Here's a little red carpet summary to kick things off:
The nominees have smiled politely/grimaced through some inane questions. ABC showed quite a sweet montage with some of the nominees' mums. Bless.
Dresswatch: liking Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer so far.
Adlerkuss fashion observation: Gwyneth Paltrow has come dressed as a superhero!
Most charming interviewees: Jean Dujardin, who I want to win even more now. He wants you to know he's not a puppet. I also enjoyed Jason Segel, being all endearing. In other news, Bradley Cooper is sporting a disturbing 'tache.
And now, on with the show!!
3:30 am - Time for the first update:
Billy Crystal opened with the traditional Oscar montage, in which he got a kiss off Clooney. He also appeared as a semi-CG’d Tintin, which was quite disturbing. He then launched into his opening number, which was mildly amusing, though Jonah Hill didn’t seem to dig the weight loss/cupcake joke. Crystal seems to be in safe, business-as-usual mode - possibly after last year’s Hathaway/Franco misfire. He’s also seemingly enjoying a running gag about the impact of Kodak’s bankruptcy on the name of the venue.
Missing from proceedings this year is John Williams’ orchestra – perhaps the music meister is still recovering from his 80th birthday bash the other week. In his place, Slumdog Millionaire's AR Rahmen.
The first awards were a double whammy for Hugo (cinematography and art direction), which could yet clean up in the tech categories. This was followed by an expected and deserved Best Costume win for The Artist, and then Make-Up for The Iron Lady.
Sandra Bullock got possibly the biggest laugh of the night so far for her “German-accented Chinese” joke when presenting Best Foreign Language Film. This went to the favourite, A Separation, from Iran. Director Asghar Farhadi also gave one of the best acceptance speeches so far, touching whilst still making a political statement without much soapboxing.
On to Best Supporting Actress – which saw Christian Bale’s famous wandering accent in cockney mode, and went to the bookie’s favourite Octavia Spencer. She also gave a nice speech, during which she cried AND got a standing ovation, which is “empty your drink” time as per adlerkuss’ rules…
4:10 am - Next update:
We’ve had a Wizard of Oz “focus group” skit, with comedy cameos from Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara – also to be filed under “mildly amusing”.
Film editing saw a surprise win and the first award of the night for Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Cue a genuinely shocked and sweetly awkward acceptance speech.
Sound editing went to Hugo, so that theory is bearing out.
Instead of more random montages, we then got a Cirque du Soleil homage to the Hitchcock, which was actually pretty cool.
Best Documentary (Undefeated – American football) was preceded by a fairly funny Gwyneth Paltrow/Robert Downey Jr skit. This speech was noteworthy for featuring one F-bomb and getting played off (that’s another glass emptied then…)
Best Animation was presented by Chris Rock (always best in small doses) and went to Gore Verbinski’s Rango.
Tonight’s surprising discovery: Emma Stone (<3!) appears to be considerably taller than Ben Stiller. They present Best Visual Effects, another tech win for Hugo. Meanwhile, adlerkuss has reminded me that EVERYONE looks taller than Ben Stiller.
Best Supporting Actor was another expected win for Christopher Plummer – oldest actor ever to win an Oscar, fact fans! And what a gent.
4:30 am:
Music award time! Much as I admire John Williams, I was happy to see Best Original Score go to Ludovic Bource for The Artist.
This was followed by my highlight of the evening so far: Bret Mackenzie, aka one half of Flight of the Conchords, wins Best Song for "Man or Muppet"!!!
Best Adapted Screenplay was a surprise win in my book for the Descendents – I was sure Tinker, Tailor had it in the bag.
The Award for Original Screenplay went to Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris. Damn, I would’ve loved Bridesmaids to get it, but that was a long shot. Still, Woody didn’t even show up!
During another random montage Sacha Baron Cohen made an attempt to explain Borat, in one of my quotes of the evening: “ I just make stuff I would want to watch. And I happen to want to watch some pretty sick stuff”
5:00 am:
The Oscars for Best Shorts were presented by the cast of Bridesmaids, via the medium of knob jokes.
Billy Crystal opened with the traditional Oscar montage, in which he got a kiss off Clooney. He also appeared as a semi-CG’d Tintin, which was quite disturbing. He then launched into his opening number, which was mildly amusing, though Jonah Hill didn’t seem to dig the weight loss/cupcake joke. Crystal seems to be in safe, business-as-usual mode - possibly after last year’s Hathaway/Franco misfire. He’s also seemingly enjoying a running gag about the impact of Kodak’s bankruptcy on the name of the venue.
Missing from proceedings this year is John Williams’ orchestra – perhaps the music meister is still recovering from his 80th birthday bash the other week. In his place, Slumdog Millionaire's AR Rahmen.
The first awards were a double whammy for Hugo (cinematography and art direction), which could yet clean up in the tech categories. This was followed by an expected and deserved Best Costume win for The Artist, and then Make-Up for The Iron Lady.
Sandra Bullock got possibly the biggest laugh of the night so far for her “German-accented Chinese” joke when presenting Best Foreign Language Film. This went to the favourite, A Separation, from Iran. Director Asghar Farhadi also gave one of the best acceptance speeches so far, touching whilst still making a political statement without much soapboxing.
On to Best Supporting Actress – which saw Christian Bale’s famous wandering accent in cockney mode, and went to the bookie’s favourite Octavia Spencer. She also gave a nice speech, during which she cried AND got a standing ovation, which is “empty your drink” time as per adlerkuss’ rules…
4:10 am - Next update:
We’ve had a Wizard of Oz “focus group” skit, with comedy cameos from Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara – also to be filed under “mildly amusing”.
Film editing saw a surprise win and the first award of the night for Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Cue a genuinely shocked and sweetly awkward acceptance speech.
Sound editing went to Hugo, so that theory is bearing out.
Instead of more random montages, we then got a Cirque du Soleil homage to the Hitchcock, which was actually pretty cool.
Best Documentary (Undefeated – American football) was preceded by a fairly funny Gwyneth Paltrow/Robert Downey Jr skit. This speech was noteworthy for featuring one F-bomb and getting played off (that’s another glass emptied then…)
Best Animation was presented by Chris Rock (always best in small doses) and went to Gore Verbinski’s Rango.
Tonight’s surprising discovery: Emma Stone (<3!) appears to be considerably taller than Ben Stiller. They present Best Visual Effects, another tech win for Hugo. Meanwhile, adlerkuss has reminded me that EVERYONE looks taller than Ben Stiller.
Best Supporting Actor was another expected win for Christopher Plummer – oldest actor ever to win an Oscar, fact fans! And what a gent.
4:30 am:
Music award time! Much as I admire John Williams, I was happy to see Best Original Score go to Ludovic Bource for The Artist.
This was followed by my highlight of the evening so far: Bret Mackenzie, aka one half of Flight of the Conchords, wins Best Song for "Man or Muppet"!!!
Best Adapted Screenplay was a surprise win in my book for the Descendents – I was sure Tinker, Tailor had it in the bag.
The Award for Original Screenplay went to Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris. Damn, I would’ve loved Bridesmaids to get it, but that was a long shot. Still, Woody didn’t even show up!
During another random montage Sacha Baron Cohen made an attempt to explain Borat, in one of my quotes of the evening: “ I just make stuff I would want to watch. And I happen to want to watch some pretty sick stuff”
5:00 am:
The Oscars for Best Shorts were presented by the cast of Bridesmaids, via the medium of knob jokes.
Live Action Short went to The Shore, from Northern Ireland. Documentary Short went to Saving Face, while the Animation award went to The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore – a lovely little treat, up over on adlerkuss’ page waiting to be checked out.
I hereby resolve to watch more short films.
Best Director goes to… Micheal Hazanavicius for The Artist! Good speech, good accent, good glasses, good job!
There now follows a brief interlude for Meryl Streep to talk about the Governor's Awards, and then the "In Memorium" section.
Things are drawing to a close and we’re building up to the Big Three. For what it’s worth, I think Billy Crystal has done a pretty good job. Nothing mind-blowing, but not too many cringey moments either.
Best Actor goes to Jean Dujardin, as expected, but it's still a very deserved win.
Best Actress goes to Meryl Streep, so no surprise there. While I’m sure it’s also a deserved win for her (despite having not seen The Iron Lady), I was slightly hoping for an upset in this category – maybe Michelle Williams or Rooney Mara. Incidentally, Meryl was obviously testing the “if you want to win an Oscar, dress as an Oscar” theory. And at least she acknowledged that she can’t get really get away with the “Ohmygod I’m so surprised” schtick anymore, and seemed genuinely emotional at the end.
And, again as expected, Best Picture goes to THE ARTIST!! I’ve already said I think this is an extremely deserving win. Expect plenty of “Silence is golden” headlines in today’s papers.
And of course, Uggie the dog made the requisite appearance....
So, that's it. Not too many laughs, barely any surprises, but overall an enjoyable watch. Here are my fellow blogger Herr adlerkuss' highlights:
Best Director goes to… Micheal Hazanavicius for The Artist! Good speech, good accent, good glasses, good job!
There now follows a brief interlude for Meryl Streep to talk about the Governor's Awards, and then the "In Memorium" section.
Things are drawing to a close and we’re building up to the Big Three. For what it’s worth, I think Billy Crystal has done a pretty good job. Nothing mind-blowing, but not too many cringey moments either.
Best Actor goes to Jean Dujardin, as expected, but it's still a very deserved win.
Best Actress goes to Meryl Streep, so no surprise there. While I’m sure it’s also a deserved win for her (despite having not seen The Iron Lady), I was slightly hoping for an upset in this category – maybe Michelle Williams or Rooney Mara. Incidentally, Meryl was obviously testing the “if you want to win an Oscar, dress as an Oscar” theory. And at least she acknowledged that she can’t get really get away with the “Ohmygod I’m so surprised” schtick anymore, and seemed genuinely emotional at the end.
And, again as expected, Best Picture goes to THE ARTIST!! I’ve already said I think this is an extremely deserving win. Expect plenty of “Silence is golden” headlines in today’s papers.
And of course, Uggie the dog made the requisite appearance....
So, that's it. Not too many laughs, barely any surprises, but overall an enjoyable watch. Here are my fellow blogger Herr adlerkuss' highlights:
"Plummer, Dujardin, Spencer. GWTDT editing team. Best dressed: Gwyneth without cape und Penelope"My own were FotC's Bret, Christopher Plummer, Ben Stiller and Emma Stone presenting and all The Artist awards.
On that note, good morning, it's been fun, let's do this again!
