Oscar highlights and lowlights (one day late)

The Oscars are officially yesterday’s news. But now that we’re counting down 363 days until the next awards, what will you most remember– for good and for bad? Here, we rattle off our 10 favorite moments of the night, and our five not so favorite. Did we hit the mark with what you were thinking, too?

Highlights

Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin cohosting. These two wild and crazy guys were funny– admit it. Their bits cuddled in a Snuggie, pretending to only be five years older than Zac Efron and Taylor Lautner and even shouting out to “The Hangover” (a 2009 smash that could never anticipate Oscar, but certainly deserves its due) brought the awards show down at least one necessary notch.
Best score dance tribute. In years past, each of the best song nominees have been performed live throughout the Oscars, but it’s usually a little boring. In a twist on that idea, the best score nominees were performed by street dancers, and it ended up a definite highlight of the evening.
Cameron Diaz and Steve Carell. Again, two funny actors were able to bring an otherwise snotty awards show down to the level of a regular viewer. A funny intro about being beautiful people led right into the animated feature film category, and since both actors have voiced characters before (Diaz for “Shrek” and Carell for “Horton Hears a Who!”), it all added up nicely.
“District 9.” Every year, there are a few riveting movies that come out but remain completely under the radar– small budget films that make big impacts with audiences and critics alike, to quote Chris Pine introducing “District 9″ as a best picture nominee this year. Sometimes these movies make it to the Oscars, but often they do not. When they do, as in the case of this sci-fi thriller, it’s an achievement for movies and moviemakers everywhere. “District 9″ was nominated for four Oscars this year, and although it didn’t take home even one, the recognition alone was important and gratifying. And it’s a good scary movie too, and worth an add to your Netflix queue.
Horror tribute. Apparently, horror is the most popular genre– who knew? It’s our favorite though, and this tribute was long overdo. Getting to see some of Hollywood’s A-list (like Jack Nicholson, Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp) in classic horror clips brought the genre’s significance back to front of mind. And since it’s a difficult feat for even the best-crafted horror movie to get Academy recognition, it’s at least nice to know they’re still down with scary.
John Hughes tribute. Clearly, Hughes was a decade-defining writer and director. In addition to launching the careers of Molly Ringwald, Matthew Broderick and Macaulay Culkin, Hughes always had a message to teenagers: It’s okay to be you. You didn’t have to grow up in the 80′s to love and relate to “The Breakfast Club,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” or “Weird Science”; you just had to be in high school once. (We shouted out to our favorite Hughes’ films back in August. Did we get it right or were we way off base?)
NPH intro. Doogie got it right when he said no one wants to do it alone– and he perfectly set up the idea of two hosts for this year’s Oscars. After his roaring success hosting last September’s Emmy Awards, Neil Patrick Harris got the chance to show off his singing chops, and his comedic timing, on the big stage.
Ryan Reynolds and Rachel McAdams presenting. This is really just a personal thing, but we happen to love these two crazy kids. They’re both beautiful and lovable, and interestingly, Canadian. But mainly, we kind of just want to be best friends with them, and so we were happy to see them on the Oscars stage.
Sandra Bullock as best actress. We’re not going to say she’s had the best film career in Hollywood, because with “Speed,” “While You Were Sleeping” and “The Lake House” on her resume, she hasn’t. But Sandra Bullock has been a Hollywood darling for more than 15 years, and she’s earned her place. She’s classy and she’s funny, and “The Blind Side” would have been nothing without her as she truly made the movie.
Screenwriting recognition. Since our biggest dream in life is to one day accept the Oscar for best original screenplay, we most look forward to the writing awards each year. Tina Fey and Robert Downey Jr. had one of the best interplays of the evening with their writer vs. actor dialogue: Fey: “And what does a writer look for in an actor? Memorizing. Not paraphrasing. Fear of ad libbing.” Downey Jr.: “It’s a collaboration. A collaboration between handsome, gifted people and sickly little mole people.” We laughed out loud, but the truth is, every good movie starts with a good script. Here’s to writers everywhere.

Lowlights

“Avatar” not winning bigger. It’s not the highest grossing movie of all time (three short months after being released) for nothing. “Avatar” is an amazing accomplishment in moviemaking, perfectly blending a solid script with the most amazing technical features ever. It only took home three of its nine Oscar nominations on Sunday night, and we think that’s a little bit of a travesty.
The documentary short Kayne moment. “Music by Prudence” is the 33-minute movie directed by Roger Ross Williams that won the best documentary short Oscar on Sunday. Elinor Burkett was a producer on the movie who removed herself from the film nearly a year ago, and despite a lawsuit between the two and their understandably not speaking to each other, Burkett still found it reasonable to storm the stage during Williams’ acceptance speech. Faux. Pas.
Miley Cyrus and Elizabeth Banks presenting. We’ll keep this one short: Miley Cyrus is a 17-year-old pop singer, and Elizabeth Banks is just not funny. Next time ladies, please stay home.
Mo’Nique as best supporting actress. Let’s review Mo’Nique’s acting credits: “Moesha,” “The Parkers” and “Phat Girlz.” And now she’s an Oscar winner…and an arrogant one at that. Her acceptance speech opened with, “First, I would like to thank the Academy, for showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics.” In other words, “I’m an amazing actress.” Also, she thanked Tyler Perry, and we’re not even going to start in on how many things are wrong with that.
Ten best picture nominees. To their credit, they made it work, periodically presenting each of the best picture nominees so as not to overwhelm viewers with so, so many. And in the final moments of the 2010 Academy Awards when Tom Hanks presented the Oscar for best motion picture, he didn’t keep viewers waiting by rattling off all 10 nominees again. Still, we think 10 was just way too many, and took credibility away from the more deserving nominees in the category. There will only ever be one winner, but now there are nine losers. Let’s bring it back to five nominees, and the esteem of the category can be restored.

(Of course, the biggest Oscars highlight of all for me this year was my lovely friends showing up at my place with bottles of wine and dressed up in black tie garb. It wouldn’t be an Oscars party without them, and I think these photos will prove just that.)