What a wild ride. I hope Oscar goes back to five. I don’t think my heart could take another year like this one.
My parting thoughts: Life of Pi should have won Adapted Screenplay and Picture. Lincoln should have won Adapted Screenplay, Director and Picture. One or the other. I would have a hard time choosing between them. Ang Lee has now won two Best Director Oscars without Picture. First to Crash and now to Argo. Argo has won three, without a director nomination. It is in on par with Crash and Rocky. The awards were very much split up all over the place. Good luck making any sense of it.
Emmanuelle Riva should have beat Jennifer Lawrence. Love Jennifer Lawrence completely but come on. Give me a break, people.
The BAFTAOSCARS were fairly similar except BAFTA went with Riva for actress and David O. Russell for screenplay.
I loved all of the singing and dancing and Seth MacFarlane is my favorite Oscar host, or one of them, right up there with Crystal, Martin and Letterman.
That the Oscar audience didn’t applaud Tony Kushner’s name makes me think either they are too stupid en masse to know what they weren’t clapping for or else the trickery in the media worked to turn them against him. Either way, shame on them.
The best wins of the night were Ang Lee for Director and Inocente for Doc Short.
And with that, it’s been fun, kind of. Let’s see what next year brings.
One thing I can tell for sure about next year’s Oscars:
Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Margo Martindale, Benedict Cumberbach, Ewan McGregor, Nicole Kidman, Oscar Isaacs, Carey Muligan, Octavia Spencer, Oprah Winfrey… (if you’re on Harvey film)
Make your speeches. One of you is assured an Oscar next year. Harvey’s actors in the past Oscars- Penelope Cruz, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz (2x), Colin Firth, Melissa Leo, Christian Bale, Meryl Streep, Jean DuJardin, Jennifer Lawrence.
And it looks like Harvey Weinstein and Scott Rudin are together again in The Coens film…
Does anyone knows TWC list complete right now? Am I missing any film?
August: Osage County
Inside Llewyn Davis
The Butler
Fruitvale
Grace of Monaco
@Brian are you a bigot too? Because Seth is incapable of saying something NOT offensive. He sucked the glamour and classiness of the Oscars and made of the show a frat party. There was nothing classy, timelines or well intentioned in his jokes.
Misogynistic, sexist, racist, phobic, unfunny remarks and overall ignorant bigotry is what we got.
The Les Miserables’ musical number was the number one highpoint of the Oscars. Anne Thompson attended the Oscars, and she mentioned the musical number got the best reaction by the Oscar audience. I expect the DVD sales for this movie to surge big time next month.
I was highly disappointed by the undeserved win of Jennifer Lawrence. This lady has little acting experience and no actor training- and it shows in all her performances. That is why she portrays herself in all her movies.
Ben Affleck seems like a good guy, but Argo as a film and his direction were very safe and not imaginative. Best Pictures wins should be films that are ground-breaking and artistically satisfying. I enjoyed Argo, but it is not ground-breaking nor creatively brilliant. I hate to say this, but Affleck is still a very wooden actor. His scenes in Argo confirmed it.
Seth McFarland was a pleasant surprise. He was funny and except for a couple of really tasteless remarks, pretty inoffensive, as a Master of Ceremonies should be.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/02/25/onion_oscars_tweet_horible_joke_about_quvenzhane_wallis_prompts_twitter.html
Since we don’t use the word “cunt” often enough around here, I thought I’d link this.
Personally, I think the joke is pretty damn funny since the young lady is clearly adorable and seems to have a good head on her shoulders and the real joke here is not the insult, but that it mocks people who say insensitive things because they believe everyone else is thinking the same thing when they clearly are not.
“When noms first came out Chastain was the snob choice du jour.”
We snobs may have had Tree of Life but she was best known for the very mainstream hit The Help. Otherwise she has had her share of being in standard action stuff (The Debt) and thinking people’s action-driven films like Corialanus, Take Shelter, and Zero Dark Thirty. One Malick film does not make won the Queen for the Film Snobs.
Highllights for me
Halle Berry presenting 50 years of James Bond
Shirley Bassey singing Goldfingeer
Adele singing Skyfall
Michelle Obama handing out the best picture prize
Chris Terrio’s speech
The college film students standing up there with the Presideent of the Academy
William Shatner giving Seth McFarlane tips on how to host the show.
Not so highlights
Jennifer Lawrence falling when she got the Oscar.
Anne Hathaway’s dress.
Animated Feature category-Wreck it Ralph should’ve won
The tie in the sound editing category, wtf.
I’d love to see Seth MacFarlane coming back next year, but sadly, it’s probably not happening. Oh well.
The tie made me think (again) about the following problem: “Why aren’t ties happening more often?”
If we had the exact numbers (# of votes and # of picks in a category), we could run a probability estimation for how often ties would be expected to happen – and then compare that with reality. If there’s a significant deviation from our math expectation, then we could claim (with high probability) that the academy is meddling with the votes deliberately sometimes.
It’s truly unfortunate that the Academy chose Lawrence as Best Actress over the superior performance of Emmanuelle Riva. No way did Lawrence deserve it more. But then again, Lawrence did have a campaigning advantage, whereas Riva was in France and was afraid to fly.
Nope, we’re on different planets.
@Kolés : Humour?? I appreciate a good sense of humour and your humour was in bad taste.
I think this was my final year as an Oscar watcher. Ben Affleck and Ang Lee did great work amd were deserving winners, but the way the Academy largely shafted “Lincoln” forever ruined any credibility it had left.
Likes:
–“Skyfall” wins some love from the Academy.
–Daniel Day-Lewis wins his third Oscar. If any actor could do this, it’s him.
–Ang Lee wins Director. I have not seen “Life of Pi” yet, but Lee seems nice and he seems more at the top of his game than Spielberg.
–Adele performing “Skyfall.” Way better than the Bond tribute
–“Flight” sock-puppet parody
Dislikes:
-Seth MacFarlane was just horrible and did not offer anything knew. He tells jokes and smiles while the audience laughs at the punchline. Of course, I really don’t care for hosts. A lot of people love them, but I don’t really care for them. Although, Billy Crystal is a man who could put on a show about the year’s and past years’ movies and provide some pretty good comedy. The Academy needs more Billys.
–The 50 Years of James Bond tribute was a big let-down. All it was was a lot of the movies editted into a montage with the Bond theme playing over it. We have all seen this before countless times. It would have been a lot better had all 6 Bond actors been on stage.
–Too much singing and dancing and song numbers and too much jazz. Okay, the Academy is honoring music in film, or something like that, but did they really need to play so many songs from past movies? This is why the show went a half-hour over.
–“Lincoln” winning Production Design. It’s nice to award the movie something else, but really this felt like a sympathy win for “Lincoln” not winning much else. Besides, “Anna Karenina” looked much more impressive, or even “Les Miserables” (yes, i went there).
–The Sound Editing tie. I’m glad “Skyfall” won, but really? A tie? I still believe it was the real winner here.
Oh yeah and all this sensitive backlash for the jokes on the boobs and Jews and cocaine and all that…..guys, gals, get a grip and buy yourself a sense of humor. It’s funny because it’s rude and vulgar. But it’s funny.
Wow wow wow. So Argo sucks for winning ah? (Ryan, remember when I mentioned illogical hatred? Yeah… this happens every year … thankfully it’s not as bad as other years but Argo is being hated on and it’s actually a good film…so yeah, illogical.)
Argo is great movie, there was nothing Oscar baity about it and if you look back at when you first saw it please tell me that you actually thought “this movie has Best Picture Oscar written all over it”. Please. It’s a high intensity suspenseful drama that hits all the right notes, has fantastic dialogue, solid acting, a nice little “will they won’t they” moment at the end to keep you on the edge and it’s done. Just a solid movie, through and through that pays tribute to the power of creativity and intelligence (Chris Terrio’s speech last night is still ringing in my ears….one of the best of the night easily, even though Lincoln should have won Adapted Screenplay).
As such, I can’t be unhappy at Argo’s win. It’s the best Best Picture winner since The Hurt Locker.
Other great wins from last night:
– Ang Lee. The man looks like the nicest human being on the planet and just happy to be alive let alone be winning awards. I adore Life of Pi, so I’m very very happy he won.
– Daniel Day-Lewis. Admit it to yourselves or not, Joaquin Phoenix gave the best performance of the year and it’s one of those performances that will go down in history so yes he was robbed. But he couldn’t have been robbed by a classier legend and DDL’s speech was easily the best of the night. Such grace, such class, the man is seriously in his own league. The only thing that sucks regarding DDL’s win is that when asked what he’ll do next after Lincoln he said “it’s hard to imagine doing anything after this” which would be a complete travesty if he meant it.
P.S: Bless Meryl Streep for making it quick and painless for all the other nominees by announcing Daniel Day Lewis right away and not fumbling with the envelope like Richard Gere. Streep and DDL together on stage > the whole room.
-Waltz winning for Supporting Actor. Granted that in a perfect world Hoffman would have won for what was the superior performance but NONE of those actors in those roles (including Jones and DeNiro and obviously Arkin) left their comfort zones when portraying their characters. And so it was who had the best character and since Shultz is one of the best characters of the year, presto. Waltz was gracious in his speech, he pretty much owes his whole career and life to Tarantino now and it was endearing to hear him use his character’s words. Very cool. Very happy.
-Hathaway winning deservedly. Predictable.
Not so great wins:
-Tarantino’s win for Django was great, I love the guy and he’s one of the most entertaining writers/directors working today but he robbed Mark Boal of a much better script. Good coked-up, funny, random speech though.
-Jennifer Lawrence winning. Very mediocre performance compared to all the rest except for the child Wallis. Riva was robbed of the ultimate respect she deserved for her whole career and that riveting performance in Amour, Chastain was equally robbed for her brave and beautiful performance in Zero Dark Thirty. Terrible speech as well. She will prove one day to be a worthy actress. One day.
What else what else…
Seth MacFarlane was not as funny as I thought he’d be but the Flight sock puppets was one of the best things I’ve seen in a long time.
The musical numbers and all that dancing and singing? No, just no. This is about movies, not songs, this is the Dolby Theater not Broadway and these are the Oscars not the Tonys. Stop the music already. So boring.
the misogyny and hypocrisy in these comments is out of control. saying that Jennifer will definitely win again as long as she “shows her tits” in Serena diminishes the amazing work that Jennifer did in SLP and Winter’s Bone and will likely do in Serena. You’ve basically lumped every attractive young actress that has ever won and said none of them have any real talent aside from being hot. Please. Many of those women went on to have children or probably have a hard time finding good roles, as they tend to disappear once you hit a certain age.
This is coming from a group of people who consider themselves above the idiot masses. When noms first came out Chastain was the snob choice du jour. When her momentum fade you all jumped ship to Riva. Basically all award season it’s been “anyone but Lawrence.” I thought Jennifer’s performance was layered and complex and this is coming from a 28 yr old straight woman (lest you think I’m some 14 yr old fangirl or horny guy). I could care less that she’s hot or whether she “shows her tits.” I consider myself a smart movie watcher. I think any one of the five actresses delivered a winning caliber performance. This was Jennifer’s 2nd nomination in lead actress (which is the same # as Watts, who many people were saying was “due for a win”).
and please stop saying she’s going to fade into obscurity. She would literally have to quit acting at this point because she already has 2 movies in the can (Serena and Catching Fire). And she’s signed on for X-Men, David O. Russell’s Abscam movie, and Ends of the Earth (which people a raving about the script, written by Chris Terrio)
She easily could’ve phoned in the Hunger Games and made them tween fodder like Twilight, but she elevated the quality of those movies, and I think she elevated the character of Tiffany, which easily could have been a meaningless supporting role in the hands of a lesser actress.
I think MacFarlane was great. If he didn’t know whether some of the jokes would go down or not, anybody remember Billy’s first time? Seth was comfortable on stage and that matters the most.
Ang Lee winning was the best moment, but why did they have to give 20 out of 24 to clear frontrunners? If you guessed some 20-21 correct, you get no bragging rights this time. Les Mis cast sounded pretty awful, but Zeta-Jones rocked it and Bassey was awesome. Barbra, I really didn’t get, surprisingly. Adele, fuck yeah. So, when a movie show’s best bits are musical ones (add William Shatner), the show in general is in trouble.
Lawrence winning over Riva I can live with, and so can she. I actually thought that Academy would reward talent over popularity here. I don’t want to downplay Lawrence, she is a fine actress, but the film itself I did not like. They should’ve given Original Screenplay to Haneke, but at least we saw him on stage once. Harvey is really becoming someone to hate, even Tarantino won for a wrong film. He’s worthy of two writing Oscars, but for Django Unchained? Please.
Annoyingly disappointing directing this time. Almost every time there was a joke about someone, they didn’t cut to that someone’s reaction. Why? Surely, they had a script. This makes bad television.
In conclusion, this was one of the most boring Oscar shows I’ve seen. And even the host can’t save these choices.
“I think since the lead actor won for biopic role given out by the actress who won for a biopic role before presented by another biopic role (and so on….), the next best actress win will be for a biopic role as well.”
DAY-LEWIS: And the Oscar goes to…. Naomi Watts for Diana.
Naomi… next year is yours.
“Thank you Academy for breaking the rules. If you did’t like Bean Affleck for Director, why honoring his film? I don’t get it. What a crap of awards.”
What rules are those?
The director’s branch might no have liked Affleck, but the rest of the Academy did, so they vote for Argo.
I think since the lead actor won for biopic role given out by the actress who won for a biopic role before presented by another biopic role (and so on….), the next best actress win will be for a biopic role as well.
But, we’ll see.
Harvey’s just bought Nicole Kidman’s Grace of Monaco biopic. Let the games begin!
“I won’t be watching next year, Sasha. My now 45-year OBSESSION with the Academy Awards is officially over. There has not been a good Oscar telecast since the 70s. But when they chose our Socialist queen in the White House to announce BEST picture that did it for me.”
I don’t think ABC will miss you.
@George Clooney Remember when this year was so bad the movie with more awards only won 3?
When I found out they wanted to make my little screenplay into a film film. I thought they were all joking! This was obviously a made for tv movie, I said! The wigs, the glasses, the catchphrase, brilliant!
I think Lincoln would have been a far better film, if it had ended with that shot of him disappearing down the hall. The death scene was laughable! Watching the scenes between DDL and Sally Field was like watching Punch & Judy! She was awful! Awful! I was laughing my brains out when Abe and Mary Todd had their little spat over “their poor child!” DDL vomited all over Lincoln’s great name!
Obama’s appearance was sickening.
I could have lived with most of the wins, even Argo, had the race not turned so political.
In a normal world Affleck would have won Director, and Lincoln would have won A. Screenplay. We were all right in thinking that the Academy had to justify Argo’s top win. That Chris Terio went over and shook Kushner’s hand speaks volumes.
Brave winning was a waste, even if it wasn’t a particularly compelling year for the category.
Lawrence’s win will be looked back on as one of the worst wins in the category, even if she has greater continued success in film than, say, Gwyneth Paltrow or Reese Witherspoon.
With that I’m out. See you all next year! Though at this rate…I don’t know how much of my time I want to spend thinking about this BS knowing how political it’s gotten.
Remember when Lincoln only won 2 oscars?
I kept on thinking The Avengers cast (well actually just Jackson and Robert Downey Jr.) would make for very good, fun hosts.
And looking at the gif of the Best Actress reaction to the announcement, after being fascinated by Chastain’s series of micro-expressions (gracious to sucking it in that this did not happen to back to gracious, it was like her conversation with Ehle in the restaurant scene all over again) I could not help but see Kathryn Bigelow sitting behind her being completely stone-faced when Lawrence was announced. After the nominations were out (and the damage done to the movie, completely under-represented at the awards) she put on the best face and tried to ride above it all but I think after it lost awards it deserved for Editing and Screenplay she knew that Chastain’s chances sunk and just felt bad that the controversy brought that film down. She was probably thinking in her head how any action could have made these results different in those moments. According to reporters there, nobody from ZD30 was in a good mood, with exception to the Ottosson win, the whole night from MacFarlane’s summation of the film to the results. Talk about a group who needed the tallest set of drinks from the bar at the post-Oscar parties.
I’m only slightly heartened to learn that Lincoln actually won two Oscars. I had missed the Production Design win when reading other wrap-ups. I didn’t watch the show, though. There is only so much suffering I can take.
What the results (Argo as chief victor) confirm is that Hollywood really is a shallow place. I’m kind of disappointed. I had always assumed Tinseltown was filled with intelligent people. (You know – creativity equals intelligence.) I was wrong!
Most years I have an Oscar hangover and need to back off for a few months, but I’m ready to go this year! In fact, I’m going full lunatic with early, early, early picks in the big eight categories. Gird your loins:
BEST PICTURE
August: Osage County
Blue Jasmine
The Butler
Captain Phillips
Fruitvale
The Monuments Men
Nebraska
Rush
Saving Mr. Banks
The Wolf of Wall Street
ADVANTAGE: The Butler
BEST DIRECTING
Lee Daniels, The Butler
Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale
Ron Howard, Rush
Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street
ADVANTAGE: Lee Daniels
BEST LEADING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Zoe Saldana, Nina
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks
Kate Winslet, Labor Day
ADVANTAGE: Zoe Saldana
BEST LEADING ACTOR
Daniel Bruhl, Rush
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Fifth Estate
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Tom Hanks, Saving Mr. Banks
Forest Whitaker, The Butler
ADVANTAGE: Forest Whitaker
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Catherine Keener, Captain Phillips
Leslie Mann, The Bling Ring
Margo Martindale, August: Osage County
Octavia Spencer, Fruitvale
Oprah Winfrey, The Butler
ADVANTAGE: Oprah.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Paul Giamatti, Saving Mr. Banks
Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street
Bill Murray, The Monuments Men
David Oyelowo, The Butler
ADVANTAGE: Bill Murray
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Woody Allen, Blue Jasmine
Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale
Bob Nelson, Nebraska
Peter Morgan, Rush
Kelly Marcel, Saving Mr. Banks
ADVANTAGE: Kelly Marcel
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Tracy Letts, August: Osage County
Daniels/Strong, The Butler
Jason Reitman, Labor Day
Clooney/Heslov, The Monuments Men
Terence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street
ADVANTAGE: Daniels/Strong
Now to sit back and find out exactly how wrong these are!
Just saw found out that Susanne Bier is directing SERENA, She hasn’t made any great movie, but damn she is a proper director(IN A BETTER WORLD). So this time it will truly be Meryl Streep vs Jennifer Lawrence.
@rufuss,
does Meryl’s character show her tits in AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY? Cuz otherwise I’m calling it now.
Thank you Academy for breaking the rules. If you did’t like Bean Affleck for Director, why honoring his film? I don’t get it. What a crap of awards.
Serena, the character, gets naked a lot in the book by Ron Rash. Yeah, I know it’s a book and you can’t “see” the nudity, but I think it’s pretty important and I hope they do that stuff in the film. It would be one of those rare times that nudity in a film truly relates to character and character development.
Serena, the character, gets naked a lot in the book by Ron Rash. Yeah, I know it’s a book and you can’t “see” the nudity
speak for yourself
I don’t know how they can leave the raw heat and sexual magnetism out of the film without neutering it.
The good news — Serena isn’t being watchdogged by a major studio. Production companies are 2929 Productions (We Own the Night,The Road, The Girlfriend Experience) and Chockstone Productions (Killing Them Softly, The Counselor) — so there’s a good record of frank adult fare.
Thanks for making me wonder about this, rufussondheim — after seeing this production pedigree I’m more excited than ever.
Now if we can get Emmanuelle Riva and Quvenzhane Wallis to sign up for a girl version of The Intouchables directed by Judd Apatow, then they can both win their Oscars for their dumb junk movies next year. But they have to hurry up if they want to steal L-Jaw’s Oscar for the performance that could vault her into Faye Dunaway territory.
Anyone who has seen Neil Patrick Harris host the Tonys would know how much Seth McFarland sucked last night. And that “end of show song” they did was terrible compared to, yet again, the Tonys.
Really, the Tonys should be the template all other awards shows should follow. They manage to get all of the awards in, all of the songs and performances in as well. There is so much bloated crap in the Oscars, it’s embarrassing. The Bond clipfest was a snooze compared to what it could have been, and the three musical numbers from musicals was pretty dull. If you wanted to see that shit, just go on to youtube, you’ll see better student productions of those numbers.
Have you guessed how much I hate the Oscars telecast?
“I still can’t believe that Jessica Chastain or EMMANUELLE RIVA both lost to Jennifer Lawrence.”
Because they divided the intellectual voters who pick on the merits and the horny seniles united behind Jennifer Lawrance. Looking back it was a no-brainer. Now if she show her tits in Serena and Hunger Games 2 is as successful as it’s expected you can see a double dip ala Tom Hanks
“Salma Hayek is trying to enunciate English but still having a time of it”
Dang, that’s some racist bullshit if i ever saw some
the TV critics are bashing MacFarlane… once again proving themselves the stupidest people in print.
I liked the show…. sad that the sound engineering screwed Adele.
Best surprise was Lincoln for art.
The Les Mis ensemble piece was my high point – along with the dance numbers in the opening. Bassey.
DDL was brilliant.
For years I have thought, and this year’s Oscars confirms, that a Best Picture nomination automatically ought to carry with it the nomination of its director. It seems impossible that a picture can be “best” without a director in charge. If you have nine BP noms, then you get the corresponding 9 director noms. Among other things, this would make the initial voter consider both film and director. Now there would still be the odd occasion when the winning film would not have a corresponding director award. It is certainly conceivable that a film might have flaws (holes in script, oddball performance) that would detract, while directorial excellence cried out to be rewarded.
Re Argo win: I suspect that over time this will be viewed as one of those times when a good movie replaced several better ones (Lincoln, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, possible Amour). Argo is one of the few I have not seen, but the clips chosen don’t suggest unusual quality in the film, as opposed to those for Amour, which did. Now I have always liked Ben Affleck, even when it was fashionable not to do so. I am pleased with his current run of success, but in all truth I considered his previous two directorial efforts to be really good rather than really great. That is not meant to disparage the really good.
All told, this has truly been a great year for films. I had sensed something happening for the last three or so years, and now there have been so many greats and really goods, including quite a number not even represented in the nominations. I have loved Looper, The Dark Night Rises (its omission is sinful), Marvel’s The Avengers, Prometheus (that is going to loom larger over time than some of the nominees), The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and others, and tomorrow I look forward to getting finally to see (courtesy of Netflix) The Master and Holy Motors, neither of which came near my closest 16-plex in Tuscaloosa, AL.
It’s not how many Oscars you win, it’s which ones you win. Argo won 2 really big ones and the top technical prize. Keep in mind, The Godfather, which many consider to be the best film ever, only won 3 Oscars (Picture, Actor, Adapted Screenplay).
Seth was awesome. He was funny, personable, and come on, we saw your boobs.
Lawrence’s win is kind of “meh” to me. Her co-stars outshined her the whole movie. Personally, I would have given it to Quvenzhané Wallis, but whatever. Hathaway looks great though.
I enjoyed the show, but Riva was robbed.
I’ve been let down too many times cheering my choices for winners and thought, “If I could just predict and get them right I’ll get some gratitude in knowing I can at least read these things right. If I lose and my favorite wins…I’m wrong but I win too” 🙂
@J Viewer, sadly I didn’t participate but to be honest if I had I would’ve gone with who I wanted to win and believed had a great shot at winning. Like right before the ceremony I was going for Hoffman, Life of Pi for sound editing, Riva for actress and ZD30 for screenplay. But right before the show I went with my instincts and thought about all the charts, all the ebbs and flows and all the talks we’ve all had on this website and Moneyball’ed the fuck out of the Oscars and there ya have it. Sometimes you leave what you want and cheer for out and go with what makes sense. Trust me I wish I was wrong in some of the categories…Hoffmannnnnnn nooooo!
@Doddi
Are you familiar with the term “sarcasm”? I don’t mind “Argo” winning but you know, answers like yours only confirm my belief that “Argo” fans have some serious problems with sense of humor.
In the states Argo is met really well by people in the middle. There are conservatives who love it but are irked by the Carter kudos at and it has been meant so well with liberals that I found a little shocking, especially when these same people went apeshit over Zero Dark Thirty. From an objective point of view, this cold-hearted, screw-up, blood on their hands CIA is the CIA liberals seem to think only exists yet odd viewer illiteracy made people think the film was glorifying that CIA. So what was Argo’s CIA portrayal comparatively? Far more positive. Yet many liberals loved it. I just scratch my head.
I still can’t believe that Jessica Chastain or EMMANUELLE RIVA both lost to Jennifer Lawrence. I thought her performance was the weakest of the five nominees.
@Kolés : “Only according to a group of middleaged right-winged republican white racist males who are against gay marridge and beat their wives with bicycle chains.”
You know, answers like this only confirm my belief in Argo actually being the best. You try to be funny with answers like that and you know it’s not true.
I thought Argo was the best … I live in Iceland, I’m not right-winged, not a republican, not racist, not against gay marriage …
really sad reply – obviously there is no reasoning or debating with you … being sad and offensive is maybe something you aim at regularily?
Sidenote:
Kane, if that’s the case (“except for 4”), it looks to me you are most likely to win the grand prize if you have participated in AD Oscars predictions. Good luck.
This was one of my best years yet with predicting all winners except for 4. I got documentary and short documentary wrong (I was spitballing since I don’t follow either but I know I need to), I went against Argo last minute and picked ZD30 and I thought Anna Karenina would win art direction. In my defense I knew ZD30 would win sound editing but not be part of a tie. So the only category where I actually put a full amount of thought and missed was art direction…I can still count editing can’t I 😛
@ Carlos — do your math again. PI earned MORE Oscars than Argo. I don’t understand how come they can’t do this show in 2-3 hours? Every awards show is tight. Does the Oscar have MORE awards than the others? Too many songs, great song moments yes, but the music just went on and on.
Jbn, approx. 2 wks ago, Harvey weinstein’s daughter idea, i doubt it is related in any way to the state of the race, on the contrary Lincoln or zd30 would have been more symbolic for obama.
http://m.deadline.com/2013/02/oscars-2013-michelle-obama-surprise-appearance-video/
“Even Bigelow and Boal faced similar objections like that absolutely horrific Hollywood Reporter piece that suggested that Boal was practically a co-director and the real brains of the operation while really diminishing Bigelow’s prior THL career in the process.”
Had totally missed that, but wow.
…
“…the in-awards quirk I loved the most was accidentally shooting Emmanuelle Riva in David O. Russell’s Best Director block.”
“accidentally”
They got him back for the Baftas. Good.
…
“Wow. Because the audience didn’t applaud the nominee you believed should have won, they must be “too stupid en masse to know what they weren’t clapping for” and “shame on them”. Classy.”
Exactly.
“What a wild ride. I hope Oscar goes back to five. I don’t think my heart could take another year like this one.”
Perfectly right Sasha.
The Oscars have to get back to five AND get back to March also.
Now it is the DGA that rules the game completely, just followed by the PGA and GG.
This season was the first in the last 28 years where Oscar and GG perfectly matched in the eight main categories (Picture, Directing, Screenplay, Actors, Actresses and Forein Film.
According to my records, this is the chart of the last 65 years of Oscars/other Guilds
DGA 80%
PGA 71%
GG 69%
CC 61%
WGA 54%
SAG 50%
I think I would die laughing if Michelle Obama would had to say “And the Oscar goes to Django Unchained” 🙂
@ Vily will it give you consolation to know that Best Actress winners never followup with GOOD to EXCELLENT movies — except Meryl Streep, who knows good scriptwriting. Name one “young” actress who has won in the past 10 years and gone on to make good quality boxo hit movies? Halle Berry? Nope. Reese Witherspoon? Nope. Gwyn Paltrow? Nope. Anybody want to contribute more names?
I don’t know what it is with the actresses more than the males, that they can’t find quality scripts afterwards. I predict the same with Jennifer.
I won’t be watching next year, Sasha. My now 45-year OBSESSION with the Academy Awards is officially over. There has not been a good Oscar telecast since the 70s. But when they chose our Socialist queen in the White House to announce BEST picture that did it for me. That presentation should be restricted to Hollywood greats; it’s a purely industry affair. Or should be. In short. I’ve finally had it with Hollywood’s Leftist dominance. And make no mistake: politics entered this race like no other than I can remember. I will look fondly back over the years when the Academy Awards were truly great, when they meant something.
This is a poorly-written entry, even for a blog. It is still a professional site after all. The response to a night of awards that went pretty much as we all expected (seems Ang Lee was the only real surprise) is off-putting. You probably need a new career if you rate your enjoyment of the Oscars as a 1 out of 10 because the right movie only wins 2-3 times a decade. The critics liked Argo so much more than Crash. And the director is so much better and much more well-liked by Hollywood. Despite your efforts to get Argo on the level of Crash, it will never become that. Crash was hated for taking what rightfully belonged to Brokeback Mountain. Everyone came into last night knowing Argo would win and it did just that. No shock and awe. It took the 3 Oscars that we knew it would take by the end of the Guild awards.
As far as the web goes, I have been running up the hit counter at AD by following your site exclusively for years, but the childish response and loathing what you do for a living has me lately questioning why I do. This is coming from someone who agrees with you that the top film of 2012 was Lincoln.
Does anyone know when (I mean, how long ago) Michelle Obama was invited to present the BP picture ? That may be a sign of how this award season changed unexpectedly from what was the conventional wisdom 2 months ago.
The Oscars are really boring. No surprises anymore! If someone wins the GG, Bafta and SAG etc. you can 100% say that this actor/actress gets an Oscar.
I hoped that Riva would get an Oscar. I don´t know why, but I think Jennifer Lawrence Oscar is one of the “boring” Oscar.
Btw., Streep and Day-Lewis should working together. This movie I would love to see!
Desplat’s best score of this year was not even nominated. But I like that his score for ZDT was front and center while Argo blared a a Led Zeppelin song in its presentation. Shows what was populist popcorn flick versus a movie that respected all facets of the craft in moviemaking. Affleck has said something to do the effect of favoring soundtrack over score so Desplat’s nomination was WB’s work and Academy picking a score for him. If you read interviews you would know Desplat acts a little prouder about the ZDT score and it’s somber tone. It challenged him.
Koles, don’t make me think about tht re: Affleck. Maybe stuff will come out about Team Argo about their campaign tactics or people will just have a natural buyer’s remorse about it but I think Affleck will have to keep on trying to be serious. Lucky for us, he has been connected to franchise films like Justice League and his next project is another Boston set Dennis Lehane novel. I think Coooney will take back his lead of the kind of work that wins Oscar but who knows what this season has done to him realizing just how respected he was industry-wide.
My Thoughts On This Year’s Oscar Winners:
BEST MOTION PICTURE = Argo, Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
> Argo deserved to be nominated, but I’d say there were others that deserved it more. That it hauled an equal amount of trophies with Les Miserables and less than Life of Pi (!) says quite a lot.
Achievement in DIRECTING = Life of Pi, Ang Lee
> It was either Lee or Spielberg for me here. I find it strangely coincidental that last time he won for directing, he also lost the best picture prize (to Crash). Lee deserves to win BP someday, he’s one of the greats.
Performance by an ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE = Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
> Well deserved. Great speech too.
Performance by an ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE = Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
> Her performance in Winter’s Bone was arguably stronger, but I still loved Silver Linings nonetheless. It was nice of her to greet Riva on her birthday. I hope her career goes in the right direction after this. Lousy speech though. Too bad she fell on her big night.
Performance by an ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE = Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
> Dr. King Schultz was an entertaining character to watch. Christoph’s performance would be more of a lead rather than a supporting one though.
Performance by an ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE = Anne Hathaway, in Les Misérables
> In this world, nothing is certain except death, taxes and Anne Hathaway winning this award.
Best ANIMATED FEATURE FILM of the year = Brave
> One of Pixar’s weaker films, along with Cars. I guess the old white men who comprise 80% of the Academy couldn’t relate to the 90’s gaming & pop culture references in Wreck-It-Ralph.
Best FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM of the year = Amour
> Another well-deserved win. For a movie that was filmed mostly inside an apartment, featuring a handful of characters (with the leads being over 80), this film was deeply moving and deserves to be watched. I understand completely if people would find it boring though. Hehe.
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY = Argo, Screenplay by Chris Terrio
> While Argo’s story is compelling, I find that Lincoln or Life of Pi had greater obstacles to overcome in terms of translating what was on the page onto the screen.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY = Django Unchained, Written by Quentin Tarantino
> You’ve got to hand it to Mr. Tarantino. He sure knows how to tell a story, regardless of the controversy it stirs up. I love how much of a film geek he is, which was quite evident in his Oscar speech.
Achievement in CINEMATOGRAPHY = Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda
> While there was a lot of green screen involved, Life of Pi was beautifully shot. I loved Roger Deakin’s work in Skyfall better though. 🙂
Achievement in film EDITING = Argo, William Goldenberg
> Even if we all know how the movie’s gonna end, the suspense in Argo was truly heightened by the great job done by the film’s editors. This for me, along with Director and Cinematography, are the key ones you need to win to deserve BP. So Argo was 1/3 of the way there. Hehe.
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (ORIGINAL SCORE) = Life of Pi, Mychael Danna
> There wasn’t a lot of dialogue in Life of Pi, which serves to underscore how well the score served to set the tone of the film. I liked Lincoln’s score too, but it was a bit much in places.
Achievement in COSTUME DESIGN = Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran
> But of course, this would go to the token period film this year.
Best DOCUMENTARY feature = Searching for Sugar Man, Malik Benjelloul, Simon Chinn
> Gotta get me a copy of this!
Best DOCUMENTARY SHORT subject = Inocente, Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
> Lots of love on Awards Daily for this doc..
Achievement in MAKEUP and hairstyling = Les Misérables, Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell
> Another one for Les Miz. Boring speeches though. It was funny that they used the Jaws theme to play off the long-winded speeches.
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (ORIGINAL SONG) = Skyfall from Skyfall, Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
>YAY ADELE. Bad sound mixing though during the Oscar telecast, you could barely hear her.
Achievement in PRODUCTION DESIGN = Lincoln, Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson
> Lincoln deserves more than 2 Oscars, I was really happy that it brought home this one.
Best ANIMATED SHORT film = Paperman, John Kahrs
> A nicely animated story that tugs at the heartstrings.
Best LIVE ACTION SHORT film = Curfew, Shawn Christensen
> I wish that they could upload these short films to Youtube for mass consumption.
Achievement in SOUND EDITING (tie!) = Skyfall, Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers AND Zero Dark Thirty, Paul N.J. Ottosson
> So much for your Oscar ballots! Nobody saw this one coming. The 6th tie in Oscar history went to deserving films, and it’s nice to know that Zero Dark Thirty didn’t go home empty handed.
Achievement in SOUND MIXING = Les Misérables, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
> But of course, this would go to the token musical this year.
Achievement in VISUAL EFFECTS = Life of Pi, Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
> Two words. Richard Parker.
Seth McFarlane’s HOSTING
> Meh. It was OK. Too much clapping, went a bit overboard on the crass humor. I felt like he gave up mid-way into the telecast. Loved the self-deprecation though.
This Year’s Oscar TELECAST
> Too much singing. They did a tribute to musicals a couple of years back, I don’t see why they should do it again. When you feel like the telecast is running longer than it should, that means it is running longer than it should. They could have cut a lot of the parts and had things running at the same time (tribute videos + singing). I don’t get why they had the orchestra located off-site. It was probably a bummer for the musicians who would’ve wanted to be in the theater to witness the proceedings.
For me, I think the biggest thing that puts a bad taste in my mouth might not actually be Argo winning–it was a fine film, entertaining, engaging, well-structured. But it’s the WAY in which it won. It took a deadly combination of Affleck and Clooney to take down the Weinstein media machine, and that’s what seems to win the day right now. Not the best performance, not the best movie, but whoever does the best job of telling people who should be considered the best film of the year. Fairly disheartening.
A few random thoughts about last night…
The best moments for me were DDL and Ang Lee winning. But let’s not give the Academy too much credit; if Affleck had been nominated, he would have taken it home. Instead we saw a wonderful moment for a revered director. And DDL is perfection through and through. I’m sorry, but he’s just in another league when it comes to his performances.
Worst moments of the night were seeing Riva and Kushner miss out. They had the opportunity to award a brave, daring, extraordinary performance with Emmanuelle Riva. Instead they opted to award a talented actress who performed well in a role that ten other actresses could have done just as well. I am not taking anything away from Jennifer Lawrence–I think she is a fine actress who has made great decisions and it’s not her fault the Harvey machine took over. But the best performance of the year? Absolutely not. Riva, Chastain, Watts, Cotillard, Weitz–all could have walked away as worthy winners. And again, nothing against Argo’s writing (it was good) but Kushner not being awarded for his script is quite simply a joke.
And I’m also in the Lincoln camp. It was a masterpiece and I will never understand why the Academy failed to see that. It just seems pretty telling that we are discussing how Lincoln failed to CAMPAIGN well instead of just talking about the merits of the film. That’s how it’s done these days–get the most charming or persuasive people in Hollywood to promote your movie and voila, you’re golden.
Shasha and ryan
You guys still feel it was between lincoln and argo??
I feel it was life of pi and lea miz against argo
Anyway happy argo won but only disappointment was ben affleck not getting best director. But happy that ang lee won and not that ‘boring’ movie director
“Argo is the Best Picture of 2012”
Only according to a group of middleaged right-winged republican white racist males who are against gay marridge and beat their wives with bicycle chains.
What I LOVED:
1. Adele’s performance of Skyfall
2. Velma Kelly and Effie resurrecting for us
3. Christopher Waltz’s victory
4. Django Unchained’s award for best original script
5. Daniel Day Lewis’ victory with his Lincoln
what left me cold/didn’t care at all:
1. Seth McFarlane hosting
2. Argo winning best picture & best adapted screenplay
3. “Life of Pi” awards
4. “Les miserables” awards
what I hated:
1. “Brave” winning over “Frankenweenie” and “Wreck-It Ralph”
2. Jennifer Lawrence winning over Emmanuelle Riva (and Naomi Watts… I know she had no chance, but she was my sentimental favorite)
3. Anne Hathaway winning over Sally Field
4. The “men in black” kicking out the people while they were giving their speeches. 🙁
Favorite moment: Michelle Obama presenting oscar to one of President Obama’s favorite films, Argo. Yes. Someone’s dream but with different ending! Just suck it up!
Winner of the night: Argo, Pi, and Weinstein as usual.
Wow, this is on par with borderline obsessiveness against Argo possibly (and eventually) winning.
Argo winning on par with Crash and Rocky…??? No, that’s not true. Argo is simply a much better film than Life of Pi! Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook were also worthy winners but this anti-Argo-winning theme is so … so … wow, I don’t have words for it.
You have your website and you have your opinion. And I’ve loved this site (from Oscarwatch to Awardsdaily…) for many years. I look forward to next award season.
Why didn’t Spielberg win instead of Ang Lee? Now, that’s a worthy thought. And how is Dynna’s score better than Desplat’s???? I have tons of these questions throughout the years, and the most overrated winner that comes to mind is “The hurt Locker”. Argo not winning would have been a shock.
I think Seth was great! Fantastic! And the show was good! And in the end, I believe all winners were worthy. Complain all you want but the fact of the matter is this: Argo is the Best Picture of 2012 😉 (And yes, Jennifer Lawrence was better than Riva and Chastain!)
Aw Sasha. You know you can’t get too sucked in! The award could’ve gone to a better movie, perhaps, but I’m satisfied with it going to ARGO. Feels better than The Artist or King’s Speech winning. I know you’d rather Life of Pi or Lincoln win. Frankly, I would’ve been fine with any of them except Les Miserables. 2012 was a great year. It’s too bad Affleck was snubbed or else maybe things would’ve played out differently. But, we need your unique perspective on the Oscars. You know they will disappoint you every year. Every. Single. Year. That’s just something we all have to accept. Once you do, it’s much easier to enjoy.
Seth did a terrible job. He sucked the glamour and elegance out of Hollywood and the ceremony.
The musical numbers were too long and embarrassing and I truly appreciated Hugh Jackman’s greatness and will be remembered as one of the best musical numbers in hte history of the Oscars.
DDL win. What a bummer. Did he deserve it, yeah. But Joaquin and Denzel were at their best. Hollywood needs to stop with the boner for DDL.
Jennifer Lawrence. Here I hope she becomes the new Mira Sorvino and ends up disappearing from the earth. Harvey went too far this time.
Argo. Well…
Thanks for the ups, Sasha.
—
I am fine with up-to-ten BP category. Especially a year like this.
I think Oscars did the right thing to award Ang Lee. I picked him to win, working around the late bandwagon notion that Argo would take it and from there I formed this thought model – Argo win, Spielberg (unfortunately) don’t (doesn’t) kind of thing. That said, I’ve always been rooting for Ang Lee. [I however wouldn’t mind another tie in this category a la Lee plus Spielberg, given the latter being my all-time favorites whose pieces I will watch unconditionally.]
I am not sure if conspiracy was possible given the large number of voters but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Skyfall/0D30 assumption is true. [Not that I mind it though. Good for 0D30 — yes, there was nuance but not an insult though.]
Last min prediction *ten hours prior to the event*: Riva would win. I should have known better they needed to give something with which SLP to go home, and I am equally glad for Jen’s win. Love her! One of these days […] would love to see collabs between Chastain and Lawrence – would be great.
Etc.
Jennifer Lawrence certainly wasn’t the most deserving winner among the nominees for best actress in a leading role, nor was Anne Hathaway in the supporting role category. And,of course, Argo was not the best movie of the year. So the Academy (and indeed the Guilds) got it wrong again, proving that award seasons are more about popularity, star power and politics than art. I’m happy though for “Life of Pi”, which got some of the recognition it deserved.
As for the show itself, someone should have reminded the producers it was the Oscars (supposed to celebrate movies !) and not the Tony awards. Furthermore, Seth MacFarlane, despite all the praise he got, was annoying, not funny and borderline racist or sexist.
Ratings should come out around noon ET for this. I’m expecting a slight uptick. In light of MacFarlane’s performance last night, maybe Tina Fey and Amy Poehler should host next year. Still, anyone would be preferable than Botox Billy.
Jennifer Lawrence should thank Harvey for this award. It was nothing more than a mediocre performance.
The sad thing about the Affleck/Argo situation is that right now he is due(!!!) for a directing Oscar. I’ll say it again, Affleck is due for a directing Oscar. Next time he get’s nominated and believe me he will, he’ll have this year’s snub working for him. So in a couple of years Ben Affleck will be a triple Oscar winner for screenplay, producer and director, and for three different movies.
As much as I am happy for Argo winning best picture (I thought it deserve to win among the nominees), the warm reception it received from the audience last night doesn’t mean anything but appreciation for the film… It doesn’t mean Affleck is in the league of Orson Welles… It doesn’t mean he’s better than Spielberg or Lee as a filmmaker… But you have got to give the man the credit he deserves… Gone Baby Gone, The Town and now Argo… All three are well directed films at the very least… The so called “pity votes” could only go so far… This is the organization who couldn’t even give Affleck a Directing nod, despite every single award giving body awarding him as the BEST of the year… Actually, the Academy should have thought that it would be more convenient to give the Best Picture to Lincoln or Life of Pi because Spielberg and Lee were nominated for BD… But they didn’t… And Argo still prevails… I never doubted it from the first time I saw it last year… Making use of Hollywood to save lives is a great selling point for the Academy I guess… And it worked!
And I also find it unfair to compare Affleck’s worst movies as an actor when the topic is Directing, I mean really? Affleck is yet to give an acting performance that is Oscar worthy, yes… his performance in Argo, NO….
“Seth MacFarlane is my favorite Oscar host, or one of them, right up there with Crystal, Martin and Letterman”
Well, Letterman was a mess, but I totally agree about Seth MacFarlane. I didn´t know this guy, actually I´ve never even seen him before yesterdays show – and he was great, I hope he continues and becomes Crystal 2.0 or something.
Besides, a truly very good, entertaining show. One of the best. Nice to see that Daniel Day-Lewis had some good jokes too!
I actually liked Seth McFarlane’s jokes, they were better anyway than those made by the presenters. Reading the following article about people complaining about Seth, I’m sorry to point out that they’re all women:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/02/seth-macfarlane-oscar-jokes/62474/
Methinks they should grow a sense of humor, it seems women tend to feel offended/slighted very easily. If McFarlane had performed a song about “penises” it would still be vulgar but would people call it sexist?
I might the only one who thinks that Daniel Day Lewis didn’t deserve to win. I liked Bradley Cooper a lot in Silver Linings. Joaquin Pheonix and Hugh Jackman were so much better and should have won instead.
I’m sick of the Jennifer Lawrence argument. I think all 5 performances were great and no matter what, no one would have been happy if either one of them won. You can’t please everybody! Just a couple of months ago, everyone was going on and on about Jessica Chastain winning and then Emanuelle Riva. It was anyone but Jennifer but at last she won! She was amazing in Silver Linings. She gave her character a lot more depth than there was in the script. She knows how to entertain and deliver a great performance and she deserved that Oscar. Also I think we are all forgeting that the Oscars isn’t just about performance but also popularity and likeability. Jennifer won because her peers in the industry and the Academy loved her hence the Screen Actors Guild win too. I’m also very happy for Ang Lee.
“That was me, but I think the word you’re looking for is “ranting.”
Nope, I hated the thing, and I believe Sasha is none too fond of it either.”
And your rants have given me nothing but joy. But yeah people need to follow this site better. What’s next, people thinking you liked Django?
Ugh why did they have to award Jennifer Lawrence for this role? It’s not even her best one to date! I just hope this doesn’t hurt her in the long run.
Anybody who watched Argo is also morally obligated to watch This is Not a Film, an Iran-set Kiarostami film, and A Separation as well. And not just because they are better films.
So now we have a new ‘worst best picture winner’ ever. In years to come, when people in America know a little more about Iran, I think they are going to be really embarrassed abou this one.
It’s a popularity contest. Weinstein finally ran out of gas this year (though his baby J-Law made it across the finish line with no trouble, I’m sure), so it was the moment Clooney could seize.
Look for Monuments Men to practically sweep next year. Clooney will probably beat Scorsese in a walk. Stay tuned, sports fans!
Ang Lee was the most surprised winner. But what a win! Makes up for Argo’s 3 undeserved Oscars.
Aaron,
You summed it all for me. I just can’t wrap my head around it either. Beatty was Beatty. Bonnie and Clyde, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Shampoo and then Reds, a pretty ballsy subjecy matter elegantly done and intellectually stimulating. And Redford
made a small emtionally raw film that had heart. Both had earned that kind if industry respect. Affleck makes three decent movies and he’s fucking Orson Wells. Spielberg, Lee, Bigelow, Zietlin, Haneke are genuine auteurs…Affleck, we shall see but not yet.
All I learned tonight that…holy shyte, Clooney is powerful within the industry and not just Hollywood, but internationally. Thats the only that makes sense. Unless the world has turned upside down like an episode
of Twilight Zone and Argo really is better than Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Life of Pi, The Master, Amour etc…
I don’t believe everybody believes that.
I don’t think Wells or Kazan could have beat a Clooney film.
I’m confused. Isn’t this the sort of year we all hope for? There is a prevailing theme year after year about how boring the awards circuit becomes and now we have a year that is unlike any other but everyone is unhappy about it? Also, isn’t this the same site that was raving about “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Argo” when they were released, but now that a movie or performance that someone preferred to these two films did not win the rhetoric turns and makes it sound like the aforementioned movies are bottom of the barrel pieces of shit? Perhaps I am reading a little too far into it, it’s just odd to me that because you think Emmauelle Riva was more deserving and lost you refer to Lawrence’s performance as though it’s not even in the same league. I personally don’t think you can even compare the two, but that’s where we get into the ridiculous idea that there is a “best” performance of the year. Just some thoughts.
Great coverage this year Sasha! Love what you do and the quality of conversation you get going here.
Also, isn’t this the same site that was raving about “Silver Linings Playbook”
That was me, but I think the word you’re looking for is “ranting.”
Nope, I hated the thing, and I believe Sasha is none too fond of it either.
best Oscars in a long time
I am just delighted about Argo
All in all, Seth Macfarlane was the best host the Oscars have ever had, and its bullshit that TDKR wasnt even nominated this year. Moving on. Everyone needs to go see SIDE EFFECTS! I would award it Best Picture 2014 if it were up to me(even though its only february, i dont see another movie coming up that i think will be better than Side Effects). Give a thriller Best Picture please Academy.
I still maintain Team Lincoln did not anticipate the Argo surge that in of itself was fueling off of the fall of Zero Dark Thirty. Preferential ballot likely suggests those two movies had overlap and if people got a little scared about ZD30, they went to Argo with the critics awards at the very end and then the snub happened with the BFCAs and Golden Globes happening and then the weird consensus building happened.
I loved the previous edition, but this one not so much. I think “Lincoln” should have won by a mile, IMO it was the best picture of the nominees by far. Emanuelle Riva was superior to Jennifer Lawrence, (c’mon!) and “Wreck-It Ralph” and “Frankenweenie” were far better than “Brave”. I liked DDL, Christopher Waltz and Skyfall wins. “Argo” is an OK movie but too much overrated (and a best picture with only 3 Oscars?).
I liked the musical performances but besides that, the ceremony was boring to me.
Even though I would have preferred PI or ZERO DARK THIRTY for BP, I am still wondering what the hell happened to LINCOLN?
First no critics group gave the movie or Spielberg the time of day. Then it gets the most nomination at the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice gave it the most nominations ever, just to ignore it at awards time. BAFTA didn’t even nominate Spielberg. The Oscar basically nominate the film in all the categories it was eligible for, just to give it only two.
Until the start of the precursors I thought LINCOLN was unbeatable. I fully expected the movie or Spielberg to dominate the critics awards. Or to get a few.
I think it’s a combination of factors:
1. Some people simply did not like it.
2. Others might have thought that 2 Director Oscar are enough.
3. Also, the LINCOLN people gave the impression that they thought it was more than just a movie. There was an aura of self importance that might have rubbed people the wrong way. The worst mistake they made was getting Clinton to introduce their movie at the GG. The message I got was “Our movie is so important that a mere movie star is not good enough to introduce it.” And I have the feeling I was not alone.
In any case, I cannot remember a movie that looked so good on paper do so badly.
Wow. Because the audience didn’t applaud the nominee you believed should have won, they must be “too stupid en masse to know what they weren’t clapping for” and “shame on them”. Classy.
If half of what I read is true about the tactics of Team Argo against their competition, then I am taking that Affleck-Clooney photo as pure evil. Congrats, rich, handsome, A-listers. Good job dragging other films through the mud to reach the top.
Sasha, please don’t get too frustrated at the unpredictability of this years awards. You are very good at what you do, and I find Awards Daily to be very insightful about the Academy, it’s voters, and it’s way of thinking.
I think 2013/14 will be a more “normal” year. Just like the lowly Chicago Cubs, as they say: “There’s always next year!”.
I genuinely like Argo. I think it’s a very well-made, tightly knit, elegantly structured thriller…but I am just baffled at the Affleck pity fest that has erupted with the media and now the Academy. I’m not trying to be a pessimist, but seriously, I just can’t wrap my head around it. Ok, he was snubbed for director when he was supposed to be a shoo-in…why wasn’t this outcry just as strong for Bigelow, who made a much superior and intellectually stimulating film? Because she recently won? Because she’s a woman? I mean, Affleck is talented, but seriously, did the Academy forget that this is the actor who spent most of the ’00s cashing in paycheck to paycheck on terrible film after terrible film? (Paycheck, Surviving Christmas, The Sum of All Fears, Pearl Harbor, Jersey Girl, Daredevil, He’s Just Not that Into You, G-I-G-L-I for CHRISSAKES!) Gone Baby Gone and The Town were fine, well-made popcorn films (even though I think The Town is far superior to Gone Baby Gone. That film had some major problems). But let’s be honest, they’re definitely not in the same league as Spielberg, Lee, Russell, or Haneke’s best work. Nor do I think they compare to the scope and orginality Zeitlin displayed in his directorial debut. Then all of a sudden he makes Argo and then he’s DUE and one of the world’s most critically acclaimed and celebrated filmmakers? BAFFLING, y’all!
At least Warren Beatty and Robert Redford both had celebrated and diverse film repertoires when they won best director (and Beatty really is a TERRIFIC actor). Sorry to sound so cynical, but I just will not understand this sudden urge to kiss Ben Affleck’s ass this awards season.
I think the Oscars show was great. I loved Seth McFarland. He was terrific. Sure, some of the skits went on too long, but this year, they really tried to not take themselves too seriously. Why else would they get Seth to do it???
I was really happy to see Hal Needham get an honorary Oscar for his work. I’ve seen his movie Smokey and the Bandit a bunch of times, and I STILL love that one.
I was happiest to see Life of Pi win it’s awards, especially for Ang Lee and Visual Effects.
Argo was a very good movie for me, and I was satisfied to see it win. I understand why it did.
@Ryan They’re just waiting on a friend. 🙂
Aside from the boobies song (which made me think let’s endorse equal opportunity by honoring the actors who dropped their drawers, McConaughey’s Spirt Award speech reminded me of that), I thought MacFarlane with the musicals was fine. But the Star Trek bit went forever and the jokes about race and nagging women/women need to be looked at/antisemitic Ted just felt like middlebrow fare. Loved the Sally Field bit and the Sound of Music bit but I think the show could have dumped the whole honor the musicals part (nobody cares about Chicago and if anything Moulin Rouge should be credited as the game changer of the genre and that movie is a movie I find mediocre). How about actually have all of the song nominees sing (I feel like I needed a cigarette after listening to ScarJo’s voice, why was she not there?) instead of two, both of which are Grammy winning artists who are known names- one tied to the nominee (that felt selfish)?
That Bond tribute beyond Shirley Bassey stunk. I really liked last year when they had clips of people who worked on the stuff nominated and their colleagues talk about them (I had a real fondness for the Terence Malick one in particular). I would have loved to hear all of the Bonds talk about the role, Dench talk about M, Bardem talk about being a Bond villain, Mendes talk about taking on the franchise. That sort of thing. Instead it was a cooked up montage of practically no dialogue that somebody could have made on their vimeo page.
And let’s face it. Argo is a weak BP winner. It only was given the other two awards to give it heft (and 7 nominations was already over-shooting what it deserved). Goldenberg’s work in Zero Dark Thirty far surpasses anything he did in Argo and Kushner’s script goes without saying. Terrio seems like a nice guy with a good story but Affleck and him played a narrative of Affleck trusting this whip smart kid who finished the script in 3 weeks or so. It made it seem like a partnership on par with Bigelow and Boal. Whereas, and this was one of the problems with the Lincoln campaign, it could never be decided who was the driving force in Lincoln. It kept on coming back to Spielberg’s passion project but there was a common agreement among critics that it was the script that transcended the work and if anything the direction really is what hinder the film. For some reason they could not be deemed an equal creative force during awards season. Even Bigelow and Boal faced similar objections like that absolutely horrific Hollywood Reporter piece that suggested that Boal was practically a co-director and the real brains of the operation while really diminishing Bigelow’s prior THL career in the process.
As for Lawrence, I still really hated the speech. She seems nice but it goes into the fact that she operates a little too much on instinct which is exactly what the speech felt like. And this is not to rag on Jessica Chastain, as I love her and have defended that performance many times, but you could see the minor tics on her face really fighting it when Lawrence’s name was announced. It was subtle enough in the way her Maya performance was but it was a very human response without being vain like Denzel (what was that?).
And aside from the tie (yeah, Paul NJ Ottosson), the in-awards quirk I loved the most was accidentally shooting Emmanuelle Riva in David O. Russell’s Best Director block.
ANG LEE is the first oscar best director who shoots a 3D film , even James Cameron and Martin Scorsese LOST it last two years.
I stand (er, sit) corrected. Deakins did shoot Skyfall using digital. I thought I read somewhere that he wanted film and tried to talk Mendes into it. Well then, kudos to him for making SF feel like it was shot on film.
The die was cast the moment I watched and listened to the “Best Picture clips” being played and Argo received a damned standing ovation with hooting and hollering and wild cheering and Lincoln received a muffled, polite, respectful applause. It became terribly obvious where things were headed, as if it weren’t all obvious beforehand.
Spielberg’s wife should have been elbowing him in the ribs after the Chicago/Dreamgirls/Les Mis numbers, saying, “If you want to win some Oscars, make a damned musical, dummy. Better yet, a movie about the making of a movie musical.”
ANG LEE is the first oscar best director who shoots a 3D film , even James Cameron and Martin Scorsese LOST it last two years.
The die was cast the moment I watched and listened to the “Best Picture clips” being played and Argo received a damned standing ovation with hooting and hollering and wild cheering and Lincoln received a muffled, polite, respectful applause. It became terribly obvious where things were headed, as if it weren’t all obvious beforehand.
Spielberg’s wife should have been elbowing him in the ribs after the Chicago/Dreamgirls/Les Mis numbers, saying, “If you want to win some Oscars, make a damned musical, dummy.”
“Increase the numbers in the other categories just like picture. We would have had Bigelow and Affleck in there.”
It only makes sense.
…
“I personally would never give a lead Oscar to a 22 year old performer. No matter the performance.”
That’s outrageous. (Even if it is just on the Internet.)
…
“HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY will forever be known as The Movie That Beat CITIZEN KANE.”
Really?
…
“Yes shooting in 3D is difficult, but so is shooting on film. From the lights of Shanghai, to the fight scene in Macau, and to the Twilight of Scotland, it was breathtakingly spot on.”
Except it was shot on the Arri Alexa, a digital camera that resolves no better than HD but sold at IMAX prices.
I thought Seth MacFarlane did a great job. I loved all the musical numbers. But there were some production issues that just shouldn’t be happening. I think they played an extra commercial on my channel when Clooney was introduced because the commercial ended and then, boom, he was just in the middle of a sentence talking. lol I didn’t like going to a satellite hook-up to see the most important award of the night. It was awkward and I almost thought the show got preempted.
Did anyone find out what happened with the Riva/Russell mix up? That was weird.
That’s an interesting stat, ajnrules
Here’s a fun little fact that I just realized. The top six awards (acting Oscars + Best Director + Best Picture…the ones that will be memorialized in the World Almanac years from now) all went to different movies. The only other times it’s happened were 1952, 1956, and 2005. I guess that goes to show how crazy of a year it was.
Seth MacFarlane was the best host the Oscars has had in years … Bravo to Mr. MacFarlane
Even though there were a lot of complaints about the weird timetable, we really should be grateful to the recalcitrance of the Directors Branch, which prevented Argo from taking Director as well, and thereby giving us a truly lovely moment when Ang Lee won. Without the directors snubbing Affleck, this race would’ve been a total snooze, and they probably wouldn’t have snubbed him had the timetable been regular and they had enough influence from PGA/DGA nominations and such.
Respectfully disagree on two points:
1) Lawrence was the most deserving of the Best Actress award, due respect to Riva.
2) Biggest disappointment was Ang Lee winning Best Director … He’s a great director but Life of Pi was more worthy of Razzies than Oscars.
Deakins didn’t shoot “Skyfall” on film.
Clear out the contender tracker, Sasha. Let’s get started on 2013.
I’m ready!
“Emmanuelle Riva should have beat Jennifer Lawrence. Love Jennifer Lawrence completely but come on. Give me a break, people.”
Joaquin Phoenix should have beat DDl. Love DDL completely but come on. Give me a break, people.
Yes shooting in 3D is difficult, but so is shooting on film. From the lights of Shanghai, to the fight scene in Macau, and to the Twilight of Scotland, it was breathtakingly spot on.
The show was long. it totally lost steam half way through. the music number after best pic was really not needed. I liked Seth but didnt love it. The joke about being in Lincoln head was so so bad taste. Yes, he had a quick come back- but that totally turned me off. Seth seems too much of a unknown name to have made the whole night about him putting down himself, felt like one to many of those jokes.
Saw life of pi and thought it was good but not four oscars good. To much CGI. Where do they draw the line. I felt that life of pi should be nominated for best animated film.
Silver linings was my favorite and I LOVED that she won!!! Wish it got more love though.
Sasha your the best! Well done on a great season! Totally agree and feel your pain about Lincoln!
The Oscars can mess up how a movie is remembered.
ORDINARY PEOPLE is not remembered a fine movie, it is remembered as The Movie That Beat RAGING BULL.
HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY will forever be known as The Movie That Beat CITIZEN KANE.
The Oscars are fun, and who, except for George C. Scott and Brando, wouldn’t be thrilled to win one. But they are at the end of the day meaningless.
No one likes ARGO better now that it won. Or like PI or LINCOLN less because they did not.
If you thought Riva was better than Lawrence, I bet you don’t think differently after Lawrence’s win. Why should you?
The only real good thing about the Oscars is that it means exposure. Hopefully now that he has been nominated, Benh Zeitlin will get more projects. Also, this also could mean that more people will rent out his movie.
Ughhh, that photo of Affleck & Clooney makes my blood boil. But Ang Lee getting that Best Director award makes up for it a little bit. I didn’t even mind him mentioning his lawyer, LOL. Let’s hope we don’t wait too long for his next movie!
wut?!
Seth McFarlane should send a thank you note to James Franco – the only thing standing between him and the award for worst host ever.
What’s next? For us, crazy awards buffers:
– August: Osage County
– The Monuments Men
– Fruitvale
– Saving Mr. Banks
– The Wolf of Wall Street
– Captain Philips
– 12 Years a Slave
– Nebraska
– Labor Day
– Gravity
– Inside Llewyn Davis
And here we go again…
I fell asleep halfway through so I missed a lot. The awards were as I expected really. The only happy surprise is Ang Lee. I will never not love that man.
And can people stop the whole “Kristen Stewart is miserable” thing? I’m talking about Internet in general here not just AD. A little digging shows A)That she smiles, a lot and B) She has a foot injury tonight and if she looked in pain, that’s why.
In the end, I was OK with Argo’s win. I was never a really fan of Life of Pi. In a long lineup (and even in a 5 one), it’s very difficult to like all the films. But I would never support getting back to regular 5. District 9, Up, Toy Story 3, Winter’s Bone, Amour, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Black Swan or Inception would be casualties of this.
As I wrote in the other post,
I personally would never give a lead Oscar to a 22 year old performer. No matter the performance. I think an Oscar with that age sets the bar so high that this person may never live up to the expectations.
And sometimes it’s not really the age. It’s how it seems so easy to get one to some people. This year we had another example coming from the film company I probably most admire: Pixar. What Tim Burton has done or the effort of Walt Disney Pictures to make films great films once again like Tangled and Wreck-It-Ralph is overlooked in favor of a good but nothing special Pixar film.
Just take a look at Gwyneth Paltrow or even Zeta-Jones. They have never made anything even close to their winning performances since then. And specially Paltrow was extremely undeserving. Just like Benini in the same year. Sir Ian McKellen, Fernanda Montenegro and Emanuelle Riva will never have an Oscar (and maybe Tim Burton, Julianne Moore and Ed Harris also… They must win one) but they are much bigger than the Oscars.
And last: if everyone (me including) want shockers, Preferential Ballot + Oscars on February + Everyone voting on Everything + 1000000 awards is not the way. As the Academy can’t get rid of the latter, it better start to think about the other 3.
It’s crazy that in 6 years we only had two real shocks in the main categories: Meryl Streep (If the Goldderby board was 20 x 6 to Jen Law, last year it was even more to Viola as I remember) and Tilda Swinton.
@ Daveylow I actually liked the way the songs were presented. Loved the singers – Jennifer, Barbara, Shirley, Adele (“ok”) and Norah Jones looked pretty. But there were way too many songs and you wonder why this awards show insists on keeping audiences hostage year after year. Honestly, it can be done in 2 hours.
@Rob Y — Life of Pi’s cinematography was much more than recording CGI. Shooting in 3-D well is much more difficult than you think.
Meant to say above: Ben Affleck “wasn’t” nominated for best director.
Ang Lee was the high point for me tonight as well. And Claudio Miranda’s hair.
What puzzled me about Lee’s win was the obvious love for the film and the standing ovation — and yet they couldn’t award Life of Pi best film?
I know some were disappointed Ben Affleck was nominated for best director. But I was relieved we were spared two speeches by Affleck patting himself on the back for doing well after winning his first Oscar. Maybe now Hollywood won’t feel they owe him anything.
I liked the musical numbers but they needed to be shortened. And why three songs presented live — and the other two not?
I found Seth McFarlane hit and miss — though Chris Rock, Whoopi and David Letterman were much worse hosts. And some of McFarlane’s jokes were funny. He was also better than James Franco and Anne Hathaway.
“Are Ang Lee and John Ford the only two people in the world with at least two Best Director Oscars and fewer films that have won Best Picture? (if you know what I mean)”
No, George Stevens won twice for A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951) and GIANT (1956). Neither one won Best Picture.
Frank Borzage won also twice, for SEVENTH HEAVEN (1927-1928) and for BAD GIRL (1932). Neither won Best Picture.
Fuck going back to five nominees, in my opinion. If this new voting style means more nominations, and recognition, for films like “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “Amour” then I’m all for it.
That’s true — and let’s not forget that The Hurt Locker won from a field of 10.
Although I feel that Riva should have won, I’m glad JLaw did win — the Academy has made many many worse choices in its history.
Inocente really was a good win (even though I didn’t predict it).
I thought Seth McFarlane did a good job.
I blew it on director and supporting actor. And how dare I go against Pixar.
Oh well, bring on the next batch of films. Side Effects, anyone?
Seth wasn’t terrible, but he was screwed-up by those damn musical numbers. He probably won’t be back.
Unlikely Hood- Add George Stevens to the mix. The movie to which he lost BP the year he won his 2nd, Around the World in 80 Days, might be the only movie that is competition for Crash in the Worst BP Winner Ever department.
Also let me add Ted and Mark Wahlberg didn’t work. Lame.
I got “some” of McFarlane’s jokes, but there were some “groans” also. But some of the skits just went on tooooo long. The Capt. Kirk skit was pretty clever but wayyyy too long.
Loved it: Jennifer Hudson, Shirley Bassey, Barbara, Charlize + Tatum (what a surprise).
Didn’t work: Salma Hayek is trying to enunciate English but still having a time of it; Melissa McCarthy and Paul Rudd.Kristen Stewart still looks miserable and unhappy. Poor child.
This Oscar almost turned into a long musical and kept wondering when are the awards going to be given out?
“That the Oscar audience didn’t applaud Tony Kushner’s name makes me think either they are too stupid en masse to know what they weren’t clapping for or else the trickery in the media worked to turn them against him. Either way, shame on them.”
– Are you talking about when Day-Lewis was naming the three men (Spielberg, Kushner, Lincoln himself) who influenced him? Because they didn’t clap for Spielberg, either. They were waiting for him to complete the set.
– Overall, I liked the winners; didn’t care at all for the presentation. I mean, all that fucking singing? No. And having Chicago, Dreamgirls and Les Mis numbers back-to-back-to-back? What is this, the Grammys?
Very happy for Lee, but even as someone who liked Argo (and was glad it won, if nothing else, so I could hear one last genuinely heartfelt Affleck speech), I was secretly hoping Pi would upset. Lee’s won director twice but not Picture? Feel kinda bad for the guy.
Are Ang Lee and John Ford the only two people in the world with at least two Best Director Oscars and fewer films that have won Best Picture? (if you know what I mean)
When Jack said you know how people usually give out Best Picture alone, all the old conspiracy theories rushed into my head about Brokeback – as though Jack was just joking when he said “crash”. I thought, does this mean that this year’s crash, Argo, won’t win? That was the last millisecond where I entertained that thought.
Oooh noo…JLaw is now a Best Actress winner. Well Come one. Riva – Riva Riva!
DDL is both classy and funny. He gave up the Thatcher role.
Argo, Best Picture of the bunch? I dont think so. Lincoln, Amour and Zero Dark Thirty are very impressive movies. Argo is great, but..well….
Saha,
I hope you have more paring shots at some point about his clusterfuck of an Oscars.
It’s all so depressing right now, I don’t know what to think…..
I mean, no applause for Kushner, a standing O for Argo….
what does it all mean?
Has the industry become Idiocracy?
Is it a generational shift and the new generation is stupid. I mean, they roared for Affleck and and Clooney and Spielberg got a polite applause.
I could not disagree more. If the voters were genuinely supposed to pick for the movies or performers that truly did a great job, DiCaprio should have at least be nominated in spite of Alan Arkin and even possibly Christoph Waltz, who as good as may be is not very consistent and should not be standing in the same sentence as Robert DeNiro with the same number of Oscar. Disgraceful.
I hope that next year gives Leo the coveted statue for Wolf of Wall Street but I fear that that will go to some unknown actor again and he’ll get screwed over again.
Heck, they even allowed Jennifer Lawrence to win. I won’t be surprised if even Bradley Hangover Cooper wins before Leo does.
It is what it is and it’s BS. Very, very rarely do the Academy get it right. And when they get it wrong they still act like they are the shit.
They aren’t and each year it’s getting worse and worse. Sympathy vote for Ben Affleck – give me a break. The guy is good but The Town was a better movie and yet Argo wins.
Nonsense.
At least DDL and Adele won but that’s about it.
Best Oscars in a long, long time. McFarlane was great. So much better than I thought he would be.
The show was a mess.
We got an opening about 20 minutes long, and we got to see more of Captain Kirk than we did of most of the Oscar winners.
By the end of the long slog of the evening, our group of friends came to the same conclusion: the big winners of the night were clearly Life of Pi and Chicago.
Other than the big wins for Daniel Day Lewis, Quentin Tarantino (it was finally his time again, rewarding both a terrifically entertaining and thought provoking script and a critically acclaimed body of work), and Christoph Waltz (for one of the few awards that was truly up in the air until the envelope was opened), the show was underwhelming.
I was surprised at both Adele and Babs’ underwhelming deliveries tonight, and there weren’t many other moments capable of stirring much passion.
What I’ll take from this mess is that Lincoln should have won Best Picture, Spielberg Director, Chastain Actress, and you would have had the awards scattered much more favorably.
It always goes this way. It’s not a surprise. I’ll take the little victories, at least that’s better than nothing.
Great job Sasha. You rock.
Best joke of the night: DDL giving up Thatcher.
Increase the numbers in the other categories just like picture. We would have had Bigelow and Affleck in there.
I like Seth. He was as good as Jon Stewart. I enjoyed the song and dance numbers in the beginning.
And why wasn’t Beasts nominated for music? (Sorry to get around to this now, but I just saw it two days ago, and then reviewed it again this morning.)
I am pissed off at the Lincoln snubs. Spielberg did a phenomenal job.
The biggest moment of anger is Deakins losing to Pi, which had tons of CGI.
There were good moments with Seth McFarlene, and then there were some bad ones. As an audience member I like him more for Family Guy, but not for hosting. Stick to animation Seth.
As for the rest of show, I completely agree with Sasha. This years Academy Awards really had a bad taste to it. It was pretty surprising Ang Lee won for best director and either way I myself would have been satisfied with Life of Pi or Lincoln. BUT F***KIN AGRO! COME ON!
Really okay with Argo winning, but I think the Academy should have owned up to the difficulty of Lincoln in terms of it’s screenplay. It should have beat Argo hands down. That’s no attack on Chris Terrio’s script, but well I just think Kushner should have won.
Other than that. Solid telecast. I’d like to see a woman host next year since we have many funny women in the industry, but Seth was not bad. Charismatic and he can sing so that helps. Some jokes land. Some didn’t. It happens.
On the plus side, if I recall 8 of the BP nominees went home with something. Not bad. Better than last year with Artist and Hugo both taking 5 I believe. Thanks for spreading the wealth a bit Academy. Much appreciated.
Oh and uh yea not a fan of Lawrence’s win. Just wait till she gives a performance that really knocks peoples socks off. It’s a premature win.
MacFarlane was pretty great. Thought he had a sort of old-school vibe about him, even if some of his jokes were probably seen as less so by some people (I loved most of them though).
Fuck going back to five nominees, in my opinion. If this new voting style means more nominations, and recognition, for films like “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “Amour” then I’m all for it.
I like not being able to make any sense of the winners. It keeps it interesting and makes me feel like they were just genuinely picking whoever they felt did the best job in whatever category.
I also thought McFarlane did a very good job – not perfect but certainly among the best I remember (which also includes Johnny Carson). The show itself is the most entertaining I can recall. Even though it was long, it was creatively structured and framed.
Although Argo is in the company of Rocky and Crash, let’s not forget The Godfather won just 3 — pic, actor and adapted screenplay. But let’s not forget the Argo wasn’t competing with Cabaret in which case it seems obvious how that would’ve gone down.
Wow, couldn’t STAND McFarlane.