But did you see Omar die?

Even better was Regis calling Javier Bardem....Xavier Bardem is the pre show.
What a putz.

Thanks, JohnCope you prick!

"(7) It was so heartening that Transformers won absolutely dead fucking nothing. Simply wonderful."

I get your hate for all things Bay/Transformers but The Golden Compass has shitty effects THAT DON'T LOOK REAL. Say what you want about Transformers as a film, but you cannot deny those viusal effects. They are the best in the history of the medium. The Golden Compass didn't deserve to win; it's a total f'ing joke.

Now it's not enough to have the right thread count, but your tuxedo pants must also be the right cut? Man, I've got to keep up. My hipster handbook must be last week's edition.

I'm guessing Wrecktum meant to address AJW in which case I'd like to second that emotion.

And I'm 100% with Actionman. There are a bunch of totally legit reasons to dislike Transformers. That said, it has totally real looking big fucking robots that change into vehicles. It is unquestionably a leap forward in FX and the film TOTALLY deserved to win. If you can't handle the phrase "Oscar-winning film, Transformers," it's your own fault.

Jeff:

Kudos to you for sniffing out the upset winner in the Supporting Actor categories two years running. You were in the forefront of the Alan Arkin groundswell in '07 and you were right again this year that Swinton would be the recipient of the good vibes for Michael Clayton.

And thanks for excellent up-to-the-hour coverage of the Oscars. We appreciate your efforts.

Wells to to actionman: That's a fair point. On their own terms, the "Transformers" CG was pretty damn good. It's just that I hated sitting through the movie, you see. I hated "Golden Compass" too. I don't know what I'm saying but you're basically right.

Wow, I am sorry. That was a Wells-level dick move of me not to include spoiler tags. Is there a way to remove that comment?

How shitty was it of them to stick Amy Adams with the more lackluster of the two Adams-sung numbers from Enchanted and give the "show-off" piece to Chenoweth? Let's give the star of the movie a dark stage for a song sung to CGI rats, cockroaches, and pidgeons, and a full production number to the lady from Wicked...

AJW:

I am so goddamn mad at you. The Wire is my favorite show of all time and most of us haven't seen them new episode, yet. This isn't even a thread about The Wire. I don't read any of that stuff so I can go into each episode without having any idea what's going to happen.

You're a piece of shit.

And Transformers had amazing sound and FX. You can't take that away from it. If Norbit had that kind of sound design and flawless photorealistic CGI it would have deserved the awards.

It must be exhausting staying so trendy, Jeff...how do you do that AND run a 20-7 blog?

ACTIONMAN, when you say that the transformers effects are the "best in the history of the medium," what do you mean by best? most opulent? the loudest effects that don't call attention to themselves as fakes? i couldn't disagree more. for my money, "best" in this category is as much a matter of implementation as it is design - how the effects are woven into the fabric of the film, and how the film benefits from that dynamic (rather than simply how pretty they are, how the film serves a showpiece for the effects themselves). to that end, i thought the effects in a film like ZODIAC absolutely ridiculed those in TRANSFORMERS, as they seamlessly and organically created an entire world without which the film would have failed... whereas TRANSFORMERS was a failure in every which way, and only made a pretty failure by the special effects. moreover, had bay's directing allowed the transformers effects to be all that special, the designs themselves and their interactions with the human world around them would ideally have made for more intelligible action sequences due to their differentiation. in short, they were rendered beautifully, but thrown about in an exceptionally bland fashion - this is a category as much about implementation as it is design. zodiac's effects drew me into fincher's world, whereas transformer's effects kept me at a perpetual arm's length.

and jeff, if i'm not mistaken (which I might be) - don't all the doc voters have to watch all the nominees? doesn't that explain why the best film won?

What you meant to type was this:

"I didn't like Transformers." Instead you angrily typed a bunch of gibberish that means nothing.

Brad Renfro and Transformers being dissed in the same thread? Watch out world, here comes the Irishman from Long Island...

AJW, if you just did what I think you did, some day I will come into your home and I will slit your throat. I will fucking drink your milkshake.

"for my money, 'best' in this category is as much a matter of implementation as it is design - how the effects are woven into the fabric of the film, and how the film benefits from that dynamic"

Come on, Aguirre, you and I both know that the special effects Oscar has never been about that (at least since 2001 in 1968) and never will be. It's about showy, gee-whiz stuff. I agree with your sentiment that the special effects should draw you in rather than call attention to themselves, but the fact that that the Oscar ever awards such an effort (as with Davy Jones and his crew from POTC II) is purely coincidental.

"Anyone who's halfway hip knows that suit and tuxedo pants are cut fairly trim and tight now. Stewart's hip-guy factor dropped because of this."

Tuxedos suck. They're not cozy to wear and they look unhip to me. Always have. Ever since my junior prom. Gie me a flowing suit anyday.

If this was Woody Alen wearing his sneakers to escort Betty Ford, Jeff would have said the same thing. In what hip biker circles does Wells run that critiques a fucking moneyed monkeysuit?

Jeff wore a cowboy hat to Sundance. He has no room to talk.

Hitch's production designer was in the building.

He namechecked Don Siegel.

Cotillard won.

Otherwise, a total snooze.

Come back, Hollywood, we miss you!!!!!

Not that there's anything wrong with it, but is Scott Rudin gay?

He thanked his partner 'John' and to paraphrase, told him that he 'loved him' (dont remember the exact words).

For what it's worth, I happen to believe that the Visual Effects bar was set fifteen years ago when Jurassic Park created the most realistic dinosaurs ever seen. And the strange thing is that somehow they looked LESS convincing in the sequels despite the ongoing development of CGI technology.

obviously plenty of time to slip him into the death montage.

Yes, they're just being bureaucratic and lazy. The fact that they showed dates this year shows they're sensitive on the subject.

believing those reports that the over-65 Academy crowd wants to give her a kind of career-recap nostalgia Oscar.

In reality, they almost NEVER do this. Ask Peter O'Toole, Fred Astaire, Hal Holbrook, Gloria Stuart... the only ones where that had something to do with it are also very solid performances in well-liked movies (Paul Newman, George Burns, etc.)

I need to find out today what happened with Charles Ferguson's presumably favored No End in Sight not winning the Best Feature Documentary, and Alex Gibney's Taxi to the Dark Side taking it instead.

Yes, Aguirre, they have to see the movies in this category. Which means the brilliant strategy Jeff is missing is "they liked the movie better."

Somebody on criterionforum said it was because he wasn't a member of the Academy.

I doubt Ousmane Sembene was either. This is nonsense.

Rothchild, if you hadn't complained about it, I wouldn't have known what AJW's spoiler meant... thanks a lot!

This is no great surprise....

-------------

NEW YORK (AP) — The Oscars are a ratings dud. Nielsen Media Research says preliminary ratings for the 80th annual Academy Awards telecast are 14 percent lower than the least-watched ceremony ever.
Nielsen said Monday that overnight ratings are also 21 percent lower than last year, when “The Departed” was named best picture.
The least-watched Oscars ceremony ever was in 2003, when there were 33 million viewers.
Nielsen has no estimate yet on how many people watched Sunday night, but based on ratings from the nation’s biggest markets, the Oscars will be hard-pressed to avoid an ignominious record.
The show had a 21.9 rating and 33 share.

Seriously, Jeffrey, can you please remove my comment?

Too late. You're an asshole.

THE WIRE will kill you now.

ROTHCHILD - i didn't like transformers, but that wasn't the intention of my post. the intention of my post was to explain my take on what make for great special effects, an argument i framed with two of last year's more dissimilar effects-driven films. my post was coherent, and my thesis (if not particularly fleshed out in this forum) stands.

RICH S - i understand that the special effects oscar (like just about every other oscar) is seldom reserved for greatness, i was just suggesting to actionman that his notion of what makes for "the greatest special effects in the history of the medium" might be a bet skewed.

It was a somewhat dull, though mostly OK by-the-numbers show.

I just don't understand the Swinton win, but meh.

It was another strong example of the academy's desire to spread the love and awards. No Country was blanked in the technical awards, allowing many other films to pick up their only Oscars. I think all the major films with more than one nomination won at least one award, right?

Only swap I would have made would have been TWBB for Art Direction and Jesse James for Cinematograpy. (though that would have left Sweeney shut out, right?)

Best Original song winners redeemed much of the rest of the boredom of the night.

Wish the Coens would stop tugging on their ears.

Wish PTA would get to work on his next film. Not another five years, please!

They left off Ulrich Muhe from The Lives of Others!

I don't remember seeing Ulrich Muhe in the "death montage" - given the obscurity of some of the behind the scenes people they showed, I do not understand this oversight. Brad Renfro? I don't really care, but Muhe deserved a mention...

Thank God "Transformers" and "Norbit" got shut out - 2 of the most miserable movies ever made, even if their nominations were for movie quality neutral technical elements...

Jessica Alba is spectacularly untalented. I predict an oscar nom in her future.

Almost all shows this season have been ratings "duds", even AI is down about 5% from last year....this is to be expected. People are not watching TV the way they used to...I'm at my computer all day/all night at work and at home, I hardly ever turn on the TV anymore....and I can watch TV from my computer. I just don't find anything worthwhile on TV these days...oh -- sorry, I saw a cute game show "Don't Forget the Lyrics"....that was FUN!

As for the Oscars -- "there are no stars anymore"...there are "little stars" like Jessica Alba, but nobody really exciting. I thought Marilyn, Frank & the boys, even Jack Nicholson are exciting "stars".

Not only that there are so many awards given out by almost every organization you can name that it kind of takes away the value of the Oscars. At one time there was only one AWARD show -- Oscar and now there are a bunch of them, and you can see them online or webcast. The only reason to watch is the Red carpet... I like (as I'm sure most Americans) like watching the RC....but to see the show itself -- I could care less and I was an avid moviegoer at one time....but to add --

When Hollywood can produce real "stars" then people will become interested in the movies again...not to mention really good old fashion Titanic-Gone with the wind-Godfather type movies. You know -- epics! with storylines, the type where people would leave the movies crying and really feel emotionally for the characters. When was the last time that happened to you?

"like (as I'm sure most Americans) like watching the RC"

It would be fine if they weren't plunged into awkward cringing embarrassment by every moronic interviewer like Seacrest or that toady Philbin.

Thank God for Busey.

maybe the Oscars would do better if the Neilsen ratings measured in metric viewers

Yes, but I would be an asshole to fewer people. I've already given up on being your friend.

There is nothing skewed in the notion that Transformers had the best special effects in the medium. I simply have never seen visual effects realized on the level that Transformers created. They are flawless. The detail is extravagant and intricate and the scenes of them fighting were beyond complicated and beautiful to behold. The idea of gigantic robots turning into fighter jets, tanks, and cars, is absurd and totally ridiculous. The designers, under Bay's supervision, made them look 100% photo real in a live action environment. It's a stunning achievement. The sound mixing in the film is also incredible; it's absurd that O'Connell lost for the 20th fucking time. The Academy is anti-Bay and it's obvious. I loved Bourne Ultimatum as much as the next guy but what went down in Transformers, from a purely technological point of view, was groundbreaking. It's what Bay and his team does best. And they should have been rewarded.

I loved when they did that behind-the-scenes of the Price Waterhouse Cooper voting process, followed by Jon Stewart calling it "fascinating!" with a huge grin... good stuff.

I agree with actionman, spfx Oscars are not given out based on how good the movie is.

Wow AJW. Bad form. Thank God I saw it already. Remind me not to read a thing you write until the series is done!

holy shit i wish i hadn't read the comments yet. Jeff please remove the spoiler so other people aren't screwed.

Most suspenseful moments: Everyone hoping the 98-year-old guy wouldn't lose his mind before the end of his speech.

Most humiliating moments: After he didn't, realizing that his clarity put most of the audience to shame.

"Transformers was a failure every which way." -- As if a film called Transformers about robot aliens turning into Chevys can be judged on some legitimate scale besides general absurdity.

Wow, AJW, hate to pile on but wow wow wow. Not kind. Not considerate. You ruined my day.

I'd like to give the bird to that idiot who said Juno was going to win best picture. Nice call. Sometimes I forget that the people who blog about movies know about as much as the average joe, even though they clearly do not.

Per the Coens, I'm actually neighbors with their first cousin, and he tells me that once you meet their father then everything about them suddenly makes sense.

Normally I agree with the actionman on most things, but I have to disagree. There were some fine moments of FX work in the transformers, with the level of detail, but when it came time for them to move and fight and interact with one another, it looked like a giant, twisted metal mess. The last 25 minutes of that nonsense, I can't tell who the hell is fighting who. Impossible to distinguish what's happening, although it looks very detailed and cool when they stand still, or are by themselves.

Oh, and did anyone notice in one of the pre-shows, or montages, that Michael Bay is actually an Academy member?

And I just want to say that the montages for "Hollywood Salutes Binoculars and Telescopes", and "People waking from bad dreams" was a top notch gag.

Hey, don't forget how Jon Stewart humiliated Norbit in front of a billion viewers. That, if nothing else, should earn him another hosting gig.

When are they going to ditch the always-boring 'reading of the rules' segement? Who GIVES a rat's ass!?!?!

rr3333: Yes, I believe Rudin came out a couple of years ago.

I was sort of rooting for TRANSFORMERS in Sound Mixing only because I didn't want to see Kevin O'Connell lose for the 20th time. This has to be the greatest number of losses without a win.

You're seriously spraying your shorts over altered robot speech on masks and helicopter wooshes?

I loved when they did that behind-the-scenes of the Price Waterhouse Cooper voting process, followed by Jon Stewart calling it "fascinating!" with a huge grin... good stuff.

Yet it's so easy to think of ways that they could have ended it with a killer gag. Governor Schwarzenegger saying "Fuhget it, Sidt." Matt Damon (who seems to live for gag cameos) smacking him to the floor Jason Bourne style. Something! Were they still waiting for the last couple of writers to wander out of the jungle and surrender?

AJW:

Please let me know something you can't wait to watch so that I can watch it first and ruin it for you.

Transformers not winning would be upsetting if these awards meant something. The VFX IS the best to date - but those who care already know that.

Skipping Brad is unforgiveable. He died of a drug overdose the week BEFORE Heath did. It is not because you have to be a member of the Academy- and for all I know he was. It is bullshit.

-----------------
Iron Man
from the director of ZATHURA

Wells, as to your #7 - sorry, but 1998 called, said it wants its joke back.

I'm not even kidding. I distinctly remember this joke cropping up at a prior Oscar ceremony, very possibly during the Clinton/Lewinsky years. Context may be different now, but somebody really ought to check on this stuff before it gets read.

Then again, maybe it wasn't the Oscars. But even so, it's old.

AJW:

I had to post that in a hurry because my baby started crying (perhaps sensing the piercing anguish you've caused me). Otherwise I would've tried to think of something significantly more rage-filled to write you.

Don Murphy, I know you'll agree with me when I say there needed to be more Shoot Em Up love at the awards last night.

why do any of give a shit about transformers? I don't care about it enough to hate it. the vfx of the robots pissing oil was top notch, moving along. More importantly, fix the spoiler at the top so others may not be as depressed as I am right now.

The Wire spoiler was a prick thing to do for sure, but really, those who are following, you really didn't see it coming? I haven't watched the episode yet, but that was the one thing I knew was gonna happen sooner or later. When I'm not looking for them, I hate spoilers as much as the next person - still give him a break.

As for the Oscars, well, um, of course it was hardly watched. It should just become a private ceremony again or be televised on a cable network, sans 300 commercial breaks. That would make it seem more special and ratings wouldn't be a big deal. As to whether or not they are special, well, I guess I'd have to be nominated to find out - and the chances of that happening? Well they did nominate Norbit. Guess there is a chance.

for the record, for anyone who's confused here... i'm not saying that the special effects oscar should go to the best nominated film, but rather the film that most fluidly and comprehensively employs special effects in service to its narrative and / or the filmic world its creating.

ZODIAC'S effects - as the featurette jeff posted a few weeks ago illustrated so well - were subtle, but absolutely integral in absorbing the viewer in 1970s San Francisco.

TRANSFORMERS' effects were considerably flashier, but implemented in a way that further alienated me from an already piss-poor plot. from the first desert-set fight in which the evil alien robot whatever had absolutely no "weight" to it, to the final set-piece in which the robots (which had been so blandly constructed and unintelligibly cut together that many, many viewers couldn't distinguish between them) could not have felt less organic and apart from the environment they were destroying, the fx work on that film seemed all flash and no substance - no implementation. it felt like intangible wraiths doing battle, much like the infamous ninja fight from BLADE II.

if you think that the fx in transformers was the best the medium has ever seen... to each his own, but i can't help but think you haven't been paying attention. sometimes it's about a bit more than how well something was rendered.

and yes, this was a very redundant post... my apologies. so happy the oscars are over...

Too many of the presenters were current/former TV types. Stewart, at least at the beginning, was too much like Bob Hope, toothless and predictable. If it's true that CF was responsible for the Once encore, Stewart is an ass for letting us think it was his idea.

The "In Memoriam" segment began with the dates "02/01/07-01/31/08," which means we'll get Scheider next year.

The best visual effects ever are still, to me, the first shot of the T-Rex exiting the paddock in Jurassic Park.

Don:

The Academy's official statement is "there are so many people we can't include everyone." No bullshit.

I'm going to take out an ad in Variety.

Speaking of "Jurassic Park," what a mistake to show a clip of one of the kids from that movie last night's death montage!

"(Sound editing and sound mixing) are two of the three Oscars Transformers will win tonight..."
- Don Murphy, 2/24

"Transformers not winning would be upsetting if these awards meant something."
- Don Murphy, 2/25

"there are so many people we can't include everyone."

Except for a bevy of executives.

And that was the worst In Memorium I've seen in years. How about getting some super-pro editors to tackle these montages? Include clips with dialogue etc. A first year USC film student would tear up one of those montages.

"Speaking of "Jurassic Park," what a mistake to show a clip of one of the kids from that movie last night's death montage!"

Glad you brought this up. The moment that came on screen, I was like, "Shit, I didn't know the little kid from Jurassic Park died!"

RE: special effects, everyone here is right.

Transformers deserved to win that category. . . given who else was nominated.

The Transformers effects were very impressive. Outstanding from a technical standpoint.

And then utterly butchered by horrible, confusing, repetitive assembly into moronic "action sequences" that lacked any sense of geographic composition, let alone engaging buildup of suspense.

I mean, here's a movie with effects that convince you you're looking at GIANT TRANSFORMING ROBOTS. Then what does Bay do with those brilliant effects? Jumble them up, edit them too fast, and stage battle sequences that last far, far too long. I swear, the only thing longer and more pointless than the final eighteen fights between Optimus Prime and Megatron was "Return of the King's" seven endings.

Transformer's special effects were great. Too bad they were used so poorly. The effects didn't take me out of the story-- the lousy editing, awful storyboarding, and atrocious script did that.

Forget Renfro - they skipped Tom Poston, but included his wife - Suzanne Pleshette. And he did make a few movies including recently Christmas with the Kranks and Princess Diaries 2.

Whoopie is also on the warpath for having her Oscar hosting gig left out of the clip show.

there should have been more montages like "waking up from a bad dream" and tribute to binoculars.

And for the most part I didn't care about Transformer's chances to win, but after Don "Three-fer" Murphy's prediction, I was breaking out the Indian wish candle to pray for a strike out. I haven't wanted something to lose harder since I wished a film I produced would walk away prize-less at Doc festival in order to humble the a-hole director.

Point number 12. George Clooney's character flaw is having a vacant mouse as a girlfriend. He said buddy/buddy on the red carpet to Roeper, "she doesn't rat me out." Good thing she probably can't read her press either.

For a second, I also thought Mazzello had died.

It's funny the two most recurring things here now are AJW's SNAFU which he has apologized for - but too late - and the Transformers.

I totally agree that Zodiac had FX that brilliantly blended in and there is no question that is a skill worthy of praise. I wouldn't have blinked if Zodiac had been nominated and, heck, if it won over Transformers I could live with that...but Golden Compass?

To say a film in which the FX are front and centre is not a lesser use of FX by definition is silly. You might as well criticize the obviously fake skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts ("I hate films with so much blatant stop motion," to paraphrase Wells).

If the robots are the closest thing the film has to a redeeming feature, so be it. I can't disagree that the editing etc could have been better (and call me crazy for hoping they'll figure it all out by the sequel) but they were amazing to look at and utterly convincing and therefore deserved the award.

This is technically a pre-Oscar moment but did anyone else see the weird and creepy moment when Gary Busey walked up to Jennifer Garner while she was being interviewed by Ryan Seacrest and he kissed her and hugged her for no reason? It reminded me of that Simpsons episode where Lisa gets a restraining order on Bart and Gary Busey hosts the video explaining the restraining order and how several women currently have restraining orders on him.

"Tom Poston"

And Poston was the star of two William Castle films, ZOTZ! and THE OLD DARK HOUSE. Not to mention his turn in COLD TURKEY and UP THE ACADEMY among other films.

Who's in charge of these things? Let us HE bloggers put next year's list together!

Reading the above posts, is it possible that some dim bulb at the Academy thought Renfro WAS the kid from Jurassic Park?

The Gary Busey thing was actually kind of scary. I cannot believe that crazy SOB is allowed on the red carpet...that was a security snafu...I bet you will never see him on the red carpet ever again.

Where your motorcycle helmets kids, or end up like Busey.

Isnt all past winners invited? I assume thats why Busey was there.

Weird that Garner didnt know who he was. Didnt she see Lethal Weapon at the very least?

You know AJW, no one who hasn't started the Wire yet would know that you ruined it for them if you didn't keep beating a dead horse. So fuck you and fuck the guy who followed up on what it was you ruined.

A love letter, AJW. Straight from my heart.

Lois Nettleton was also left out. :-(

And isn't it easier to animate metal objects and hard surfaces than living creatures with fur and eyes?

Ray Haryhausen did it best and NONE of his films were ever nominated for spfx because he was a true outsider. They finally coughed up an award for him a few years back. But not LIVE on TV.

I enjoyed the Coen brothers' second speech. At least they were funny!

FUCK!!!

Seriously Wells! For the love of GOD, please remove that Wire spoiler so nobody else gets it ruined.

that's it. I'm done here. Not that it matters, but this is the lst time i EVER scroll further than whatever Jeff is posting on. That spoiler is the worst thing I can think of happening. I was aving all of the fifth season to watch at once, because that is how I got into the show in the first place by watching every season in a day or two, gorging myself on the most amazing show ever produced on TV. From now on, the comment section is dead to me and I hope others follow. DZ, Burma, Dave, MGMAX and all the rest, your comments made me laugh out loud all the time and I enjoyed reading them all the time, seriously. But this is gonig too far. AJW crossed a line that NO ONE who respects loving a show or any piece of art should cross. Therefore, I am done. my last post on here and the last time I read the comment section, so I won't even know what everyone thinks of this. So be it. Good night and god bless.

I was as pissed as any, and it still was bad form. But I personally forgive AJW. I would have been happy not knowing, but the Wire is too good a show for spoilers to ruin it. Surprising things happen on the show, but it's how those things effect the world that is most interesting. jeff should still remove the post for god sake but I say let the healing begin....

WIRE fans are very sensitive.
They will kill you.