Note: For our coverage of the 2009 Oscars, go here.
Was it me or was there an overabundance of montages at this years Academy Awards? The event was almost four hours long and it felt like most of what we got was filler material. Between the musical numbers, interpretive dances, montages and other random industry-related acknowledgments, it’s a wonder they had time to squeeze in the actual awards. While Ellen’s hosting abilities left me a little cold (and I’m a huge Ellen fan), there were a few highlights worth mentioning.
Will Ferrell, Jack Black and John C. Reilly delivered one of the only worth-watching performances of the evening with a humorous musical number that addressed the issue of comedians not getting recognized by the Academy. These guys are simply hilarious and extremely talented. While Ellen did manage to induce a few chuckles throughout the evening, Jerry Seinfeld stole the show when he presented the “Best Documentary” award, proving that he hasn’t lost his sense of humor since his ‘Seinfeld’ days. (Either that or he’s been spending the last few years working on those jokes).
I had quite a few complaints about this year’s Academy Award Ceremony because honestly, it went on for way too long and the worth-watching moments felt few and far between. Rather than listing my complaints, here is a small list of suggestions for the producers of the awards (and the Academy) to consider when planning next year’s ceremony:
1. Fewer montages unless they’re really good. This year seemed to have a lot of unnecessary montages. The one about screenplay writing for example, felt drawn out and kind of pointless. I could say the same for most of the others. Either make them great or leave them out.
2. The interpretive dance bits were cool but they were overshadowed (pun intended) by all of the other filler material. They would’ve been a lot more enjoyable if there weren’t so many other random non-award-related bits.
3. This one’s for the Academy: Will Ferrell and Jack Black are right. Why don’t comedians get recognized more for their performances in film? If you’re going to make us sit through “Best Sound Mixing” (which I realize is a very necessary job and worthy of recognition but not exactly an exciting category), why not throw in a couple awards for comedic performances? For one thing, being funny can often be more difficult than being dramatic and for another, the winners will most likely deliver extremely entertaining speeches when accepting their award.
4. I think its great that so many people from all over the world are celebrated at the Oscars but maybe you could dumb it down for us American’s who don’t speak foreign languages and offer some subtitles. I know it’s a live event but I’m sure there’s a bit of a delay. It would allow the winners who don’t speak English as a first language to do their speeches in their native tongue (like Ennio Morricone did at this year’s ceremony) and the rest of us can follow along with the bouncing ball.
That about covers it. East coasters had to wait until past midnight to see which film won best picture but since The Departed took the award, I can say with confidence that it was worth the wait. To view the full list of winners, click here.
