Oscar rant for 2020

Ok. Now it's time for another rant. This time about the Oscars. I watched the whole show yesterday and mixed emotions as usual. There were things I thought were good, but there were lots of terrible moments.

First, the opening number. I like the performer who sang in it but this whole number reminded me of 60s-80s era kitsch, the kind that were nixed when Billy Crystal hosted (he's always poke fun of those numbers). Apparently some Academy programmer felt the need to bring it back I guess, but it didn't work for me.

What they should have done is opened with that montage of the musical moments from movies and Eminem's performance. That would have made sense. Also someone should have emphasized musical moments from the last 30-40 years, since that montage included nothing from classic Hollywood, not even a Judy Garland movie.

In future years, they should do something different with In Memoriam. Maybe make it longer, 5-6 minutes. Who is really looking at their watch during that segment besides commercial advertisers?

This year, the montage-makers started a new trend by including two people on the same screen to speed things up. But come on, is that needed? I saw Katherine Burns on the screen with Terry Jones. I think it's nice that someone remembered her; she had one significant supporting role in the mostly-forgotten 1969 film Last Summer and was nominated for Supporting Actress. However,  she was in virtually nothing since then and hardly anyone knows who she is or that film credit. On the other hand Terry Jones had more prolific credits. What they need to do is honor one person and show a clip of their film and/or a title/logo of the movie with it so people know what movie they were associated with. The Oscars used to do this years ago and it was a good practice.

I think it's time to admit that most people watching the Oscars In Memoriam have no idea who half the people are. That's why you need to include more movie clips with the person's picture, and not just 1 second of them. Show the title and logo too. People - especially groups of people watching at a viewing party - like to go "ooh" and "ahh" and have their memories jarred with movies when they watch these clips.

And as far as who was left out..... Someone needs a talking to. Not honoring Michael J. Pollard or Valentina Cortese seems really brainless. Sure, they didn't have many prolific credits but they were  Oscar nominees at least. How Katherine Burns was left in while those two - as well as Luke Perry who was in the Tarantino movie - were left out is a mystery to me.

Maybe in future years, just eliminate that segment - is it really needed?

I don't know. I don't think it's necessary, but it is nice to be reminded of movie history a little. When else during the ceremony do you see clips from older movies? Or even veteran stars? It was great that Jane Fonda, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks made appearances, but what about some other movie legends?

Were Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig there to plug a movie? If so, someone should have said so. Same with Will Ferrell and Julia Louis Dreyfus (they are appearing in one opening soon). Without an announcer or presenter/host we're left in the dark as to why some of those people - TV stars mainly - are there.

I liked seeing Shia LaBeouf and his costar from The Peanut Butter Falcon, the young actor with Down Syndrome. But please, plug the movie at least. It's a good movie. Someone should have been there to champion it and say, "And here are the two stars of one of last year's pleasant surprises, etc"

I could go on but I think that's it for now. Rant over....haha