In This Section
TV Guide Spotlight
Also on TVGuide.com
|
« Roush Dispatch
A Likable Host for a Long, Low-Key Oscars
The one thing I realized as Oscar night droned on and on for nearly four hours: If I ever had to choose someone to be stranded with for hours on end (say, like those poor Jet Blue passengers a few weeks ago), it would have to be Ellen DeGeneres.
Keeping her cool, and her genuine aura of chipper goodwill, throughout three costume changes (in suits from red velvet to all-white to royal blue) and what seemed once again like an overindulgent excess of movie montages (we definitely could have done without Michael Mann’s fuzzy survey of cinematic American history), Ellen was welcome nearly every time she popped up. Offering a spec script to Martin Scorsese, directing Steven Spielberg on how to take her photo with Clint Eastwood, asking the megastars in the front row to lift their legs as she vacuumed the Kodak past midnight (ET), while informing us that Helen Mirren had just asked for a rum and coke (sounded pretty good to me at the time), Ellen did her darndest to deflate the bloat and pomposity that infects nearly every Oscar telecast.
She’s not a showstopper like Billy Crystal (who probably is the host with the most in our modern era). She’s more likely to beguile than wow you. But she’s never vulgar, and is well suited to this classy venue, more inclined to celebrate (with a tambourine and gospel choir) than to mock, as has been the recent example set by hosts like Jon Stewart and Chris Rock. Ellen’s few political barbs were gentle, not strident. (Loved how she compared Jennifer Hudson to Al Gore in terms of persevering after controversial votes.) Given the refreshing diversity of this year’s nominees, Ellen was also a very appropriate and historic choice. As she noted: “If there weren’t blacks, Jews and gays, there would be no Oscars. Or anyone named Oscar, if you think about it.” (It’s that sort of last little absurd aside that Ellen does better than anyone.)
There’s no question this year’s show went on way too long, but that’s nothing new. This was still a classier event than most, and at least there were many creative moments to capture our fancy, from the shadow art of the Pilobolus dance troupe to the choir that sang in sound effects. The sensational “Comedian at the Oscars” number (co-written by the reliable Marc Shaiman), featuring Will Farrell, Jack Black and John C. Reilly, helped elevate the first hour, which was heavy on the “boring” awards we usually are forced to sit through during the show’s middle portion.
Besides Scorsese, who finally won his long-overdue Oscar (so what if it wasn’t for his best movie?), the star of the night was probably Al Gore, whose An Inconvenient Truth won two Oscars (including an upset in the Best Song category against three tunes from the largely snubbed Dreamgirls). Has a documentary ever won a musical award as well? Gore and his influential documentary got plenty of props from the crowd, and one of the best gags was when the orchestra played him off as he began to issue (jokingly) the big presidential announcement Leonardo DiCaprio was urging him to make.
The night's most stirring acceptance speech was a bit of a surprise, coming from Forest Whitaker, who in every televised awards show up to this had mumbled and stumbled each time at the podium. Goes to show you: Everything else is just a warm-up for the Oscars. Well done, Mr. Whitaker. (I still regret him being passed over last season for his work on The Shield.)
Still, the undisputed big moment of the night, a major snapshot of cinema history, was Scorsese’s win, which notably occurred after all the acting awards (all but one, Alan Arkin’s, a no-brainer) were handed out. Everyone knew he was the star of the night, and rightly so. How very cool for the “three amigos” of 70s cinema (Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg) to be there to bestow the Oscar on their contemporary and friend. Scorsese understandably was overjoyed: “Could you double-check the envelope?” Seriously. When you think he was denied Oscars for Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, upstaged by more populist hits like Rocky and Ordinary People, you can understand his sheepish glee.
But in a year without a front-runner best-picture favorite, this was Scorsese’s time to shine. And with a bald Jack Nicholson in the wings to help cheer him on, it did feel like a 70s coronation. All that was missing was Robert De Niro.
Finally, if this year’s Oscars was good for anything, it may be to shine a spotlight on the film that got the second most trophies of the night (behind The Departed). That would be the brilliant dark fantasy Pan’s Labyrinth, which in many ways may have been the actual best picture of 2006. (I’m hoping to see the German best-picture winner, The Lives of Others, very soon, which emerged late in the game as the front-runner in that category, despite Labyrinth’s multiple nominations and dominance in certain creative arenas like art direction and cinematography.)
Pan’s Labyrinth is every bit as good as it looks, way more satisfying than the overrated Babel. And best yet, it’s only half as long as the Oscar ceremony.
|
TVGuide Links:
|
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2007 1:31 AM
|
|
Great review Matt. I agree. Wow, these Oscars were looooong. I needed that rum and coke as well. Thankfully, Monday night brings us some popcorn thrillers to wake us all up. With Heroes gradually getting better and better, hopefully 24 can get out of its mini-slump. I need some entertainment after tonight.
|
|
Feb 26, 2007 2:50 AM
|
I love movies. I love the Academy Awards. I love Ellen.
But I still went to bed at 10 CT. I'll watch the rest "live on tape" later.
Yeah, I know that's only 8 PT. Hollywood forgets that the rest of the country is in a different time zone. And most of us have to work in the morning.
How about next year having the awards on a Saturday night, so we can all enjoy the entire show, then sleep in on Sunday?
|
|
Feb 26, 2007 8:34 AM
|
When she first appeared on the scene I wasn't big into Ellen's standup comedy style, but I did watch her TV shows for a while.
However, her style has grown on me a lot over the years (a lot of that has to do with her talk show) and I'm glad last night went well.
|
|
Feb 26, 2007 11:02 AM
|
I really enjoyed Ellen and have decided she is my all time favorite Oscar host. I hope she comes back next year. I loved that Marty won finally for best director but was devastated that Eddie didn't for supporting actor. I was shocked that such a long broadcast would start at 8:30 EST. I think next year it should start at 7:00 or 7:30 as 12:30 on a school nite makes it hard for me to get up the next day!
Good show. Glad I watched.
|
|
Feb 26, 2007 11:11 AM
|
Living on the west coast and having a handy dandy Tivo I was able to (thankfully) fast forward through some of the montages and boring awards, but even than it felt long.
Thanks for mentioning Pan's Labrinth. I never saw any other best foriegn film nominee and only one of the best films (the intense Iwo Jima) but Pan's Labrinth was one of the best movies I saw this year. It could have easily been a best picture nominee. I hope more people will see it.
|
|
Feb 26, 2007 11:41 AM
|
|
I really like Ellen DeGeneres but I wish Bob Hope or Johnny Carson were still alive, I really do.
|
|
Feb 26, 2007 12:14 PM
|
I thought Ellen was pleasant and the gags of her interacting with Scorsese and Eastwood were great. She's very cute but not enough for me to not change the channel every five seconds as they did yet another montage. God and then the crammed the remaining categories into the last 15 minutes. I'd love it if they showed an abridged version of the Oscar's (1-2 hours) for those of us living on the West Coast as the show ends around 9, 9:30 for us. I'd skip the live one and just watch that.
Scorsese's win was very heartfelt but I felt like he was winning belatedly for Raging Bull or Taxi Driver. Guillermo del Toro was robbed of the nom and the win. Pan's Labyrinth was the best film of the year.
Loved when Will and Jada Smith's kid started reading the wrong lines! So cute and much funnier than his and Abigail Breslin's very rehearsed back-and-forth dialogue.
|
|
Feb 26, 2007 12:43 PM
|
Your review was right on, Matt! I liked Ellen, but the night was a leetle too long (as always) and save us from that Michael Mann montage! (Though I loved the "nominees" piece at the beginning, created by Errol Morris in his unique style.)
And thanks for the shout out for "Pan's Labyrinth." I've been telling anyone who'll listen for weeks that it was the best picture of 2006 (although I, too, haven't seen "The Lives of Others," which I understand is quite good). In fact, my favorite moment of the night was during the Road to the Oscars pre-show when they interviewed the three amigos (not Lucas, Spielberg, and Coppola, but Del Toro, Cuaron, and Inarritu). The affection among those friends--all of whom had big films this year--was truly touching.
|
|
Feb 26, 2007 1:28 PM
|
|
I liked Ellen. I know she took a few minutes to warm up, but I loved the little bits she did. Like the Eastwood/ Speilberg thing. I was sad O'Toole didn't win cause if they were gonna go sentimental i would have rather they did it with him and not Arkin. It must have irked O'Toole that Jennifer Hudson got something so big first time out of the gate. I think that can be a mistake for someones career. Some of the stars were pretty affected...Like Paltrow and Kidman. I thought the wierd Tumblers behind the curtain was odd and after every time they did it, i thought, "Okay...now what?" Ellen kept things rolling and didn't wallow too much in what can be one long night. I think shes been the best since Crystal.
|
|
Feb 26, 2007 3:05 PM
|
|
Ellen only further exacerbated the horrible pacing of this marathon from hell. It was funny that she teased Jack Nicholson while dressing up in his old Joker outfit. The Oscars desperately needs an overhaul. The few important categories are few and far between except at the end when the winners are rushed off stage. They need a host with some energy and excitement, not someone overly concerned with keeping everyone cozy (see coma).
|
|
Feb 26, 2007 6:42 PM
|
|
I agree Matt, I would absoutlty love to be stuck on a plane with Ellen anyday. This years Oscars were way to long. They could of done with out the stupid montages....well except for the ones who passed away this passed year. About time Marty won. And I absoutly love Forset's speech. One of the best speeche's ever.
|
|
Feb 26, 2007 6:58 PM
|
Ellen is one of the few people I would tune in to see (even though I didn't see one of the nominated movies this year)! The show is way too long, though, and that chunk near the beginning where it's one technical award after another (film editing, sound editing...how about SHOW editing) only draws attention to the fact that there's a lot of tedium.
When Ellen came out in that red velour number at the beginning, I had to wonder whether she wanted to be Shirley or Keith Partridge! Then someone threw a tambourine up to her and I thought, "ah...Tracy!" 
|
|
Feb 27, 2007 7:13 AM
|
I am downright stunned by all this love for Ellen DeGeneres. Were we all watching the same show? Thank goodness for mtvcops. I cannot, for the life of me, understand how people could sit through 4 Hours of Ellen's happy-go-lucky, afraid to tweak anybody performance.
Give me Jon Stewart or Chris Rock any day of the week. The Oscars are filled with a bunch of phony millionaires who are all way too high on themselves and with all their millions, can affords to sit there for 4 hours and take a joke or two from real comedians like Stewart or Rock.
This show was the worst one I can remember and if llen is hosting a 4 hours snore fest again, I am done and will not tune in again. Either get someone who can make you laugh for 4 hours, or just give me a gun and let me shoot myself. Geez.
For those who do agree that the show was horrible and dull, here are a few TV columnists who agree that it stunk:
http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/sepinwall/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1172554521283840.xml&coll=1
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/26/DDGL0OB5VF1.DTL
|
|
Feb 27, 2007 7:50 AM
|
|
jessicafreels, I agree that it would've been nice to see Peter O'Toole finally get his award. I hope there's a Lifetime Achievement award in his future. But let's be honest, there have been many first time nominees who have been lucky enough to win the award, yet they've had largely unspectacular careers. Marisa Tomei, Anna Paquin, Tatum O'Neal just to name a few. I know who Peter O'Toole is and can recognize him on sight even though some of his greatest works were made before I was even born. Will my children be able to say that they are that familiar with Jennifer Hudson's career? Probably not.
|
|
Feb 27, 2007 10:16 AM
|
|
|
