Monday, March 8, 2010

Oscar postmortem

I was on some newspaper website yesterday afternoon, and I wish I could remember which one but I can't, and it had one of those random little sidebar polls, asking if people were planning to watch the Oscars. And the answer options were either "yes," "no, I'll watch something else," or "no, I don't watch TV."

Am I the only person who sees something missing here? How about "no, I watch TV sometimes but I won't be watching it at that particular time"? Doesn't that seem like a valid option? I mean, the three possible answers imply that if you watch TV, you watch it round the clock. It just seems weird.

Anyway, I'm not really one to talk, because I did watch the Oscars, or at least part of them. I have to say, I don't actually really enjoy the Oscars that much, and also I'm not a big moviegoer so I've usually seen only a very few of the nominated movies, and I find almost all of the acceptance speeches so awkward that I want to hit the mute button. And the ones that aren't awkward are the ones that were clearly memorized in advance and aren't exciting or touching at all (Mo'Nique, anyone?).

(Though, I will say that I liked the speech from the costume design winner. Yeah, she was a little braggy about this being her third Oscar, but she is RIGHT. Historical films ALWAYS win this category, when in fact I think it's a lot more work to costume a contemporary film that requires a lot more subtlety. For example, I really thought The Queen deserved to win the year it was nominated, because it was a real challenge to dress Helen Mirren in the queen's notable, and sometimes awkward, style.)

But! The dresses! And the occasional ball-related joke! But really, the dresses! Some of my favorites (all photos from NYMag.com):

OK, I know it's a bit over the top, but the purple! Oh, the purple. Heart Zoe Saldana:


Rachel McAdams just looked incredibly freaking gorgeous and classy:


Is it weird to have two Mean Girls actresses here? Oh, if only Lindsay Lohan hadn't fallen apart, and could be up here to complete the trifecta. But at least we can console ourselves with Amanda Seyfried's lovely dress:


Queen Latifah has some seriously bad movies out there, but this dress made me more inclined to forgive them:


I almost never like Cameron Diaz's red carpet dresses, or if I do like the dress, I hate the makeup or the hair. But this time, she got everything right:


Which dresses stood out to you last night? Was there anyone who seemed like an obvious walking catastrophe? I honestly can't think of anyone who looked downright terrible.

15 comments:

  1. I only watched about 30 minutes of it ... and was annoyed that it was all the technical awards. While I have very little to offer by way of dresses I liked, I will say I was very happy Avatar only won 3 of 9 awards (and the three that were won were for technical things where it should have won). I'm excited another black actress won an award and excited a female finally won best director.

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  2. I only saw about the first 15 minutes on the red carpet, so I don't really have a full sense of the dresses, but I do know the Helen Mirren looked STUNNING and I LOVED her dress. Her and her husband were adorable talking about ailments in their old age :)

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  3. I thought Sandra Bullock looked great. Oh to have hair that thick and shiny...

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  4. I didn't get to watch. I was doing taxes. Wheeeee!

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  5. didn't watch. i am reeeally not into awards shows, find them extremely tedious. just tell me the results the next day and i'm a happy camper :-)

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  6. I tried to watch online (as with the Olympics) and searched every site that claimed it had live streaming and DID NOT! Oh well.
    I was able to watch some of the live red carpet.
    I liked Kate Winslet. I didn't love her dress but I always think she's pretty. I liked Anna Kendrick's dress too even though it got panned for the color.
    What was up with J Lo's bubble wrap dress? And the boob things on Charlize Theron's dress. It was a pretty color but I did not like those things there.
    I saw some of the acceptance speeches online this morning. I thought Monique's (sp?) was weird and very over the top (she takes herself a little bit too seriously) but I like Sandra Bullock. I just like her anyway. And I appreciated that Kathryn Bigelow won. Haven't seen the movie but she was nervous and I liked how real she seemed.
    I didn't see many of the movies either and was probably better served not watching the whole thing anyway.

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  7. Rachel McAdams was my favorite dress by far. I also agree with you, Cam D got it so so right this time. My fave speech was Sandra's but I too liked the costume designer who was a bit full of herself

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  8. Totally swooned for Helen Mirren's dress. That pale lavender, with the silver. Sigh. She is one classy broad.

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  9. Um, come on. The gladiator cupcake dress? awwwwwwwwful.

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  10. loved sandra bullocks dress. well, maybe not the dress, but her all put together, it was great! and i don't even like her. i didn't like the purple poof dress, but that is just me. helen mirren was fabulous

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  11. Queen Latifah looked amazing. Her dress was lovely and she looked great. Gorgeous!

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  12. I actually don't think that Mo'Nique's speech was stiff. I think that's the way she talks. Whenever I see her in interviews I'm absolutely shocked by her natural cadence, it always sounds like she's at a lectern delivering a speech.

    But I totally agree with you re: Cameron Diaz.

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  13. I loved Sandra Bullock's dress - I think she wore the dress, whereas so often the dress wears the star. It was glamorous and classic and glitzy while somehow still being understated.

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  14. Queen Latifah looked really good! But I also loved the light pink dress the girl from the George Clooney movie was wearing (sorry, I'm bad with names).

    Monique annoys me. She always seems fake! Can't stand her!

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