Just seven minutes over last year's running time and the show seemed an eternity. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were pretty good hosts, but I think we'd have been better off if Steve Martin just did it as a solo.
Why oh why was there a Neil Patrick Harris opener? Firstly the song— something like "No one wants to do it alone"— was awful. Secondly-- it makes the ACTUAL hosts look too talentless to pull off a song. Thirdly, why do we need a song? PAGING JON STEWART! What's wrong with a few jokes and then, get on with the show?
When Steve and Alec did arrive, their jokes were hit and miss, but enough funny ones worked.... I especially loved the "Look it's DAMN Helen Mirren" bit ("That's Dame Helen Mirren."), as well as Martin's gag that Meryl Streep's 16 nominations, means... the most losses.
By the way, can we step back to the pre-show that year after year ABC cannot get right? The only time they get it right is when they cancel it. Kathy Ireland was so busy striking a pose she couldn't concentrate on the interviews. Sherri Shepherd tried her best, but she clearly wasn't listening to the answers to her final questions and shooed off the celebs at the end of each of her interviews. And was it me or did the Oscar artwork in the back look like the poster for CATS?
Now that the song numbers are cut, the individual presentation of all the Best Picture nominees will turn into the going-to-the-bathroom opportunities in the show (And they're pretty badly scripted: "It sneaks up on you... THE BLIND SIDE"). Among the other packages, I enjoyed the "interviews" with the animated characters and even the (albeit totally random) horror movies clips (repetitive, but they hit all the biggies). Yes, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY got no nods and yes, the parodies have been done, but I did laugh at the Steve and Alec piece. I also liked the tribute to John Hughes, except for one thing— they shouldn't have done it. If there's no time to give LAUREN effing BACALL her honorary Oscar on the live show then there's no time to give a tribute to a filmmaker that never received a single Oscar nomination and for whom the Academy would NEVER in a million years have done a tribute for if he died at say 80 years old. Dying young should not warrant a tribute. And I grew up on Hughes' movies... I'm a fan... but it was weird. Marlon Brando didn't get a stand alone tribute, right? Judd Nelson was a freak show... jees. And it was funny that they cut to Kristin Stewart at the end-- she was probably wondering who the hell all those people were! Speaking of bad cuts... it was pretty lame to cut to an African-American any time PRECIOUS was featured... Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson....
No one among the presenters did that much in the way of clever presenting. Probably because the best awards show presenter in Hollywood was one of the co-hosts (Steve Martin). Please STOP Ben Stiller. His awards show bits are always terrible! And they are insulting to the poor shlub actually getting the award he's presenting. And yet, year after year, the next day his disastrously fallen-flat routine will make countless "best moments" lists. Why? Because these award shows are so desperately devoid of actual moments, that the online community has to find SOMETHING to point out, and it's "easy" to point to the "wacky" as a highlight.
There were two moments in the show where I literally said out loud: "WHAT IS GOING ON?!" — when the now notorious Kayne'd short film guy was interrupted by that red-haired woman acting crazy and when Sean Penn (also now notoriously) rambled on about god-knows-what when he came out on stage.
The interpretive dance-- again.. why? It could have been the best dancing known to man, and it STILL would've been criticized. Haven't the Oscar producers learned by now? No more interpretive dance... it doesn't fit, it doesn't work, and no one wants to see it.
The dead reel started off wrong again this year for the viewing audience that saw the screens in a long shot, and therefore missed a few of the people. Honestly, I wasn't too upset about Farrah (the internet went ballistic)... what they should have done is left both MJ and Farrah out. Although, on second thought, I think they probably could have found room for her. Like, leave the who-even-knows-her Kathryn Grayson, who only just passed, to next year.
The speeches were all good: Sandra Bullock's possibly the most memorable of the four acting winners. The nicest— and most genuine— moment during the acting presentations, was when Gabourey Sidibe teared up when Oprah was talking about her onstage.
Barbra Streisand didn't overshadow Kathryn Bigelow too much, thank god. Boy Bigelow would NOT let go of her Oscars to Steve and Alec at the end of the show! The two had hilarious parting lines: "This show is so long AVATAR takes place in the past."/ "That's all the time we have folks!" Sadly, the smart idea of having clips from the new season's crop of films— that was done over the credits last year— was not continued this year. All in all, a weak show-- last year's wasn't brilliant, but it was better.
This was news that I truly never ever thought I'd hear... At the Movies cancelled! A shocker. I frequently got the first word-- and often the most authoritative word-- on upcoming movies from this show, through my entire movie-going lifetime. In those terms it's pretty sad; but the show as a show has had such a rocky road since Gene Siskel died, and the magic never did return. 
The last film from the Hollywood studio era— Gone With the Wind (1939)— has just fallen off the (unadjusted) top 100 films in US box office. Alice in Wonderland has now vaulted into the top hundred pushing out GWTW, and making the oldest film on the list 1973s The Exorcist, ranked at #68. A minor footnote in film history, but an interesting "moment" in this era where home video has completely overtaken the value of old movie re-releases, and inflation has made almost every new tent pole film (particularly with the jacked up prices of IMAX and 3-D) a contender as a top moneymaking. My ticket for Alice on Wonderland was $17! The most I've ever spent to see a movie... besting only a two-month-or-so record of $16.50, when I saw Avatar. But to keep it real, GWTW is still #1 on the adjusted for inflation list!
THE HURT LOCKER— 6 Oscars
Just seven minutes over last year's running time and the show seemed an eternity. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were pretty good hosts, but I think we'd have been better off if Steve Martin just did it as a solo. 
By the way, can we step back to the pre-show that year after year ABC cannot get right? The only time they get it right is when they cancel it. Kathy Ireland was so busy striking a pose she couldn't concentrate on the interviews. Sherri Shepherd tried her best, but she clearly wasn't listening to the answers to her final questions and shooed off the celebs at the end of each of her interviews. And was it me or did the Oscar artwork in the back look like the poster for CATS?
The speeches were all good: Sandra Bullock's possibly the most memorable of the four acting winners. The nicest— and most genuine— moment during the acting presentations, was when Gabourey Sidibe teared up when Oprah was talking about her onstage.
The 1940s brought us two highly influencial films which have remained the only two to-date to top Sight & Sound's poll as the #1 film of all-time: Citizen Kane (1941) and Bicycle Thieves (1948). In between we had the war years, and the birth of film noir. And it was the decade of Bogie & Bacall, Tracy & Hepburn, and Abbott & Costello, too.
My belated thoughts to Friday's Olympics Opening Ceremonies. Despite artistic director David Atkins' claim to deal with the individual, of course, 'bigger is better' still reigned, and really appropriately so: it's certainly expected. Donald Sutherland's narration was a bit "observatory star show-esque" but seemed to work nonetheless. I also liked that there was an intro, break with the Parade of Nations, then it went into the stage show (highlighted by the polar bear 'puppet'). The spectacle part had a garishness, that thankfully started with a much more subtle sequence (the runner in the 'electronic' fields [to "Both Sides Now"]). Good star wattage with the performers. Another unfavorable comparison: the Native-American section at the start and the poet at the end seemed a little "theme park" to me. Unfortunately caldron blunder may be the ceremonies lasting memory. On the whole a worthy follow-up to the Summer Olympics... although it will be many years before Li Ning's run across the top of the Bird's Nest in China is beaten for "single-most breathtaking opening ceremonies' moment."
