For tons of movie reviews, including mini reviews of EVERY Oscar nominated movie, head on over to My Blog and stick around for a while. In the meantime, here are 10 Thoughts about the 2011 Academy Awards.
1. My buddy Nik and I hosted our high school talent show senior year, and since I was a big fan of Billy Crystal and the Oscars, I suggested doing an opening video and putting ourselves in a movie. We chose “Back to the Future.” About a year ago, our friend Jeff Richardson worked with James Franco on a project at NYU. Therefore we assume Jeff told Franco about our video, because it was totally our idea first! Anyway, I thought the opening video was pretty clever.
2. I was really rooting for David Fincher and “The Social Network,” and after it took Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Film Editing, its chances looked good.
3. But then the King’s Speech took over and won Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Picture in succession to go home the big winner. I liked this movie a lot but “Social Network” is such a current film. Also, while Tom Hooper did a fine job directing, other directors could have done an equally good job, while Fincher’s film was entirely his own. Speaking of Tom Hooper, does he look like a young James Cameron or what?
4. Kirk Douglas is the new master of creating suspense, whether he’s aware of it or not.
5. Melissa Leo – Worst Acceptance Speech Ever. She seemed so fake and into herself, and dropping the unnecessary F Bomb was just in poor taste. She is a talented actor and deserved to win that award, but her speech was incredibly off-putting.
6. Randy Newman improved his percentage this year and is now 2/20. The song he won for is lame but he had a fun speech. Other highlight speeches – Christian Bale, David Seidler, and Aaron Sorkin.
7. When did Jennifer Lawrence become the hottest woman on the planet? That’s the future Mrs. Jake Ziegler right there.
8. “Alice in Wonderland” won more Oscars than Best Picture nominees “127 Hours,” “True Grit,” “Black Swan,” “Winter’s Bone,” and “The Kids Are All Right” combined. I truly believe “Alice” is one of the worst films to ever win an Academy Award in any category.
9. James Franco looked positively stoned all night long, which led to some hilarious moments like “Congratulations nerds!” Also his take on “Winter’s Bone,” “Rabbit Hole,” and “How to Train Your Dragon” cracked me up.
10. In fact, almost everyone looked stoned or otherwise “not there.” It was an extremely awkward and difficult show to sit through. Whoever directed this thing needs to not be invited back next year.
