Happy Monday folks! Did you happen to catch the Oscars last night? Since this is the first year I watch the festivities as a movie blogger, I thought it’d be fun to blog the highlights and see how my picks stack up. I’m going to break this into two parts. So here goes part 1:

• Ok, enough with the red carpet stuff. Man, I don’t know how these celebs do it, I’d totally hate being asked about what I’m wearing every other minute! Anyway, the telecast opened with all ten Best Actors/Actresses nominees trotting down the stage, kind of like at a pageantry? Anyway, Neil Patrick Harris sang & danced with his cabaret dancers, boy, that guy can sing! He would’ve been a great host, too.

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  Steve Martin & Alec Baldwin were literally lowered down to the stage of the Kodak Theater. The hosts happen to be Meryl’s co-stars in It’s Complicated, so dirty jokes on her are a given, naturally. Steve + Alec are actually pretty funny together, they play each other off well. The joke on James Cameron are absolutely spot-on with them putting on 3D glasses, ha..ha!

• “The Inglorious Basterds section is here… and here are the people who make the movie.” LMAO!
• Now, why did they leave Clooney alone? Alec’s staring down at him didn’t count! Clooney’s nervous smile cracked me up though.
• Lots of jokes about the generational gap between the hosts and a lot of the presenters. Steve Martin poking fun at the young’uns Zac Efron and Taylor Lautner: “Take a good look, guys. Here’s you in five years!” and later on when introducing Amanda Seyfried & Miley Cyrus, he said: “The next two presenters are young actresses who have no idea who we are.” Good one, he’s probably right, too!

  

• First award already, this thing is moving right along, good. Best Supporting Actor award presented by Penelope Cruz. Wow, Stanley Tucci’s so darn creepy in The Lovely Bones! But this Oscar belongs to Christoph Waltz all the way! YES, YES!! Congrats, Christoph, you deserve it! Plus, his acceptance speech is always good, though not as memorable as other ones he’s given.
• Studly Ryan Reynolds introduced Best Pic nominee The Blind Side … just saw them together in the banal The Proposal.
• Steve Carrell and Cameron Diaz came on serenaded by Snow White’s One Day My Prince Welcome theme song. The stop-motion animation videos of the animated characters are pretty amusing. The winner of Best Animated Feature is Up … no surprise there. But suffice to say it definitely won’t win Best Picture.
• Capt. Kirk … er Chris Pine introduced another Best Picture nom … and one of my personal favorites, District 9. But hey what’s with the spoiler clip?? Sheesh, some people might not have seen the flick, come on! Anyhoo, spotted Sharlto Copley sitting behind director Neill Blomkamp as District 9‘s being introduced. I wish he had been nominated, but still what a journey it must be for them to go all the way to the Oscars!

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  Robert Downey Jr. was too cool for school with his bluish spec that matches his bow tie. Him trading jabs with Tina Fey was a great intro for Best Original Screenplay award. I love how Tina narrates the script for each of the nominated flix. And the Oscar went to: The Hurt Locker. Well, I guess the controversies didn’t make a dent after all. Tarantino looked disappointed, and rightly so! I really wanted Inglourious Basterds to win this! Anyway, HitFix tweeted “Has anybody started the “Tina Fey and Bobby Downey Jr. For 2011 Oscar Hosts” petition yet?” I agree, and they’d win ‘best presenters’ award hands down!

• Molly Ringwald and Matthew Broderick gave a moving tribute to John Hughes, wow, brought back so many memories… especially with all those 80s actors on stage. In their seats Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner probably whispered to each other, ‘who the heck are these people??!’
• Ben Stiller showed up as a blue Na’vi: “This seems like a good idea in rehearsal” (ha!) presenting the award for Best Makeup. Ironically Avatar wasn’t even nominated, ha! James Cameron looked amused as Stiller fumbled with his Na’vi tail, he..he.. The winner is: Star Trek! Well, it obviously pulled off a challenging task in making hunky Eric Bana looks repulsive! As I said before, I think District 9 deserves to be nominated here rather than The Young Victoria though.
• Jake Gyllenhaal and the lovely Rachel McAdams introduced the Best Adapted Screenplay award. Hoping for District 9 to win… but I’m not holding my breath. The winner is: Precious. Haven’t seen the movie but from what I’ve heard looks like Geoffrey Fletcher indeed deserves it. What a moving speech! Of course it doesn’t stop Steve Martin from making light of the dramatic moment… “I wrote that speech for him.” Ha!

  

• Queen Latifah is the queen of cool, love her confidence and healthy sense of self. She’s just awesome. She introduces the honorary award recipients, one of ’em is the sassy Lauren Bacall.
• Robin Williams presented Best Supporting Actress award: ““Later this evening, the Governor’s Ball will be held — just one of many balls being held all over Hollywood tonight.” LOL!! Anyway, even just by looking at the nominees clips, it’s clear the Oscar belongs to Mo’Nique.

Ok, end of part 1. Continue reading part 2 »