Carrie's Calling

Last night’s 82nd Academy Awards was one for the record books.  When anyone looks back on this year’s Oscars, the one thing that will stand out is the fact that it was the year a woman finally took home the Best Director prize.  I was 14/24 (53%) on my picks.  I bombed on the short film categories and was unexpectedly wrong in the screenplay categories as well.  If you haven’t seen the winners yet, check out my winner list.

Kathryn Bigelow has now created a brand new era for the potential of female directors.  It doesn’t surprise me that Avatar didn’t walk away with any of the top prizes.  Although the film showcases excellence in technology, it doesn’t achieve that same feat in storytelling and character development. 

Here is a breakdown of my pros and cons for the night.

Pros:

*I think there were a lot of great parts to the show.  The John Hughes tribute was beautiful.  Molly Ringwald epitomizes what Hughes’ movies were all about and for her to be there made the tribute all the more special.  After the highlight reel, it was wonderful to see a handful of the people Hughes helped make famous.  However, half of them looked like time hasn’t been so nice to them.  Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy and Macauly Culkin all were looking a little on the rough side.  In addition to Ringwald, no proper Hughes tribute would be complete without the face of Jon Cryer’s “Duckie,” Matthew Broderick’s “Ferris” and Anthony Michael Hall’s “Brian/Farmer Ted.”

*Oscar producer, Adam Shankman,  made good on his promise of making the show more current and entertaining.  His collection of dancers were phenomenal during their performances, especially the big number during the Original Score category.  There is a tiny part of me though that isn’t sure the Oscars are the right medium for Shankman to show off his So You Think You Can Dance favorites.

*I really liked how the seating arrangement was different than the standard straight rows.  The stage was really nice, but I was waiting for someone to trip.  At the beginning of the show, the stage reminded me of what old bandstands used to look like.

*Ben Stiller took a risk as he came to present the Best Makeup category dressed as a Na’vi character from Avatar.  His personal commentary made it work.  Tina Fey and Robert Downey, Jr. definitely win the best presenter prize in my book.  They were sarcastic, funny and had great chemistry.

 *My favorite dressed celebs included Kristen Stewart, Anna Kendrick, Cameron Diaz, Rachel McAdams, Meryl Streep and Elizabeth Banks.

Cons:

*Hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin definitely had some humorous moments, but I can’t say they were a total win for the show.  The opening played it kind of safe.  They announced a variety of actors, said something witty and then clapped.  And clapped some more.  The opening by Neil Patrick Harris was alright, but I wasn’t entirely surprised.  There had been rumors of his participation for a days now.  As much as I love NPH, I’m not sure why he did the opening.  That should be reserved for the hosts and if they can’t handle an opening number, maybe they shouldn’t have the job.

*All of the acting categories were as expected and that can make things kind of boring.  Deep down I was hoping for an upset or two in an acting category, but that didn’t happen.

*ABC‘s pre-show red carpet needs A LOT of work.  There are so many on-air journalists that could have done a better job.  Kathy Ireland was terrible, just terrible.  It was excrutiating to watch her talk to the actors.

*My pics for worst dressed celebs are Sarah Jessica Parker, Miley Cyrus, Charlize Theron, Vera Farmiga and Jennifer Lopez.