Advertising can be so misleading. The tagline for the 82nd Academy Awards was, "You've never seen Oscar like this!" But from the gaudy opening song to the mix of new and old Hollywood presenters through time wasting dance numbers, scripted "banter," and clip montages, it was more like, "You've always seen Oscar like this!" To be fair, there were some tweaks to ancient traditions. We don't normally get to see the Lead Actor and Actress nominees until late in the show, except in reaction shots, but the producers made a savvy decision to showcase the biggest stars instantly. Just as soon as the show had begun, all ten walked out to smile at the cameras in their gowns and tuxes; bubbly Precious star Gabby Sidibe stole that moment by adding diva posing to her close-up. The show also jettisoned the Original Songs performances, though in their place was a lengthy and frankly confusing interpretative dance number featuring the Original Score nominees. Why, pray tell, was Up accompanied by "the robot"—WALL-E was last year's Pixar movie—and what did the "pop-n-lock" say about The Hurt Locker???
That's the last of my weekly Oscar columns for Tribeca Film (sniffle). The season is done. For the finale, I'm talking about the mixed messages Oscars always presents from Art vs. Commerce to Performance vs. Politics.
Also right here... Oscars in Review: worst & weirdest moments, most wonderful moments and all 09/10 awards season posts
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