Anyone who knows that the Oscarts are an inside game could pretty much figure out who was going to win Sunday night. I knew that Matthew McConaughey would win Best Actor for Dallas Buyers Club, not because he gave the best performance but because he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Dramatic Actor and several awards thereafter.
But just because the Oscars can be predictable doesn't mean they can't be fun. While this year's Oscars hosted by Ellen Degeners was entertaining at times, it was extremely dry compared to the Oscars last year hosted by Seth MacFarlane. The creator of Family Guy brought fresh ideas and energy to the ceremony, making it excitable for the young demographic that Hollywood is desperately trying to reach. "We Saw Your Boobs" may have offended many women in Hollywood and across the country, yet there's no denying that MacFarlane is a creative genius. One of the skits included in last year's Oscars was a re-enactment of Flight made entirely out of sock puppets (which was the first time I ever laughed while watching the Academy Awards) and the every end of the show featured MacFarlane singing a song about the winners and losers, which was written on the fly as the winners were being announced.
That's not to say Degeneres did a bad job. I enjoyed her bit of ordering pizza and taking a selfie with some of the celebrities in the audience (but why she would take a selfie in the first place is beyond me. the fact that she hosted the Oscars proves that she was there). Some of her jokes I found clever, but none of them made me laugh. The set looked confusing with all those Oscar statues on the stage, and the only musical performance I enjoyed was "Happy" sung by Pharrell Williams.
What made the Oscars even more uninteresting was that there was no sense of drama. At least last year's ceremony was all about Ben Affleck's comeback, a fallen actor who transformed himself into a critically-acclaimed and Oscar-winning director. But this year's ceremony featured no underdog, no person to root for as the list of nominees were being read. Everyone who I expected to win pretty much did win, the only ones I missed being in the technical categories.
The Academy chose Degeners mostly because of her 25 million Twitter followers. But if they are interested in keeping young people like myself interested, they should call MacFarlane right away.
But just because the Oscars can be predictable doesn't mean they can't be fun. While this year's Oscars hosted by Ellen Degeners was entertaining at times, it was extremely dry compared to the Oscars last year hosted by Seth MacFarlane. The creator of Family Guy brought fresh ideas and energy to the ceremony, making it excitable for the young demographic that Hollywood is desperately trying to reach. "We Saw Your Boobs" may have offended many women in Hollywood and across the country, yet there's no denying that MacFarlane is a creative genius. One of the skits included in last year's Oscars was a re-enactment of Flight made entirely out of sock puppets (which was the first time I ever laughed while watching the Academy Awards) and the every end of the show featured MacFarlane singing a song about the winners and losers, which was written on the fly as the winners were being announced.
That's not to say Degeneres did a bad job. I enjoyed her bit of ordering pizza and taking a selfie with some of the celebrities in the audience (but why she would take a selfie in the first place is beyond me. the fact that she hosted the Oscars proves that she was there). Some of her jokes I found clever, but none of them made me laugh. The set looked confusing with all those Oscar statues on the stage, and the only musical performance I enjoyed was "Happy" sung by Pharrell Williams.
What made the Oscars even more uninteresting was that there was no sense of drama. At least last year's ceremony was all about Ben Affleck's comeback, a fallen actor who transformed himself into a critically-acclaimed and Oscar-winning director. But this year's ceremony featured no underdog, no person to root for as the list of nominees were being read. Everyone who I expected to win pretty much did win, the only ones I missed being in the technical categories.
The Academy chose Degeners mostly because of her 25 million Twitter followers. But if they are interested in keeping young people like myself interested, they should call MacFarlane right away.
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