Monday, March 05, 2018

EP62: My snarky 2018 Oscar Review


Ken’s annual snarky bitchy Oscar review. Sometimes he’s even fair. He sits through the Oscars so you don't have to. 


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25 comments :

Dhruv said...

Thanks for the review Ken :)

I was rooting for Sam Rockwell and Allison Janney, both won and gave good speeches.

But the moment I was waiting for, exceeded my expectations. I was dreading that Dunkirk DP will beat Roger Deakins, but no..... the Legend won.
Finally!!!! They gave him an Oscar. It was heartening to see that they gave him respect with a standing ovation. His speech was nice too. I thought he will thank the Coen Brothers, with whom he has worked a lot. But didn't.

Ceremony was too long. 5 mins for introduction of the song, then the song, then standing ovation, clapping for each song..... if they cut out all this, could be reduced by 1 hour.

Jimmy as host :
In my yesterday's comments I gave my expectations - Not all came true :)
He made fun of the accountants in general.
Then he did lightly joke on last year's botch up.
Instead of my prediction "gag involving tourists or pedestrians", it was theater folks this time. But that was boring.

Thought about you when Jimmy joked about Mel Gibson :D

Disappointing moment: Not giving time to the Producer J. Miles Dale to give his speech. But then the blame is on Guillermo Del Toro too, who gave a long speech, taking up all the allotted time. But Jimmy somehow salvaged the situation as you predicted.

Bloopers:
1. Jane Fonda said "winner". Isn't that wrong? It should be "and the Oscar goes to". Right?
2. Jimmy said "little Bastard", is that allowed?

Best moment: Academy remembered June Foray (Granny), the legendary voice actress. I had really hoped that the Academy had honored her with an Oscar during her lifetime. They didn't honor Mel Blanc nor her, both legends, who were pioneers in their field.

Mike said...


Academy of Shame:

Woody Allen
Mel Gibson
Roman Polanski
Harvey Weinstein
Kevin Spacey
Casey Affleck
Kobe Bryant

Jeff said...

Mel Gibson's defender and friend won an Oscar.
Not surprising since another anti-semite Mark Rylance was awarded some years ago.

Mel Gibson's another friend was limping, wonder why?
Is Jodie older than Helen Mirren? Helen was more coherent and composed.

Michael Jackson presented an award dressed as Sandra Bullock. No, seriously.... see her red carpet appearance, it was Michael Jackson

Dhruv said...

Ha Ha Ha...... Nice ending. Great review as always. Thanks Ken.

Nathan said...

Every year same thing, Meryl seated in the middle hollering at every speech, cupping her mouth and screaming when any lady mentions about some cause. Pathetic and boring.

Last year you did a separate review of Viola's speech. This year I thought Frances' speech was crap. No mention of Woody or Sam. Just cast in general. Sam did thank her in his speech.

The lady takes herself too seriously. Even her Fargo speech had just the mention of her Husband, no mention of the cast.

Her head nodding and gesticulations, suggests that she believes her win is a world changing moment. Typical Hollywood hubris.

Egg on her face when no one joined her.

Max said...

Nolan lost. That's enough for me.

tavm said...

Snark # 1: Does any one of those 18 jobs Ryan Seacrest may be replaced for include his hosting stint on "American Top 40" formerly held by the late, great Casey Kasem? If Dunkleman replaces him there, that would be poetic justice indeed! Snark # 2: You're wondering if anybody remembered who Eva Marie Saint is? I'm wondering the same when you mentioned Ed Sullivan and Topo Gigio! Snark # 3: How can you mention Harold Wheeler's wife Hattie Winston and not also mention she was also on "Homefront". And "The Electric Company" alongside Morgan Freeman back in the early '70s? Okay, I'm done...

Pat Reeder said...

Really enjoyed your review. I would say it was more entertaining than the Oscarcast, but that would be damning it with feint praise.

You did miss my favorite moment, though: When the announcer told us that the winner of the Oscar for writing the movie about a teenager's first gay sexual experience had previously been honored for doing "Howard's End."

Ted said...

Did anyone else want to smack Timothée Chalamet's smug conceited face? His double standards, first acting for Woody, then throwing him under the bus.

And behaving like a moron. Like whenever anyone came on stage, others clapped, he was cheering over zealously and trying to get the presenter's attention with his forefinger raised. Cheap attention grabbing tactics.

Sue said...

Eva Marie Saint bored the crap out of him.

She went off on a tangent about her old designers. Who gives a shit? Just present and get lost.

Glenn said...

Dennis Hopper played King KOOPA, Ken, not Loopa. Tsk, tsk. And you call yourself a Hollywood guy...

Phil said...

Great review Ken. Painfully boring and slow Oscarcast. This was my last viewing.

Friday Question or Oscar follow up review question.
Have you ever attended the Oscars? How was it?

P.S: Wonder how many readers are gonna ask this year for a written review. Let's see.

blinky said...

I forgot to record the show and got home 45 minutes into the "After Party Red Carpet" show and they still hadn't done best picture. Maybe they should do the Oscars secretly in the afternoon and then have the winner of Best Editing cut it down to a clean 2 hours. But then again when is the last time you saw a movie that wasn't an hour longer than necessary? Maybe "Bambi vs Godzilla?

Sarah said...

One joke stolen by Kimmel. "Should have won an Emmy at the Oscar". That was by Chris who said the same for Nicole Kidman clapping happily after losing to Halle.

Liggie said...

I've alwaysbthought they should publish the final vote counts of the Oscars, like they do for the baseball Hall of Fame and the Heisman Trophy.

Buttermilk Sky said...

Every Best Song presentation was trying to be a Superbowl halftime show. Not every song lends itself to backup dancers.

Mark Hamill did the same "Jedi pension plan" joke at the AARP Awards. It seemed more fitting there.

I lost interest when the delegation went across the street to bother those people in the theatre. Watched John Oliver, came back expecting Alec Baldwin's new show (must prop up his "dieing" career), and the damn thing was still going on.

Your podcast was primo snark, as always. I don't think any of those women would object to being told they looked great. Next year Meryl should wear Nicholson sunglasses.

gottacook said...

I just watched Frances McDormand's 1996 Oscar speech again - very easy to find online - and it was surely not all about herself. (Nor was Joel Coen the only person she mentioned by name; there were two others: their son Pedro and her brother-in-law Ethan.) If she does take herself too seriously, so would you, perhaps, if you were the subject of a big photo-illustrated profile in the New York Times Magazine (www.nytimes.com/2017/10/03/magazine/frances-mcdormand-difficult-women-career-surge.html).

Nathan said...

The basic courtesy is to mention cast members name like Steve Buscemi, William H Macy. Here Woody and Sam. Mentioning husband, brother in law, son's name... that's just family.
Has all the time to lecture the world, but no time to say thank you?

Big deal, if she appeared on some cover. Who cares.

Brian said...

Those studio executives must be cursing Nolan. He tried to release his movie like 'Saving Private Ryan' in the middle of the year. Earn some money. Then again re-release during Oscar season and earn some more with all the wins.

But the shitty movie just tanked after some initial earnings. Oscar season - no box office love or Oscar love.

iamr4man said...

I was glad to see a famous Disney animator get an award of his very own. Maybe Andreas Deja will be next when he releases Mushka. Glen Keane is the son of Bill Keane and “starred” as Billy in The Family Circus. He is the guy who animated Beast, Aladdin, Ariel, Pocahontas, and Tarzan. I don’t know about Kobe, but Mr. Keane definitely deserved his award.

tb said...

So I take it everyone gets all bent out of shape if they're not thanked by name? It would all go so much faster if they were "allowed"to just thank the cast and crew, but nooooooo, they all have to pull out a big laundry list of names no one knows, God forbid you forget the coffee girl. Sheesh.
And who was the guy with all the nervous ticks scratching himself, that was weird, he either has some condition or was high on something
The "across the street" bit was painful, as soon as he started it I could feel the entire audience cringing in horror, like you say, padding an already too-long show

Peter said...

Great review, Ken.

The bit with the stars surprising the moviegoers across the street just made me jealous that they were being handed snacks by Gal Gadot.

I liked your dig at Lena Dunham.

I noticed Christopher Nolan didn't enter into the spirit of applauding the winner in his category, which the other nominees did.

Why did Matthew McConnaughey look so miserable when The Shape of Water won best picture?

Anonymous said...

Great review Ken. I loved Viola's look...She's a boss that can deliver. I am glad someone else called out Kobe's win as I felt that was undercutting the whole #METOO...
Agreed with everything Ken. Cool info about Harold Wheeler. I miss his music on DWTS.
My only wish is to actually care about ALL the pictures nominated...when I cared for none.

Mike Barer said...

On the radio they pointed out that Adam West and Glen Campbell were also left out of the tributes. Who else?

Mike Barer said...

You mentioned John Mahoney, but also left out were Della Reese, Bill Paxton and David Ogden Stiers. Speaking of Stiers, who in their wildest dreams would think that he was a native of Oregon?