What?! Everyone seemed drunk? I might have watched if I'd known that.
Hey, WaPo, "well oiled" means drunk. If you don't mean literally that oil, the lubricant, was used, you have to get "machine" in there — something like The show worked like a well-oiled machine — if you want to say it functioned effectively.
I'm reading "It was a lovely, back-to-basics Oscar night. Sorry about that. At Sunday’s 95th Academy Awards, a focus on the winners, not the drama" (WaPo).Yes, the Oscars took place last night. The thing that we'd be hearing criticism of if it didn't happen happened, so there's no way to know what motivated the Academy, and I just don't care anymore.
I don't know if Rihanna somehow injected "eloquence" into "Lift Me Up," but I read the lyrics, and they're the opposite of eloquent:
Burning in a hopeless dreamHold me when you go to sleep
Keep me in the warmth of your love
When you depart, keep me safe
Safe and sound
But that nonsense did not win. This won:
Translated lyrics here. Like the shrill voice of a bird that can ring your ears... Like singing a song that can make your fingers snap to the beat....
49 comments:
Isn't this that show that used to be about the movie industry, but now awards cartoons and voice overs for cartoons, or movies made about comic book series?
Done with all award shows of any type. I'm just to old to care about any of it for any reason. Not that I ever cared much for them in past either. And the Professor's column today is the last I'll ever read of it. Finis.
I don't think the "comic book movies" have been winning Oscars. They just dominate the box office. Then, when it's time to give awards, they've been giving them to movies people don't know. It used to be that there were these Oscar bait movies — like "The English Patient" — and people did feel the need to go out and see them before Oscar night. We'd have real favorites to win — in multiple categories. That doesn't happen anymore.
Someone said to me yesterday that it doesn't make sense to watch the awards unless you watch the movies ahead of time, especially once the nominations have come out: "If you really cared what the academy thought about the movies you would have watched the movies. And if you don’t care about their opinion then why are you watching the Oscars."
This morning Boston is apparently proud of some Emerson students who won. I lived in the Emerson neighborhood and liked how the school pulled together something of an urban campus over the last fifteen years. I admit the last five or so years the kids are a lot creepier. You used to see some on air personality/movie star types but it's been trending more to a fine art major kind of crowd. Like I said...creepy...
Does anyone know if they still do the academy awards?
Does anyone Care if they do?
Tried to watch “RRR.” Terrible.
I had real favorites to win: Tar, or at least the amazing Cate Blanchette - she carried that whole movie alone, start to finish That sheer effort should have got her something.
And I learned what "U-Haul lesbian" means.
And Banshees of Inisherin. I think it lost because people didnt realize it was a Laurel and Hardy remake. Perhaps they were put off by the way Jenny the donkey died. So was I.
I have to agree with all the awards for Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Supposedly Jamie Lee Curtis might not pick up her award, because she goes to bed early. Don't know, but it was something in a news clip I saw earlier in the day while visiting family. Oh wait, there she is in a picture holding the award. Oh, she just skipped the nominee stuff and got the award. The drama! At least Top Gun:Maverick was given a bone.
I stopped on the show for a minute as I scrolled through channels. Jimmy Kimmel was lauding the diversity of many of the best picture nominees and then rhapsodized about some additional movies that, although NOT nominated, were amazing because of diversity. When he mentioned a non nominated movie, the camera focussed in on the star of the said movie. No surprise... it was obvious that diversity meant non-white.
john said...And I learned what "U-Haul lesbian" means.
Is this a variation of the joke, "what do lesbians get for their third date?" "A U-Haul"? The joke being that because they are two women, they are quick to commit. Three dates is long enough to decide to move in together.
Didn't watch.
But I'm a (guilty pleasure) fan of Bollywood dance numbers. They are a hoot. So thanks for the Utube.
no mention of all the crappy unhatched lecture porn films we get from - Hillarywoodland?
So Bollywood won.
Proudly didn't watch the Awards show. Cannot stand Jimmy kimmel. Hollywood is dead to me.
There's a Sunset Boulevard vibe to the Oscars this past decade. An unwillingness to acknowledge that the industry has lost its grip on the American mainstream.
If you're over 60, look over this list of Best Picture winners. Compare the 80s and 90s with the 00s and 10s. Quite jarring to see how far movies have slipped in terms of good storytelling.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Academy_Award_Winners_for_Best_Picture,_Director,_Actor_and_Actress
As I’ve said ad nauseam, why should I care about industry awards for an industry in which I do not work…. The main reason I used to watch was for the clothes. I can now see those online - I get a huge kick out of red carpet photos. I remember deciding it was all ridiculous when Titanic won, followed by Shakespeare in Love. I’m among those who Everything, Everywhere….I liked it okay, but thought it was way overblown. This coming from a big Michelle Yeoh fan from back in her martial arts days. Still think she was the best Bond girl….
It’s a bit bizarre to point out the Oscars seem like a well-oiled machine. They always have been, with a few memorable exceptions.
The Oscars themselves should appear in the In Memoriam.
Jimmy Kimmell(D) - leftist lecture porn star... to the stars.
They should have nominated rrr for best picture
Note to commenters: If you have something on another topic, put it in the last open thread or wait for the next one. Don't hijack a thread and, especially, don't lecture us about how some other topic is more important. Sorry I didn't stop that comment before letting it through moderation. And please don't respond to this comment of mine (which is also off topic).
"And I learned what "U-Haul lesbian" means."
Oldest lesbian joke — right up there with what's the deal with airplane food.
Not that lesbians have anything to do with airplane food.
"Tar" really is one of those "English Patient" type movies that are made for the Oscars.
unhatched = un-watched.
I've noticed an awful lot of things like "well-oiled" for "well-oiled machine" over the past few years. Also a strange tendency to use prepositions interchangeably. "Based off" for "based on" (as in '...based off a popular video game...') is a daily occurrence. At first I thought it was a Britishism that I was unfamiliar with,but it’s everywhere.
Ann Althouse said... "And I learned what "U-Haul lesbian" means." Oldest lesbian joke — right up there with what's the deal with airplane food.
I don't know that joke either.
Also, a movie "made for the Oscars" doesn't mean it's gonna be bad. (Although I too disliked "English Patient".)
To quote Messers Becker and Fagen;
Show business kids making movies of themselves
You know they don't give a fuck about anybody else...
I second what Michael said (8:01 am). I grew up in the 80's. As a teen I remember rooting for my favorite movies to win at the Oscars. We argued about them with our friends at school. People actually cared, because they had seen the movies, and the awards meant something. I don't think I've felt that way since the 2000's began. No one I know cares about them or talks about them. That includes plenty of movie-lovers. My kids don't care, and their friends don't care. The Oscars are an irrelevant non-entity.
But I am glad to hear about all the diversity. I was really worried about that.
I was browsing the Friday, April 17, 1970 Atlanta Constitution in newspapers.com the other day looking for an obit when I came across the theater listings for that weekend. These were just a few of the movies available at Atlanta theaters that weekend:
2001: A Space Odyssey
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Patton
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Midnight Cowboy
Anne of the Thousand Days
The Dirty Dozen
Z
So, what is playing at your local multiplex this week? I checked the three nearest me here in Cumming, GA, and there is not a single movie I would pay to see right now. I might see John Wick 4 when it opens next week. Yet, I saw every one of those movies back in 1970. Except for "Bob & Carol...", which I really didn't think was all that good, I would watch any of those movies again right now. Quite a few Oscars spread across that list, and all of them deserved.
So the meteor did not hit Hollywood last night?
God is off his game lately...
I moderately happy that Brendan Fraser won over the Elvis guy. Maybe they can now repackage his Mummy Movies with "Starting Oscar-winning Brendan Fraser!!!"
And the Goonies guy -- it is a nice touch that a boat person has won an Oscar. Only in America!
I'm not a fan of Kimmel, he's too needy as a late-night host IMO. (But I admit he's not as mean as James Corden) So that was not an inducement to watch. Plus on the night after the time change? I'm tired!
As an aside, Turner Classic Movies always runs a 5 star list of films in the month preceding the Oscars. In the past week alone we rewatched:
Gone With The Wind
Casablanca
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Music Man
Fiddler On The Roof
Top that.
I'm so glad for RRR. One of the best song and dance numbers put on film, including anything performed by my beloved Gene Kelly.
I didn't watch the Oscar broadcast. They'd have to apologize, bring flowers and chocolates, and attend many therapy sessions before I would let them back in my life.
Everything everywhere... Had plenty of Oscar bait. The first half hour shows how mind numbingly boring working in a (subtitled) laundromat with tax problems is. I didn't watch the rest.
.
I watched it. Professional obligation. The only movie I'd been able to get all the way through--and loved--from the screeners that arrive every December was Banshees of Inishiren. I'd made it through about twenty minutes of Everything Everywhere.
Lenny Kravitz sang the worst song I've ever heard, at least melodically (I couldn't understand the lyrics), to accompany the In Memoriam section, which didn't include the woman shot dead by Alec Baldwin.
The second worst song I've ever heard was one of the nominated songs.
Please forgive. I don't feel like bitching about the Oscars. I tuned in to see if they still give any awards for movies that people actually go see and that are full of normal, patriotic, hetero white guys. They don't. Well, OK, they gave an attaboy one to "Top Gun" for "sound" (seriously). But surprisingly I thought overall they put on a very good show this time.
I wouldn't say Kimmel's monologue was LOL-funny but at least it was unslappable. The production was well-paced and the clips gave a good representation of the essence of the films. The speeches were heart-felt without being too weepy or too long. Jamie Lee Curtis was great (how can you not win as an IRS auditor of an Asian laundromat owner?). And Vietnamese immigrant Ke Huy Quan reminded Americans that the American Dream still lives for non-Americans. Too bad Americans just aren't that interested in it anymore.
But best of all, this was a year of exceptional movie titles. "Everything Everywhere, All at Once" won pretty much everything everywhere all at once. It (the title) also captures exactly the obsessive pursuit that is driving the current generation into spiraling emptiness. Now I may need to see the movie to see if this was a lucky accident. And last of all, the all-time Best Title Ever goes to "My Year of Dicks," which didn't win anything, but should have won an Oscar just for that title.
Talk about the perfect summation and characterization for the reality shitshow we've been living through. Thanks for finally nailing it, Hollywood.
The really good thing is, I didn't even know the Oscar show was on last night until I saw it on Instapundit this AM, and I couldn't even muster up enough give a crap to click through and see if Maverick won any Oscars, because who cares?
The really good thing is, I didn't even know the Oscar show was on last night until I saw it on Instapundit this AM, and I couldn't even muster up enough give a crap to click through and see if Maverick won any Oscars, because who cares?
Years ago Althouse mentioned Tom and Lorenzo. That's as close to the Oscars as I'll get. Still grateful for the tip.
Is "well-oiled" machinery responsible for all the train derailments?
Is "#OscarssoAsian" going to be a thing no?
I can remember when the Pulitzer award for fiction meant that the book was a good read and had an uplifting message: "The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters", "Andersonville","A Death in the Family". They never made a movie of those books, but they were worth reading. Then there were Pulitzer books like, "The Caine Mutiny", "The Grapes of Wrath", "GWTW", "To Kill a Mockingbird" where the film version matched or exceeded the impact and popularity of the book. I was looking through the list of recent Pulitzer winners. Not much fodder there to feed a good movie, and some of the books I never heard of or were the kind that I would actively avoid. Whatever is happening with the Oscars, happened to the Pulitzers first.
Didn't watch. Don't care.
"If you really cared what the academy thought about the movies you would have watched the movies. And if you don’t care about their opinion then why are you watching the Oscars."
People watch out of habit. It's also a social thing. For some people it's an excuse for a get together. For others, it's something to talk about at the watercooler, like sports or the weather. But more and more people without the habit come of age every year and more and more people with the habit shuffle off this mortal coil each year.
Better questions would be why doesn't the industry make pictures people want to see, and why does it expect people who haven't watched the movies to watch the awards ceremony.
I was disappointed to learn what a "U-Haul lesbian" is.
I thought it might refer to some arcane sexual maneuver.
I'm deleting an earlier post without commenting on the earlier post or on Ann's post talking about the earlier post. I was demonstrating apathy in Ann's post about Academy Awards apathy. Too esoteric, I see....
"Years ago Althouse mentioned Tom and Lorenzo."
Yeah, I used to link to them a lot, but then one day I saw that they'd blocked me on Twitter. I have no idea why, but I took that to mean that they didn't want links from me, perhaps because some people who followed my links were disrespectful toward them. So, I still read them, on their blog (not on Twitter!) and I listen to their podcast, but I will never link to them again.
I only watched to keep abreast of what's in fashion.
A well oiled machine is an offensive line in which everybody knows everybody else’s assignments against any defensive front they face at the snap. I thought everybody knew this.
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