MoviePage

What word? "Second-highest number"? Because that's the only thing I ever mentioned in regards to placement. When the numbers in question are 5, 5, and 2, I'm fairly confident that 2 is the second-highest number there.

Ok, great. The Iron Lady won more Oscars than any movie last night besides the two first-place winners (or the first and second place winners, or the gold and silver medal winners, or the blue ribbon and the red ribbon finalists, or whatever else you want to call it semantically). I'm not sure why this is even a debate, really.

Completely agree with this.

bluetoast

Yeah he's gotta be like 5'5'' or something. She was wearing heels but I don't think she's that tall to begin with.

Also is it just me or does Rooney Mara seem like a flash in the pan? Just a random hunch on my part but I dunno, she doesn't seem like she has "it". Her performance in The Social Network reminded me of a low rent Natalie Portman.

Edit:

And at least this year wasn't as bad as that terrible year when they had all the nominees stand on stage, then the winner came forward after the announcement. Or when they had to accept the award FROM THE FUCKING AISLE. What a disaster.

davidh777

I hate spoilers, to the point that I try to know as little about a movie going in as possible, other than I want to see it. With every clip or still they showed of Hugo, I was getting more and more annoyed, but I knew it was my fault for not getting out to see it. The problem with the Oscars is that you have two basic audiences: People who have seen the film and will get a certain emotional reaction from a clip, and people who have not seen the film and may be interested by the clip. (And yes, there are many other groups such as those who have no plans to see it etc. but I'm ignoring them for now.) My preference would be that they always err on the side of caution and not spoil a climactic moment. I did see The Artist but offhand I couldn't recall exactly when the scene under discussion here happened, so I'm glad to hear it wasn't that critical.

I'm OK with the current length, though I do think some stuff like the shorts could be cut. I do like how the costumes and effects type awards will surface some films different from what we tend to see over and over during the rest of the show. And yes, I remember the days of random compilations like "Oscar pays tribute to vodka shooters in the movies!" Don't need to go back to those, though they did involve occasional cleverness and entertainment value.

TerryW

Billy was so horrible as usual and everyone just accepted it and awkwardly applauded. The monologue was bad. All his ad-libs were awful. He should seriously watch Seth Rogen from the Film Independent Spirit Awards. Now, that was a funny monologue. Granted, he wasn't held back by network censorship but still overall a much funnier opening.

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Ash Ketchum

It's just you. I love Rooney Mara. (I do not love Natalie Portman.) Strictly on the basis of her appearance in SOCIAL NETWORK and her starring role in DRAGON TATTOO, she's displaced Megan Fox as my new favorite contemporary actress. I don't know of anyone among her peers who could have pulled off Lisbeth Salander so expertly.

And I thought she looked awesome at the Oscars:

auto

Oh thank god

Supermallet

While I certainly don't love Megan Fox as an actress the way Ash Ketchum does, I agree wholeheartedly about Rooney Mara. She's got chops, and she should have won for Dragon Tattoo.

islandclaws

I had to laugh when Firth was standing up there gushing about Mara. Must be hard to come up with something so eloquently worded for a chick who, aside from Dragon Tattoo, had an unmemorable bit part in Social Network and starred in a horrendously shitty remake.

I watched the whole show with my parents. It was definitely better than last years. I don't know why people bitch about the Oscars so much. Have any of you seen the show before? It's all pomp & circumstance, and overpaid celebrities giving each other handjobs. This isn't ever going to be anything more than it is now. I tune in because I love movies and it seems relevant to my interests. I never go in expecting it to be a spectacular show. I watch because I love laughing at Hollywood while they give out little statues.

And The Artist is a great film, and I'm completely happy with it winning what it did.

kefrank

As far as the shorts are concerned, I would wager it's more than you think. Here in St. Louis, one of the local theaters screens the Oscar-nominated shorts for a few weeks ahead of the broadcast (all five live action on one ticket and animated on another). I would imagine the same thing occurs in most metropolitan areas. I saw the live-action ones this year and was very interested in that category during the show.

Besides, by the standard in your first sentence, Best Picture should be dumped since pretty much no one saw The Artist.

bluetoast

Yeah I saw all the live action and animated shorts. It's a fun time, although none of the animated ones did much for me this year.

Astrofan

I don't watch every year. Was this something new? It was totally cringe-worthy. I actually couldn't watch the screen. I had to look away everytime she called out their first name. Are we suppose to believe that Natalie Portman is familiar with not only all five performances, but their careers in general? And can you really gush over Rooney Mara--for her chick-filling role in The Social Network or her performance in an unneeded American remake of a film?

Ash Ketchum

Au contraire, Monsieur Cannibal, her scenes were the most memorable parts of SOCIAL NETWORK for me. (She and Justin Timberlake kept that film from being a total waste for me.) And DRAGON TATTOO was one of my three favorite films from last year. I saw it right after reading the book and was impressed with the faithful quality of its adaptation and the way Ms. Mara totally nailed that character. (I still haven't seen the Swedish movie.)

bluetoast

They've been doing it the last few years. At least in 2008 they had 5 previous different winners talk to an individual nominee, so it seemed more genuine. But it did still take up a lot of time.

Giles

I agree, the chicken one was a total WTF? 'Wild Life' was forgettable.

islandclaws

I'll give you that. I do recall people saying they enjoyed her scenes, but I didn't feel she necessarily added anything to the film. A dozen actresses could have filled that role.

As someone who hasn't seen Fincher's Dragon Tattoo (I know, I know), I can't yet say how well she handles a film that isn't a pre-destined piece of crap.

CRM114

Yet The Tree of Life is completely ignored because it's confusing and esoteric.

Daytripper

Re: Rooney, I'm very anxious to follow her career. Not only because I think she's stunning, but she was terrific in "TGWTDT"

PenguinJoe

The sad thing about Hollywood is Jean Dujardin may be an incredibly actor but Hollywood won't knw how to use him so my guess is he becomes a villian in an upcoming Bond film or a quirky Frenchman in a romantic comedy rather than a role with more depth.

bluetoast

What's funny is that would be the same situation his character faced in The Artist.

Drexl

Too soon to tell for me. I thought she was good in TGWTDT, but maybe not quite deserving of a nomination.

The young actress I really think is special is Saoirse Ronan. Although she might not be in the same "crop" since Mara is 9 years older.

bluetoast

I'll agree that I did like Tattoo...maybe it is too soon to tell.

kefrank

Of the live action ones, I really liked Tuba Atlantic and hoped it would win, but I figured The Shore would win and it did.

kefrank

Personally, I thought she was outstanding in Dragon Tattoo. It's a complex part that isn't necessarily easy to play, especially for such a relatively inexperienced actress, and she completely owned it. Some of those scenes just cannot be pulled off believably without some serious acting chops.

Iron_Giant

Enjoyed the AA Show very much.
-Great to have Billy back, his opening was great.
-Circus guys were FANTASTIC!
-Disappointed "The Help" did not win best picture, buy oh well.

My wife and I did win the Oscar Pool with 16 correct, we had one or two picks were completely dumb. But, over all we nailed it, and we really nailed the "Smaller" categories.
-We only won a little Oscar statue.

GoldenJCJ

Having never actually seen him on screen before, why did I think that Alexander Payne was a black guy?