It’s that time of year again as the juggernauts of Hollywood’s movie industry gather together to honor the very best in the cinematic arts. Hosting this year were James Franco and Anne Hathaway, who kicked off the awards with an amusing trip inside the mind of last year’s host Alec Baldwin, using the machine from “Inception.” This brought them through a cavalcade of this year’s nominees.
From Hathaway’s performance as “The Brown Duck” in “Black Swan” to Franco getting knocked out in “The Fighter,” it was interesting to see how they were injected into these films.
They even had a chance encounter with Morgan Freeman as Alec Baldwin’s personal narrator.
With all that said and done, the duo returned to the present via the DeLorean from “Back to the Future,” as an amazed Marty and Doc Brown looked onwards.
But with that said, the overall performance for these hosts at the awards was less than stellar.
What was supposed to be a night of funny moments and a great team up turned into a flop. Franco looked like he was in a world all his own as Hathaway tried to compensate for this upset. Sadly, her forced laughter didn’t help things at all.
For the first time, the Academy Awards were broadcast simultaneously from different cameras that provided more backstage interviews, film stars reactions to their awards after returning backstage and exclusive inside video of the Governor’s Ball. This could all be viewed online and on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch with the Oscar Backstage Pass application.
This certainly is a welcomed step for Oscar entering the ever-changing digital landscape. The background stage became a character in its own right. Resembling the famous Hollywood Bowl, the stage showcased movie scenes from “Gone with the Wind” to “Shrek.” From a technical standpoint, it was pure movie magic.
Kirk Douglas presented the award for Best Supporting Actress. Everyone waited with bated breath as Douglas struggled to give his presentation due to a previous stroke. But it paid off with one of the most memorable moments and greatest highlight at this year’s Oscars.
The infamous “F-Bomb” speech presented by Melissa Leo, as she accepted her award for Best Supporting Actress, will also go down in Oscar history.
Most out of place moment had to go to Oprah Winfey, for announcing the award for Best Documentary after talking about how movies are the ultimate escapism. Whether she was being ironic or given misinformation is yet to be known.
The memoriam segment this year was set to the song “Smile,” sung by Celine Dion. Movie icons and film legends included were Tony Curtis, Robert Culp, Lionel Jeffries, Patricia Neal, Lynn Redgrave, Anne Francis, Grant McCune, Irvin Kershner, Bob Boyle, Tom Mankiewicz, Blake Edwards, Gloria Stuart, Dennis Hopper, Leslie Neilson, Pete Postlethwaite and Bill Littlejohn to name a few.
Movie scenes from “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1,” “Twilight,” “Toy Story 3,” and “The Social Network” set to auto-tuned music provided some laughs along with Anne Hathaway’s version of “On My Own” as she humorously sang about Hugh Jackman.
“Inception” cleaned up the technical side of the awards with Best Visuals, Best Sound Design, Best Sound Mixing and Best Cinematography, while “Alice in Wonderland” clenched the artistic awards of Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design.
As expected, “Toy Story 3” won for Best Animated Film, along with Randy Newman’s song “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3” winning Best Original Song. But Mr. Newman complained about how the Academy couldn’t even find a fifth song to nominate.
The return of Billy Crystal to the Academy Awards was met with great fanfare as he recalled a memorable experience with legendary comedian Bob Hope. With that said, the stage was transformed into a monochrome testament of television’s Golden Age, with a computer generated Bob Hope introducing Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, who ironically enough gave out the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
Natalie Portman gave a stirring speech as she accepted the award for Best Actress in “Black Swan.” Colin Firth graciously accepted the award for Best Actor in “The King’s Speech,” along with Tom Hooper winning Best Director for the same film.
And as many predicted this year, “The King’s Speech” won for Best Picture, securing its place in Oscar history.
The end of the Academy Awards concluded with the singing of the timeless classic “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by the students of Staten Island’s PS 22 Chorus. As they sang, the background revealed the Emerald City from “The Wizard of Oz” as every Academy Award winner walked from backstage to a cheering crowd, singing along with the kids.
But with the exception of a nice surprise twist ending, this year’s awards were too predictable.
Unlike last year’s awards, there was no real tension between directors or films, no real speculation to who would win what and hosts that were less than best. With rumors of Billy Crystal being considered as host for next year’s Academy Awards, let’s hope that the Academy will do the right thing and bring in their ‘A’ game next year.
Patrick Viesti is a fourth year student at West Chester University, majoring in Communications Studies. He can be reached at PV682167@wcupa.edu.