The Oscars - 2007

After a year's break when I missed the Oscars, I watched this year's telecast yesterday. There were a few fun moments but on the whole, the program was a big bore. There was not a single moment that really stood out and Ellen's jokes, the acceptance speeches and the performances were all uniformly pedestrian.

The biggest reason to watch the show was ofcourse the eye-candy. Among the best lookers were Penelope Cruz, Kate Winslet and Beyonce. On the other hand, this is probably the first time I've been disappointed with Cameon Diaz's looks.

My favorite part of the telecast is always the opening sequence. They are usually funny and interesting and I still remember some of the earlier montages and Billy Crystal's entrances. But this year's montage, with clips of all the nominees, was dull and uninteresting. The entire program's about them. So why not leave them out of the opening?! With that montage, the telecast started off on the wrong foot and it went downhill from there.

Ellen was sweet and cheery as always but most of the jokes in her monologue were lame. Barring a couple of witty jokes (like the comparison between Jennifer Hudson and Al Gore), her collection fell flat. Her interactions with the audience(like the script to Scorcese and the photo-op with Clint Eastwood) worked a little better though. I really miss Billy Crystal!

I loved those shadow people creating images from the Best Picture nominees. Some of them, like the ones for Little Miss Sunshine and Snakes on a Plane, were brilliant. The chorus by the sound effects choir, that generated 'manual' sound effects for scenes from some popular films, was another segment that was good. The song-and-dance by Will Ferrell & Jack Black and the Celine Dion performance though were completely boring.

Al Gore, the butt of countless jokes for being boring, had probably the most interesting acceptance speech. Helen Mirren was dignified, Forest Whitaker was too emotional and most of the others were boring with just a bunch of Thank-You's. Among the presenters John Travolta had a good-natured dig at himself but not many others made any memorable comments.