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The 79th Annual Academy Awards |
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By : Suzanne Philips |
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| The 79th Annual Academy Awards Hollywood, CA February 25, 2007 The 79th annual Academy Awards celebration was held tonight at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood and the word that best sums up the overall production is.....boring. Not that the actual winners of the awards were boring - they weren't. And Host Ellen Degeneres was funny and likeable, so we can't really say the ennui was due to her efforts. No, the poor direction and compete lack of reason for many of the segments are really to blame. The director and producers inserted many pointless segments that did nothing but add to the already plodding broadcast and distract from the actual winners. What was bad: Having all the nominees stand at their seats at the beginning of the broadcast for a painfully long time and clap - It was awkward and many of the nominees seemed a bit embarrassed by it. The Costume Design awards - having the films represented by actors in costume on stage "in character" while presenters Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt read the nominees. This segment was awful and seemed more like a high school play than the Academy Awards. The huge clip packages before several categories. These were well put together and a nice idea to get more directors involved in the awards process but the execution was not so great. The packages were way too long and could have been cut in half to make it more streamlined. For all of the problems that the show had, there were some good points: Ellen Degeneres was fantastic as host. She was witty and amenable and did her best to keep the show moving when she had the opportunity. The acceptance speeches were really worth watching. Forest Whitaker gave a wonderful and emotional speech which shows that not only is he a great actor, but a fantastic human being. Jennifer Hudson was truly moved and signifies all that Hollywood has always stood for - that anyone can have a dream and realize it here. Martin Scorsese *finally* winning an Oscar for his directorial successes. He has truly deserved this honor for so long and it was nice to see him finally getting the recognition from the voting members of the Academy. The fact that it was presented by Lucas, Coppola and Spielberg was a lovely tribute and the standing ovation from the audience assured that it was the right choice. The presenters all did a nice job as well and no one seemed out of place on that stage. All of these things should alert the production team at the Academy to realize what the true spirit of the Oscars should be: the nominees and the winners. Viewers want to see the presenters reading the names, the nominees being recognized for their films and the winners getting the opportunity to thank those that had a profound influence on them during their lives (even if that person was their Agent!). I applaud the Academy for trying to introduce some new ideas into the show to keep it fresh (The dance company doing vignettes of the films was interesting and, most importantly, quick!), but they need to have the actors show up, give out the awards and go home. The show should never take more than 2 hours, there just isn't any point. For a complete list of winners visit The Oscars. |