Due to my complete lack of understanding how a TV guide works, I managed to completely miss the Oscars awards ceremony this year despite it being shown in the UK, naturally, the evening after it happened and on a channel that not only has a '+1' version but also a '+2' (!). So I am unable to comment on what was apparently the most boring Oscars ceremony of all time. It disappoints me that the media has come down on James Franco like a ton of bricks for his complete lack of charisma because on screen he is usually very charismatic. Maybe he should have taken Ricky Gervais's advice and maybe he should stop trying to do EVERYTHING AT ONCE. Mind you, I don't think I could have looked at Anne Hathaway for that amount of time. She is one of the oddest looking people ever. I think it's the mouth, no it's the eyes, no the ears, oh god it's her whole face!
I did manage to watch a few of the acceptance speeches though, most of which almost sent me to sleep. Colin Firth, who won Best Actor, has been one of the only reasons to watch awards ceremonies this year thanks to his witty anecdotes and warming presence. You would think that, seeing how obvious it was that he was going to win, he would have prepared something special, y'know, like a King's speech. He didn't. He looked bored and sleepy. Maybe Franco really was terrible. Another disappointment was Christian Bale's speech. The 'Guess which accent Bale will speak in' game ended in a disappointing win for gruff-English. I prefer his impression of an Australian cockney. The rest? Natalie Portman cried, Melissa Leo said 'fuck' and Tom Hooper looks like a pigeon. Trent Reznor is fucking cool though.
All in all, the awards went as expected (full list of winners here), apart from maybe Tom Hooper winning Best Director. It does make more sense for the Best Director award to go to the director of the Best Film rather than it not. But, as much as I like The King's Speech, I don't feel he deserved it. The film is indeed very well made but it is a very 'safe' film with a screenplay that shouldn't have given Tom Hooper too many headaches when trying to film it. On the other hand, The Social Network is based on a script so complex in terms of dialogue (which there is a hell of a lot of) and narrative structure that it must have been an absolute nightmare for David Fincher to film. The fact that he made a film about horrible people talking about computers into a thrilling masterpiece is a near miracle. Then there's Darren Aronofsky's braveau directing in Black Swan and the Coen Brothers' usual sterling work in True Grit. Not to take anything away from Tom Hooper, I just think there were stronger contenders. There was a nice surprise in Wally Pfister winning Best Cinematography for Inception (thoroughly deserved) and the fact that Inception in the end won the same amount of Oscars as The King's Speech (albeit in the technical categories).
Most importantly though is how good were my predictions? I guessed 7 out of 13 correctly it turns out. Not bad but I'm glad I didn't bet my life savings on them (all £15).
If you missed this year's Oscars or just think they are a load of crap (they are) then the Kermodes are well worth a watch instead.
Anne Hathaway - aka Weird Face
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