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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
What an ugly, insipid excuse for an article. No, Stewart did not suck and many of your "awards" don't have a clear winner, which just further illustrates a lack of substance in your "work." Stewart was just fine, and breathed some life into the event, and can't be expected to get too crazy with the restrictions of the Academy placed upon him.
Your article seems to be the one patting itself on the back, for cattiness and bitchiness - there, I said it, feel better?
... is Cintra Wilson taking the broadcast too seriously. Lighten up.
I thought Jon did a fine job, but he wasn't his usual hysterical self. His opening monologue was a little too "safe". However, his comments throughout the night were very funny ("I can't wait to see what Steven Spielberg has for us Jews next. Trilogy!" "A montage to montages! Send clips fast, we're running out!"). The problem was the audience. They all looked like they had sticks up their butts and were afraid to laugh lest they be considered "out of touch liberal". Or they just were taking the thing so damn seriously that they couldn't laugh at themselves even a tiny bit. Don't they serve alcohol at that thing?
One would think that someone so unabashedly anti-Hollywood as Cintra Wilson would spare herself (and Salon readers) the torture of having her offer juvenile, gag-me-with-a-spoon commentary on the Oscars.
Sadly, this was not the case. One can only hope that this will be considered in the future.
P.S. -- To the powers-that-be at Salon: bilious, negative criticism like this is made slightly more endurable when either the writer or the editor demonstrates some knowledge of spelling and punctuation.
Don't get me wrong, people; I heart Jon Stewart, too. Heart him big time. But Cintra was spot-on about his bombing last night. Mere minutes into the show, he looked like he wanted to squirm right out of his skin.
It's not that all his jokes were bad--it's more that it was immediately, glaringly obvious that this was not the milieu for his particular brand of humor. Stewart's sense of humor is snarky, smart and self-aware. Perfect for a fake news show, but the kiss of death for an ass-kissy awards show.
In all honesty, much as I despise Billy Crystal's comedy in general, his brand of shameless, borscht-belt cheesiness is exactly what works when it comes to hosting the Academy Awards.
As for Cintra's other main point--about the tedious niceness of the Oscars--I also could not agree more. I freaking hate the Oscars anymore. They are absolutely no fun. We haven't had a good meltdown in years! It's a three-hours-plus show, people...we need a few moments of unscripted sloppiness and ego to keep us watching.
Finally, the fact that Crash won best picture this year...well, that about says it all about Hollywood and the cheap, derivative pablum it pawns off as artistic vision. Hollywood's very favorite passtime (well, aside from plastic surgery and competitive dieting) is congratulating itself on how very bravely it exposes the ugly truths in our society.
Overall the show wasn't terrible. Most of what I found wrong with the show had to do with Gil Cates usual ideas about what constitutes a good show. For Example:
- As much as I get a kick out of "Pimp", the production number looked like Connie Stevens trying to perform "Theme from Shaft". At least in the 70's they got it right and had Isaac Hayes wearing chain link. This is the new millenia guys - get some choreographers the understand the numbers. (That doesn't mean Debbie Allen either!!!)
- Jon Stewart was a B Plus in my book. He had a few great zingers and quite honestly, it was usually when he was absent for periods of time that the show dragged. I'd say bring him back next year. Instead we got film montage after film montage after film montage. And none of them had anything to do with the "theme" of the evening. If you're doing A Return to Style, you go heavy on the Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant.
- This year's guest "Artist" performing the Original Score competitors (after you do it 20 times in a row, it stops being special).
- As much as I love seeing the old movie stars show up, tossing poor Lauren Bacall out there to flub the script was pretty stupid. Not to mention, making her introduce yet another unrelated film montage.
Finally, for those who like myself were disappointed that Brokeback lost Best Picture; Oscar history shows that every time a Best Picture upset like this occurs (ie. Greatest Show On Earth, Chariots of Fire, Oliver!, etc) they are usually regarded ten years later as huge oversights by the academy. Brokeback can console itself that it's joining a list that includes A Place In the Sun, A Streetcar Named Desire, High Noon, Reds, 2001 A Space Oddysey and so on.
I know it's very trendy to bash the host of the Oscars...goodness knows, I've done my fair share over the years. However, I think Jon, given the constraints of the event, did very nicely, and most of his jokes got chuckles around the house. He held up respectably and gave a decent performance, in my opinion.
That being said, I definitely agree with most of the comments...and add this one: what was with the slowly burning car and agonizingly slow performance art during the theme for "Crash"? It's not "Cats", people. If they aren't singing a chorus or helping us enjoy the song, get them off the stage!
Just some thoughts...
- ES
From reading the other posts here, I picked up on the fact that Cintra Wilson's article was suppose to be funny. Glad you guys mentioned it because it wasn't obvious. Cintra needs to take a page from Jon Stewart despite the fact she thought he sucked. He managed to poke fun at the Oscars with humor, not with anger. She skewered with anger and nastiness, no fun or humor.
I don't know why Salon would give someone so angry the job of writing about entertainment.
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