The Best + Worst of the 2013 Oscars

The day after the Oscars, everyone is a member of the Academy of Criticizing the Oscars and giving out — or not giving out — awards for everything and everyone that was part of the evening.

And we’re no different. We watched the show, took a little time, and now we have our opinions. We also watched the internet and we have your opinions too.

Here are our picks for best and worst of the Oscars.

Best

• Opening: Host Seth MacFarlane can sing and dance. And a little William Shatner never hurts. Have we mentioned the sock puppets? Yes, the sock puppets.
• ‘Jaws’ Play-Off Music: We weren’t fans of winners having their speeches cut off when we had to sit through long celebrity presentations – we’ll get to that in the next section – but we were fans of the music the producers chose to do it. Using the theme from ‘Jaws’ was a stroke of pure evil genius.
• Host: First-timer Seth MacFarlane did a great job right out of the gate. He may have offended a few people, but he stayed true to his style – which is why they hired him, we’re sure – without alienating everyone.
• Songs: Those of us who aren’t completely uptight really enjoyed the MacFarlane singing and dancing numbers. Opening the show with an ode to seeing all of the actresses’ boobs in various movies and closing with a song called ‘Here’s to the Losers‘ was a bit edgy, but all kinds of fun.
• Divas: The Academy really pulled out all the stops when it came to inviting divas to the show. We still can’t get over the fantastic performances by Shirley Bassey, Adele, Jennifer Hudson, Norah Jones and Barbra Streisand. Catherine Zeta-Jones did her best lip syncing, but these other women truly brought down the house.
• Host Jokes: MacFarlane put his mark on Oscars history with a few exceptional zingers. He followed a not-well-taken joke about John Wilkes Booth being the one actor who really got into Lincoln’s head with, “What? 150 years later and it’s still too soon?” He made a fun dig at Mel Gibson by comparing his voicemail transcripts to the script of ‘Django Unchained.’ And he had his fun with the Kardashians when he noticed Ben Affleck’s dark hair and beard and said, “I thought, ‘The Kardashians have finally made the jump to film.’” And we’ll give him full credit for introducing the Von Trapp family and, when they didn’t appear, having an Austrian military official tell him that “they’re gone.” A fun, if not a bit outdated, reference to a popular musical movie.

Worst

• Award Presentations: While MacFarlane was definitely on, it seemed like the presenters were definitely not. Several of the award presentations were long and awkward and seemed to waste time that producers later stole from acceptance speeches.
• Cutting Off Speeches: After the terrible and lengthy award presentations, seeing non-celebrity award winners get cut off mid-speech seemed somewhat tacky. Just because we don’t read about them in the tabloids doesn’t mean those talented people shouldn’t have their time.
• Endless Montages: The show had a theme this year – music of the movies – and apparently that meant the producers had a license to fill time with montages and random musical numbers. But all the musical homages and the celebratory Bond montage seemed to kill the pacing of the show. On the upside, they presented good opportunities to go to the bathroom or get more snacks.
• Robert De Niro’s Hair: Someone please give that man a comb. And maybe some gel.
• Kristen Stewart Presenting: This young lady is clearly uncomfortable speaking in front of people. And she obviously lost a fight recently. How about we stop putting her on stage? The producers should have stuck with actors with vibrant personalities. Daniel Radcliffe isn’t a wizard in real life. There’s only so much he can do.

Source: The Best + Worst of the 2013 Oscars