most attractive 93 year old on Earth, come out together now. Helen speaks French, Russell incorrectly "translates". They are here to give Best Movie By a Dang Fer-ah-ner. The winner is "In a Better World". There goes my winning streak, and I'm 3-5 for the night. The chick director is doing her best English, though I'm wondering how long they will let her talk before you hear the music... and there it is...
829p... And Ashley Judd Club member Reese Witherspoon comes out, looking so classy and awesome. And she's here for the Best Supporting Actor. I'll take Reese over Mo'nique (last years Supporting Actress winner) any day of the week, and fourteen times on Sunday. And Monday. And Wednesday.
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| Unshaved Christian Bale and his wife |
830p... Unshaven Christian Bale is not a pleasant sight.
830p... And the Oscar goes to Unshaven Christian Bale. And his hair doesn't match his beard. We might be 2 for 2 on F-Bombs from The Fighter tonight!
831p... How weird is it to hear Christian Bale speak in his native British tongue? No joke.
834p... So Christian looks over and acknowledges his wife, then stammers without saying her name. The Lovely Steph Leann thinks Bale got choked up, but I think that Christian Bale just forgot his wife's name. Seriously?
837p... Okay, so he just got choked up. He teared up when talking about his daughter, choked up when discussing his wife, and plugged Dicky's website
(the guy the his character was based on) Fine, it was a good speech.
Bathroom break needed for both of us. Show is on pause via DVR. We are about 4.5 minutes behind... we'll catch up at the commercial break
843p... Here comes... well, I don't recognize them, but does it matter? I dunno. Its a little speech recognizing the marriage between ABC and The Academy Awards. Shameless self promotions.
844p... Anne is out again, looking like... well, that dress is awkward. Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman come out to award the award for Score. We get a Sound history lesson, and an orchestra appears to play some of the more memorable scores from film. I went with "The Social Network" on this.
847p... The winner is... Trent Reznor for "The Social Network". Who da thunk five years ago that Nine Inch Nails would win an Oscar? I loved Inception's score more, but I can deal with "Network". I'm 5-5 for the night! I'm coming back!
849p... Here comes the award for Sound Mixing and Sound Editing, with me picking Inception for both. Seems like they would go hand in hand. Here comes the very attractive Scarlett Johansson and the not so attractive Matthew McConaughey to give the awards... the winner of Mixing? Inception. The winner of Editing? Inception? Ha! Seven wins for me!
852p... I think to over/under for Christopher Nolan being thanked tonight is somewhere around 4,300.
856p... Back from break, Anne and James are introducing Marisa Tomei. James Franco has a squinting problem.
856p... Marisa Tomei is in my All Time Most Beautiful Actresses Like, Ever Hall of Fame. I love love love love love love Marisa Tomei. She's telling us the tech awards that aren't shown on this broadcast. James Franco says, "Congrats, nerds!"
858p... Every time I think Cate Blanchett is beautiful, she shows up not being so. Tonight? She's beautiful. She tells us about Lord of the Rings, winner of the makeup award. For makeup, its Rick Baker who has like, 87 Oscars. Make it 88, and I got an 8th win tonight. Daddy's on a roll, baby cakes!
859p... The Lovely Steph Leann likes to pick and choose the catagories she wants to predict, and out of the three she has picked, she's 3-0. Of course, she picked Toy Story 3, which was as big of a lock as any award in history. Which means she picked Alice in Wonderland for Costume Design, and that means its going to win.
901p... And the Oscar goes to? Not True Grit, my pick, now making me 8-6 on the night. Its Alice.
902p... The chick who won is reading her speech. When was the last time anyone actually read their speech? She gets to the bottom of the page as the orchestra plays her offstage.
903p... Favorite movie song? Wow... "I've Had the Time Of My Life"... "Beauty and the Beast"... "How Do You Know" from Enchanted... "Against All Odds"... and He Who Must Not Be Re-Elected is onscreen, telling us "Time Goes By"? What? Random.
905p... Kevin Spacey is out to introduce the songs that are nominated... first is Randy Newman, who has his 20th nomination this year. He's doing "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3. Next is Mandy Moore and Zach Levi to do "I See The Light" from Tangled... Zach Levi is a Christ Follower, by the way?
907p... Mandy Moore is stunning, but Anne has her beat tonight.
(in fairness, Reese tops them both, Mila Kunis in that dress beats all three, and Amy Adams, whom I'm in love with, tops them all). Zach Levi looks like a welfare Ben Affleck.
909p... Commercial break! Want to see an incredible Oscar song performance?
Click here.
911p... James Franco introduce Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams, whom I'm in love with, and the are out to award Documentary Short Film. Jake says it best in saying, "Shorts are also the hardest things to pick on your Oscar ballot... so see the shorts, and you might be a winner." The Lovely Steph Leann isn't picking this catagory, by the way. I chose "Killing in the Name", and the winner is "Strangers No More". I'm 8-7 so far.
912p... And now Best Live Action Short Film. My pick was "God of Love" and WOO-HOO! I picked that one! Yeah! I'm back!
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| Luke Matheny and his fro in a pre-Oscar photo op |
916p... Luke Matheny is giving the speech for the win, looks about 7 feet tall and has a fro the size of Red Robin. Awesome. He races through the thank-yous, including his mom, who did craft services for the film. Awesome speech.
917p... James and Anne are back, and there's a sight gag on movies that aren't musicals that they parody into musicals... including "Harry Potter", "Toy Story 3" and Timberlake on "The Social Network". This little montage should win Best Editing. The Twilight spot is called "He Doesn't Own a Shirt", featuring Taylor Lautner. That was funny.
919p... The next presenter? Oprah. Who's network is really struggling, by the way. The Lovely Steph Leann says, "Oprah looks like she's putting on weight", and I respond, "Doesn't she always?"
920p... Oprah is giving out The Best Documentary of the Year award. No news on whether Algore has given back the one he won for An Inconvenient Truth, which turned out be A Big Fat Piece of Crap. The Oscar goes to? Inside Job. I picked Restrepo. Apparently, Inside Job is about the banking and housing collapse, so had I known that, I would have gone with it. These are the same people who won for the anti-Iraqi doc "No End in Sight". And the speech bascially starts out with, "Rich people suck."
926p... Anne is back, looking all awesome and good looking, and she introduces former Oscar host--someone who did it best for years--Billy Crystal. He even gets a standing ovation. "The producers asked me to tell you that we are running long... so here's the nominees for Best Picture..."
928p... Its a look back at the first televised Oscars, with Bob Hope hosting it 18 times. Billy Crystal has been out for 30 seconds, and he's the funniest thing tonight not named Kirk Douglas. So now, we take a look back at the 25th Annual Academy Awards, hosted by Bob Hope. Bob says, "The Academy Awards, or as its known at my house, Passover." Its a hologram of Bob on the real Oscar podium, introducing what else...
931p... Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law come out to do Visual Effects. Token shot at RDJ's ho filled past by Jude Law, mildly funny banter, and to the nominees we go! I went with Inception... and the winner is... Inception. During the clip, they showed the hallway fight scene, and the big tunnel made to do that scene--you can't show that and then not give Inception the award. Its a techie sweep! And I get my 10th win! And... I still have 8 losses. Boo.
934p... Film Editing is the next award. I chose The Social Network, and the winner is... Facebook! 11-8!
937p... S'Ray just texted me the following:
The dress that the escort taking people off stage was
designed by Borris Powell... my high school drum major from the little town of Piedmont, Alabama.
940p... I asked "Is he a fashionista now?" and he replies, "He was on the red carpet tonight and reported that Valentino loved his design." So, there ya go.
940p... James and Anne are back... Anne is ravishing in red. James makes some innuendo jokes on movie titles (Winter's Bone?) and they introduce Jennifer Hudson, who then introduces the final two songs nominated for Best Song. First is "If I Rise" from "127 Hours".
942p... I am now going to sing the first part of "If I Rise"... "fa la wa wa la wa wa... fla wa lo lo la la..."
943p... Here's Gwynth Paltrow to sing her song from "Country Strong", the one I picked to win the award. And the winner is? The one I didn't think would get it, Randy Newman's "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3. I'm 11-9 on the night, and The Lovely Steph Leann is irritated that the Tangled song didn't win.
948p... Twenty noms, only his 2nd win. That's kinda wrong.
949p... The Lovely Steph Leann is still railing against Tangled's loss.
951p... Just saw on Facebook... Discussing the chick who sang the song from "127 Hours", Amarylis By Morning
(up from san antone) says, "I want Florence from Florence and the Machine to go to Melissa Clark and get a new hairstyle.."
952p... Celine Dion brings us back from break, and its the In Memorium montage. Celine Dion looks like she's 54, trying desperately to look 34. So far, no applause for anyone yet, even though they showed Tony Curtis already.
 |
Corey Haim. December 23, 1971 to
March 10th, 2010. Rest in Peace, Lost
Boy, Rest in Peace. |
953p... With no applause for Leslie Nielsen, I am now guessing they have the Applause-o-Meter turned off. There's no way Leslie doesn't get a round of clapping. Don't know who Susanna York is, but she had bad teeth. Hope that didn't contribute to her death...
955p... My guess would be that Dennis Hopper and Blake Edwards would get the biggest round of applause for the night, but no clapping until the very end. Out comes Halle Berry to tell us about Lena Horne, who died this past year. She gets a good tribute, and we fade to commercial...
958p... No Corey Haim. That's tragic.
1001p... The show is officially running long. Anne Hathaway is in a deep blue silky looking gown. She introduces Hillary Swank, who is a... gulp... two time (!) Academy Award winner!
1002p... Last year's Best Director, Kathyrn Bigalow, who won for "The Hurt Locker", is out to give away Best Director. The Oscar goes to... Tom Hooper, for "The King's Speech". This now seals Speech as Best Picture, if you ask me. I picked Fincher for "The Social Network", so now I'm 11 wins, 10 losses. Forget beating my all time record, I'll be lucky to finish above 500...
1005p... James looks like he's on drugs. He brings out Annette Bening. She tells us about The Governor's Awards, which is a Lifetime Achievement ceremony for legendary Hollywoodians. Eli Wallach is one shown given an award, as is Frances Ford Coppola. I personally like doing a special tribute to someone on the actual show itself, though they do bring out Eli, Frances and another honoree to the stage. They get standing ovations, of course.
1011p... James and Anne introduce Jeff Bridges to give Best Actress. The show is in full "We are behind!" mode, so things are speeding up. He mentions Annette Bening's nomination... as much as I hated "The Kids are All Right", I think Julianne Moore was ten times better than Annette.
1014p... I like how Jeff Bridges is talking to each nominee, not just saying their name and their movie, but discussing how good each of them were. I'm sure the Oscars' producers are like "hurry it up, Jeff!" because he's taking forever, but its cool.
1016p... And the Oscar goes to... Princess Padme Amidala. I picked Annette Bening to win, and I'm absolutely fine that she didn't. I know, I know, "Black Swan" is sort of a gay ballet movie too, but its got to be better than "The Kids are All Right". 11-11
1018p... So, right in the middle of Natalie Portman's speech... not only does my internet go down, but my Dish Network goes down as well.
1021p... Apparently, someone introduced Sandra Bullock during the outage, because here she is. She mentions Javier Bardem, then turns to Jeff Bridges and says, "Dude, you already won this. Let someone else win this for a change." True Grit was a great film, by the way. She tells Jesse Eisenberg in saying, "You've inspired lonely young men hunched over keyboards around the world."
1025p... And the Oscar goes to... The President and Founding Member in Good Standing of The Colin Firth Club. The Lovely Steph Leann cheers loudly, claps and waves her hands as Colin Firth accepts the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in "The King's Speech." So I'm pretty confident I'll get the Best Picture win, making me 13-11 for the night.
1027p... Colin Firth gives a classy, eloquent, funny and well spoken acceptance. The Lovely Steph Leann is giggling like a 4th grader. Well done, Colin, well done.
1029p... The Best Motion Picture Oscar is up next, after these messages.
1032p... James and Anne shout, "Steven Spielberg!" He comes out, and has in his hand an envelope that contains three words: "The" "Kings" "Speech". Ten best picture nominees. While seeing Colin Firth do his King's Speech in the King's Speech, we see clips from all the Best Picture nominees.
1034p... Who, besides K-Dub, would have ever expected to hear the words "Best Picture Nominee" and "Justin Timberlake" in the same sentence? Said with a straight face?
1035p... "The King's Speech" takes the Oscar. I finish the night 13-11, a horrible showing. The Lovely Steph Leann cheers on the picture win.
So there is the Oscars. James Franco and Anne Hathaway say goodnight... James seems like he was a little bothered by the whole hosting thing, but Anne sounded like she was having the time of her life the entire show.
We finish the show by having a kids choir sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and the Oscar winners for the night come out all together, making a pretty cool visual, many of them holding up their Oscars.
And that's a wrap. Thanks for reading, see you this week...
