My subscription to Sky's movies package recently meant that this year I not only got to watch the show "live" but also decided to tape it onto HDD so I could use fast-forward to produce my own highlights show as I went. Mostly I was grateful for this because the show itself was not much of a spectacle. It is reasonably OK in regards a ceremony where awards are given out but mostly it did feel very, well, muted.
As much as I love Jon Stewart, he is not suitable for this type of thing. He feeds off being smart in front of an audience and the Oscar crowd doesn't give him the vibe he needs and indeed he doesn't give them the type of humour that they respond to. His digs at audience members fall flat even if some of his lines were really good not sure why they dropped the usual "comedy montage" opening in favour of just a bit of stand-up as well. Also while i think Oscar is fine with a bit of gentle mocking from inside, I'm not sure how well Stewart's sarcastic comment about the video section on "vote counting" will have been received - even if it was more than appropriate from a viewer's point of view (thank God the strike ended if this is what the majority of the show would have been like). Having said he was not brilliant though, you do miss him when he is gone and the final third of the show really feels his absence.
The other thing that sapped the ceremony a bit was the poor technical production. The sound quality was poor with the announcer in the background and often the crowd clapping drowned out by one individual near a microphone clapping. So the delivery of the show was not that great and it did take the "show" out of the show. Watching the show reasonably "live" also highlights just how many advert breaks there are. Sky took these of course but they also filled with a studio panel discussing the winners. I'll be honest and say that the bits of this that I watched were OK but still I ended up forwarding almost all of them.
This leaves the viewer with the awards to hold the interest and this year I was interested but not gripped. No Country For Old Men was the sweeping winner with best picture, director, supporting actor and screenplay. I was a bit surprised by this given how strong some of the other films were I genuinely thought that There Will be Blood would split it up but to be honest I thought the Cohen's film was great and that they do deserve all they got. Bardem was a given for Supporting Actor but it was a shame that Roger Deaken didn't win for either of his cinematography nominations and it does seem that his vote was split. Day-Lewis was also a given for his award and, if I'm honest, I had not seen the majority of the actress awards so I wasn't that excited by them. I liked the award to Juno and Once, with the recipients being a moment of lively fun (lets be honest the Cohen's were a bit dry). The rest of the awards were well spread out and deserved I particularly appreciated the dominance of Bourne Ultimatum in regards the sound, well deserved it was.
Overall then, a solid enough show with roundly solid winners. Stewart didn't work that well as a host but it was the poor technical delivery of the show saw the audience and announcers muted that hurt it more. Good winners but it really need to be a lot more entertaining than it was.
As much as I love Jon Stewart, he is not suitable for this type of thing. He feeds off being smart in front of an audience and the Oscar crowd doesn't give him the vibe he needs and indeed he doesn't give them the type of humour that they respond to. His digs at audience members fall flat even if some of his lines were really good not sure why they dropped the usual "comedy montage" opening in favour of just a bit of stand-up as well. Also while i think Oscar is fine with a bit of gentle mocking from inside, I'm not sure how well Stewart's sarcastic comment about the video section on "vote counting" will have been received - even if it was more than appropriate from a viewer's point of view (thank God the strike ended if this is what the majority of the show would have been like). Having said he was not brilliant though, you do miss him when he is gone and the final third of the show really feels his absence.
The other thing that sapped the ceremony a bit was the poor technical production. The sound quality was poor with the announcer in the background and often the crowd clapping drowned out by one individual near a microphone clapping. So the delivery of the show was not that great and it did take the "show" out of the show. Watching the show reasonably "live" also highlights just how many advert breaks there are. Sky took these of course but they also filled with a studio panel discussing the winners. I'll be honest and say that the bits of this that I watched were OK but still I ended up forwarding almost all of them.
This leaves the viewer with the awards to hold the interest and this year I was interested but not gripped. No Country For Old Men was the sweeping winner with best picture, director, supporting actor and screenplay. I was a bit surprised by this given how strong some of the other films were I genuinely thought that There Will be Blood would split it up but to be honest I thought the Cohen's film was great and that they do deserve all they got. Bardem was a given for Supporting Actor but it was a shame that Roger Deaken didn't win for either of his cinematography nominations and it does seem that his vote was split. Day-Lewis was also a given for his award and, if I'm honest, I had not seen the majority of the actress awards so I wasn't that excited by them. I liked the award to Juno and Once, with the recipients being a moment of lively fun (lets be honest the Cohen's were a bit dry). The rest of the awards were well spread out and deserved I particularly appreciated the dominance of Bourne Ultimatum in regards the sound, well deserved it was.
Overall then, a solid enough show with roundly solid winners. Stewart didn't work that well as a host but it was the poor technical delivery of the show saw the audience and announcers muted that hurt it more. Good winners but it really need to be a lot more entertaining than it was.