Here we have "The 84th Annual Academy Awards", a television event from 2012 that honored the best films of 2011. The host was for the 9th time already Billy Crystal and he brought the experience and class that came with such a challenge. He had decent screen time and yet I wanted to see more from him. The exact opposite was Jimmy Kimmel this year who I really did not want to see more, actually the less the better. So looking at recent hosting jobs at the Oscars, one can really only hope Crystal returns for a 10th time. Another interesting thing here is that 2012 was an election year, yet nobody talked about all the failures from Obama's first four years. Now compare that with all the anti-Trump propaganda going on at the Oscars and other award shows right now while he did not even have the time to prove if he is a good or bad president. Shame on you Hollywood. This is pretty much the only negative thing I can say about the 2012 Oscars. It was a really good ceremony otherwise. The two dominating films that year were Scorsese's "Hugo" (a tribute to Georges Méliès) and the French black-and-white silent film "The Artist". As these films honored the early days of film, the entire ceremony was in the spirit of doing exactly the same and it turned out very well. Crystal's jokes were working well and he seemed almost effortless in his delivery, which made it even better.
Apart from that, the references to the old Hollywood left a lasting impact eventually. And the winners were also great. The two films I already mentioned are amazing and I also liked the love for "The Descendants", Woody Allen and "Saving Face". Streep deserved her third Oscar as well much more than Davis her first, so I'm glad they went for "The Iron Lady". It is kinda funny how Stone and Davis starred in "The Help" that year and they both won this year. Chastain was also close to a nomination for 2016. So there are more than just a few parallels to the most recent event. Farhadi won his first Oscar that year, second Oscar this year. But there are letdowns too of course. Spencer was not Oscar-worthy at all, not even nomination worthy, even if she was as much a lock for the win as her male equivalent Chris Plummer, and it's a travesty she beat Bejo. The in Memoriam performance was underwhelming. The praise for "Bridesmaids" is a joke and letting the cast present three awards was a horrible decision. The song category (including the winner) was a complete joke, but glad to see they fixed it. Also not that big really on the animation winners for 2011. Of course there are undeserving nominees each year, but the likes of Jonah Hill, Melissa McCarthy or "The Tree of Life" were very bad decisions. But as you see from the rating I gave it I still believe it is easy to look beyond the flaws here and enjoy these 2.5 hours for the great tribute to the wonderful world of films that it turned out to be. Great job to the writers and Crystal. I really hope they will reach that level again at the Oscars in coming years.
Apart from that, the references to the old Hollywood left a lasting impact eventually. And the winners were also great. The two films I already mentioned are amazing and I also liked the love for "The Descendants", Woody Allen and "Saving Face". Streep deserved her third Oscar as well much more than Davis her first, so I'm glad they went for "The Iron Lady". It is kinda funny how Stone and Davis starred in "The Help" that year and they both won this year. Chastain was also close to a nomination for 2016. So there are more than just a few parallels to the most recent event. Farhadi won his first Oscar that year, second Oscar this year. But there are letdowns too of course. Spencer was not Oscar-worthy at all, not even nomination worthy, even if she was as much a lock for the win as her male equivalent Chris Plummer, and it's a travesty she beat Bejo. The in Memoriam performance was underwhelming. The praise for "Bridesmaids" is a joke and letting the cast present three awards was a horrible decision. The song category (including the winner) was a complete joke, but glad to see they fixed it. Also not that big really on the animation winners for 2011. Of course there are undeserving nominees each year, but the likes of Jonah Hill, Melissa McCarthy or "The Tree of Life" were very bad decisions. But as you see from the rating I gave it I still believe it is easy to look beyond the flaws here and enjoy these 2.5 hours for the great tribute to the wonderful world of films that it turned out to be. Great job to the writers and Crystal. I really hope they will reach that level again at the Oscars in coming years.