This year’s Oscars were just the latest in a seemingly endless trend of boring, self-important evenings on which we are supposed to be reminded of the “magic of movies,” only to be reminded how shallow the movie business is. Hollywood is afraid to offend those who truly deserve offending, like Islamic dictators (witness their initial hesitance to allow Sacha Baron Cohen on the red carpet dressed like a dictator — this in an industry where people dress up as other people for a living). But they’re all too happy to offend red-state America by having the supremely-straight George Clooney make out with Billy Crystal, or allow the Bridesmaids gals to make raunchy penis jokes (because that went over so well at the Emmys).
If Oscar wants to buck this trend, they have to do one of two things: make the evening magical again by bringing back class (meaning no penis jokes) or go risky and allow somebody who isn’t 65 years old and botoxed to host (like Sacha Baron Cohen). Until they do, we’re going to care less and less about the event, and stick to reading the snarky reviews by Nikki Finke.
This is one of those things, like Kim Kardasian, New Coke, and the summer 2011 GOP debates, that I'll just have to leave it up to other people to explain and enjoy.
In the category of Best Left to People Who Care About Such Things: The Oscars.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis might be the dumbest post I've seen on the Corner
.
A) Bring back class
B) Sacha Baron Cohn (of Borat and Bruno)
A and B cannot coexist. Please tell me this is sarcasm.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBoring. Self-important. Shallow.
These words describe the pop culture in general. And the fashion industry in particular -- though I'm not sure that's really a distinct operation.
Behold, the free-spirited "creative" class; see how many layers of pretense they can build around their urgent iconoclasm. Okay, that part is entertaining, but only momentarily. And not in the way they ever intended.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Boring. Self-important. Shallow."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThese words also describe this article (though he is right about getting someone under 65 to host).
This is the first year I haven't even had the desire to find out who won the big categories. I never watch the broadcast, but usually check out to see who won the next day. I won't bother seeing the movies that won either -- assuming I even find out which ones those are.
I wonder how many tea party conservative types that tolerated Hollywood in the past, no longer have the stomach for them anymore.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhich of the winning films do tea party conservatives "no longer have the stomach for?" The Iron Lady? The Artist? Hugo? A freakin' Margaret Thatcher biopic gets an Academy award and this is the Oscars that's a bridge too far for conservatives?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWait, you think the Oscar's didn't want Sacha Baron Cohen in character b/c they didn't want to offend Muslims? Are you unaware of the stunts he's pulled in the passed dressed as other characters? I'm glad they let him come, and they would have looked humorless had they not, but you have to be awfully out-of-touch culturally to think this has anything to do with Islam and not with Cohen's history at awards shows (and besides, hasn't the last year or so taught us that Muslims don't like Muslim dictators much either?). To answer my own question, I suspect you aren't familiar with Cohen's work, otherwise you certainly wouldn't be suggesting him as a host who would solve you problem of offending red state sensibilities.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGrowing up in small town America in the 50's, where every Saturday my mom gave me a quarter to go to the movies, I loved the movies. When I moved to New York in 1the 70's, I lived around the corner from a movie theater where I saw every show that ran there. This love of the movies continued for decades. When DVDs came along, I started a collection of movies from the 30's to the 50's. But somewhere along the way, movies lost much of their magic. They rarely transport us to a different place, rarely celebrate extraordinary virtue practiced by ordinary people, rarely show us how wonderful we really are as a people. The Stars rarely sparkle anymore. I haven't been to a movie theatre in years, not since they started showing movies on bed sheets. If I hear of a really great movie, I buy a used DVD.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"This year’s Oscars were just the latest in a seemingly endless trend of boring, self-important evenings"
If that is the way you feel, why do you watch them? Is it so you can write self-righteous posts the next morning?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo, fewer gay jokes and more Sacha Baron Cohen? You may want to re-think that.
Also, how is Billy Crystal kissing George Clooney offensive to red states? You're telling me half the country is offended by farce? Three's Company doesn't play in Texas? Some Like It Hot is never on TCM in Colorado?
Also, have you noticed that watching the Oscars is still not mandatory? Whining about what's on television is the most pathetic complaint.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abusereading The Corner isn't mandatory either.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSorry, but I have to disagree, at least in part. Billy Crystal is a genius at hosting this type of thing. He was funny (the George Clooney kiss was part of a hilarious montage of attempts to convince Crystal to return to the Oscars) and he managed to get a few snarky hits in at the Hollywood 1% crowd, as when he noted that after seeing "The Help" he “. . .wanted to hug the first black woman I saw, which in Beverly Hills is about a 45-minute drive.” And my favorite hit at the hypocrisy of Hollywood: “Nothing can take the sting out of economic problems like watching millionaires collecting gold statues.”
The Oscars are merely one out of dozens of "Aren't We Specia?" awards events throughout the entertainment industry, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing (except perhaps that the Cirque du Soleil people are in-freaking-credible!)
Lighten up, guys, or turn the channel. Or better yet, watch one of the great movies that they make--there are more than a few sprinkled in amongst the dreck.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's the Oscars, so of course it is boring. It always has been, and unless Ricky Gervais is the host, it always will be.
I've always found conservative disgust with Hollywood with amusing. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, etc. are all insanely rich because the American public buys tickets to their movies and the magazines with their faces on the covers. They are popular because we made them so. You may not like the sexual humor in Bridesmaids, but given how much money it made, it looks like a whole lot of other people do.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseChicken McNuggets made Ronald McDonald rich. I can still be disgusted by what's in them.
So until the world's unfunniest clown starts making uninformed political pronouncements I wish him well with his yellow pants and stacks of lucre.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMy cunning plan: Turn the Oscars festivities into a series of steel-cage death matches between Oscar nominees for possession of the coveted golden statuettes.
I guarantee it'll be like a second Superbowl. Hours of viewing enjoyment for the entire family.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI used to think crass comedians were worthless, but I've come to understand that a really brave comic serves the purpose of a court jester, to be the one counselor who is able to get away with telling the king things nobody else would say. Chicken ones - Bill Maher - don't do anybody any good. But a George Carlin is worth his weight in gold.
I haven't seen the film and expect that Cohen isn't directly taking on militant Islam, but I suspect he's taking some swipes at it from the looks of his routine - while taking whacks at the Norks, Hugo Chavez (cancer apparently suffered a relapse of Chavez recently...) and middle eastern strongman/anti-Jewish culture. Meanwhile, the Oscars imbroglio allowed him to take some whacks at Hollywood, which is clearly afraid of offending Muslims, dictators, and lord knows who else.
This had been a hole in Cohen's game and it looks like he's stepping up. Sure, he can be offensive sometimes. But he skewers a lot of people who need skewering, for our good if not for their own. In this he joins some other stage personas who are sometimes offensive, but whose voices need to be heard for our sake - Sarah Silverman, Larry David (truly subversive, anti-Hollywood comics), Louis Black and even Penn Gillette come to mind. Yeah, they are crude. But given their willingness to tell the truth, and the humor they use to puncture festering boils that need to be punctured, I can forgive them a little crudity. When I'm not too busy laughing, that is.
Ps. Shakespeare's collected works are essentially a collection of dirty jokes, artfully told, often for subversive purposes. Once you grasp that, a crude comedian doesn't seem to be so out of bounds.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHard to take them seriously when Melancholia was not considered one of the ten best movies of the year and didn't get a single nomination in any category.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI don't think the problem with the Oscars is the host or the program, it's the movies.
Once upon a time, it wasn't unusual to have large groups of people where everyone had seen all 5 best picture nominees even before they were announced--or at least had seen 4 of 5 and went to see the 5th before Oscar night. Everyone had an opinion on all the major categories. The show was a celebration of movies that people loved.
This year, there were 9 best picture nominees, of which I had seen 1 (and it wasn't going to win). I had nothing at stake, so I didn't watch. My only opinion on the show was annoyance that it preempted the shows I usually watch on Sunday night.
Billy Crystal can't save the Oscars. Sasha Baron Cohen can't save the Oscars. The ghosts of Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant working together couldn't save the Oscars. The only thing that will save the Oscars is if they start making and nominating better movies.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse