Too many montages? Not enough love for "The Dark Knight"? Our panel of entertainment experts weigh in on the Oscars.
1. The envelopes were opened and Oscars were awarded for the 81st time Sunday night and it's all over but the weeping. Was anyone surprised by any of the winners or losers?
Entertainment Editor Gene Triplett: Penelope Cruz's supporting actress win was pretty surprising, considering her one-note performance as the crazed ex-wife in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" pales in comparison Marisa Tomei's courageous turn as the aging pole dancer in "The Wrestler" and Viola Davis' brief but powerful portrait of a troubled mother in "Doubt."
Assistant Entertainment Editor George Lang: There were precious few surprises, and while I thought the Best Supporting Actress category was extremely competitive this year, Penelope Cruz was the not the best of the bunch. I would have taken Viola Davis or Taraji P. Henson's performances over Cruz any day or any year. Beyond Cruz, there was an overwhelming air of predictability in the ceremony -- "Slumdog Millionaire" seemed preordained to win.
Entertainment writer Brandy McDonnell: The Oscars were even more predictable than usual this year; the only real upset was the widely praised Israeli foreign language film contender "Waltz with Bashir" losing to the Japanese entry, "Departures." Penelope Cruz emerged victorious in the competitive supporting actress category; undoubtedly Harvey Weinstein's relentless campaigning helped her gain the victory.
And I was disappointed but not really surprised that comeback kid Mickey Rourke lost out on best actor for "The Wrestler." To me, Rourke's raw performance was much more powerful than Sean Penn's turn in "Milk," which was strong but not even as good as some of his co-stars' work. To me, it seemed that politics played a part: Penn maybe had the edge for starring in a "very important issue' film, while Rourke was the linch pin in a movie that was simply a remarkable story of fame, hardship and redemption.
Assistant Features Editor Matt Price: Things played out pretty well as predicted this year. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" did better in the technical categories — which usually reward action films — than what might have been expected. Especially after Will Smith does his whole opening for the visual effects category talking about action, and then winner: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."
2. How would you rate Hugh Jackman's performance as the host of this year's Oscar ceremonies?
McDonnell: Hugh Jackman had the charisma and charm to pull off the hosting duties, and he looks great in a tux. But the producers made too many concessions to tailor the show to their song-and-dance man. The lengthy musical number starring Jackman and Beyonce clearly was added to showcase the Broadway side of Wolverine.
Unfortunately, Jackman's gig got off to an awkward start. The opening number that took place on ramshackle sets that Jackman supposedly made in his basement because of the tough economic times came across as disingenuous and insulting. However, his funny recreation with Anne Hathaway of the "Frost/Nixon" interviews helped salvage the opener.
Personally, after seeing Tina Fey and Steve Martin present the screenwriting awards together, I'm ready to nominate them as the 2010 co-hosts.
Lang: Jackman was great with what he was given -- he can sing, he can dance, he can act, he can grow knives out of his fingertips. But this is a notoriously thankless job, and no one can keep going at full tilt for the longest award ceremony in the entertainment industry. He was good, but I think his skills are better suited to the Tonys, where they know how to contextualize all those things he can do so well.
Triplett: Jackman seemed to be all about staking out a new career for himself as a song and dance man. His opening number with some surprise help from Anne Hathaway was charming and funny, but that was enough already.
Price: I thought he did a good job. He’s pretty charming; he kept things moving for the most part. However, the ceremony as a whole was just too long, as usual, as was the dance sequence/tribute to musicals in the middle of the show.
3. What did you like/dislike about the overall Oscar program?
McDonnell: When will the producers learn that four hours is too long for an awards show? In fact, three hours is too long for an awards show. Every year, they manage to drag out the ceremony until it feels more like a death march than a celebration of film.
Hugh Jackman and Beyonce's big musical number (choreographed by Baz Luhrmann and co-starring Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Dominic Cooper and Amanda Seyfried for extra gee-whiz star power) paid tribute to musicals such as "Mamma Mia!," "Grease" and "Moulin Rouge!" All those movies either came out in previous years or weren't nominated for Oscars, but the producers chewed through several precious minutes recreating the highlights from them.
Meanwhile, Peter Gabriel refused to sing his Oscar-nominated song "Down to Earth," from "WALL-E" to protest making it a 60-second portion of the best song medley, sandwiched between the two hopefuls from the "Slumdog Millionaire" soundtrack. It was the right call on Gabriel's part: John Legend performed admirably in Gabriel's place but the medley just didn't work. All three nominees are terrific songs and they deserved their own separate showcases.
The producers also gave way too much time to films that weren't Oscar worthy in the many, many movie montages. For some reason, they just had to feature "Space Chimps" and "Madagascar 2" among the animated film clips, and "Rambo" and "Hancock" just had to be included in the pointless action flick roundup. The romantic moments of 2008 montage highlighting "Mamma Mia!" and "Twilight" along with "Benjamin Button" was completely superfluous. Montages are fine when used judiciously, but the Oscars always take it too far.
I did like the format that was adopted with the acting categories, letting five past winners talk about the five current nominees and then present the statuette. It was great to see Joel Grey, Eva Marie Saint and Kevin Kline again, and some of the dynamics the method created were interesting. Sophie Loren, Shirley MacLaine, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard and Halle Berry were an interesting combo, and rarely have so many heavy-weight thespians shared the stage as when Sir Ben Kingsley, Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Adrien Brody and Sir Anthony Hopkins came out to present best actor.
However, the five past winners set-up was more time consuming than the typical presentation, and other cuts should have been made to compensate. Say, from the montages.
Triplett: Again, the "Frost/Nixon" segment of the opening number Jackman and Hathaway was a highlight, and I liked seeing the past Oscar winners introducing each of the nominees in the acting categories. I sure didn't expect to ever see 84-year-old Eva Marie Saint stepping into the lights again. The big production number halfway through the overly long, sluggishly-paced program really slowed things down.
Price: I liked the opening song, and Anne Hathaway as Richard Nixon. I liked the "Pineapple Express" bit. I thought there were too many montages overall, however. And that best picture montage at the end was simply bizarre.
Lang: The opening sequence, which involved pretending that the Oscars had belt-tightened to the degree that they had to make a set out of folding chairs and aluminum foil, was condescending and slightly in bad taste -- when the entirety of the stage was surrounded by chandelier-cut glass, no one's going to believe this garbage. And I despised the montages -- what was with the "Great moments in cradle robbing" sequence, or the decision to juxtapose "Braveheart" with "Milk"? Terrible.
4. Who was the most deserving winner?
Triplett: Heath Ledger. His chilling transformation into the profoundly evil Joker in "The Dark Knight" will prove to be the most indelible big screen performance of 2008.
Lang: "Man on Wire," was the most deserving winner -- a moving documentary that doesn't go out of its way to move you. It just does.
Price: Maybe it’s obvious to say, but the late Heath Ledger for "The Dark Knight." It’s an amazing performance in a type of film that the Academy likes to ignore, yet Ledger’s win for best supporting actor was the closest thing to a sure thing there was going into Oscar night. It’s nice that his bravura performance was noted and rewarded, and it’s too bad he wasn’t there himself to accept.
McDonnell: "Slumdog Millionaire" was my favorite film of 2008, and represented a phenomenal film achievement on so many levels. So, I was thrilled to see the rags-to-riches story, which was nearly released direct to video, win a leading eight Oscars.
Also, the late Heath Ledger truly earned the supporting actor honors for his jaw-dropping turn as the Joker in "The Dark Knight." I believe he would have won even if he hadn't died suddenly and at a tragically young age last January. And credit his mother, father and sister for the classy and dignified way in which they accepted the Oscar on his behalf.
5. Any nagging disappointments concerning this year's lineup of Oscar contenders?
Triplett: The absence of "The Dark Knight," "WALL-E" and "The Wrestler" in the best picture category. All of these are far superior to the vastly overrated "Curious Case of Benjamin Button," which was the early favorite to win in this category.
Price: Three: "The Dark Knight," "Wall-E," and "The Wrestler." Maybe there wasn’t room to nominate all of them in the Best Picture category, but certainly you’d like to see one of them in there. It’s unfortunate that "The Wrestler," with great performances by Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei, didn’t manage a win in any category. "Wall-E" at least nabbed the "Best Animated" trophy, and "The Dark Knight" won with the aforementioned best supporting actor and in sound editing.
McDonnell: "The Reader" was overrated, though I didn't object to Kate Winslet's best actress win for the Holocaust drama since her performance essentially holds it together. But I would have rather seen "WALL-E," "The Dark Knight" and "The Wrestler" competing for best picture and best director awards than "The Reader" or "Milk," two films I felt featured outstanding performances but were not as finely directed. When people look back on the great films of 2008, "WALL-E," "The Dark Knight" and "The Wrestler," along with "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Benjamin Button," will be the ones people remember.
Lang: The Best Picture category was deeply flawed: no "WALL-E," no "The Dark Knight." I personally don't believe that movie lovers are going to look back on 2008 and consider "The Reader" one of the touchstones of that year's cinematic character. Both those films were overwhelming critical and popular successes, and while I rarely show a populist streak, it's not like I'm talking about nominating "Mamma Mia" -- these were movies that both reviewers and audiences loved. In this case, the emperor -- or Oscar -- really doesn't have any clothes.
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