The Annual Academy Awards - General Discussion

[JustaPerson]

 

After reflecting on the show, I've decided my favorite moment was at the very end when Chris Rock was saying goodbye.  Not only did Morgan Freeman and Michael Keaton walk right over and take the cookies for themselves (as all of us would) but Keaton then stood there* like a tough guy all "yeah I took your cookies, what are you gonna do about it, huh?"

http://www.buzzfeed.com/keelyflaherty/morgan-freeman-eating-cookies-on-stage-at-the-oscars-is-all#.xx3MPEVJkL

 

It has been noted and analyzed!

[UsernameFatigue]

Thank you. Honestly, between this and the "we couldn't film in April due to a lack of snow" bullshit, I just about threw my remote control at the tv. Climate change is most definitely real, but stop talking out of your ass you moron. He proved himself to be totally ignorant of the weather in Alberta, we actually do get spring, including the mountains, scorchingly hot weather and some seriously scary tornados. It's not just snow and ice 24/7.  Dumbass.

Your post reminded me growing up in southern Ontario. Despite the fact that where I lived was further south than all or part of a dozen or so states, we would often see Americans in the summer pulling trailers carrying snowmobiles and expecting to find snow,  just because they were crossing into Canada. I kid you not. Leo seems to be just about as bright.

[Crs97]

After hearing the three played, I was rooting for one of the other nominated songs (and livid that they weren't included in the ceremony-yes, the three I heard made my ears bleed, but all should be performed on stage). Also, did Straight Outta Compton not introduce any new music? It's not my genre, but I would have thought it would have had one of the nominated songs unless nothing was original.

[scarynikki12]

I think Rock's cookie bit and Ellen's pizza bit both show that feeding the audience halfway through does wonders for their morale.  The Oscar audience is famous for being humorless and dull but both bits livened them up.  I take this as proof that the only reason the audience tends to be humorless is because they're starving.  Each host feeding them should be the new tradition along with the opening monologue.  Nothing crazy, just give everyone a bag of chips or something.

[Dobian]

The best part about all that was Sam Smith probably was invited to Sir Elton's famous post-Oscar party. Imagine walking in there after saying that in front of millions.

 

 

 

 There's a reason they shut down streets, every other network cowers with crappy counter-programming and people talk about the Oscars. They matter in terms of how society views what movies are important or good. When people talk about classic movies today, we point to the ones that were rewarded and celebrated. No one is checking for "Alexander's Ragtime Band" or "Cinerama Holiday" despite those films each being the highest grossing the year they came out. People remember "You Can't Take It With You" or "Marty." I don't think "Quo Vadis" is a celebrated movie. Certainly not compared to "An American in Paris" or "A Place in the Sun" or "The African Queen" or "A Streetcar Named Desire." They all came out the same year and while Quo Vadis had the bigger box office, those other movies won Oscars. It matters. Not as much as Flint or the Presidential race or the Syrian Refugee Crisis, but it still matters and I think acting like it doesn't is wrong.

 

I kind of disagree with this because it goes the other way too.  Spotlight won best picture this year for a topic that could have been a Lifetime movie of the week.  But twenty years from now the movie people will still be watching and talking about?  The Martian.  It's a science fiction classic.  The Wizard of Oz, critically panned and didn't win a thing, but one of the most beloved movies of all time.  Cheating a bit and googling best picture winners, a few more examples...  Ghandi won in 1982, but what two movies from that year are still loved today?  Tootsie and E.T.  1990 it was Dances with Wolves.  Today you'd be hard-pressed to find that one playing on cable, but Goodfellas you'll trip over fairly regularly when channel surfing.  And of course there are years where the best picture is also the movie people love and remember, like The Sound of Music.  Then you have movies like Avatar that were huge at the box office but that are totally forgettable now.  I just don't think whether a movie wins an Oscar or even if it's high grossing has much to do with which movies stand the test of time.

[Kromm]

What I think the poster was referring to is how Chris Rock basically reduced "Diversity in Hollywood" to a black vs. white issue, when as evidenced by last night, it's not just that black actors aren't being represented. In terms of race, you have Latinos, Asians and a host of others who are excluded. Except for a punchline, such as that Asian/Jewish accountant joke. 

I think Rock would have been far worse off, and done a far bigger disservice, if he tried to represent something that isn't his experience. Also, he didn't establish the really screwed up dialogue on this--it was thrust upon him.  In this very thread a few weeks ago I pointed out the fairly sizable number of Latino inductees to the Academy in the past few years (and a decent number of Asians too)--if you don't believe me the lists of inductees are online in many places. Reactions varied, but there was a kind of "oh, I didn't think of that" among a lot of posters. That's the world Chris Rock is having to operate in. And even here, not to harp on your comment, the bigger point I'd been trying to make in that post a few years back is that while there HAS been a historical representation problem, that the Academy had already taken in on a few years ago to try and change things, and then Spike Lee and Jada Smith ride in on their outrage and everyone acts like the Academy never noticed before they did. Perhaps not everyone was happy with the pace (and the resulting nominations brought that home in a not so pleasant way), but the Academy was really unfairly villainized in this whole affair. 

 

Back to Rock. I didn't see the Awards and am only playing catchup. But even only hearing reports on it now, I believe the intent of Rock's Asian joke is really being twisted. I've seen all these stories today about how offended people were by it, and how it makes him a hypocrite and I really had to roll my eyes that people just didn't GET the joke and am sad that we've fallen so far that people are offended first and thoughtful about what something might mean second (if at all). The joke wasn't meant to be demeaning to Asians--it was clearly meant to mock people's ASSUMPTIONS (and perhaps play a bit into some of the recent child labor stories about China--which is why the joke used kids instead of adults). 

 

Again, I didn't see the show, and so it's very possible Rock failed in other ways I don't know. But the reaction to the joke was far more upsetting to me than the joke, and way a lot is seeming to be put on the head of a guy who was just there to host, and represent his own experience. He didn't have a responsibility to anyone or anything other than doing his job, and telling funny jokes.  Seemingly he did both well (from reports I've read that aren't hyper-focused on what a horrible person he is for not doing x, y, or z to represent diversity, and how dare he tell a race-based joke about someone else's race!)

[slowpoked]

What I think the poster was referring to is how Chris Rock basically reduced "Diversity in Hollywood" to a black vs. white issue, when as evidenced by last night, it's not just that black actors aren't being represented. In terms of race, you have Latinos, Asians and a host of others who are excluded. Except for a punchline, such as that Asian/Jewish accountant joke. 

 

But beyond that, there was a real opportunity for a dialogue beyond even just race. Hollywood is home to quite a few inequities: race, gender, sexual orientation. I mean, we need look no further than the handling of Best Original Song. The two nominated songs that were excluded from being performed? A trans female and an Asian woman. While I'm not going to say it was bigotry that prevented their songs from being performed (I think it was simply because the Oscar producers only care about ratings), but it certainly speaks to how Hollywood and the Academy aren't really giving voice to other minorities who aren't black.

True, makes sense. Other minorities are underrepresented as well, but because black is the major minority, they get the loudest voice and thus the bigger attention. I've always thought that the Oscars telecast is going to overcompensate for the Oscarssowhite controversy. Maybe they didn't overcompensate, but they certainly expanded their presenter and guests lineup more than usual. I mean there's Priyanka Chopra and Kerry Washington, who are TV staples more than movie stars. Then there's Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, and Byun Hun Lee, who I think, on any other "normal" year, wouldn't have been asked to present. Yeah, I know they had movies in 2015, but there's just a sense that the Academy reached out to them as a reaction to the controversy. Even Whoopie Goldberg, whom I felt was invited also as a reaction. 

 

The sad thing is, by next year, this will all be probably forgotten and it's as if Hollywood has never learned its lessons. It's good that the dialogue is there, but the follow through is the key. Hollywood has a lot of problems brought to the forefront in the last year - women's inequal pay, opportunities for POC, etc., that it will be an interesting  2016 to see what they would do. 

 

 

Spotlight won best picture this year for a topic that could have been a Lifetime movie of the week.  But twenty years from now the movie people will still be watching and talking about?  The Martian.

Or probably Star Wars, The Force Awakens. Or Mad Max:Fury Road.

Edited March 1, 2016 by slowpoked

[scarynikki12]

To be honest, I wasn't even paying attention to what Rock was saying in that bit because the kids were SO FREAKING CUTE!!  Especially the little boy who was unsure of his mark.  It was delightful so I missed everything else.

[KFC]

I think Rock would have been far worse off, and done a far bigger disservice, if he tried to represent something that isn't his experience. Also, he didn't establish the really screwed up dialogue on this--it was thrust upon him. 

 

But I think even if he had made more of a distinction by saying "actors of color" or "minority actors" would have gone a long way toward acknowledgment. I don't think anyone's expecting him to take up the mantle for all races, but I think a slight shift in vocabulary would have helped immensely. Even Kevin Hart (who said "people of color") and one of the guys from Compton (he mentioned that people of other races also needed to be recognized) in a taped segment made a point of acknowledging this in a way that Chris Rock didn't. 

[tinapova]

Not sure why this was bugging me so much but there are no movie theaters in Compton so I don't know where Chris Rock was but he was not in Compton.  There was big story last year about how you couldn't see Straight Outta Compton in Compton.  I Googled to make sure that was still the case and while there are plans for a theater there this year as of right now nope.   The bit was funny though so I guess I should just be happy about that :-)

[Kromm]

True, makes sense. Other minorities are underrepresented as well, but because black is the major minority, they get the loudest voice and thus the bigger attention. 

I'm not going to claim that other minorities aren't still underrepresented, because they are. But it also seems to me that everybody acts on their outrage first and the facts second. This is my real problem with the current controversy. 

[Kromm]

But I think even if he had made more of a distinction by saying "actors of color" or "minority actors" would have gone a long way toward acknowledgment. I don't think anyone's expecting him to take up the mantle for all races, but I think a slight shift in vocabulary would have helped immensely. Even Kevin Hart (who said "people of color") and one of the guys from Compton (he mentioned that people of other races also needed to be recognized) in a taped segment made a point of acknowledging this in a way that Chris Rock didn't. 

Kevin Hart is a comedian, so I actually am surprised he took that angle. This other wasn't one though, right? (I assume by "guys from Compton" you mean an actor from the cast of the movie)

 

It's not Chris Rock's job to be the face of a movement or it's spokesperson. It might have been nice if he'd carefully parsed through his comedy and put some more insightful social commentary and better metered language in, sure, but when a comedian usually tells a joke the FLOW of the joke, and the way people identify with the language of it is more important than making word salad to use the most socially conscious language. If Rock was servicing the jokes first and the most socially conscious approach second?  I'm on his side. He got put in the middle of this--none of this was his doing and it's not his style of comedy to focus on this stuff (it's actually a bit more in Kevin Hart's wheelhouse from my memory of their sets). I mean Rock does jokes about being black and what it means, sure, but they're generally less about social injustices and more broad in their nature. He's not a comic who uses racial humor as a platform to push social consciousness, I mean--he relies more on storytelling mixed with broad comedy [thinking back to Everybody Hates Chris].

That said, look what happened when he DID do a joke about race and social assumption. It got misunderstood.

To me that's just an indication that people don't expect it from Rock, and thus were all too ready to not think about the joke enough to react thoughtfully.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Kromm

[briochetwist]

I liked the man in the street bit, asking black people movie questions like did they recognize some of the best picture nominees, and none of them knowing any of those movies.  It was funny because I think you'd get the same response from most people.  If I was asked, it would be, "Spotlight...huh?", "Danish Girl" *shrug*.  It was more of a humbling commentary on how Hollywood thinks it's a much bigger deal than it really isMa

Maybe, but my 18 year old son saw 6 out of the 8 movies nominated and thought they were all amazing.

[loriro]

I have seen Spotlight and was delighted it won Best Picture.  Was also delighted to see Mark Rylance win, as I loved his work in Wolf Hall (yes, I know) and was glad his talent was recognized for something, FINALLY. 

 

 

I know that he's got a much lower profile in movies, but Mark Rylance is one of the best Broadway actors around (as well as a very decorated one). He's won 3 Tony awards (I saw him in Jerusalem, and he was AMAZING!) 

Edited March 1, 2016 by loriro

[HunterHunted]

I don't think the Stacey Dash joke bombed. I just think that it was a multilevel joke for black folks. The first part was just straight off making fun of Stacey Dash. The more meta part is that in that auditorium full of people, the only person the camera caught laughing was The Weeknd. A young person of color. I think it reinforced Chris Rock's central premise that Hollywood is a little out of touch and racist. Not one of them got it, but most of the black audience got it. People want diversity not just so Michael B Jordan can work more; though he should because he's really talented. There are a lot of roles that no reason to have white actors in them. But even more importantly, embracing diversity means embracing diverse stories. I think about what the director of A Girl in the River said about the change that film can make. Film is so far behind. It's TV that now has diverse casts and tells diverse stories.

Stacey Dash said that diversity concerns about the Oscars were bullshit. Everyone in that audience is in the film industry. There is a controversy and commentary about their chosen profession and none of the dipshits in audience seemed to be aware. Just blinks. That joke revealed the audience's hypocrisy.

[KFC]

Kevin Hart is a comedian, so I actually am surprised he took that angle. This other wasn't one though, right? (I assume by "guys from Compton" you mean an actor from the cast of the movie)

 

Nah, there was a recorded bit where Chris interviewed moviegoers outside a theater in Compton. One of the guys interviewed mentioned how he thought there needed to be more representation of minorities (not just blacks) in the movies.

 

Again, I don't think anyone is saying Chris Rock is or has to be the spokesperson for a "movement." And I don't think criticizing CR for not saying "actors of color" instead of just "black actors" is trying to make him into one either. I don't even think it would have disrupted the flow of his jokes had he used a slight tweak in language, nor am I saying it's his job to be more inclusive. But it's still a valid critique of his performance.

 

All I'm saying is he limited his language, and thus the conversation. Kevin Hart introduced a segment and said "people of color" (he might have said "actors," I can't recall offhand) when addressing oscarssowhite. It was a simple change of vocabulary that was more inclusive of the bigger issue that many celebs have discussed: Hollywood needs more diversity in the people appearing in the films and greenlighting them.

 

I'm not saying Kevin's the "face for a movement either," just that he made a point of not limiting his words to black and white and that was appreciated.

Edited March 1, 2016 by KFC

[Muffyn]

Here is a link to an article listing the out gay persons who have won academy awards.  There are gay actors who have won but they were  not out when they won:  Jodie Foster, Joel Grey and John Gielgud.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2016/02/29/12-openly-gay-people-thatve-won-an-oscar/?utm_source=ET&utm_medium=ETFB&utm_campaign=portal&utm_content=inf_17_60_2&tse_id=INF_dc51af71f7244bb48d3cc2db09d5f1ed

Edited March 1, 2016 by Muffyn

[Kromm]

Here is a link to an article listing the out gay persons who have won academy awards.  There are gay actors who have won but they were  not out when they won:  Jodie Foster, Joel Grey and John Gielgud.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2016/02/29/12-openly-gay-people-thatve-won-an-oscar/?utm_source=ET&utm_medium=ETFB&utm_campaign=portal&utm_content=inf_17_60_2&tse_id=INF_dc51af71f7244bb48d3cc2db09d5f1ed

Isn't that STILL a list reeking of privilege? (even if not the traditional kind) It's acting like the only awards that "count" are the ones broadcast on TV. In other words actors, with a smattering of directors, singers and producers mixed in. Never mind all of the costume designers, makeup artists, effects people, etc. They don't matter at ALL, right?

[bmoore4026]

Diana Berry, on 28 Feb 2016 - 11:01 PM, said:

I'm confused. I didn't see Morgan Freeman open the envelope.

 

Freeman don't need to open an envelope, he's just that awesome.

[Pete Martell]

I kind of disagree with this because it goes the other way too.  Spotlight won best picture this year for a topic that could have been a Lifetime movie of the week.  But twenty years from now the movie people will still be watching and talking about?  The Martian.  It's a science fiction classic.  The Wizard of Oz, critically panned and didn't win a thing, but one of the most beloved movies of all time.  Cheating a bit and googling best picture winners, a few more examples...  Ghandi won in 1982, but what two movies from that year are still loved today?  Tootsie and E.T.  1990 it was Dances with Wolves.  Today you'd be hard-pressed to find that one playing on cable, but Goodfellas you'll trip over fairly regularly when channel surfing.  And of course there are years where the best picture is also the movie people love and remember, like The Sound of Music.  Then you have movies like Avatar that were huge at the box office but that are totally forgettable now.  I just don't think whether a movie wins an Oscar or even if it's high grossing has much to do with which movies stand the test of time.

 

I'd be surprised if people talk about The Martian in 2 years. It was a decent film but everything about it felt derivative to me - it would have been at home, and likely much better, in the '80s. While I agree that Spotlight at one time would have been a good TV-movie, TV doesn't bother with them now, aside from HBO, sometimes. Lifetime makes exploitive, sexist trash and embarrassing "behind the scenes exposes of TV shows" that I'm pretty sure are deliberately terrible just to get attention. While I find the movie's PR campaign, and some of the actors (especially Mark Ruffalo), self-congratulatory, I'm glad it won over most of the movies it was nominated against. Other than Mad Max and Star Wars (and I'm not sure even on those), I imagine none of the nominated films will linger in the memory. Movies and pop culture today are often too disposable for that to happen.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Pete Martell

[Milburn Stone]

And maybe that's just me being me, but I hate the idea that people can only worry about one issue at a time. Yes, there are more important things in the world than the Oscars, but they are still important and even if they were the People's Choice Awards, people can still be upset about a trend in the nominees and winners while worrying about bigger issues. There's a reason they shut down streets, every other network cowers with crappy counter-programming and people talk about the Oscars. They matter in terms of how society views what movies are important or good. When people talk about classic movies today, we point to the ones that were rewarded and celebrated. No one is checking for "Alexander's Ragtime Band" or "Cinerama Holiday" despite those films each being the highest grossing the year they came out. People remember "You Can't Take It With You" or "Marty." I don't think "Quo Vadis" is a celebrated movie. Certainly not compared to "An American in Paris" or "A Place in the Sun" or "The African Queen" or "A Streetcar Named Desire." They all came out the same year and while Quo Vadis had the bigger box office, those other movies won Oscars. It matters. Not as much as Flint or the Presidential race or the Syrian Refugee Crisis, but it still matters and I think acting like it doesn't is wrong.

 

I agree to the extent that whether the topics of given movies are socially relevant or not, the movies matter. Essentially they are our national religion, and have been for a century. That was the principal problem with this year's show--that the very art form it purported to celebrate, it treated with disrespect.

[Pete Martell]

As for Chris Rock, to me he's not a spokesperson, and he wasn't hired for that role, so I thought he did a decent enough job threading the needle. He was in a situation where anything he said was going to get criticism (for instance, some people were upset as they thought he was suggesting police brutality is not a "real issue," even though he made a pointed comment about police brutality). In that atmosphere, he got a lot of points out, said a lot of things that might make people think, and skewered those actors who diminished the whole thing by making it all about themselves (like Will and Jada). At times he was crass and went for cheapness (like the Asian kids and the "girl-on-girl" joke for Carol), and sometimes the ideas felt too obvious and padded (the black actors in white movies sketch was undercut by clumsy writing and by poor work from Whoopi and Leslie Jones - only Tracy Morgan made me laugh), but I laughed a lot more than I have with a host in a long time, and I also felt like even with the usual bits like the Girl Scouts, he made it less about him than some recent hosts. 

 

I don't think the Oscars are ever going to be as diverse as they could be or should be, and even if they are, it will likely be in a patronizing, self-satisfied way. I think the industry should encourage diversity, but I don't think the Oscars will ever be the venue for it. It's too archaic. And I don't think the Oscars will manage to top how Chris Rock handled it - flaws and all - in his monologue, especially if next year they just go back to giving one award to a POC and patting themselves on the back for their forward-thinking. 

Edited March 1, 2016 by Pete Martell

[wallflower75]

I thought Gaga's performance was powerful, particularly with the survivors on stage.  However, I didn't think the song was all that good.  I hadn't heard it before, but it just seemed like the song repeated the one line over and over and over again.  It seemed an overall weak year for songs.  I had only heard of two of them before, and while the song by the Weekend should have won (imo), I just knew that voters couldn't let an academy award be associated in any way with Fifty Shades of Grey.

 

Having heard "Til It Happens to You" in full, the song was condensed for the ceremony.  It's a four-and-a-half minute song that was cut down to about half that time.  And for the record, because someone a couple pages back said they doubted if anyone had seen the documentary it's from--I've seen it.  It's pretty damned powerful.

 

Count me as one of those who thought Morgan Freeman hadn't opened the envelope when he announced the Best Picture winner.  I was like, "Hang on.  That's not a joke, is it?  He's not going to say something like, 'Kidding--the winner is Mad Max,' right?"  Then I was thrilled that it wasn't a joke.

[ZaldamoWilder]

Abe Vigoda could easily have been included in the In Memoriam segment. They included Harold Ramis in the 2014 telecast's segment, even though he died on February 24th, and the Oscars aired on March 2nd.

 

As for Chris Rock, I was annoyed at first, when he addressed the diversity controversy by basically saying it didn't matter. It may not be a direct matter of life and death, but lack of representation in popular entertainment is a big deal - and the only reason the Academy is taking efforts to address it is because people started making a big deal about it.

 

 

Right? that's what made me question why he wouldn'tve been included.  If the criteria as it were are:  film industry + died since the last telecast, I'm still mystified.  No idea what their cutoff or disqualifier for him was.  

 

To elaborate a bit, CR didn't say the controversy didn't matter, he said in the larger context of the things that black people have historically and do currently have to deal with, worrying about inclusion to receive an award is not high priority.  It brought to mind a Jerry Seinfeld joke he tells about a Tide Detergent commercial, which lists/demonstrates the stains it's capable of removing (one of them being blood).  He says you know if you're trying to remove a blood stain, maybe laundry isn't your biggest priority right now. 

 

Is it just me, or did those girl scouts seem awfully big?  They looked like high school seniors.  Girl scouts are around 9-11.  I saw one last weekend, she was just a little thing.

 

Asked and answered but I was going to say that my former girl scout is a December baby, which makes her a year older than her same-grade pre-September peers.  She was 14 when we (and by we I mean I lol) sold her last cookie.

 

I think Rock's cookie bit and Ellen's pizza bit both show that feeding the audience halfway through does wonders for their morale.  The Oscar audience is famous for being humorless and dull but both bits livened them up.  I take this as proof that the only reason the audience tends to be humorless is because they're starving.  Each host feeding them should be the new tradition along with the opening monologue.  Nothing crazy, just give everyone a bag of chips or something.

 

This is such a strange phenomenon to me.  You know for a fact that two things will be true.  It's gonna be long and there won't be food.  My follow up questions are  (1) accordingly, why haven't you eaten beforehand; and (2) excluding blood sugar issues, what adult cannot go 4 hours without eating?  Is this no longer the usual duration of the period between breakfast and lunch? 

Edited March 1, 2016 by ZaldamoWilder

[cardigirl]

I know that he's got a much lower profile in movies, but Mark Rylance is one of the best Broadway actors around (as well as a very decorated one). He's won 3 Tony awards (I saw him in Jerusalem, and he was AMAZING!) 

Oh, lucky you!  I would have loved to have seen him on the stage.  Thanks for the info!  Until I watched him in Wolf Hall, I was unaware of his talent and thus my excitement for him for winning best supporting actor.  May he garner many more fans!

[vibeology]

This is such a strange phenomenon to me.  You know for a fact that two things will be true.  It's gonna be long and there won't be food.  My follow up questions are  (1) accordingly, why haven't you eaten beforehand; and (2) excluding blood sugar issues, what adult cannot go 4 hours without eating?  Is this no longer the usual duration of the period between breakfast and lunch? 

 

Most of those stars have gone much longer than 4 hours without eating. There's a huge part of the crowd that has been on a juice diet for a week leading up to the event and even the stars who don't play that game probably would have been forgoing carbs for a little while to avoid bloating. That food in the middle of the show is for some of them the first treat they've had in a very long time.

[St. Claire]

This is such a strange phenomenon to me.  You know for a fact that two things will be true.  It's gonna be long and there won't be food.  My follow up questions are  (1) accordingly, why haven't you eaten beforehand; and (2) excluding blood sugar issues, what adult cannot go 4 hours without eating?  Is this no longer the usual duration of the period between breakfast and lunch?

 

I think time period vs. length of time is a factor as well- the four hours between breakfast and lunch are different to my system than knowing I'm going to miss lunch, and therefore trying to time an early snack and after-lunchtime snack to compensate. The awards are scheduled from 5:30-8:30 PST. so if you factor in travel time and red carpet, folks are maybe eating mid-afternoon and being at the ceremony during what should be dinner time.

 

I know that he's got a much lower profile in movies, but Mark Rylance is one of the best Broadway actors around (as well as a very decorated one). He's won 3 Tony awards (I saw him in Jerusalem, and he was AMAZING!)

 

He also just got nominated for a Olivier Award. Very talented.

 

Although Samoas used to be just the shortbread cookies with the fudge stripes with the fudge on back. So it definitely improved over time!

 

I never knew this! When I was selling Girl Scout cookies in the late 70s, they'd already gone to having coconut and caramel. Also, some councils don't have Samoas; the caramel/chocolate/coconut cookie is known as "Caramel Delites." And so ends your Girl Scout cookie trivia segment of the day.

[slowpoked]

Most of those stars have gone much longer than 4 hours without eating. There's a huge part of the crowd that has been on a juice diet for a week leading up to the event and even the stars who don't play that game probably would have been forgoing carbs for a little while to avoid bloating. That food in the middle of the show is for some of them the first treat they've had in a very long time.

No wonder everyone binges on In N Out after the show.

[ZaldamoWilder]

Most of those stars have gone much longer than 4 hours without eating. There's a huge part of the crowd that has been on a juice diet for a week leading up to the event and even the stars who don't play that game probably would have been forgoing carbs for a little while to avoid bloating. That food in the middle of the show is for some of them the first treat they've had in a very long time.

 

It makes sense, but if it's true, I've got even less patience for complaints about self imposed starvation.   If you're willing to eat cookies or pizza no less, once you've cleared the carpet, then have a protein shake and a handful of almonds beforehand, it is not deep enough to change your gastronomic profile in an hour lol.

[vibeology]

I'm not saying it makes sense, just that its the reality. I think if you picked 10 stars out at random from the Oscar crowd (men or women) you'd find over half of them were crash dieting leading up to the show. Hollywood likes to pretend that everyone loves their hamburgers and just look amazing naturally, but really its a lot of fasting, binging, colonics and other things most people would consider unhealthy.

[mojoween]

I think if some of those ladies ate carbs right before, or even during, their gowns would become uncomfortable. I'm not even judging them for it, it just looks like those gowns are fitted with no room for a cookie.

I'm starting to feel a little badly for Will Smith because as far as I can tell, he didn't say anything at all but his name is getting dragged into it because of what Jada did. Chris didn't seem to, but I have seen it elsewhere.

[snowydaze]

I actually watched the entire Oscars and found it pretty awful.  First of all, I like Chris Rock a lot, but I felt like he could have made a great point without being so vulgar.   It is an awards show, and mentioning Rhianna's panties in his monologue just seemed tacky.  He is very funny, and I felt badly for him having to host a show when the controversy was happening about people of his race not being treated fairly, but his jokes seems more like they were suited for late night talk shows, or a stand up comedy routine.  Funny, but a bit too vulgar.

 

Also,  I am glad they didn't just ignore the controversy, but to have it go on through the whole show was just annoying.  The compton thing once again seemed like it belonged on the late show, it didn't fit an awards show at all.

 

I also feel torn about this issue. I think there is a very stereotypical, ignorant, lack of diversity in Hollywood in general. It is not just about black actors, it's about latinos,  older women, and anyone who does not fit the very limited view Hollywood seems to have of life in general.   Most movies do not represent real people. All of the women tend to be young, pretty and anorexic with fake implants and lots of plastic surgery.  How many women besides Meryl Streep over the age of 40 even get nominated, let alone win awards.

 

Ethnic groups are represented in very limited, stereotypical ways in most movies.  

 

I think the problem is not lack of nominations, but the lack of roles going to a diverse population, so that the academy can choose more people of color or people who are not represented for movies.  For being so liberal, Hollywood is very backward, and male actors are still paid more than female actors. Maybe it's because they are trying to make the most money for a movie, and trying to appeal to the masses, which for the most part are into traditional roles.

 

But, it seems that well made movies could open the minds of viewers by actually showing black actors in more than movies about the civil rights movement or slavery. Those movies are needed, but how about just showing black actors in movies where their race is not the main focus of the movie.  Where they have a great role, like Leonardo DiCaprio did, but they are also black, or latino, or a woman?

 

As far as Lady Gaga is concerned, she is very talented, but there is something about her that seems fake.   Somehow she has always been a part of every single major event - like 9/11 (even though she was in middle school at the time), or now she is a victim of sexual abuse.  She always claims she is part of some major issue, or she experienced it, and really she is full of it.  My friend went to NYU when she was there, she was a very talented, but very traditionally plain girl, so they gave her a gimmick so she could make money.  

 

Also, the school she attended in NYC when 9/11 hit was no way high enough for her to have seen the planes hit the towers, and she would have been in class at that time.  But, according to Gaga, she was on the playground at 9am in the morning and saw the planes hit from rooftop playground that was probably about 4 stories high from across the city?  Yeah right!

 

She is always acting like she was some tough street kid who had it hard. But she was a rich girl who went to private schools, and I don't believe 90% of her victim stories, since she changes everything, including her look to be a part of the latest issues.

 

Overall, I'd say the Oscars were not great to watch this year. 

[designing1]

 

Also, the school she attended in NYC when 9/11 hit was no way high enough for her to have seen the planes hit the towers, and she would have been in class at that time.  But, according to Gaga, she was on the playground at 9am in the morning and saw the planes hit from rooftop playground that was probably about 4 stories high from across the city?  Yeah right!

 

I have no idea of what school she attended or where it was located, but it's entirely possible she saw one or both planes hit the towers. Tower 1 was hit above the 90th floor, Tower 2 above the 70th. Depending on what buildings were between her and the towers, had she been looking up and in the direction of the towers at the right time she might have witnessed it. (For the record, I'm not a Gaga fan, so I'm not defending her per se, just pointing out the possibilities.)

[Pete Martell]

I'm starting to feel a little badly for Will Smith because as far as I can tell, he didn't say anything at all but his name is getting dragged into it because of what Jada did. Chris didn't seem to, but I have seen it elsewhere.

 

I think the general idea is that he was going along with it but not saying anything (maybe because he is the bigger star). I don't think it helps that neither of them seem hugely well-liked among their peers.

[ari333]

Is Stacy  Dash on Fox News? I think it says something that white people don't know her bc they don't watch Fox News... for obvious reasons?

I always love Chris ROck in anything he does.

[Pete Martell]

Is Stacy  Dash on Fox News? I think it says something that white people don't know her bc they don't watch Fox News... for obvious reasons?

I always love Chris ROck in anything he does.

 

I think even a lot of people who may watch it may not pay much attention to her, because she isn't saying anything others on the channel aren't saying. She's more (in)famous among black viewers, because of some of her comments.

 

http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/stacey-dash-black-history-month-bet-elimination-1201684232/

[BatmanBeatles]

Why did the Indiana Jones theme play when Joe Biden come onstage?

[ZaldamoWilder]

I have no idea of what school she attended or where it was located, but it's entirely possible she saw one or both planes hit the towers. Tower 1 was hit above the 90th floor, Tower 2 above the 70th. Depending on what buildings were between her and the towers, had she been looking up and in the direction of the towers at the right time she might have witnessed it. (For the record, I'm not a Gaga fan, so I'm not defending her per se, just pointing out the possibilities.)

 

I was about to say I don't know how or if it helps her cache, but I saw the second plane hit and I was outside on ground level approaching the door to my office building.  It's completely plausible that she may have witnessed it from a playground.

[slowpoked]

There are a lot of roles that no reason to have white actors in them. But even more importantly, embracing diversity means embracing diverse stories. I think about what the director of A Girl in the River said about the change that film can make. Film is so far behind. It's TV that now has diverse casts and tells diverse stories.

You should see John Oliver's bit last week about Hollywood whitewashing. He's actually taking a different position than what the black actors are saying that there are no roles for them. Oliver is saying that that is not entirely true - there are roles for minorities, a LOT of them, but they're just casting white people. The Last Samurai bit had me LOL'ing pretty good.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJy_OU1DPcg

 

And he doubles down at the end by saying maybe this whitewashing wouldn't be too bad if there isn't so much public outrage when black actors are cast for traditionally white people roles.

 

 

How many women besides Meryl Streep over the age of 40 even get nominated, let alone win awards.

 

I'm not saying that Hollywood has solved this problem, but it's gotten a wee bit better recently. Yes, they're still gonna have their fill of JLaw every year it seems, but aside from Streep, there were Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Judy Dench, Helen Mirren, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Kate Winslet, Charlotte Rampling, Emanuelle Riva, etc. who have been nominated recently and in some cases, won. Just last year, you have both Patricia Arquette and Julianne Moore winning the Oscars. At least something is being done on that end. Maybe older women are not being cast in Hollywood blockbusters that most people remember, but they're being cast in substantial roles that have them get recognized during awards season. 

[MyAimIsTrue]

Was also delighted to see Mark Rylance win, as I loved his work in Wolf Hall (yes, I know) and was glad his talent was recognized for something, FINALLY. 

 

I'm a big Mark Rylance fan and he's a three time Tony Award winner so he's definitely been recognized before.

[proserpina65]

After hearing the three played, I was rooting for one of the other nominated songs (and livid that they weren't included in the ceremony-yes, the three I heard made my ears bleed, but all should be performed on stage). Also, did Straight Outta Compton not introduce any new music? It's not my genre, but I would have thought it would have had one of the nominated songs unless nothing was original.

The clips of the two songs not performed made my ears bleed, so I'm just as glad to not have heard them live.  And they were still better than the winner.

[ari333]

I may get tomatoes at the head, but I just cant stand that The Weeknd dude. The songs make me cray. Hate the squirrel on the head hair and the stupid spelling... and the "dancing." The only one I hate worse is Drake and that "You used to call me on my CELL phone." Thank god I didnt' have to endure that, but Im sure I will at some point.

[laffytaffy997]

One thing that keeps bugging me about the best song category is that people keep saying "How can you give the award to the James Bond song after that powerful performance by Lady Gaga!" Well, that's because people based the votes on the actual songs long before the show. I'm not saying the James Bond song was great (because it wasn't) and shouldn't have won, but it's not like people were like "Who cares about rape victims, James Bond rocks!"

[snowydaze]

I have no idea of what school she attended or where it was located, but it's entirely possible she saw one or both planes hit the towers. Tower 1 was hit above the 90th floor, Tower 2 above the 70th. Depending on what buildings were between her and the towers, had she been looking up and in the direction of the towers at the right time she might have witnessed it. (For the record, I'm not a Gaga fan, so I'm not defending her per se, just pointing out the possibilities.)

 

Well, I doubt middle school kids were playing out on the playground during the hour of 9am in September.  And she also went to a catholic school on the upper east side. It's hardly in view of lower manhattan.   She always acts like she was this tough street girl, but in reality, she was a nerdy, but talented girl, who was not very pretty, so she needed a gimmick. Nothing is wrong with any of it, but the fake stuff is annoying.

[mtlchick]

Looks like the Girl Scouts raised only $2500, but hey!  God was hungry so it balances out.  http://www.ew.com/article/2016/03/01/chris-rock-girl-scout-cookies-oscars

[ari333]

The pizza (ellen) and cookies and all that bores me so much.

The pizza (ellen) and cookies and all that bores me so much.

[mojoween]

Sacha Baron Cohen defied producers to appear as Ali G.

What a dick.

[Ohwell]

I may get tomatoes at the head, but I just cant stand that The Weeknd dude. The songs make me cray. Hate the squirrel on the head hair and the stupid spelling... and the "dancing." The only one I hate worse is Drake and that "You used to call me on my CELL phone." Thank god I didnt' have to endure that, but Im sure I will at some point.

I'm with you on stupid-looking, weak-voiced, squirrel-headed The Weeknd dude.  But I kinda like Drake.

[methodwriter85]

I'm not saying that Hollywood has solved this problem, but it's gotten a wee bit better recently. Yes, they're still gonna have their fill of JLaw every year it seems, but aside from Streep, there were Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Judy Dench, Helen Mirren, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Kate Winslet, Charlotte Rampling, Emanuelle Riva, etc. who have been nominated recently and in some cases, won. Just last year, you have both Patricia Arquette and Julianne Moore winning the Oscars. At least something is being done on that end. Maybe older women are not being cast in Hollywood blockbusters that most people remember, but they're being cast in substantial roles that have them get recognized during awards season. 

 

I'm going to admit that I love Brie Larson's win because she looks more like an average woman, and not a model glamour queen ingenue. She is, in her own words, not pretty enough to be the popular girl but not plain enough to play the plain girl. She's basically managed to sneak under the radar and get the Oscar with a tiny little film, instead of something like Joy that had a pretty concerted campaign and cost somewhere around 60 million dollars to make. The last time I can think of someone who managed to do that was Hilary Swank back in 1999.

 

Lady Gaga really bothered me with her video that did not depict any cisgendered male victims, so I like that she corrected that with the display there.

[slowpoked]

I'm going to admit that I love Brie Larson's win because she looks more like an average woman, and not a model glamour queen ingenue. She is, in her own words, not pretty enough to be the popular girl but not plain enough to play the plain girl. She's basically managed to sneak under the radar and get the Oscar with a tiny little film

 

It actually reminds me of JLaw's situation with Winter's Bone, except for the winning part. Out of nowhere, there's this unknown actress for an unknown movie who gets nominated. Brie is not exactly unknown but she's no A-list star before either.

 

 

instead of something like Joy that had a pretty concerted campaign and cost somewhere around 60 million dollars to make.

Jesus, that film cost $60M to make??? With the way it was promoted, and with its visibility during its run, I thought it was a little indie film.