Funniest Part: Jerry Seinfeld advocating movie theater littering, while the crowd laughed uncomfortably.
Scariest Part: Jennifer Hudson's jiggling cleavage during the Dreamgirls number.
Strangest PA Comment: That J-Lo is the best reason to upgrade to HDTV (a close second: that the Little Miss Sunshine screenwriter was once Matthew Broderick's personal assistant).
Best Comedy Killer: Tom Hanks, making an Alcoholics Anonymous joke.
Most Irritating Theme of the Night: Go, Three Amigos, Go!
Most Embarrassing Moment: When Coppola, Lucas and Spielberg were dubbed the "original" Three Amigos.
Most Telegraphed Moment #1: Martin Scorsese's (deserved) win, which was guaranteed when Coppola, Lucas and Spielberg were announced a couple of days ago as the Best Director presenters.
Most Telegraphed Moment #2: Jennifer Hudson's win, which was guaranteed the second the Best Supporting Actress award presentation (which usually kicks off the proceedings) was moved deep into the show.
Biggest Surprise: The Lives of Others winning Best Foreign Film over Pan's Labyrinth.
Best Part: Ellen DeGeneres' bit with Eastwood and Spielberg (a close second: the Jack Black-Will Ferrell-John C. Reilly number).
Worst Part: The goofy, time-wasting, this-is-why-the-show-runs-so-long silhouette dance sequences.
Moment that Best Epitomized the Oscars: The sound effects choir, which was bizarre, annoying, laughable and meaningless.
Funniest Part: Jerry Seinfeld advocating movie theater littering, while the crowd laughed uncomfortably.
I vote for Jack Nicholson acting strange and bald and saying Diane Keaton should read the nominees.
Scariest Part: Jennifer Hudson's jiggling cleavage during the Dreamgirls number.
What do you have against big, black breasts?
Most Embarrassing Moment: When Coppola, Lucas and Spielberg were dubbed the "original" Three Amigos.
I vote for Ellen calling Penelope Cruz a Mexican (when it's her lesbian lover Salma Hayek who is).
Most Telegraphed Moment #3: Ellen's joke that, without Jews, gays and blacks, there would be no Oscars ... wow, that was stale. The audience barely gave her a courtesy laugh.
Posted by: Joe Grossberg | February 26, 2007 at 11:40 AM
The Cruz-Mexican thing was pretty ridiculous. Forgot to mention that.
And for the record, I have no problem - in theory - with big, black breasts. But Hudson's looked like they were about to jump out of her top and attack Beyonce...which, come to think of it, isn't scary as much as it is exciting.
Posted by: Nick | February 26, 2007 at 04:36 PM
RE: Scariest part. Live on ABC, potential wardrobe malfunction just waiting to happen. Jennifer Hudson was moving her torso too much for the type of dress she wore and there was a potential right sided-nipple slipping out so when they cut to Beyoncé singing, she took a moment to adjust her slipping shoulder strap, saving a wardrobe malfunction from taking place. Notice that the rest of the song she sang holding her mic with her right hand and her forearm strategically hiding her right breast. Only the real ones move like that!
Posted by: Wednesday | February 27, 2007 at 09:33 PM
Excellent "Snake" review Nick. Now I'm hoping for the thumbs up on Zodiac, so I know I can catch 2 solid pictures this weekend before the much dreaded 300.
Posted by: Simon | February 28, 2007 at 02:27 PM
Thanks, Simon.
And feel free to plan to see Zodiac - though my giant review isn't online yet (because of studio requests), I can tell you that it's well worth your time...
Posted by: Nick | February 28, 2007 at 02:35 PM
Just wondering how it works: there are plenty of Zodiac reviews up, but Slant cannot publish yours yet?
Posted by: mpatton | March 01, 2007 at 07:03 PM
Paramount doesn't like online outlets to publish reviews of their films until the evening before their release date. And Slant abides by their wishes.
Nonetheless, my review of Zodiac is now up. The link can be found at the top of the blog's right sidebar under "This Week's Films."
Posted by: Nick | March 01, 2007 at 07:19 PM