The Superbowl is here... Oh no, not the NFL...No Aaron Rodgers and the Greenpackers here. I mean the Superbowl of Hollywood. MY Superbowl. My favorite night of the year in Hollywood...The 2011 Oscars. And my first in Los Angeles! I had posted that I was attending my first L.A. Oscars Party and somehow my friends took it as I got all dressed up and walked down red carpet. That didn't happen. and I didn't feel like correcting them. They just seemed so happy for me. What I really did was watch the show with a few friends and several kids (all cheering for Toy Story 3) at my friend's place drinking wine and eating cheese & crackers like everybody else. But I did bring over the same desserts that were being served at Ashton Kutcher's Oscar party, so that's pretty freaking Hollywood....
Alas, my thoughts on this year's show.....
The Hosts
Move over Billy & Whoopie...I think we have our new Oscar duo with James Franco and Anne Hathaway. I was a fan of this match from the beginning. Both are young, fresh, relatable artists who you want to be friends with and who are also amazing in their craft. They both perform dramatic roles brilliantly, but it's their natural knack for comedy that makes you fall in love with them. And if you have ever seen them individually host Saturday Night Live, you'll know why they were perfect to host the Oscars. They do it with ease. I couldn't stop smiling while watching them. And I didn't know who I was more in love with. Franco... He's a Oscar nominee who's an A-List star yet still goes back to NYU to take classes and continues his role on General Hospital. Now that's just freaking cool. Hathaway... she's our girl from the Princess Diaries who never fails to make you laugh & cry in every film she's in. And the word in Hollywood is that she's the nicest and kindest person you can meet. I believe 10 years ago, I blogged differently that I couldn't understand what the big deal was with her. Well, the joke is on me. I'm giving the hosts about a 9 out of 10 and hope the Academy keeps it young and fresh again next next year...
and oh yeah...I'm setting General Hospital on my DVR as I write.
The duo have received mix reviews of their performances, but the haters seem to be the older folks who can't accept another host other than Billy Crystal or Bob Hope. Love it or hate it, it was refreshing to see some new faces take the hosting honors and you can't find two bigger stars who have better chemistry. I want them to date. Sure, Franco has this "I have some better place to be" schtick going on, but it completely works for him and his comedy. So what if he seemed a little high. Most viewers home watching it are high. I loved how Anne Hathaway was having a great time and man, she can sing. I see a movie musical role coming her way....
Best Dressed
The Ladies of Black Swan....Natalie Portman and Milas Kunis stunned this evening. Both were gorgeous and romantic dresses. I want Kunis' lavendar dress, her hair, everything about this.
Anne Hathaway and her many many different outfits. With the exception of one (the black and white gown with bad hair), she looked amazing in every dress and her stylist Rachel Zoe had her work cut out for her. That only makes the next season of The Rachel Zoe Project more amazing...can't wait for the drama behind the dress with a preggers Rachel! Who's going to be more hormonal and emotional - Rachel or Brad?!
Nikki Kidman, Halle Berry, Gwyneth Paltrow all looked stunning as usual.
Best Dressed Male
So many good-looking men on the red carpet and Clooney wasn't even there! My favorites: Jeremy Renner and James Franco.
Worst Dressed Female
Kathryn Bigelow, the director of the Hurt Locker, may have brought home the trophy for best director last year, but this year she is not taking top honors for best dressed.... in fact quite the opposite. That dress was pretty darn brutes. Not a fan of cut out arms. It will never ever look good. I don't care if I read in my InStyle or Vogue that it's the new trend... I will never be sporting it. Looks like she put her dress in a paper shredder. Hopefully she's working on hiring her next stylist while she's working on her next movie.
Cate Blanchett....I just did not get this. My friend Aimee was raving about it...as was Giuliana Rancic and Kelly Osbourne from E!. I thought it was pretty darn hideous. And I love Blanchett. I love her unique style and how she never looks cookie cutter on the carpet. But this to me was like a science project splattered all over a dress. My sister used the term "amoebas threw up on it". Whatever that means... but I do get it. Some kept calling it "art". Not so sure on that. I could take a bedazzler and create "art" too, but we all know it's not. Just because the dress costs thousands of dollars doesn't make it "art". Was it different? Yes. Was it ugly? Come on people...yes. Yes it was.
Annette Bening looked like a spider. That's all I have to say. I am not a fan. She is a bit of an A-hole.
Man, I thought I hated Bening, but my sister takes the cake. Don't even get her started on Swank and Kate the Great Winslet. We don't fight often, but our differences on Kate the Great has caused a bit of a riff. She's obviously wrong.
Split Decision
There were some outfits I wasn't too sure about....
Reese Witherspoon always gets it right, but the first thing I thought of when I saw this black and white ensemble was Brenda Walsh & Kelly Taylor's dress at the Junior Prom on 90210 when they both wore the same dress. Brenda gets deflowered by Dylan McKay that night. Great episode, Great dress then. Bad dress now.
I couldn't be prouder of or more inspired by Jennifer Hudson and her new weight watchers figure. I walk around my house singing "Feeling Good". I love that she wore a bold color. But this whole ensemble didn't really work for me. Her body looked great, but the hairstyle didn't really match the dress and made her look older than she was. And I couldn't stop staring at her rack. I wish J Huds went a different route....but I still love her.
I will not put Helena Bonham Carter on the worst dressed list and she clearly doesn't get top honors either. She's just too quirky and owns her style to make the worst dressed list. That title needs to go to someone who is trying hard and fails miserably and not to someone who just owns being a wacko. I love HBC and I want to party with her and Burton.
Jennifer Lawrence looked stunning in her red gown, but it was a bit Scarlett Johanssen at the Golden Globest 2006. I think Lawrence may have actually rocked it a little better. Scarlett put her rack on display in this dress. It was boobs, boobs, boobs which is why her many male fans probably liked it.
Although I appreciate her quirkiness and unique style, I did not love the dress of Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine. Too wishy washy. If there's a way to look paler, it's wear a dress that is your skin tone. It was a miss for Valentino.Mommy Dearest
A momma's boy isn't always the most attractive thing in a guy (I know, I dated a creepy one), but you do have to kind of love a guy who brings his mother Russell Brand, Jeremy Renner, and the boys from the Social Network (Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake) all brought their mommies. True Grit's young star Hailee Steinfeld also brought her entire family and they whole Steinfeld clan is incredibly gorgeous. It was sweet to see. Watch your back Abby Breslin, this girl has talent.
Best Speech
Natalie Portman is unbelievably poised and always gives a great speech. I originally thought she was bringing up this Benjamin/choreographer guy to the stage to accept with her and I got immediately embarrassed and threw a pillow over my face (this is what I do when I get embarrased, it comes easily)...we get it... you fell in love with the choreographer, had sex with him, and are carrying his child. But leave him in his seat. Turns out he was just being a nice guy and leading his pregnant girlfriend up the stairs. Oops...Embarrassing moment averted and I was a dick about it. Their story is cool yet it's just all a little too obvious and Nat is kind of a statistic (Male ballerina woos leading lady), but I watch enough So You Think You Can Dance to get it. Male dancers are hot and when they are teaching you their craft, you get sucked in. Then you want to do it with them. But back to Nat...I love how she mentioned almost everyone on the crew. Sure, speeches like this are the reason the show goes long, but it's nice she mentioned the "little people".
If you thought The King's Speech was good, well the speech from Director Tom Hooper was even better. The moral of the story? Listen to your mother (she saw the play and brought him the idea as his next film). That's a pretty good "Listen to your mother" story.... kind of beats out my LTYM story when my old lady suggested I try out this certain lip depilatory on my arm before using it on my upper lip at 6am before I left for high school one morning my sophomore year. I failed to listen and one hour later on the bus to school, my lip was on fire, a rash broke out and I was trying to hide my upper lip all day. I was begging senior girls for make-up (I didn't carry any at the time) so I could cover up what I had done. Listen to your mother.
Winners & Losers
Not too many surprises here... The King's Speech deserved its awards (Best Picture, Director, Actor) as did the supporting acting awards for Melissa Leo & Christian Bale for The Fighter. Natalie Portman was a shoe-in for Best Actress so there was no shock there. I loved Inception. It was by far my favorite movie of the year and although it didn't win best picture, it walked away with every craft category that matters...Cinematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects. If I had an issue with anything it was that the original screenplay trophy should have gone to Christopher Nolan for Inception over The King's Speech...but more on Nolan in just a second.....
Snub, Snub, Snub
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN FOR INCEPTION. I seriously think the Academy was high when they forgot to put him on the ballot for Best Director for this film. I'm Team Inception so you will never ever hear me say a bad word about this film (If you know me well, you know I will never say anything bad about anything Leonardo-related) and I will never get tired of saying how it is one of the most unique films in years and that is due to the great work of Christopher Nolan. Seriously Academy... go smoke some more weed.
Random Thoughts
Gwyneth Paltrow...I loved her peformance singing Forget You on Glee. And I loved her singing the same song on The Grammys. I did not love this performance from Country Song and I was actually quite nervous and uncomfortable...thus the fast forwarding of her performance. Sorry Gwyn. It wasn't your night. If anyone was wondering why she didn't get an Oscar nod for her role in Country Strong, this was your answer. But it's okay, I love Gwyneth. I love that she admits that she's a bit of a lush (on Chelsea Lately)...Everyone has an off night and I still want to drink beer with you.
How do you leave Corey Haim off the In Memoriam package?!?
Why do I always forget that Christian Bale is from Wales? Every time I heard him speak I react like it's the first time I've ever heard his accent.
New Crushes
There has to be two Trent Reznor's in the music business....because the clean cut guy in a tux that won for Outstanding Score for the Social Network can NOT be the same guy who was the lead singer of Nine Inch Nails who sings a song called "I Want to F*** You Like an Animal". He is new crush #1.. A nice looking guy in a suit by day and a guy who sings songs with dirty words by night. Yummy.
I don't watch "Chuck". Every now and then I'll turn to NBC on Monday nights to see what this Zachary Levi is about. I liked him in Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Sqequel...For reals. I saw him in an interview on one of the late night shows and started crushing a bit. Then he came out last night at the Oscars (after admitting how nervous he was on the red carpet) and sings a song from Tangled with Mandy Moore. Cute, funny guy that can sing. New Crush #2.
Lessons Learned
Throughout the evening at my Oscars party, my friends and I played some Academy Awards trivia and here are some of the things I learned:
The statue weighs 8.5 lbs and is 13 inches high.
The film with the shortest running time that won Best Picture was Marty. (I got it right)
The Best Picture winner with the longest title of all time is How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (otherwise known as Dr. Strangelove).
Two actresses tied for Best Actress and won in 1969....Kathryn Hepburn and Barbara Streisand.
Another Fact: I won the evening's trivia and wrote this blog while sipping on a coffee with my victory Starbucks card.
It was a great night in Hollywood! Onto another fantastic year in film....
