Oscar Recap

As a television producer, it's hard for me to watch the Oscars without fixating on the production itself. Last year, producers Bill Condon and Laurence Mark and host Hugh Jackman, took a stale traditional show and re-invented it, into a fun, fresh, lively, don't want to miss a moment 'event'!

Sadly, last night, producer Adam Shankman reverted to everything old and unwatchable about the previous 80 years of Oscar telecasts.

I don't blame hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin for being bad. I think they were onstage for a combined 4.5 minutes. They didn't even have a chance to be good.

I can't even imagine some of the conversations that must have taken place at production meetings. "Neil Patrick Harris was so great hosting the Tonys and the Emmys...let's have him do the opening song and dance at the Oscars!" What? That's like saying "Tim Tebow did so great at the National Championship Game, let's have him start in place of Peyton Manning at the Super Bowl."

Here you have Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, two of the most talented guys around...hosting the biggest event of the year in Hollywood...and you start the show with Neil Patrick Harris, essentially doing a spoof of previous/lesser award shows?

And then, the production isn't even good! On my transmission of the show, i was unable to even hear the lyrics Harris was singing. And they kept doing cutaways of people in the audience, but they forgot to turn the lights on, so all we saw at home were dark shadow figures. Just ridiculous for a show with a mutli-million dollar budget.

I must admit I did say 'wow' when I first saw the stage/set. It was impressive.

But whose idea was it to put a small stairway, going up, right next to the winner's area? When someone's name is called at these award shows, they understandably turn into shaky, deer in headlights! At every award show, upon finishing their speech, the winners undoubtedly turn the wrong way, and can barely hold it together, walking off stage. I know...let's add to that awkwardness, by making them climb stairs!

Baldwin and Martin's opening duo-logue had more nazi and crotch jokes than a teenage skin-head's beer bash. Thank you Bruce Vilanch. Classy, so classy. Not.

And on and on I could go. From the decision to have the presenters say 'And the winner is' rather than 'And the Oscar goes to' to the removal of performances of the nominated songs, to a bizarre modern dance routine, to the tribute to horror films (since when are Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice horror films?)....it was just bad production decision on top of bad production decision. Oh and how about the decision to have Tina Fey present the screenplay award...again! Last year she and Steve Martin did a fantastic job making that presentation funny and fresh. Having Fey do it this year, without Martin, was anything but funny or fresh. Oh and nice job by whoever was supposed to help Ben Stiller with props from off-stage during his bit. Good grief, it was like watching a bad high school production.

And who didn't love the orchestra's decision to play "I Am Woman Hear My Roar" as Kathryn Bigelow left the stage, after her historic win as Best Director? "I Am Woman Hear Me Roar?" What is this, the Friar's Club Roast? They even managed the shlock up a truly special moment.

What I thought was going to be a tribute to Patrick Swayze, turned into just the opposite. Demi Moore (Swayze's 'Ghost' co-star) came on stage, with the music from 'Ghost' playing in the background. She never mentioned Swayze by name, but instead did a generic introduction to the annual 'In Memoriam' segment. The first person in the special memorial tribute was Swayze...but the Camera was on a super wide shot of the theatre, so you could barely see Swayze's photo. By the time the Director got a clue...Swayze's photos were gone, and so the biggest movie star death of the year was completely unacknowledged at the Oscars.

Even the decision to revert back to the tired old music that has been played at every Oscars for decades was baffling. 'Arthur' is my favorite movie of all time. But if I have to hear 'When you get caught between the moon and New York City' one more time during the Oscars, I'm going to scream! Last year's visionaries brought in all new music (sparing no detail)...but this year's crew just couldn't resist resuming a tired cliche'.

And how about that big moment at the end? The announcement of Best Picture from Tom Hanks. I blinked and missed it! Hanks walks on stage as the crowd is still digesting Bigelow's win. They don't even have him re-read the nominees, there's no drumroll, it's just 'hi, i'm Tom Hanks and the winner is 'The Hurt Locker'. Wow, way to create some drama.

And why were there 10 best picture nominees...but then the show did nothing special with them? Just boring clip introductions like usual. It would have been nice to see something really creative done to help explain why the number of nominees doubled.

The cutaways of a bored and annoyed George Clooney in the audience, said it all. A look, no doubt, seen on couches around the world. I won't even begin to discuss the "official red carpet show". Kathy Ireland, please stick to posing in Sports Illustrated...and let Ryan Seacrest and Joan Rivers handle red carpet shows. Note to the academy...next year team up with the good folks at 'E!' who invented the red carpet show...and let Seacrest do what he does best.

OK, now that I've vented all of that, there were a few (very few) nice moments. Here are my favorites (in no particular order):

1) The Tribute to John Hughes (very classy to honor this special filmmaker, so cool to see almost the entire Breakfast Club back together, unfortunately Emilio Estevez was the only one not there)

2) The Best Actor and Best Actress award presentations. That was really cool to hear from people who know and have worked with the nominees, giving very personal salutes. I especially loved Tim Robbins talking about his former 'Shawshank Redemption' co-star Morgan Freeman. And Oprah's tribute to Gabourey Sidibe was so surreal. If you saw the movie 'Precious' you know about the constant fantasy's that Gabourey's character would envision in her mind. I couldn't quite separate reality from fantasy during that special moment.

3) Having Barbra Streisand present the Best Director award. Most agree Streisand should have been the first woman to win that award a few years back for either 'Yentl' or 'Prince of Tides'. Very classy, very classy to have her be the one to hand out the historic trophy to Kathryn Bigelow.

4) Loved a lot of the winners. Most of my favorite movies of the year were honored, and that's what I always hope the Oscars will be about. 'Up', 'Star Trek', 'Precious', 'Avatar', 'Crazy Heart', 'The Blind Side', 'The Hurt Locker' were all good movies and I'm happy they were recognized as such.

I do not think 'The Hurt Locker' was the best movie of the year. 'Avatar' or 'Precious' should have won best picture in my opinion. 'Avatar' was the only movie I said 'wow' during, about 100 times. It has changed the way movies are made and watched forever. I don't know why academy members chose 'The Hurt Locker'...it was a powerful film and I'm happy it allowed for multiple tributes to our fantastic U.S. troops around the world...but I didn't agree it was the year's best.

I'm hoping Meryl Streep wins an Oscar this century. Most assume she's won recently. Not true. It's actually been 18 years since she's won an Oscar! She won two very early in her career for 'Kramer vs. Kramer' and 'Sophie's Choice' but hasn't won since 1982. It is time! Jack Nicholson has 3...she should too!

So, those are my Oscar thoughts for 2010. As an Israeli I'm proud that my country's growing film industry has been honored 3 years in a row with a nomination for Best Foreign Language film. I'm hoping they actually win, one of these days.

Until then...I'll be seeing all the great movies the talented men and women of the film industry keep bringing to us. Film is my favorite artform, I am grateful for the talented people who make them....it's why I take the Oscars seriously to the extent that I do....I just like to see the best work honored in the best way.

P.S. Following Roger Ebert's live tweets during the show was a real highlight! He may have lost his voice, but not his brilliance when it comes to all things cinema!