[Ebert] Oscars: "King" wins, show loses

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110227/OSCARS/110229986


*Colin Firth won the best actor award for "The King's Speech."* (AP photo)

  * BY ROGER EBERT / * February 27, 2011

"The King's Speech<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=The%20King%27s%20Speech&ToDate=20111231>"
spoke loudly and clearly at the 2011 Academy Awards, winning for best
picture, actor, director and original screenplay. Though it led with 12
nominations, it failed to put together a sweep, as the voters spread their
honors more widely than in most years.

The film tied with
"Inception<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=Inception&ToDate=20111231>"
with four awards apiece, and "The Social
Network<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=The%20Social%20Network&ToDate=20111231>"
was close behind with three. But "The King" got four of the most important
five it was nominated for, another achievement for its distribution chief,
Harvey Weinstein, who has an unequaled list of Oscar wins in recent years.

Colin Firth<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=search1&SearchType=1&q=Colin%20Firth&Class=%25&FromDate=19150101&ToDate=20111231>'s
Oscar for "The King's
Speech<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=The%20King%27s%20Speech&ToDate=20111231>"
was perhaps the most expected of the evening, a safe choice but not
undeserved. His speech was calm and reserved, as befits royalty, but his
voice placed a special emphasis when he mentioned screenwriter David
Seidler, whose own experiences with stuttering inspired the film.

Also expected, Natalie
Portman<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=search1&SearchType=1&q=Natalie%20Portman&Class=%25&FromDate=19150101&ToDate=20111231>'s
victory as best actress for "Black
Swan<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=Black%20Swan&ToDate=20111231>."
She just plain made me feel good while she glowed during her acceptance
speech. I've been watching her since she was 14, and she had the gift right
from the beginning. It must have something to do with character.

Tom Hooper, best director winner for "The King's
Speech<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=The%20King%27s%20Speech&ToDate=20111231>,"
thanked his mother in the audience for attending a dramatic reading of a
London workshop production of "The King's
Speech<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=The%20King%27s%20Speech&ToDate=20111231>"
and calling him to say: "Tom, I think I've found your next film." His win
was more or less preordained after he won the Directors Guild Award, usually
an accurate predictor.

"My father always said I'd be a late bloomer," said David Seidler, 73, of "The
King's Speech<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=The%20King%27s%20Speech&ToDate=20111231>,"
the oldest ever winner of best original screenplay Oscar, and the best
speaker up until then in the ceremony. He accepted "on behalf of the
stutterers of the world — we have a voice," and added, "I would like thank
her Majesty the Queen for not putting me in the Tower for using the Melissa
Leo<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=search1&SearchType=1&q=Melissa%20Leo&Class=%25&FromDate=19150101&ToDate=20111231>f-word."

No mention of the Weinstein Company's decision to release a PG-13 version of
the film with the f-words taken out.

Despite the many worthy nominated films, the Oscarcast was painfully dull,
slow, witless, and hosted by the ill-matched James
Franco<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=search1&SearchType=1&q=James%20Franco&Class=%25&FromDate=19150101&ToDate=20111231>and
Anne
Hathaway<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=search1&SearchType=1&q=Anne%20Hathaway&Class=%25&FromDate=19150101&ToDate=20111231>.
She might have made a delightful foil for another partner, but Franco had a
deer-in-the-headlights manner and read his lines robotically.

Incredibly, when former host Billy
Crystal<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=search1&SearchType=1&q=Billy%20Crystal&Class=%25&FromDate=19150101&ToDate=20111231>came
onstage about two hours into the show, he got the first laughs all
evening. This was the worst Oscarcast I've ever endured. It's time for the
Board of Governors to have a long, sad talk with itself.

At one point I tweeted: "If Bruce
Vilanch<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=search1&SearchType=1&q=Bruce%20Vilanch&Class=%25&FromDate=19150101&ToDate=20111231>is
within 50 miles of the Kodak Pavilion, they should helicopter his ass
backstage and put him to work." I was quickly put straight. Vilanch, the
comedy writer responsible for countless great lines in Oscarcasts past, was
a writer on this year's show. Since Franco and Hathaway lacked a single
clever line, there must be an untold story.

"Inception<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=Inception&ToDate=20111231>,"
which rolled an entire city back upon itself, rotated rooms on their axis
and placed characters in them, deservedly won for special effects. Soon
after, "The Social
Network<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=The%20Social%20Network&ToDate=20111231>"
received the film editing Oscar, confirming a trend all night of spreading
the prizes around. Since "The Social
Network<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=The%20Social%20Network&ToDate=20111231>"
depended so heavily on the crisp editing of Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter, it
was a well-deserved award. They began with the complexities of Aaron
Sorkin's screenplay, its alternating timelines and fast-talking characters,
and made it all play dramatically.

Sorkin picked up the adapted script Oscar for "The Social
Network<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=The%20Social%20Network&ToDate=20111231>,"
which is technically correct, because it was based on facts from a book. But
the film's dialogue itself, the structure, the energy, the verbal
pyrotechnics were all original. It was first of all a writer's picture.

The foreign film Oscar went to Denmark's "In a Better World," an upset, I
suppose, although in this category sleepers can win because the voters are
required to actually see all the nominees. The film, this year's Golden
Globe winner, is set to open April 1 in the United States.

"Inside Job<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=Inside%20Job&ToDate=20111231>,"
a powerful attack on the Wall Street fraud that led to the 2008 financial
meltdown, won the documentary Oscar. Director Charles Ferguson begun his
acceptance speech by pointedly observing that no one has yet gone to jail
for those crimes. That got a lot of applause, but the cynic in me suspects
that Banksy, the director of the also nominated "Exit Through the Gift
Shop<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=Exit%20Through%20the%20Gift%20Shop&ToDate=20111231>,"
might have gotten even more cheers if he'd turned up in a monkey suit.

"The Fighter<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=The%20Fighter&ToDate=20111231>"
picked up its two Oscars in the supporting acting categories, with Christian
Bale<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=search1&SearchType=1&q=Christian%20Bale&Class=%25&FromDate=19150101&ToDate=20111231>and
Melissa
Leo<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=search1&SearchType=1&q=Melissa%20Leo&Class=%25&FromDate=19150101&ToDate=20111231>both
victorious. In a rambling speech, Leo dropped the f-bomb. The
academy's
official transcript reported that she said "[EXPLETIVE DELETED]." The words
were helpfully in all capital letters and boldface.

Original score went to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for "The Social
Network<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=The%20Social%20Network&ToDate=20111231>,"
an urgent composition that drove the film's headlong momentum. Its strength
was to serve the film almost single-mindedly; nobody left humming it, or
perhaps even particularly remembering it, but that was a strength. Randy
Newman won for the best song Oscar for "We Belong Together," a title that
might describe the many of the works that received his 19 previous
nominations.

"Alice in Wonderland<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=Alice%20in%20Wonderland&ToDate=20111231>"
won for both costume design and art direction, which is fair enough, because
"Alice<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=Alice&ToDate=20111231>"
begins and ends with the costumes and the look of Wonderland. Tim
Burton<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=search1&SearchType=1&q=Tim%20Burton&Class=%25&FromDate=19150101&ToDate=20111231>used
them to create one of the unforgettable spaces of the year, save
perhaps for the space in "127
Hours<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=REVIEWS01&TITLESearch=127%20Hours&ToDate=20111231>
."

Almost inevitably, Rick Baker and Rick Dave Elsey took the best makeup prize
for "The Wolfman." He who wears the most makeup always wins. The subtle
changes in the apparent age of Paul
Giamatti<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/classifieds?category=search1&SearchType=1&q=Paul%20Giamatti&Class=%25&FromDate=19150101&ToDate=20111231>'s
character in "Barney's Version," also nominated, didn't get enough credit.
You didn't notice the aging enough, which I think was the idea.

Again, I have to say this was the worst Oscarcast I've seen, and I go back a
while. Some great winners, a nice distribution of awards, but the show?
Dead. In. The. Water.


Johne Cook
| http://raygunrevival.com | http://authorculture.blogspot.com |

*“I am not responsible for actions of the imaginary version of me you have
inside your head.”
Attributed to Teresa Nielsen Hayden*

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