The Annual Academy Awards - General Discussion

[proserpina65]

12 hours ago, 27bored said:

I think it’s, like, against the law to show people drinking in alcohol commercials. 

It's not against the law, but the networks frown on it so companies don't include it in their commercials.  It's just not usually as obvious.

[teddysmom]

Question: I get that Melissa McCarthy was wearing a Mary Queen of Scots costume, but what was with the stuffed rabbits? Is that something from the movie? Which I haven't seen yet. 

 

2 hours ago, Bunnyto4 said:

 I really enjoyed this years telecast. So happy  for Regina King-I have loved her work since she was a kid. 

And I don’t know about anyone else, but after Gaga and BC’s performance, which I thought was awesome, I kinda wanted a cigarette. Just saying. Whew

I agree re Regina. I started thinking about her on Southland, the cop show that used to be on TNT.  She is SO good in everything. 

I was just talking to a friend about BC & Gaga.   That's not acting.  I don't care what anything says.  I've seen men & women sing together and not thought, "They're in love". 

[blackwing]

I didn't see Emily Blunt and John Krasinski and was hoping to.  I knew she wasn't singing that song from "Mary Poppins Returns" but I attributed that to stage fright and uncomfortableness.  I recall a clip from Ellen that she is uncomfortable singing live and Ellen brought the Backstreet Boys out to sing with her and she was great.  Were they at the Oscars?  I thought they would have been asked to present, since she had two could-have-been-nominated acting performances and he produced and directed a surprise hit movie. 

The show itself seemed to mostly pair presenters together with absolutely no connection, unlike in the past.  But it would have been nice to have seen either or both of them as presenters.

I'm so sick of Julia Roberts.  For some reason it seems like awards shows always like to tap her for the "important" awards like Best Picture or Best Director (in the same way that Tom Hanks or Harrison Ford always seem to fill the same role).  I guess I have disliked her ever since "how can I live in a world in which Denzel Washington does not have an Oscar for Best Actor" and then of course "[squeeee] I love my life!  Denzel Washington for Training Day".  And last night she of course had to make sure to turn something not about her into all about her.

Would appreciate seeing some "hey, haven't seen them in a while" faces in this role and not the usual Hanks/Roberts/Ford.  What about Michelle Pfeiffer?  Susan Sarandon?  Jude Law?  Brad Pitt?  Denzel himself?  Matt Damon?

5 minutes ago, teddysmom said:

Question: I get that Melissa McCarthy was wearing a Mary Queen of Scots costume, but what was with the stuffed rabbits? Is that something from the movie? Which I haven't seen yet. 

"The Favourite"... there was a thing about rabbits which is why she had all the stuffed rabbits glued to her gown.

[Minneapple]

The only thing I needed to know about Green Book is that it's a movie about racism, but when it won, a bunch of white guys were the ones who got the trophies.

No wonder Spike Lee was pissed off. But telling the black (or any person of color) story through the eyes of white guys is par for the course in Hollywood.

[proserpina65]

12 hours ago, Apprentice79 said:

Green Book a movie that was panned by the man's family in real life.. 

For me, that doesn't matter.  All I care about is whether or not it's a good movie.  Can't judge on this particular film because I haven't seen it.

[truthaboutluv]

Just now, teddysmom said:

I was just talking to a friend about BC & Gaga.   That's not acting.  I don't care what anything says.  I've seen men & women sing together and not thought, "They're in love". 

This is not directed at you per se because random individuals commenting on this on boards like these is not a big deal. But personally I have a very real problem with the media seemingly pushing this narrative.

Whatever one thinks of Irina, that shit is disrespectful to the woman. Not to mention that Irina and Bradley have a kid together. Frankly, it doesn't help that I didn't even think Gaga and Bradley's chemistry in the film was that amazing.

I just find the whole thing a bit over the top and cringe worthy at this point. And I'd really need the entertainment media to quit with the side comments and jokes about them being "so in love". 

[Lovecat]

1 hour ago, Archery said:

I read an article this morning (confirmed, it appears by the BBC), that what Trevor Noah said in Xhosa was not that lovely adage about fighting together but really, "White people don't know that I am lying."  I. Am. Done. 

Trevor Noah, have my babies.

[SunnyBeBe]

I'm not normally a big Ryan Seacrest fan, but, I was rather impressed with his knowledge last night of so many artists that he spoke with.  Granted, he may have been getting tips in his ear from his staff, but, he was so quick, I don't think there was time for that.  Some of these people threw him jokes, lies, odd comments, etc., that he was able to handle easily, because, he knew their backstory, their family and significant others' situations, their body of work, etc.  It was pretty impressive.  It's obvious, he knows A LOT about A LOT of people.  Guess that's why he gets paid the big bucks.   (One thing that threw me, is it sounded like he referred to Barbara Streisand's husband as Ben....I thought it was James Brolin.  It was when he was interviewing Richard Grant. Maybe, I misunderstood. 

[ProudMary]

3 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I'm not normally a big Ryan Seacrest fan, but, I was rather impressed with his knowledge last night of so many artists that he spoke with.  Granted, he may have been getting tips in his ear from his staff, but, he was so quick, I don't think there was time for that.  Some of these people threw him jokes, lies, odd comments, etc., that he was able to handle easily, because, he knew their backstory, their family and significant others' situations, their body of work, etc.  It was pretty impressive.  It's obvious, he knows A LOT about A LOT of people.  Guess that's why he gets paid the big bucks.   (One thing that threw me, is it sounded like he referred to Barbara Streisand's husband as Ben....I thought it was James Brolin.  It was when he was interviewing Richard Grant. Maybe, I misunderstood. 

I didn't see that interview so this may be off base but Melissa McCarthy's husband's name is Ben (Falcone.)  Perhaps that's the husband Ryan was referring to?

[Chas411]

18 minutes ago, truthaboutluv said:

This is not directed at you per se because random individuals commenting on this on boards like these is not a big deal. But personally I have a very real problem with the media seemingly pushing this narrative.

Whatever one thinks of Irina, that shit is disrespectful to the woman. Not to mention that Irina and Bradley have a kid together. Frankly, it doesn't help that I didn't even think Gaga and Bradley's chemistry in the film was that amazing.

I just find the whole thing a bit over the top and cringe worthy at this point. And I'd really need the entertainment media to quit with the side comments and jokes about them being "so in love". 

This - I’ve actually found both of them to be a bit tasteless and disrespectful to Irina especially throughout this. I think the entire thing is fake and was done on the basis they thought it would held the awards chances. I think her “there could be a thousand people” spiel done a hundred times over demonstrates just how fake it is. I’ve gone off him a lot since the press of this movie got going. 

[AshleyN]

51 minutes ago, mtlchick said:

Awwww yay for Richard! ❤️

Not sure I've ever seen someone embody the phrase "living your best life" as much as Richard E. Grant this awards season. What a delight.

[SunnyBeBe]

11 minutes ago, ProudMary said:

I didn't see that interview so this may be off base but Melissa McCarthy's husband's name is Ben (Falcone.)  Perhaps that's the husband Ryan was referring to?

Perhaps.  I thought the guy was hyped up and so eager to meet Streisand and that's when Ryan remarks about Ben.  Maybe, I got it mixed up.  It might be what you said, because, he did star in movie with McCarthy.

Edited February 25, 2019 by SunnyBeBe

[sempervivum]

34 minutes ago, Minneapple said:

The only thing I needed to know about Green Book is that it's a movie about racism, but when it won, a bunch of white guys were the ones who got the trophies.

No wonder Spike Lee was pissed off.

Somebody blocked Spike from buying/making this story himself?

Anybody else think Gaga looked liked she was wearing a yellowed old Turbie Towel on her head? 

[VCRTracking]

[proserpina65]

3 hours ago, Camille said:

It's bizarre. For years, Best Director and Best Picture went together and only rarely were they split. Nowadays, the opposite is true.

Actually it's happened quite frequently over the 9 decades the awards have been given out.  It just tends to run in patterns; there'll be quite a few years where the two awards are split, followed by several where they aren't.

2 hours ago, Bunnyto4 said:

One more thing and then I’ll sit down. They did the In Memoriam tribute and didn’t mention Stanley Donen?? Shameful! And don’t say there wasn’t time-he died on Friday. 

He apparently died after the cut-off for this year's segment.  He should be in next year's.

[slowpoked]

I'm usually one who don't mind the cheesy segments of the Oscars, like the tour bus people getting in the auditorium, etc. But I honestly did not miss it last night. The telecast went swimmingly along. I think they should just go hostless from this point forward. What are the main duties anyway - 20 minute opening monologue?! Some funny/not funny jokes here and there? And if a host was supposed to keep the telecast on time, they have failed for a long time now. 

I really like this format. I didn't feel like anything was dragging in between. Awards were being given out consistently, the performances were scattered well, to give the audience, both in person and at home some breaks. And more time for presenters. 

[Ohwell]

Now that the award season is over, I hope that we're finally done with Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, and that stupid movie.  Fuck it.  I hate Gaga's singing, and I'm sick and tired of the hype.  The so-called "chemistry" between those two was bullshit.  Hell, if they paid me enough money, I'd have "chemistry" with a chimp.   

[proserpina65]

58 minutes ago, teddysmom said:

Question: I get that Melissa McCarthy was wearing a Mary Queen of Scots costume, but what was with the stuffed rabbits? Is that something from the movie? Which I haven't seen yet. 

She was dressed as Queen Anne from The Favourite.

[SunnyBeBe]

It's my understanding that after the big applause for Gaga and Cooper, they left the stage and when they came back to their seats, they got another spontaneous ovation.....so, apparently, it went over really well.  I did like the way it was shown as filmed from on the stage looking out to the audience.  Just a different take on it.  I suppose that was featured in the movie.  (I haven't seen it yet.)

[chitowngirl]

1 hour ago, teddysmom said:

Question: I get that Melissa McCarthy was wearing a Mary Queen of Scots costume, but what was with the stuffed rabbits? Is that something from the movie? Which I haven't seen yet.

The rabbits were a plot point in the movie. And it was Queen Anne. Mary, Queen of Scots was a different movie last year.

[Minneapple]

24 minutes ago, sempervivum said:

Somebody blocked Spike from buying/making this story himself?

No, the point is that Spike tends to make movies where race is treated with more depth and nuance, but then movies made by the white guys get the attention and accolades. The White Savior parody video with Seth Meyers, posted a couple pages back, is actually perfect.

[truthaboutluv]

12 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

Actually it's happened quite frequently over the 9 decades the awards have been given out.  It just tends to run in patterns; there'll be quite a few years where the two awards are split, followed by several where they aren't.

And didn't it just happen last year? With Guillermo del Toro's win for Best Director and Shape of Water winning Best Picture.

[SunnyBeBe]

I've thought the Oscars were a political/financial type thing for years.  That's why I'm not all that impressed with it.  It's entertaining at times, but, I don't put too much stake in who wins.  (I don't mean traditional political thing, but, within the industry of actors, who likes whom, who does favors, campaigns best, etc.) 

Edited February 25, 2019 by SunnyBeBe

[VCRTracking]

I follow a lot of "woke" people on Film Twitter and man, when Green Book won, you would have thought someone in blackface walked on stage! They were not happy. Green Book to them is racist garbage. I thought it was okay. Kind of the type of Oscar-bait movie that would be considered liberal if it was made in the mid 1980s but kind of pandering in today's political climate.

This article from the LA Times explains what about Green Book offends them:

Oscars 2019: ‘Green Book’ is the worst best picture winner since ‘Crash’

Fixed link.

Edited February 25, 2019 by VCRTracking

[truthaboutluv]

57 minutes ago, Chas411 said:

I think her “there could be a thousand people” spiel done a hundred times over demonstrates just how fake it is.

It's also, if you go by what "industry insiders" were saying, one of the things that cooled the film's momentum and hurt it in the end. People got tired of her over the top and cringey shtick.

8 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

(I don't mean traditional political thing, but, within the industry of actors, who likes whom, who does favors, campaigns best, etc.) 

Thanks to social media, I don't think that's even a secret anymore. Like you flat out hear multiple industry experts/insiders saying the awards are as much about politics as it is talent. 

The guy who runs Gold Derby shared a story about some insider friend of his contacting Regina King's people when they noticed she wasn't going to the BAFTA's. Obviously, as she wasn't nominated.

The guy apparently suggested to her team to get her on as presenter because even if she wasn't nominated, it would be a way to remind voters about her, schmooze with people, etc. Especially as I think the Oscar voting was opening up that week. 

Sure enough, Regina was a presenter at the BAFTA Awards. And just to be clear, I'm not suggesting that's why she won, since Regina's an amazing actor. But yeah, definitely some level of campaigning goes into it.

Of course at the same time, the campaigning can backfire and not go as planned. See ASIB this year. And why so many of the industry magazines were left baffled and writing long pieces about what went wrong with the film. 

Edited February 25, 2019 by truthaboutluv

[SunnyBeBe]

(I wasn't able to get that link to work.  I found it here.  Very interesting.  I had no idea. I haven't seen it.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-oscars-green-book-worst-best-picture-winner-20190224-story.html

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

I won't get mad unless they forget to include Stanley and Brody in next year's segment.

Stanley will likely make it next year.  But Brody? He's mostly known for TV and his movie parts were kind of small.  Unless he has some huge contribution to film I'm unaware of, he's not the type that would get recognized at the Oscars.   

20 minutes ago, Minneapple said:

No, the point is that Spike tends to make movies where race is treated with more depth and nuance, but then movies made by the white guys get the attention and accolades. The White Savior parody video with Seth Meyers, posted a couple pages back, is actually perfect.

Yep.  It's also a really bad habit that White Savior movies get recognized when movies like Beale Street get ignored for BP.  A movie about systematic racism told by a black artist.  It's BS that Spike has met before.

[ruby24]

So apparently the ratings inched up and the show averaged about 30 million, but that's still the second smallest audience ever. So that tells me that having big popular movies nominated (you can't get much bigger than Black Panther) means nothing for the ratings after all. 

I think there's one test left and that's to see if somebody like The Rock as host (like they wanted originally) really can bring in a bigger audience next year. I think Seth Macfarlane had like 40 million viewers when he hosted, which argues that he really did have fans that he brought to the show.

But if they do that and it still has a negligible effect on the ratings, then they can just breathe a sigh of relief in my opinion, because it means there's nothing they can actively do to boost viewers, and we're just in a different era. Hopefully then they can just relax and not worry about it- try to make the best show possible.

The thing about the "new era" that I still don't quite understand though is how they could still get like 40-43 million just five years ago- that seems like a HUGE drop-off to less than 30 million all of a sudden. I mean, maybe it IS the political climate and things could reverse once we're out of this? I don't know.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

4 hours ago, vibeology said:

My biggest WTF was Bohemian Rhapsody winning for editing. There's a clip floating around showing the horrible editing in one scene and I just cannot believe that has an Oscar.

The one piece (The LIve Aid sequence) was surpassing.  Other than that, this seemed like a reach to me, as well.

[Minneapple]

49 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

Yep.  It's also a really bad habit that White Savior movies get recognized when movies like Beale Street get ignored for BP.  A movie about systematic racism told by a black artist.  It's BS that Spike has met before.

And Hollywood never learns. Even as we speak, the Game of Thrones showrunners are creating a show for HBO under the premise "what if slavery was never abolished?" Which...DUDE. READ THE ROOM.

[blackwing]

Regarding the song performances, I was not a fan of "Shallow" in the least.  I can see why people looked at Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga and squeeeeeed over how their faces were touching and how they longingly gazed into each others' eyes.  But whatever.  I think it's a particularly boring song and I thought it was a boring performance.  In fact, I wasn't all that impressed with the nominated songs this year.  None of them had that huge production number quality, they were all "stand at microphone and sing".  The song from "Mary Poppins Returns" was boring, although I think Bette Midler did her best to inject some style and emotion into it.  The country song was ok I suppose.  But Jennifer Hudson was awful.  I think she was off-key at times and actually missed a few notes to the point where my 10 year old daughter said "ugh, if she sang this on Masked Singer I would totally vote her off".

People always complain about a long drawn-out show, but I think I would prefer a show that was actually interesting to the methodical boring one that was presented last night.  The best bits from last night were the comedic bits, like with the three SNL women to open the show, and Melissa McCarthy and the dad from Spiderverse, and Awkwafina and the guy I've never seen who were faux-gushing over how excited they were to present Best Documentary Short.  This made me realise that I did indeed miss funny banter between the presenters.  This show had many pairs of presenters who had never apparently worked together before and apparently met each other 10 seconds ago backstage and just read off some names.  It was boring.

I think the show does need some comedy and a comedian to keep it going.  It just seemed like this year the producers were so determined to keep it as close to 3 hours as possible.  As I mentioned upthread, kudos to them for actually turning off the mike and the lights and playing the longwinded people off the stage.

[meep.meep]

I thought the look in Bradley Cooper's eyes was "thank god I don't have to do this anymore!" rather than twu love.  His wife is incredibly good looking.

If we are going to discuss bad fashion, I insist that Pharell's shorts be included.

[Crs97]

I forgot this annoyance from last night:  if the academy threatens to move a category to the commercials and the public has to fight to get it back on prime time, having the presenters of said category joke about it looks particularly tacky.

[VCRTracking]

[cpcathy]

Sooo, I had declared that I would not watch....and I watched. The entire thing. I completely agree that comedy was needed. There are times when the host is a cliché, including the "Well, we're at the halfway mark!" and sometimes bits go on way too long, and they do tend to disappear two thirds of the way through the show. But I love the opening monologue and was glad at least we got something with Amy, Tina and Maya.

Stray thoughts:

Helen Mirren is a goddess. Julia Roberts looked great but I cannot stand her.

Who said Awkwafina was funny? "I was like, 'what?'" is NOT a punchline, sister.

Richard E Grant is adorable with his Babs worship.

Olivia Coleman can sputter and giggle on my TV anytime she wants to.

Keegan Michael Key is awesome, I'm thinking no one noticed the homage to the presidential umbrella failure.

Melissa McCarthy will get her Oscar one day.

Glenn Close, it's so much more interesting that you didn't win.

[sacrebleu]

Quote

I didn't see that interview so this may be off base but Melissa McCarthy's husband's name is Ben (Falcone.)  Perhaps that's the husband Ryan was referring to?

Quote

Perhaps.  I thought the guy was hyped up and so eager to meet Streisand and that's when Ryan remarks about Ben.  Maybe, I got it mixed up.  It might be what you said, because, he did star in movie with McCarthy.

 

Yup-- Ryan & REG talked about REG wanting to meet Barbra and REG made a very dry joke about loving Melissa McCarthy-- wherein he suggested that she is carrying his twins.

Ryan seemed a little unsure he was joking about the surrogacy-- and repeated the joke, realized it was a joke, then made the comment about telling Ben (MM's husband, not Babs')

[slowpoked]

1 hour ago, truthaboutluv said:

Thanks to social media, I don't think that's even a secret anymore. Like you flat out hear multiple industry experts/insiders saying the awards are as much about politics as it is talent. 

The guy who runs Gold Derby shared a story about some insider friend of his contacting Regina King's people when they noticed she wasn't going to the BAFTA's. Obviously, as she wasn't nominated.

The guy apparently suggested to her team to get her on as presenter because even if she wasn't nominated, it would be a way to remind voters about her, schmooze with people, etc. Especially as I think the Oscar voting was opening up that week. 

Sure enough, Regina was a presenter at the BAFTA Awards. And just to be clear, I'm not suggesting that's why she won, since Regina's an amazing actor. But yeah, definitely some level of campaigning goes into it.

Of course at the same time, the campaigning can backfire and not go as planned. See ASIB this year. And why so many of the industry magazines were left baffled and writing long pieces about what went wrong with the film. 

Campaigning has been an Oscar staple for years, even predating social media. It's one of those open secrets in the industry that no one really bats an eye about it anymore. I mean, there's grumbling about how someone can be so pushy and bullying (Weinstein), etc., but there's really no "pure" winner in terms of just being recognized for their nominated work.

Harvey Weinstein, Melissa Leo, Leonardo DiCaprio, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, etc. Heck, as much flak as Anne got during the awards season where she won for Les Miserables, Eddie was just as thirsty, if not way thirstier than Anne, when he was the frontrunner for TTOE. Sometimes, not campaigning actually hurts their chances of winning - see Emanuelle Riva vs. Jennifer Lawrence.

It's a necessary evil, for all these artists, to do the schmoozing. If they want that "Academy Award Winner" intro on future movies and a nice bump on their salary.

[SHD]

31 minutes ago, cpcathy said:

Keegan Michael Key is awesome, I'm thinking no one noticed the homage to the presidential umbrella failure.

*raises hand*

[blackwing]

39 minutes ago, Crs97 said:

I forgot this annoyance from last night:  if the academy threatens to move a category to the commercials and the public has to fight to get it back on prime time, having the presenters of said category joke about it looks particularly tacky.

Yes, but IIRC, Best Makeup was one of the categories that was supposed to be a commercial break awardee, and frankly, I wish it had been.  Those three winners from "Vice" were perhaps the absolute worst acceptance speech of the night.  The tall woman in the middle pulled out a piece of paper and they apparently were supposed to take turns rattling off a list of names.  It started off with "you go", "no, you go, I already did", "ok if you insist, Plan B!"  It was awkward and awful.  I believe the orchestra started up pretty quickly for them and it was a deserved "play off the stage" moment..

[proserpina65]

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

Yes, but IIRC, Best Makeup was one of the categories that was supposed to be a commercial break awardee, and frankly, I wish it had been.  Those three winners from "Vice" were perhaps the absolute worst acceptance speech of the night.  The tall woman in the middle pulled out a piece of paper and they apparently were supposed to take turns rattling off a list of names.  It started off with "you go", "no, you go, I already did", "ok if you insist, Plan B!"  It was awkward and awful.  I believe the orchestra started up pretty quickly for them and it was a deserved "play off the stage" moment..

The Academy had stated that the acceptance speeches would be shown.  So you wouldn't have missed that.

[cpcathy]

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

Yes, but IIRC, Best Makeup was one of the categories that was supposed to be a commercial break awardee, and frankly, I wish it had been.  Those three winners from "Vice" were perhaps the absolute worst acceptance speech of the night.  The tall woman in the middle pulled out a piece of paper and they apparently were supposed to take turns rattling off a list of names.  It started off with "you go", "no, you go, I already did", "ok if you insist, Plan B!"  It was awkward and awful.  I believe the orchestra started up pretty quickly for them and it was a deserved "play off the stage" moment..

Agreed! I'd also like to mention the documentary winners, who kept pausing between thoughts. There were precious seconds where no one was saying anything! It's okay for Olivia Coleman to do that, but not documentary winners (I just decreed this).

[ichbin]

5 hours ago, blackwing said:

She had a perfectly nice forest green looking dress and then somebody thought it looked too plain so they took this weird gray gauze and made a huge bow for the back and made some sleeves, wound up with way too much extra material but figured they paid for it so they took the remaining 20 feet of it and just wrapped it around her.

It reminded me of those bow things they put around chairs at a wedding venue.

[LennieBriscoe]

Bradley and Irina are not married.

[Robert Lynch]

Just thank God it wasn't Gaga who won. 

[thejuicer]

I just have to speak up and say how much I love Julia Roberts. Seems like a very unpopular opinion. Love her and all her movies, she is the ultimate movie star to me. Don't hate me!

[Proclone]

5 hours ago, truthaboutluv said:

This is not directed at you per se because random individuals commenting on this on boards like these is not a big deal. But personally I have a very real problem with the media seemingly pushing this narrative.

Whatever one thinks of Irina, that shit is disrespectful to the woman. Not to mention that Irina and Bradley have a kid together. Frankly, it doesn't help that I didn't even think Gaga and Bradley's chemistry in the film was that amazing.

I just find the whole thing a bit over the top and cringe worthy at this point. And I'd really need the entertainment media to quit with the side comments and jokes about them being "so in love". 

I totally agree.  I don't want to stray too far off topic, but to be honest, I find any speculation about co-stars dating/hooking up in real life, to be super unsavory, especially if one or more of them are married or in a relationship.  I think it's super disrespectful to the spouses/partners involved.    I think this is even more common in TV than movies (which makes sense you see the relationships over a longer period of time) and I've noticed it in some fandoms of shows I enjoy.  I find it super uncomfortable to read comments on how in love a married straight woman seems with her female co-star anytime they are interviewed together.  And I can't help but put myself in her husband's shoes if he happened to stumble on them.  I get that people see chemistry between two actors, but they are not their characters and we should separate them.

Slightly more on topic, I saw quite a few tweets/posts about how Bradley's girlfriend shouldn't have been sat between him and Gaga and I found that ridiculous.  She's his GIRLFRIEND, she has the right to sit next to him.  I do think Bradley and Gaga have chemistry which means one of two things, one they are good actors or two they probably really do like each other.  Neither one of those things necessarily means they are into each other in a romantic way. 

[OpalNightstream]

On 1/15/2015 at 4:07 PM, blackwing said:

I would consider Jennifer Lawrence's Oscar winning turn in "Silver Linings Playbook" to be a fairly comedic role.

"Selma" got a Best Picture and a Best Song nomination, but it was otherwise largely ignored.  I'm wondering when the media will complain about the completely white slate of 20 acting nominees this year.  They seem to make a big deal whenever an expected black nominee is snubbed.  But when was the last time an Asian actor was nominated, let alone won?  I think the last nominee was the Japanese girl from "Babel" (I forget her name) and for a win, I think we have to go all the way back to the late Haing S. Ngor sometime in the 80s.  I know Ang Lee has won Best Director twice but things always seem awfully hard for the Asian actor.  Part of it is there aren't many roles, part of it is that Hollywood is still a mostly white industry.

Yes to this! No one makes a stink about the lack of Asian representation. 

[Blakeston]

Based on many, many things I've heard about Bradley Cooper over the years (some of them well before he was particularly famous), I really don't think there's anything going on romantically between him and Gaga.

I suspect they're really good friends who have a deep bond, and are so comfortable with each other that they can turn on the chemistry when needed. And they probably think it's hilarious that anyone believes they're actually screwing.

If that helps them sell a performance, I say go for it. I thought they were wonderful in the movie, and onstage.

It takes some serious guts for someone who isn't a professional singer to perform a song live at the Oscars, so I give Bradley a lot of credit. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone were too scared to do it after La La Land came out.

Rami Malek allegedly contributed "some of the vocals" to Bohemian Rhapsody (insert eyeroll emoji here), but I can't imagine him singing a Queen song live in public under any circumstances, let alone at the Oscars.

Edited February 25, 2019 by Blakeston

[lb60]

8 hours ago, benteen said:

I've been a fan of Rami since Mr. Robot so I was happy to see him win.  This should ensure the amount of viewers watching Mr. Robot will go from 10 people to 12.

As one of the original 10, this made me laugh.  I've enjoyed Rami's work for years, so he was definitely why I started watching Mr. Robot.  I can't believe he fell off the stage last night. Luckily, he wasn't hurt.

3 hours ago, cpcathy said:

.....I'm thinking no one noticed the homage to the presidential umbrella failure.

I did! I loved his entrance.

Melissa McCarthy was another highlight. She can do no wrong, IMO. She just seems up for anything, no matter how ridiculous.

I enjoyed the show last night.  It moved quickly, and I didn't really miss a host. 

[2727]

There used to be a segment where all the nominated costumes were featured onstage ... sometimes in a dance number, I want to say?

They still show clips but I liked the absurdity of seeing the variety of costumes onstage at the same time.