Here we have the 2013 Academy Awards, the biggest night in film and this occasion here made it close to the 3-hour mark and will have its 5th anniversary next year. It was nominated for no less than 9 Emmys, but came short every time. The host is Seth MacFarlane from Family Guy and while I find him rather unlikable, I like his trademark show and his material that night wasn't bad either. Some funny moments here and there. Also thumbs-up for his pretty traditional music moments at the very beginning and end. He risked something and it was decent, even if not all worked out nicely. I think the best way to describe him is as a poor man's Ricky Gervais. Now about the show itself: Let me refer back to the title of my review. The first failure was Jennifer Lawrence's win, regardless of if she was lead or supporting. It may not be as undeserving as the nominations for her other David O. Russell works, but still pretty horrible. She was the front runner, but the late Riva and Jessica Chastain were considered possible upsets and would have been much more deserving. These two were also much more deserving. But it is okay. Almost five years later, people finally manage to see how little range Lawrence has. The second major failure was the random liberal feel-good inclusion of Michelle Obama announcing Best Picture. Truly cringeworthy stuff there.
But there were also many good moments. I would have preferred Les Mis or Amour to win Best Picture, but these got other wins at least to make up for it and Argo is a really impressive work. That one and Zero Dark Thirty are very fine too. And it's also fine in the dubious omission of Ben Affleck in the Best Director category as he was stomping his category at basically all other awards shows that year. This basically started the new tendency of 4 Best Picture / Director splits in the last 5 years. Oh yeah and Argo's triumph was predictable, even if the film was not the one with most nominations or wins eventually. Can't be mad at Ang Lee winning though, such a likable guy and same applies to Daniel Day-Lewis, even if we learned from his speech that comedy just isn't his thing. We finally get another film with him this year, another PTA collab that makes me curious. PTA by the way directed Joaquin Phoenix' turn that year that many said was the only one on par with DDL. In my opinion, Trintignant should have won, but his omission is as much of a bad joke as Affleck's. But the latter's win was as safe as Hathaway's. Supporting Actor was wide open though. Arkin was the only one without hope at winning and all 5 were previous Oscar winners. Actually, this category would have been the only one where I could have accepted a win for SLP. TLJ was probably the slight front runner, but Waltz went 2 for 2 for his works with Tarantino. I personally like his first win better. Also not really that big on Tarantino's win, but his speech was great and really the only memorable/entertaining speech (besides Heslov's probably) from that Oscar night.
The Oscars celebrated music(als) in 2013, but neither Streisand, nor Chicago nor Dreamgirls nor Bassey really made an impact on me and the latter really disappoints me as I totally adore Bond. Tom Jones at the BAFTAs was way superior. But the one musical moment I really loved was the Les Mis gathering, probably because I enjoy the film that much. Back to Bond, I remember liking the Adele song a lot more back then than I do today. This may also have to do with how she got her huge moment on stage, but 2 other nominees did not at all. I mean come on, even Ted did and as a huge Norah Jones fan (maybe because of MacFarlane?) I must still say nothing made this one any better than the song from Life of Pi or "Chasing Ice", by far the most inspired song nominee and it would have been a joy to see J.Ralph and ScarJo together on stage. Truly a missed opportunity. But I like Skyfall (the film) a lot, so I'll take it, just like the tie in the Sound category that added another to Skyfall and made sure ZDT did not go home empty-handed. That Swedish guy really has a good record now. Finally great winner on Best Animated Short, not so good for live action short. Yet to see the winners for Best Animated Feature and both documentaries, so no comment on these. Overall a good award show with deserved winners, but also with 2-3 really bad moments though that keep me from stating it to be among the best recent Oscar shows, even if it's a close battle between this one and The Artist for my favorite Best Picture winner of the 2010s. A cautious thumbs-up.
But there were also many good moments. I would have preferred Les Mis or Amour to win Best Picture, but these got other wins at least to make up for it and Argo is a really impressive work. That one and Zero Dark Thirty are very fine too. And it's also fine in the dubious omission of Ben Affleck in the Best Director category as he was stomping his category at basically all other awards shows that year. This basically started the new tendency of 4 Best Picture / Director splits in the last 5 years. Oh yeah and Argo's triumph was predictable, even if the film was not the one with most nominations or wins eventually. Can't be mad at Ang Lee winning though, such a likable guy and same applies to Daniel Day-Lewis, even if we learned from his speech that comedy just isn't his thing. We finally get another film with him this year, another PTA collab that makes me curious. PTA by the way directed Joaquin Phoenix' turn that year that many said was the only one on par with DDL. In my opinion, Trintignant should have won, but his omission is as much of a bad joke as Affleck's. But the latter's win was as safe as Hathaway's. Supporting Actor was wide open though. Arkin was the only one without hope at winning and all 5 were previous Oscar winners. Actually, this category would have been the only one where I could have accepted a win for SLP. TLJ was probably the slight front runner, but Waltz went 2 for 2 for his works with Tarantino. I personally like his first win better. Also not really that big on Tarantino's win, but his speech was great and really the only memorable/entertaining speech (besides Heslov's probably) from that Oscar night.
The Oscars celebrated music(als) in 2013, but neither Streisand, nor Chicago nor Dreamgirls nor Bassey really made an impact on me and the latter really disappoints me as I totally adore Bond. Tom Jones at the BAFTAs was way superior. But the one musical moment I really loved was the Les Mis gathering, probably because I enjoy the film that much. Back to Bond, I remember liking the Adele song a lot more back then than I do today. This may also have to do with how she got her huge moment on stage, but 2 other nominees did not at all. I mean come on, even Ted did and as a huge Norah Jones fan (maybe because of MacFarlane?) I must still say nothing made this one any better than the song from Life of Pi or "Chasing Ice", by far the most inspired song nominee and it would have been a joy to see J.Ralph and ScarJo together on stage. Truly a missed opportunity. But I like Skyfall (the film) a lot, so I'll take it, just like the tie in the Sound category that added another to Skyfall and made sure ZDT did not go home empty-handed. That Swedish guy really has a good record now. Finally great winner on Best Animated Short, not so good for live action short. Yet to see the winners for Best Animated Feature and both documentaries, so no comment on these. Overall a good award show with deserved winners, but also with 2-3 really bad moments though that keep me from stating it to be among the best recent Oscar shows, even if it's a close battle between this one and The Artist for my favorite Best Picture winner of the 2010s. A cautious thumbs-up.