An old, familiar look to the Oscars

[SWC75]

From 1929, (the first ceremony), through 1943, the Oscars were awarded at a banquet in a hotel:

List of Academy Awards ceremonies - Wikipedia

Here are the (not socially distanced) awards for 1939:

 

[cuseattle]

The Oscars have been rather pedestrian, but the google commercial with the octopus was pretty cool.

 

[Day2]

Train wreck.

 

[cuseattle]

Train wreck.

This might be worse than the Franco and Hathaway year. There's an energy vacuum.

 

[Day2]

This might be worse than the Franco and Hathaway year. There's an energy vacuum.

How are they not showing clips? It’s a visual medium. I don’t need Laura Dern reciting someone else’s opinion of the nominees.

 

[cuseattle]

The In Memoriam segment was well done.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

I’m guessing that was a one year failed experiment at an alternative Oscars format. I guess they figured nobody saw any of the films so they could just completely blow up the traditional format. Didn’t work, imo.

 

[Day2]

They saved Best Actor for last, assuming it would be Boseman. Then Hopkins wins and he’s not even there or at any of the satellite locations.

 

[ScrabbCuse]

They saved Best Actor for last, assuming it would be Boseman. Then Hopkins wins and he’s not even there or at any of the satellite locations.

That backfired badly. The network was expecting a Boseman win. Also, Viola Davis was seen as snubbed also. Add to that the weird speech Frances McDormand gave. Also, what was that weird music game they played? Seemed so out of place and there was no reason to kill time. Overall, not a great show. Even with Covid, they could have put in a better effort.

 

[Day2]

That backfired badly. The network was expecting a Boseman win. Also, Viola Davis was seen as snubbed also. Add to that the weird speech Frances McDormand gave. Also, what was that weird music game they played? Seemed so out of place and there was no reason to kill time. Overall, not a great show. Even with Covid, they could have put in a better effort.

Glenn Close doing Da Butt was the highlight of the show. Read into that what you will.

 

[Day2]

“It doesn’t help that this year’s nominees weren’t exactly blockbusters — even if theaters were open, I can’t imagine that Nomadland or Mank would be setting box-office records — but strangely, these Oscars made almost no effort to introduce viewers to these films, with precious few clips from the nominated films and performances. (They somehow gave out an award for Best Costume Design… and we never even got to see the costumes! Films are a visual medium! Let us see them!) Instead, we got long, drawn-out speeches with presenters paying homage to each nominee in a fawning way that just felt phony. These Oscars committed the cardinal sin of telling and not showing: They told us we should care about these movies, instead of showing us why we should care.”

 

[SWC75]

The In Memoriam segment was well done.

They could have added an extra second to each one so we could read the name and also look at the face.

 

[cuseattle]

MSN

www.msn.com

 

[Newhouser]

I think the Oscars is always a night of hot air and this year more than usual. I wish the entire film community was as active cleaning out their own crumbs before continuing their lecture series on how we should live.

Steven Soderbergh has to own the mess that was last night's show.

 

[SWC75]

I think the Oscars is always a night of hot air and this year more than usual. I wish the entire film community was as active cleaning out their own crumbs before continuing their lecture series on how we should live.

Steven Soderbergh has to own the mess that was last night's show.

Bill Maher Skewers Oscars, Did They All Quit Coke at Same Time? (tmz.com)

 

[MSOrange]

Academy Awards Ratings Plummet to All-Time Low as Viewership Drops Below 10 Million

The 2021 Oscars ceremony was watched by the smallest audience the award show has ever received.

www.nbcnewyork.com

 

[orange79]

Academy Awards Ratings Plummet to All-Time Low as Viewership Drops Below 10 Million

The 2021 Oscars ceremony was watched by the smallest audience the award show has ever received.

www.nbcnewyork.com

No one has seen the movies.

No funny hosts.

No surprise.

 

[MSOrange]

No one has seen the movies.

No funny hosts.

No surprise.

Yep I think there will be more interest next year, but it just wasn't the same this year. I started watching the show and quickly lost interest.

 

[Chip]

Bill Maher Skewers Oscars, Did They All Quit Coke at Same Time? (tmz.com)

This is one reason why Godzilla vs. Kong stomped the box office last weekend and finally got people back to theaters. Because it's Godzilla vs. Kong, not Godzilla vs. Kong and his crippling battle with depression.

Great line.

 

[SWC75]

If you would like to watch historical Oscar ceremonies, (I do: i started a project telling the behind the scenes stories a few years back), here is the You-Tube page the academy puts out. You have to scroll don a bit to find entire year's ceremonies but everything from 1948 onward is on there: Oscars - YouTube

Here's a terrific book on the history of the ceremonies, with all the stories:
Inside Oscar, 10th Anniversary Edition: Bona, Damien, Wiley, Mason: 9780345400536: Amazon.com: Books

 

[SWC75]

You might enjoy some of my articles from a few years ago on Oscar ceremonies, (I had more than this but might have used slightly different titles):

Search results for query: The Oscars for films | Syracusefan.com

1959, (for 1958 films) is my favorite.

 

[Day2]

If you would like to watch historical Oscar ceremonies, (I do: i started a project telling the behind the scenes stories a few years back), here is the You-Tube page the academy puts out. You have to scroll don a bit to find entire year's ceremonies but everything from 1948 onward is on there: Oscars - YouTube

Here's a terrific book on the history of the ceremonies, with all the stories:
Inside Oscar, 10th Anniversary Edition: Bona, Damien, Wiley, Mason: 9780345400536: Amazon.com: Books

I have an older edition of Inside Oscar... somewhere.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Yep I think there will be more interest next year, but it just wasn't the same this year. I started watching the show and quickly lost interest.

I had no idea it was even on, because my wife didn’t know either. She usually watches for the fashion.

 

[ScrabbCuse]

I had no idea it was even on, because my wife didn’t know either. She usually watches for the fashion.

My girlfriend watches for the fashion too but we made a good attempt at watching a bunch of the nominated films this year.

Minari and Promising Young Woman were excellent. I liked Sound of Metal as well. Wasn’t crazy about Nomadland. Found it rather blah.

Saw four of the five short films as well. The film that won was fantastic. It’s only 25 minutes long or so about a black guy in NYC who gets stuck in a Bill Murray Groundhog Day loop and gets killed by the same police officer everyday. Great social commentary. Definitely watch if you get the chance.