Oscars: The Morning After

By Rob Christopher in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 28, 2011 4:00PM

If you go into the evening with no expectations, you'll enjoy yourself. Last night's Oscar telecast, co-hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway, seems to have garnered some bad reviews. At our party, though, the general consensus was that the ceremony was relatively straightforward, moderately entertaining, and almost entirely free of surprises--with some notable exceptions.

As we'd hoped, Wally Pfister did indeed win Best Cinematography, one of four statuettes given to Inception. The King's Speech took home four of the biggest awards, including Best Picture. The Social Network got a couple consolation prizes, and The Fighter was shown some love by AMPAS as well. (Melissa Leo showed AMPAS a little too much love in return.) Out of the big films only True Grit failed to take home anything.

Here's our rundown of last night's most notable moments:

• A very funny opening short parodying Inception. Alec Baldwin sipping from an Ambien juicebox: "The secret to hosting the Oscars is--zzzzzz."
• Shoutout to James Franco's grandma.
• Kirk Douglas, at the age of 94, going off script. And then Melissa Leo's rambling acceptance speech. The f-word rears its head. Thank goodness for the time-delay. A running joke is born.
• Anne Hathaway, complete with a Gidget hairdo, tries to outdo Hugh Jackman by doing a musical number. James Franco then appears in a Marilyn Monroe dress. "The funny thing is I just got a text from Charlie Sheen."
• Christian Bale wins the award for Most Slang in an Acceptance Speech. He thanks someone named Boomer (but neglects to mention Apollo or Starbuck). "I'm not going to drop the f-bomb," he vows.
• Cate Blanchett introduces the nominees for Best Makeup. After the clip from The Wolfman she declares, "That's gross!"
• A montage of movie songs includes a clip from President Obama, who waxes nostalgic about "As Time Goes By" from Casablanca.
• In accepting the Oscar for Best Short Film, filmmaker Luke Matheny thanks his mom for providing craft services (i.e. feeding the cast and crew). Everyone laughs.
• Another funny short: autotuned movie songs, including "He Doesn't Own a Shirt" from Twilight.
• Just about the only political moment came from documentarian Charles Ferguson, accepting for Inside Job: “Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after our horrific financial crisis caused by massive fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail, and that’s wrong.”
• More music moments: Florence injects some life into the Best Original Song performances; winner Randy Newman says he's trying to make for good TV but, "To hell with it"; Trent Reznor accepts for Best Original Score--and looks for all the world like somebody's dad.
• After lots of other predictable wins, including a gracious speech from Best Actor-winner Colin Firth, the ceremony ends with a bunch of kids singing "Over the Rainbow." Aww.

Okay, your turn to dish: what did you like and what did you hate?