Totally agree. Jen Hudson and Ennio Norricone were the best speeches by far.

It was overall a much better show than usual, but it felt like already 2/3 in, the only big award we saw was supporting actor. They didn't even get to the Memorial part, and best song until the last 1/4 of the show. I liked the show overall (especially the silhoutte thing), but it felt longer than usual because of the award sequence.

So, am I the only one who was bored to tears most of the night? Including the 8-8:30 preshow, it ran four hours and fifteen minutes. Jesus.

I liked Ellen. A lot, actually.

The silhouettes thing was okay. Cute, if anything.

Will Ferrell's song was a sad foreshadowing of Eddie Murphy's snubbing, although I was more than happy to see Alan Arkin win (even if I felt there were better performances in the movie).

Virtually every speech bored me.

Al Gore overkill. I liked his "announcement" with DiCaprio, but other than that, the overall "Yes, we need a change" head-nodding from the audience along to his words was too much.

I liked Pan's Labyrinth. Didn't love it. Now I like it even less for stealing Children of Men's Oscar.

Glad to see Babel getting mostly snubbed.

That said, I'm happy for The Departed's best pic win. I never thought LMS had a chance in hell, so if anything else won, glad it was Departed.

Just a boring show overall. The cons outweighed the pros.

Ellen was great, the winners were solid (and the Marie Antoinette win just made my day )... yep, good show.

You just can't please people, can ya?

I thought it was one of the lamest shows in recent memory. Ellen was decent, but nothing more. I miss Billy Crystal or Steve Martin.

There were way too many montages, what was about the America montage from Michael Mann? Cut those the next year please. It took an eternity to get from one award to the next one. The whole show felt like ten hours to me.

The presenters were unfunny. Seinfeld was good, but even the Ferrell/Black song was disappointingly unfunny.

With the exception of Thelma Schoonmaker there was not a single decent acceptance speech. Even the actors weren't able to speak without their list. I guess the Tom Hanks video landed in the waste basket in most houses...

I love Al Gore's mission, but had there really to be that many statements in the show that all said the same?

All in all there will be nothing from this year's show that I will recall a year from now.

Though there it one thing I really loved about this year's show: How they announced how many Oscars and nominations the winners had and for which movie was really great, especially in the technical categories. Please keep that

Well, they still haven't tried Robin Williams yet

It was a boring show, atleast ellen was better than john stewart, i give her a B-.

Likes:
Scorsese winning
Morricone getting the lifetime award
the overrated cars losing
Lucas, spielberg and coppolla

Dislike:
Eddie Murphy losing
The dick sucking of Al Gore
Michael Mann's america in film(it was poorly made and im suprised since Mann did it)
Pan's Losing Foreign Film

Definitely too many montages. the foreign film one was great though.

overall, not bad.

Didn't Robin Williams already host? With a group of comedians I think in the late 80's or early 90's or something.

At least try him ALONE this time.

That he did. He could be cool, but I think people are sick of him (See: Man of the Year).

What about Seinfeld? I loved his bit while presenting Documentary.

Steve Carell would be awesome. He's one of the few film comedians working today that can probably do stand-up. ANd he seems like the kind of guy that can be likable and do biting comedy at the same time.

Or they could do a Night with the Brat Pack, if they want to keep chasing the tricky Male 18-34 demo.

JUST saw that.

I think that would still indicate 40M+ viewers though, some that only Football can still pull off. Drudge is just being bitchy (See their choice of headlines).

ETA: Okay, it's only up a percent or two from last year (Which got 39M), so 40M will be close.

I would flat out REFUSE to watch that show if they ever did it, even if my favorite movie of all time was up for big big Oscars.

They should get Conesy (that's Conan O'Brien to the rest of you!)

Anyone notice the similarities with the 2001 ceremony (in 2002, when A Beautiful Mind won and the first time the Kodak theatre was used).

- The characters from animated film nominees in the audience. Even Cameron Diaz used the same joke Nathan Lane did (If you are an animated character please remain seated!).

- The shadow figures/acrobats - reminiscent of Cirque du Soleil (sp?)

- The choir doing Sound Effects, kind of like Cirque interpreting Visual Effects in cinema.

- Presentation of Screenplay nominees (reading off an actual excerpt of the screenplay - which I think they should do every year).

- Extensive use of monitors on the stage, the font used for the text, etc.

- The interview clip in the beginning (in 2001, it was why they like going to the movies and the experiences and memories associated with movies).

Not too surprising, since they both had the same producer.

39.48 million viewers. Up from last year, down from all the others sans 2003. But Babs got almost 20M, her highest in years!

It's what we get for wanting a competitive year. Weird how that happens. Catch 22?

Also, I wonder if the Academy will try honoring a blockbuster this year. The numbers have been down since ROTK year, mainly because the only outright hit they've nommed since was The Departed. The thing is, most of the non-franchise Hollywood blockbusters since 2003 have blown chunks or were disappointments (War of the Worlds? Da Vinci Code?) or been out of the Academy's league (The Incredibles, Batman Begins). The days of Saving Private Ryan, Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, and Chicago are over. Sad.

No wonder!

Sweet, the ratings are up from last year, if only a bit. I just didn't want them to fall.

I would definitely love to have Steve Martin back, but Ellen was so much better than our last 2 years (Stewart, who alienated the audience and created a tension; and Rock, who has a high pitched annoying voice and insulted them), that it was so refreshing to have someone who had loosened up the audience better than anyone I've seen. The night felt relaxed, and the audience was actually "apart" of the show in a sense. Plus she actually made me laugh out loud, and still kept the focus on the evening rather than doing her usual stand up routine. The black, jews and gays bit, and the vacuuming, and making fun of the shows length, and the Al Gore jokes, and the "I wouldn't want to follow that" lines, all of the stuff in the audience (especially the script to Scorsese bit), the backstage bit, etc.

Peace,
Mike.

Another funny part: Meryl Streep's stare (isn't she always hilarious! Every awards show she has something - too bad she was sick this show)

The Black Jack/Will Ferrell bit (thought it was going to be lame, but it ended up being great)

The dancing silhouettes (quite nifty actually - and they honoured Snakes on a Plane this way!! Hilarious)

The kids presenting awards (Abigail Breslin and that Smith kid)

And so on..

Peace,
Mike.

Meryl Streep's staredown to Hathaway and Blunt was priceless.

I still find it tacky that the producers insist on using presenters that are involved in a nominated picture in the category. Emily Blunt sounded REALLY disappointed when she read Canonero's name for Best Costume Design.

Yeah, I found it weird that they were to present that award, when that was 1 of only 2 nominations their film (Prada) received, and it was the only award they had any chance of winning.

I keep watching Marty's win on YouTube, and it makes me want to break down and cry. Did it really happen? He's FINALLY won an Oscar? My god. Great speech too. Humble and the usual Scorsese-ness.

Oh, and after seeing video of Forest Whitaker's wife and her comments of being so proud of Forest, I am so glad O'Toole didn't upset. That would have been kind of heartbreaking, now that I think about it (for Forest to have lost).

And Jennifer Hudson had BY FAR the best acting winner speech. Forest and Arkin both read from paper, and Mirren's speech was just plain baffling/weird. Hudson was humble, gracious, emotional, etc, etc.

Peace,
Mike.

That was really awkward. I don't know why on Earth they would do that.

Anyway, overall, I am happy for The Departed's wins for Best Pic, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director.

Well something could come along and surprise people. I don't think people saw Titanic or Gladiator coming. The only upcoming movie that I could think of that could pull something close to ROTK is Harry Potter book 7 but I have my doubts that will get more than just nominations in the technical areas unless the movie is truly amazing. There is nothing else in terms of blockbuster status coming up that I can think of.

Not a bad show overall baring the CoM cinematography snub which was plain nuts. I'm glad Scorsese got acknowledged even if the Departed was very bland compared to some of his past efforts.