Make him stop shouting. For the love of God and the spirit of Johnny Carson looking down and wincing, make Chris Rock stop freakin’ SHOUTING. Will someone please tell this guy that if your material sucks, then kicking it into high decibels doesn’t make it better; it just makes it louder.
An occasional amusing line is tossed in here and there, but most of what he says is achingly unfunny. During his man-in-the-street interview sequence, the twenty second appearance of Albert Brooks made it clear that Brooks is infinitely more qualified to host than Rock. Jesus, Edna Mode is more qualified to host.
It is painful to see time-saving bits like lining up all the nominees or bringing the Oscars to people’s seats, like pizza delivery, with a caste system that says some people belong on stage and others don’t, and then watch the show hemorrhage time with Rock’s routines and other lugubrious presentations.
Not to go all Comic Book Guy, but this is going to go down in history as one of the worst Oscar broadcasts ever.
PAD
• 
So, it’s safe to assume you don’t like it?
Amen, PAD. I feel like George C Scott in HARDCORE.
“And she’s the first woman nominated for playing a boxer”
WTF?
I thought the opening was quite funny, but Rock seems to have run out of steam. That, or the machine-like precision of the broadcast (including the embarassing “beauty pageant” style of some of the presentations) have sapped the life out the event, yet again.
I think I still prefer Rock’s yelling to Billy Crystal’s schtick. Steve Martin bested them both and has been the superior host these past few years, IMHO.
And I can’t believe pop vocalists were in such short supply that we need to hear from Beyonce Knowles three times.
My suggestions to decrease the running time of this albatross would be to A) shunt the Sound awards to the Technical ghetto, B) limit the Lifetime Achievement Award to one a year, and rotate it with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian award, and C) never, ever do a “Salute to…” anything.
…and why the F*CK is Puff Daddy anywhere near this ceremony?!? If they need someone to intro a song from Polar Express then by God get Tom Hanks to do it. If not him, then ask Nona Gaye – hëll, she was in the film AND has a music pedigree.
Whoops, Sean Penn just bìŧçh-šláppëd Chris Rock.
All this crap and they give Hillary Swank the hook. Shameful!
Jamie Foxx, great speech. Only good moment in a sea of suck.
The Oscars as a whole is lame and boring and predictable. At least they picked someone different to host. Steve Martin is good but he’s to nicey nice. Chris Rock has a real edge in his humor–and he hasn’t used the N word yet so I’m not complaining.
If I’d taken a drink for every time something interesting happened on this show I’d be as sober as a judge.
The new standard by which all others will be judged. “The Asiatic Wars of 2012 killed countless millions…but they were certainly no Oscar Telecast of 2005.”
They ended it with a jazzy version of the Terminator 2 Theme though…
That’s pretty cool.
Likes:
Projection monitors. They gave a nice presentation from various camera angles (except for the time during the “in memorandum” segment when they cut to Yo Yo and you could barely see the monitor).
Nominees on stage. I thought it was a nice way to bring in some of the “smaller” awards and give them a little more highlight in a short amount of time. No waiting for the winner to stand up, hug everyone around them, and then amble up to the stage.
Bumper Music. It was nice to see a mix of popular movie and winning movie scores used going to the commercial breaks.
Dislikes:
Chris Rock. I like his comedy, I like him in movies, but I didn’t like him here. You can be edgy or play it safe, but trying to walk the line just didn’t work. Comedy doesn’t always have to be insulting.
Awards in the audience. Wha??? I’m really hoping this was some kind of fall-back plan when a set change didn’t happen in time and not something that was planned for all along.
The “in audience” awards was planned from the get-go. Producer Gil Cates was crowing about it in one of last week’s USA Today. I contend anyone who has produced the show 147 times like he has is incapable of bringing anything fresh to the proceedings.
While I do think Rock was quite inadequate as a host, I liked the telecast overall. I think bringing onstage all the nominees for the more artistic-technical awards, docus, etc. was inspired; the audience gets to applaud all their efforts and they can bask in that applause even if they don’t get the Oscar. I didn’t think the “taking it to the seats” thing worked as well though. And I’m much more impressed with Beyonce than I was before; shame they couldn’t find any other singers though…
PAD, your rant sounds more like a rant against Rock’s general act and style of comedy rather than specifically his Academy performance. His deliverance of jokes might not be to your liking, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that his form of emphasizing makes it “worse.” Just say you don’t like it.
” Just say you don’t like it.”
I think he did. Not the way Chekhov would, but the message got across.
The only problem I had with Chris Rock hosting was that the opening seemed like it should have been shot with a brick wall behind him. It was Chris Rock style, but Chris Rock the comedian, not Chris Rock, host.
And the “quickening” of the show took away some of the glamour of the night. It’s an event, let it run 4 or so hours and just start it earlier. It’s a great way to get people together for parties and if you rush it, how are you going to make snarky comments with your friends during the normal slow spots?
I hated the “caste system” presentation of awards, as PAD put it. I thought it was poorly done, and it really tries to put people on different pedestals, which is wrong.
And I don’t like the idea of throwing the Sound awards to the “Technical ghetto” either. As the one receipient said, these are art awards too.
But the biggest thing they should do, if they really want to cut down on time, is cut down on the dámņ number of commercial breaks. Cripes.
I didn’t think Rock did a bad job, but after Foxx’s speech, it makes me wish they’d tap him to do it in the future at least once.
If they used Beyonce one more time, I was going to throw a f***ing penguin at the television…
Gee, now I remember why I don’t even watch the awards anymore.
(aside from my personal boycotting of the Emmys because dammit, HBO does not belong on commericial tv awards because it has the budget/lack of sponsers to do stuff no one else can)
/rant off
but yeah, I can usually find something better (like the cartoon network) to watch for four hours.
I just wish other networks, especially cable ones would counter-program instead of pre-empting their regular schedule thinking that *everyone* would be watching the award show.
I dunno, I didn’t really have a problem with technical awards and such getting shunted to tiny little “line-ups”. If they cut “Best Sound Editing” from the show, would the average viewer even notice? May as well cut out the dead wood and shorten the show a little.
Couldn’t disagree with you more about Rock — I thought he was hilarious and that he did a fine job — much better than David Letterman or Whoopi Goldberg. Steve Martin and Billy Crystal have done better in the past but I like that the awards went with someone younger and hipper. I’d really love to see Martin give it another go some time, but I’d be very happy to see Rock get another shot, too.
That said, I hated the “time-saving.” I couldn’t help but note that they pulled the hook on the one guy that pointed out that the so-called technical categories were deserving of recognition, too. I was surprised that they pulled it on Swank, and even more surprised that they pulled it on the Best Picture winners at the end. But yeah, Jamie Foxx got to go on as long as he pleased. Great speech, but there was definitely some inequity there.
Was glad to see ETERNAL SUNSHINE win for original screenplay and I would have liked to have seen Winslet win as well. I would have been equally as happy if THE INCREDIBLES had won screenplay, and was glad it won two other awards. I still think score should have gone to HARRY POTTER 3 or LEMONY SNICKET, both of which had such fantastic scores that I bought the score albums. Nice to see Morgan Freeman finally win, as well. I loved the speech from the male half of the LEMONY SNICKET make-up team. And am I the only one that thought SUPER SIZE-ME’s loss for documentary was a major snub? It seemed like a shoo-in.
Craig J. Reis posted: I didn’t think Rock did a bad job, but after Foxx’s speech, it makes me wish they’d tap him to do it in the future at least once.
Oh, dear me, no. I’ve seen Foxx host a few awards shows, and while he’s an excellent actor, Letterman did a better job on the Oscars back when he famously bombed than Foxx has done as a kudofest’s host.
Again, I thought Rock was great. I’d love to see Steve Martin back, and I’d eventually like to see Billy Crystal back, but he could use a few more years off. I’d be very happy to see Rock host again.
Actually, I disagree, I think Rock is one of the few comics who when he shouts it actually IS funnier. He’s got one of the best haggard voices, when he starts screaming his punchlines.
one of my fav bits is in Bowling for Columbine when he’s shouting at the top of his lungs: “You don’t need no gun control. You know what you need? Bullet control. I think all bullets should cost $5000. You know why? If a bullet cost $5000 there’d be no more innocent bystanders. Or if someone has a score to settle, being like, “You know what, I would fûçkìņg put a cap in your ášš… if I could afford it! I’m gonna save up some money, maybe get a second job or something, then you a møŧhërfûçkìņ’ dead man!”
He also has a great routine when he talks about “the only thing daddy gets is the big piece of chicken”.
Like I said, screaming for most commedians means thier bombing, but for Chris Rock, its freakin gold.
I enjoyed it.
OK, first let me commit Oscar sacrilege and say that imo, Steve Martin was the best host I’ve ever seen. That said, Chris Rock was much better than I thought he’d be and he made some good shots at W.I liked Robin Williams’ bit. Would like to maybe see him host.
Things I didn’t like? Basically the audience acceptances and Beyonce. It’s not like Emmy Rossum didn’t sing in the movie and wasn’t right there. She introduced the dang song for goodness sake!
And anytime I get to see Salma Hayek stand up and talk is a good thing.
Documentary wasn’t so much a snub as a compromise, imo. If F9/11 wasn’t gonna be nominated the Academy probably felt that Supersize Me was a bit too lighthearted.
Incredibles won so that made me happy. Spider-Man 2 won an award and that’s nice. My favorite line of the night actually happened in the press room after the show. I watched the webcast and Eastwood said something like “Well, we were up last year but got hobbitt-ed”.He also said that “Election” was one of the best movies in recent years and while I agree, I was surprised. I never thought that would be his type of movie for some reason.
Michael J Norton
Speaking of Lettermen, did anyone think when they gave out the awards in the audience that it looked just like they were about to play Stump The Band?
I didn’t have a problem with it only running nine minutes over. Must be a new record.
Chris Rock’s style is different, but he was funny. Robin William’s did prove however, that he should have been the host. As much as I liked Rock as the host, Williams was funnier in his few moments on screen then Rock was all night.
I also like Jeremy Irons’ presentation. He obviously listened to the introduction, and his “hoped they missed” line was priceless.
I thought the show itself was among the worst ever but thought Chris Rock did a fine job. His introduction of Halle Berry as “the star of the eagerly awaited Catwoman 2” was priceless and ballsy.
I think Chris Rock did a good job as host… I’ve seen better, but Chris was solid. I think he tried too much not to be so “edgy” that he lost a bit of himself, but given that it was his first time hosting the Oscars, he didn’t do a bad job.
I thought having the awards presented in the seats was a bit tactless on the Academy’s part… but I didn’t see too much of a problem with bringing all of the nominees up on stage together.
I’m happy for Foxx, Freeman, and all the other winners as well.
I had the perfect solution – I didn’t watch the whole thing. I just flipped to it every once in a while. Caught Robin Williams – very good, although I understand that Disney wouldn’t allow him to do a schtick he wanted to do with Disney songs…Chris Rock seemed as interesting a host as a literal rock from what I saw. Glad to see the Incredibles won. The acceptance speech even mentioned Disney, which was very nice. But it wasn’t interesting enough to keep me up – there wasn’t anything on the other stations that I wanted to watch.
Rock is a great comedian but that doesn’t mean he makes a great host. I’d much rather see him do standup than Billy Crystal but I hope they do whatever it takes to get Crystal back next year.
Robin Williams might be good, though I thought his skit last night was weak (others seemed to like it a lot–I guess it’s just that as a comics/cartoons fan it seemed pretty old hat but you can’t get comics fans in a room together without someone launching into a bunch of sex jokes involving Josie and The Pussycats, Smurfs, and Donald Duck. Or maybe that’s just the people I hang out with…)
Why do people even watch the Academy awards any more? I used to, but then I realized:
1. It is monumentally boring.
2. If you care about what gets the major awards, you can find that out in about 30 seconds in the newspaper or on the net the next day, thereby keeping you from wasting hours of time. I mean, how does it impact your life to wait 8 hours to find out who won what award?
3. I didn’t really care much about what some small clique thought was the best film of the year, anyway. For example, you can give Titanic an award, and it still is a laughable piece of garbage. And you can snub Spiderman 2, and it still is a fine film.
So I happily skipped them. The Academy Awards are kind of like the superbowl, only moreso, but minus the football game and the cool commercials. It is an event everyone watches because it is an event everyone watches, not because it is actually enjoyable or important or anything.
Not only did I not watch the Oscars — if I liked a movie, I don’t need for it to get a statue to validate my opinion — but I was upset that the show managed to “shut out” almost every other channel. CNN reported on fashions, Fox showed the movie INDEPENDENCE DAY (which wasn’t even good when it was new), other stations showed reruns. There was one saving grace on the tube, one show that restored my faith in entertaining programming:
Robot Chicken.
‘Nuff said.
I only caught bits and pieces. I was happy to see Incredibles win, as it should have. But I was horribly disappointed when Edna Moss appeared to help with the costume award, and yet did not go off on a rant about how her designs for Incredibles didn’t get a nomination. That would have been an absolute riot.
Yes, indeed, get Robin to host. He alone could get the show to justify the long timeslot and boost ratings.
Bill Mulligan wirtes
I’d much rather see [Chris Rock] do standup than Billy Crystal but I hope they do whatever it takes to get Crystal back next year.
Presumably, a main reason Crystal didn’t host this year is that he’s doing his one-man show 700 Sundays on Broadway. Which means that (a) it’s certainly possible that he’ll be available for the Hollywood Oscar gig next year; and (b) if you’re missing your Billy-Crystal-as-awards-show host fix, you can join those who’re hoping he’ll host this year’s Tony awards…
Actually Robin Williams did co-host the Oscars back in the days when they flirted with a “multi-host” format. Of course, splitting the chores with three others severely limited Williams’ screen time.
And I question whether Disney really quashed Williams’ efforts to riff on their songs. The year that Rob Lowe danced with Snow White, Williams came out in oversized hands and mouse ears to do whole riff on Disney itself…
Me, I thought Chris Rock did an adequate job, but not much else. I didn’t get the joke about this being the “last” Oscars, and most of his other jokes were either unfunny, or just but not edgy. I did like his Bush/Gap/Banana Republic joke.
It also seemed comparitively short to me compared to previous years, since it was only just over three hours. I wonder if having all the nominees of some categories on stage simultaneously and having some presenters do their presentations from a short distance from their seats helped this. And maybe it was my imagination, but the In Memoriam sequence also seemed much shorter than in previous years, with far less people profiled.
The funniest part was the post-coverage where the reporter asked Usher how Rock did on a scale of 1 to 10, and Usher said “10.” Geez, Usher, you think you could take your nose out of Rock’s ášš for just a second?
It was funny. Rock did a good job. Only complaints I had was Swank didn’t deserve the award (her southern accent in MDB was truly horrible), and Scorcese should’ve finally gotten his.
It all comes down to numbers…
The preliminary ratings were up, especially among younger viewers.
That’s why Chris Rock was there. That’s why he might be back.
although I understand that Disney wouldn’t allow him to do a schtick he wanted to do with Disney songs
Is that why he came out wearing tape over his mouth? Or was that a dig at the oversensitivity of the networks in the post-Janet era?
Loves:
1) Jamie Foxx’s acceptance speech.
2) Robin William’s intro
3) “When this man is not dazzling us with his performances, he’s boring us to death with his politics” – Rock about Tim Robbins
4) Easy Reader FINALLY won his Oscar! (um, does that date me too much?)
5) Edna Mode as presenter
Likes:
1) The technical awards nominees on stage
2) The projected video on the stage where the above nominees stood
3) Tribute to Johnny Carson – tails and all, he hosted effortlessly. Let the others learn from his example.
4) Sidney Lumet’s speech – “I thank the movies” – Classy, very classy
Dislikes:
1) The short subjects being put on the short bus (aka the “we don’t want you on stage” awards)
2) Antonio Banderas singing?? (Ok, it wasn’t quite that bad, but it just wasn’t something I was prepared for…)
3) “Jude Law is one of the finest actors” – Sean Penn. Dude, get over yourself already. You’ve got your statue last year finally, don’t tarnish it.
4) Beyonce*3 – Once was great, twice was “who’s sick?”, three was “does she have a new album coming out or something?”. I much would have preferred all the original artists singing their songs.
5) Trying to get in under the 3 hour mark. I don’t mind it running half-hour or forty-five minutes over as long as it’s not like the 4.5 hour eternal nighmare like the one from two or three years ago. This years’ felt like they were racing to get through it.
Overall, it wasn’t a complete disaster but it was just missing some spark that was present in previous broadcasts.
“The Oscars as a whole is lame and boring and predictable.”
So, with all due respect, why watch it, then? I don’t, precisely because I agree with your evaluation.
I’m happy that Scorcese didn’t win. Not because I don’t like him (I do) and not for any reason dealing witht he aviator (didn’t see it) but because I think he should just give up trying for the oscar, big budget melodrama what not, and go back to making the really great independant minded cinema he got famous for.
In my mind the oscars are like the kids at the cool table in high school horribly tormenting a dweeb (as represented by Scorcese) who so badly wants to sit with them. All four years this dweeb has tried everything he could think of to land a seat at the cool kids table, and now, at the end of senior year, the cool kids, purely out of pity, say to the Dweeb: ‘Sure come sit with us.’ Every one in the lunch room knows that the dweeb doesn’t belong at that table but everyone just winks and smiles like they’re in on the joke. Sure the dweeb might be really great, and in the future be remembered as being greater than all the cool kids combined, accepting the dweeb this one time, and so late, just shows how much of a joke they really think of him and are just letting him sit with them this once so he shuts-up and goes on his way. That’s Scorcese in a nutshell. He should just stop trying to pander to the “almighty” Oscar and go back to making great independent minded films like he used to.
And I’m psyched that Charlie Kaufman won. I didn’t think it was going to happen; the screenplay’s I like always get nominated, they just never win. I’m very glad he did.
Am I the only one who, after seeing Kaufman last night, thought that he should have been played by Seth Green in ADAPTATION rather than Nicholas Cage? I realize the ADAPTATION character isn’t necessarily the “real” Kaufman, but dámņ, the resemblance is uncanny.
my favorite post oscar moment was when eastwood was asked if he was going to an oscar party and he said he was going to dennys for a beer
you gotta love the guy
I don’t know, I thought the bringing the awards into the audience thing and Scarlett Johannsen appearing in an orchestra box was supposed to make the show more exciting. Like, “Oooh, the Oscars. You never know where a star will pop out next!” I was intrigued!
Like, “Oooh, the Oscars. You never know where a star will pop out next!” I was intrigued!
Yeah, but if they keep it up, its just going to get over the top. Next thing you know, presenters will be on the roof and have to parachute down with the oscars.
Hmmmm… that wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all…
Oh, and I thought the funniest part of the whole night was seeing Martin Lawrence almost angrily cradling an Oscar.
“YEAH! To everyone who says I would never get one of these – KISS MY BLACK @$$!”
Genius.
Y’know what was missing? Clips.
No clips of the shorts, animated or otherwise. Teeny-weeny clips of the noms in the big categories. Previously, we’ve gotten extended bits from each movie presented which made me say, “Hey, I missed that one, perhaps it’s worth looking into.” Especially with the shorts and documentaries, you might find those on IFC or Sundance Channel. Now, I’ve got no idea of what’s worthwhile.
They couldn’t squeeze Sandra Dee or John Raitt into the In Memoriam section?
For me, Rock bombed, except for the Gap vs Banana Republic war (irony: Gap already owns the Republic).
IMHO, the best picture was relegated to a secondary award: Incredibles is still the most incredible thing we’ve gotten in the last year.
Ray? Too long, too much emphasis on kicking the drugs, and went into full fake-documentary for the coda (Better idea: color-saturated flashes forward on the events of his later years).
Aviator? Also too long, awkwardly cut, cinematography gave us blue peas, and another crummy ending. “Wave of the Future” has such potential for showing that wave, and it was completely dropped.
Bringing Up Million Dollar Baby (sorry, had to): Great film, but not what you think you’re going to see. The ‘twist’ isn’t so much a twist like M Night as it is two completely different stories grafted together by a fade to black.
Finding Neverland: Coulda been a contender, just not a ‘big’ enough film. Actually enjoyed this more than the others.
Sideways: Yeah, I liked it, but it wasn’t that great to take best picture. It’s a little film. Eternal Sunshine deserved this spot.
I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO WAS ANNOYED BY CHRIS ROCK’S SHOUTING — ESPECIALLY DURING THE OPENING MONOLOGUE.
I actually turned the sound down on my TV in the opening minutes — and I’m fairly used to Rock’s delivery. Did someone tell him to turn up the decibels a notch? Shades of Sam Kinison!
This show was my wife’s first introduction to Chris Rock. Needless to say, she’s in no rush to see any more of his stuff.
And speaking of Edna Mode (who should host the Oscars, dahling), the Oscars.org web site had video clips of the post-award press room interviews, and when Brad Bird was on, this exchange occurred:
Reporter: “What does she (Edna Mode) think about the clothes people are wearing tonight?”
Brad Bird (as Edna): “Oh, dahling, some people looked absolutely gorgeous on the red carpet, and the others looked like they should be wearing it.”
😉
–R.J.
I thought Rock was Hillarious. I couldn’t breathe durring his monologue.
One of my favorite moments was the end of the opening clips with Shrek and Charlie Chaplin..it was just a nifty little bit.
It wasn’t that there was no one else to do the songs, it was deliberate snubbing. Minnie Driver was reportly “devastaded” when she learned she wasn’t getting to sing the song at the Oscars (she sang it for the movie). Given the ALW didn’t stand by his star, I’m glad Phantom lost the awards it was up for.
Another highlight nobody has mentioned–seeing that Sideshow Bob now sings for Counting Crows.
Drudge is now reporting that the national ratings are showing a drop from last year. Looks like it didn’t play as well outside the major city markets as in.