2015 Oscar Awards: American Sniper Nearly Shutout ... J.K. Simmons Wins | Eastern North Carolina Now

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    The 2015 Oscar awards were most interesting this year on a variety of levels. A new, openly gay, irreverent host; most of the awards going to one of the better films; grown men weeping, "American Sniper" shutout, J.K. Simmons finally wins, and Oprah is sovereign. Overall, it was remarkably normal ... this is Hollywood showering gifts and awards upon itself, and who, and what you are, and who, and what you are not is extremely important.

    First, the openly gay, irreverent host - Neil Patrick Harris. Remember Doogie Howser, the 15 year old genius doctor? That is Neil. First and foremost, I don't think Neil is bothered by how the Hollywood elite may perceive him, and to be fair, some of his remarks did fall flat, but some hit the mark square, and for the most part, the mostly television and Broadway actor did well, but probably won't be asked back.

    For the most part, the Awards Show had few surprises. Birdman was the odds-on favorite to win a basket full of awards, which it did; J.K. Simmons - one of my personal favorite 'character actors of all time - wins for "Whiplash"; and "American Sniper" was basically shutout, losing 5 out of 6 nominations. Hollywood does not like surprises, and as edgy as those members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) like to think they are, they are extremely predictable in their innate desire to always play it safe on all fronts.

    Even watching grown, strapping men openly, and inconsolably weep when John Legend, and Rapper Common sang of the monumental work of Martin Luther King appeared somewhat safe, predictable and disingenuously contrived. And not to pick on Chris Pine, there were many men blubbering in this well coiffured, overly considered audience, so I reckon they all got the same memo. Nothing edgy here.

    The only edgy ingredient to this incorruptible audience was the openly-gay host, Neil 'Doogie Howser' Patrick. Regardless of what the actors thought of his performance, he kept it as real as he could with completely irreverent comments - at least for this predictable crowd of SAG group thinkers. When one of the award winners for "Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1" were on stage, producer Dana Perry, admitted that she had lost her son to suicide 9 years earlier, and wished that the documentary would raise awareness for veterans' suicide. After she and Ellen Goosenberg Kent, who wore a dress adorned with fluffy balls, left the stage: Host Harris quipped: "It takes a lot of balls to wear a dress like that."

    Insensitive comment? Definitely considering the timing of the comment, but still edgy and uncomfortably funny. Later in the show, when "Citizenfour" won as the Best Documentary for celebrating the Edward Snowden affair, which brought forth a political statement from the producers endorsing Snowden's behavior, which in turn encouraged a huge round of applause from the SAG audience: Neil Patrick Harris remarked, "Edward Snowden couldn't be here for some treason." Now that was funny, and edgy, and surprisingly, there was a smaller contingency within the audience that likewise found the comment as timely and funny as I did.

    Now, the supreme irony to this predominately group-think crowd of Hollywood elite, political positions taken, en masse, is when the North Koreans specifically threatened Hollywood over the politically incorrect film, "The Interview". Actor /Producer George Clooney, no Conservative, begged this same Hollywood elite to sign his petition in support of Free Speech, but understandably, cowardice got the better of these Liberals and not one signature was offered.

    Accordingly, "American Sniper", a film that initially took tremendous political hits from Hollywood Liberals for the misidentified message about the life and work of American Patriot Chris Kyle, failed to win any awards, save one for Sound Editing. Because of the film's theme of the horrors of war and PTSD, and how families deal with it, Hollywood recoiled and placed Producer /Actor Bradley Cooper and Director Clint Eastwood in the Oscar Awards Time Out Chairs. Politically correct liberalism does have its favorites.

    To that point, Oprah Winfrey was occasionally consulted, cajoled and thanked from the stage, while the camera kept a constant vigil on the talk show diva to record her pleasure, or displeasure with the events of the evening. From what we (my wife and I) could tell, the mildly irreverent host did not fair so well with Queen Oprah. For us, this was significantly to the Broadway Actor's credit - yeah, piss off Oprah, good move.

J.K. Simmons: Above.
    Another good move was awarding J.K. Simmons the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. J.K. Simmons has long been one of my favorite character actors of all time. J.K. is smart, extremely empathetic, and lifts every scene that he fills, irrespective of the movie. Another favorite of mine for this season's awards was "American Sniper". So far this year, I have seen, and reviewed, four films nominated for that top award: "Boyhood", "The Grand Budapest Hotel", "Birdman", and "American Sniper". Of the four films, "American Sniper" was the best film and Bradley Cooper was the best actor, especially since the whole film was built around his character, Chris Kyle. That is just my professional, and rather erudite opinion.

    Another rather erudite opinion of mine is that most actors, and quite often Oprah, should just SHUT UP and just perform, that is what you get paid for. Personally, I am wise and overly fair enough to not judge your art on the basis of many of your abjectly stupid comments. But, I warn you this one truth, not everyone is as generous in their judgments as I am.

    If I could offer another word of advice here: If you find that you must proclaim something when you are called to podium. with the whole word watching, maybe you should follow the lead of first time award winner J.K. Simmons, and offer a more reserved pronouncement such as his: "Call your mom. Call your dad, if you're lucky enough to have a parent or two alive on this planet. Even if you just call them to listen, call them."

    Follow J.K.'s lead here, and then you pampered actors, producers, directors, etc. might actually say something noteworthy and meaningful.

    Come join us at our new Movie Database. We welcome you to our latest feature to sort through film data to discover information on actors, directors, film images, or just what is playing, when it will play, or when it did play. It is a work in progress, so we would appreciate your input.

poll#70
Considering tonight's Oscar presentations, and tomorrow's aftermath of such: Which film should receive, or have received, the Oscar as the best picture?
5.71%   "Boyhood"
80%   "American Sniper"
14.29%   "Birdman"
175 total vote(s)     Voting has Ended!

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( February 23rd, 2015 @ 5:08 pm )
 
Note to self: Next year make sure to be working on something else while watching this lengthy, sometimes not so entertaining show that really offers nothing of real substance! I can only get excited but so much about seeing the pretty dresses. I'd rather be watching the movies and voting on my personal favorites



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