The ASU Web Devil staff sat on the couch and engaged in the hard, journalistic task of watching the Oscars. What follows is what we thought about the big night.
'Sunshine' missing from nomination categories
When I first saw the list of nominees for this year's Oscars, I knew that if Morgan Freeman won the award for best supporting actor, the rest of the show would be a slippery slope from that point on.
I was right. Million Dollar Baby took home four awards Sunday, including best picture, best actress (Hilary Swank), and best director (Clint Eastwood).
I can't deny that there's something special about Eastwood's films, but I believe Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, starring Jim Carrey, should have least been nominated for best picture.
Nominated for only two awards, if Eternal Sunshine hadn't won the best original screenplay award, I was prepared to kill the TV. Thank God it won. My roommate can't live without his tube.
And a note to the Academy: Beyonce would have made a fine presenter. But please, keep the music performances to qualified musicians. Beyonce performed three songs Sunday and was described throughout the night as the "wonderfully talented Beyonce." If that statement describes what's lying in her panties, then I agree, but her singing is painfully mediocre.
Thankfully, the Academy didn't completely sell out to the MTV crowd, and I understand ratings are necessary for the Oscars to continue on. But let's leave Beyonce and her I'd-be-better-off-lip-synching-on-MTV brand of talent out of the mix.
Daniel Swier,
Web Devil associate editor
Yawns of boredom
The amount of pre-Oscar media coverage can be nauseating, but apparently not as nauseating as the actual event. After hours of red-carpet arrivals and flashbacks of who wore what last year, bad performances and cut-off speeches were all that followed.
Chris Rock is one of my favorite standup comedians of all time and I was surprised that the academy asked him to be this years' host. I was interested to see how he would combine his humor with the general nature of the Oscars. I found out quickly when he stood around and made comments about Oprah being rich and said that he liked Johnny Depp. He also made a crack about some guy getting cut off and muttered something about getting McFlurries with drive-thru Oscars.
The speeches were painful and people need to realize that Antonio Banderas cannot sing. Some guests in the audience looked like they were going to keel over from boredom. I also think it's kind of odd that music stops for Hilary Swank but not many others. Oscar politics are bizarre and something I just don't understand.
For me, the highlight of the night was seeing Jamie Foxx win a well-deserved award. For presenters, the highlight was probably getting to take home an Oscar gift basket, which was expected to be valued at $150,000 this year. In any case, congratulations to all of 2005's winners and nominees. See you next year.
Kalea Yoshida,
Web Devil associate editor
Rock on
Making everyman comic Chris Rock the host was a very political move for the Academy to make. Obviously, Rock was put in that position because he is a black man capable of wrangling the testosterone-oriented segment of the audience. The Academy made a conscious attempt to grab the young, adult male demographic.
Rock took some heat for saying that no straight, black man would ever watch the Oscars in an interview. He's at least partially right; everybody knows that, controlling for a not-so-slight exaggeration, a certain kind of person is more likely than others to pay the most attention to the Oscars. But we live in such a politically correct society that you've got to be ready to accept a few punches if you want to make known an unspoken truth, and Rock did just that.
One of the especially great moments of the night was when Rock went into a middle-class movie theater multiplex with a good-sized black clientele. He asked everyone there if they had seen Million Dollar Baby, Sideways, The Aviator and other Academy Favorites. Nobody had seen any of those, but Alien vs. Predator, The Chronicles of Riddick and White Chicks were popular film fare.
His point was that the Oscars are an upper-crust passion, and the average person remains oblivious to what a bunch of academic filmmakers believe constitutes quality. That idea was driven home in a very skilled, smart manner, and Rock deserves props even if he, a movie star, is a card-carrying member of Hollywood's elite society as well.
The sketch, along with a wonderful monologue from Robin Williams, put the eternal sunshine on my otherwise bored mind. Everything else was stiffer than a Hollywood-mandated face lift.
And speaking of face lifts, there were plenty of plastic surgery jokes to go around from Williams, Rock and others. These quips continued a trend begun many years ago by past emcee Johnny Carson, rehashed during a tasteful montage in honor of his legacy. The clips reminded me of the comedic vacuum that Carson's death has left--a void that Conan O'Brien and others can only barely hope to fill.
Whether it was efficient formatting of the show to prevent lag times from people walking up the stage, or the choice of Rock for show emcee, one got the feeling that this year's Oscar night was trying to go after ratings.
That's fine for my tastes, because I can't stand elitist drivel. The compacted show was a little easier on the eyes, and on the butt sitting on the couch. The only problem, then, was the actual content of the show. That may prove even tougher to improve in the long run.
Nicole Saidi,
Web Devil editor in chief
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was modified March 1.
