March 7, 2006
By Jeff Roedel
If you found yourself laughing louder at Jon Stewart’s snarky Oscar remarks than the celebrities at the Kodak Theatre, it’s probably because the jokes were on Hollywood. And Hollywood, perhaps more than anyone, takes itself too seriously—cough, George Clooney, cough, cough. But the Daily Show headliner pulled off one of the best Academy Award hosting performances in recent memory, based mostly on his dry delivery and a willingness to piss off a room full of actors.
Let’s face it, from Charlize Theron’s giant bow that looked like her shoulder was growing a whole other dress to the burning cars and creepy slow-motion pantomimes for the song from Crash, the Oscars are weird. And newsflash: most of America doesn’t identify with weird. Ratings for this year’s Academy Awards were down again, but Stewart is not to blame. If viewers had seen half of the movies nominated, maybe they would have tuned in. As it was, they could have had Jim Carre, Dale Earnhart Jr, Pamela Anderson and Nick Canon host in tandem and the ratings would still be in the toilet. At least Stewart was a host that the average moviegoer could laugh along with, and if the Academy has any sense, he’ll be asked back next year. Time TV critic James Poniewozik gives his detailed review of Jon Stewart’s first and possibly last Oscar appearance here.
My Favorite line was delivered after a string of self-congratulatory clips from socially conscious films like Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner and All The President’s Men. "And none of those issues were never a problem again," Stewart quipped. But I want to hear from readers. Leave some feedback and tell me what were your favorite and least favorite Oscar moments.
If you read my Oscar picks last week, you’ll know I missed a few. Truth is I was pleasantly surprised with Crash’s Best Picture win. Crash is a multi-story film with a dozen main characters, but is held tightly together by an unflinching focus on the issue of racism. It doesn’t go highbrow or lowbrow on the topic. It doesn’t try to do too much. And though Brokeback Mountain had all the hype—and is a good film in its own right—if you say you stayed awake during the entire movie you’re either a speed freak or a liar.
If you liked the documentaries Dig and Tarnation, check out the trailer for The Devil and Daniel Johnston here. The documentary will be a portrait of the manic-depressive songwriter and his search for meaning and peace.
Finally, out this week on DVD are Jarhead and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Though widely regarded as the weakest of the series, Potter may be the way to go here, unless you like watching Jamie Foxx overact, Peter Sarsgaard emote smarmy and Jake Gyllenhaal play the same pretentious, self-involved tosser he perfected in Donnie Darko and The Good Girl. If you want a war movie, rent Full Metal Jacket or Platoon, or watch CNN.
Comments
Posted by ames6254 on March 7 at 4:58 p.m.
My fave were the fake political commercials. i think the nominees were either too nervous or too preoccupied trying to dislodge the sticks up their asses to laugh hard enough at them, but they were genius.
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