SNL Season 39.2 Review - Miley Cyrus

Everyone's interest was peaked when they heard Miley Cyrus, the most talked about and controversial personality in Hollywood over the last few months, would be joining the exclusive ranks of being host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live.  Pulling this double duty only happened three times last season (Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber, and Justin Timberlake), and it's an honor not to be taken likely.  She had hosted once before in 2011, but did not get to sing.  Was someone like Miley Cyrus worthy of such an honor?  Or had she received this job because of her notoriety instead of her talent?  Either way, her hosting gig became the most buzzed-about episode since JT joined the "5-Timers Club" midway through last season.  All I can say is she definitely delivered.

Cold Opening

We open on a post-apocalyptic America 50 years from now as two survivors reminisce about what caused the destruction of America.  Although some blame in on the current government shutdown, it turns out it all started at the 2013 VMA's with Miley Cyrus's controversial performance (of course).  Nothing says SNL quite like hitting a controversy head on and making fun of it.  After a visit from her impersonator, Miley is also encountered by several other scary celebrity impressions.  Rarely does the host show up in the cold opening, but this was a perfect way to start a show with as much buzz as this one.  It definitely got the show off on a great foot.

Monologue

Since the cold opening spent the whole time making fun of its host, there wasn't much left for the monologue.  This led to one of the shortest monologues in recent memory.  Outside of seeing Bobby Moynihan hanging from a wrecking ball in his underwear, there really wasn't worth mentioning.  OK, fair enough, there wasn't anything worth mentioning.

Weekend Update

When done right, Weekend Update can provide a jump start for the show after the first musical performance.  This definitely served that purpose.  Cecily Strong was definitely feeling more comfortable at the Update desk in her second show, and it also involved three solid gold guest bits provided by Kate McKinnon, Jay Pharoah, and Vanessa Beyer.  McKinnon's soccer mom obsessed with GTA Five was spot on, as much of her bits have become.  She has quickly grown on me as one of the best parts of any episode.  Also, whenever Pharoah is allowed to do an impression on the show, it is must-see TV.  This time, it came at the expense of NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe.  It was all wrapped up by Bar-Mitzvah Jacob, one of the great characters from last season.  A classic Update it was!

Best Sketch

I couldn't decide which sketch was my favorite so I am claiming a tie.  First, we have screen tests for the leads in the new 50 Shade of Grey movie, which is always great because it allows the cast to show off their many faces and impressions.  The best of the group being Christoph Waltz and Jane Lynch.

The second sketch is one of the most bizarre sketches you will ever see, but I just loved it.  The government shutdown had to be addressed somehow, but how do do that with Miley Cyrus hosting?  I want to know whose idea it was to make Miley into a sexy Michele Bachmann opposite Taran Killam's scantily clad John Boehner as they re-write Miley's hit into a song called "We Did Stop (The Government)."  This is so wrong in so many ways, but I can't help but love it.  Best moment of the sketch is Obama looking in the window.

Worst Sketch

There were really only two sketches that didn't really work, the worst of these being a cheer squad attacked by aliens.  Yes, a cheer squad attacked by aliens.  They did that.  I don't really think I need to explain anymore than that.  Try to enjoy.  Even though the sketch didn't really work, Taran Killam once again proved that he is the funniest guy in the cast right now.

Dark Horse Sketch

There were two solid sketches worth mentioning after the midnight hour.  My favorite of them was a sketch of a Miami morning show filming their promos for each show of the week.  They show just how fake those morning hosts can be.  If you are wondering why she keeps asking for full names, wait for the payoff at the end.

The second sketch worth mentioning is more for the format than anything.  Everyone was wondering what the new cast members would bring to the table.  They decided to give something new a try with the last sketch of the night, and it was actually pretty funny.  This sketch was not live and looked more like something you would see on YouTube, which makes sense since many of the new cast members were discovered thanks to YouTube.  It wasn't a great sketch, but it has the potential to develop into something great that could end up finally being what the show needed to replace the Lonely Island gang's creativity and originality.

Grade

I loved this episode.  I was expecting to hate it with everything Miley Cyrus had been known for over the last month or so, but it hit on almost every level.  Miley also showed that she can be self-deprecating, but also showed that she is who she is and doesn't really care what other people think.  The new cast members are starting to get comfortable, and the show is starting to find its new stride.  The have some great new talent that we just have to get to know.  This was a great start.

---"A-"---

Watch the full episode here:

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Power Rankings: SNL Season 38 (2012-2013) Hosts

With Season 39 of Saturday Night Live starting tonight, I thought I would look back on the last season and rank the hosts that graced the stage throughout.  Some were great surprises while some greatly disappointing.  No one was terrible, but some were obviously superior.  All had their funny moments.  So here is the countdown of the 21 hosts from last year.

NOTE: Due to SNL and the tight grip they keep their material under when it comes to online viewing, I was not able to attach videos of the different referenced sketches.  However, you can find some of them either through the Saturday Night Live website, Hulu, or YouTube.

21.  Christina Applegate (Episode 4)

This was the second time she had hosted but the first time since her Married ... With Children days.  She really should have kept it at that one appearance.  I mean, she was in the original "Matt Foley Motivational Speaker" sketch.  Very early on in the episode you could tell Christina decided her way of succeeding was to do her best Kristen Wiig impression.  Although it wasn't bad, there is only one Wiig.

Best Sketch - "Choreographer" - A past-her-prime Liza Minnelli wanna-be teaches a group of simpletons how to dance with Fosse jazz hands.

20.  Melissa McCarthy (Episode 17)

I don't know why, but I just don't find her as funny as everyone else does.  Her monologue was great as she came out in ridiculously high heels she literally couldn't walk in and continued to do a dance number from her knees because of it.  However, the sketches were not great for the most part.

Best Sketch - "Pizza Business" - Barb Kellner goes to the bank to get a small business loan to start a pizza business where she eats people's leftover pizza instead of throwing it out.

19.  Vince Vaughn (Episode 18)

I was really looking forward to this episode, but it was one of the most disappointing of the season.  His monologue was strong as he interacted with the crowd to perfection.  However, much like Melissa McCarthy, it was all downhill from there.

Best Sketch - "Short Term Memory Loss Theater" - A doctor decides to start a theater group of his short-term memory loss patients, but all of them forget what they were supposed to do once they get on stage.

18.  Ben Affleck (Episode 21)

The season finale had many highlights with several cast members leaving the show.  However, few of the highlights came from the newest member of the "5-Timers Club."  There's a reason none of the other members showed up for his induction: it wasn't worth it.

Best Sketch - "Bengo F--- Yourself" - Iranian President Ahmadinejad makes his own movie in response to the "blasphemous" Best Picture winner Argo.  Ahmadinejad plays Affleck (who has to say "Park the car in Harvard yard" before every line to find his Boston accent), and Affleck plays a sound tech.  When asked why he would be in such a movie, Affleck says (barely able to hold back the laughter) "I've always wanted to be in a movie worse than Gigli."

17.  Jamie Foxx (Episode 9)

Jamie Foxx was another host that could have been amazing.  Foxx used to do sketch comedy!  So much of this just fell flat once again.  He did help jump start some great sketches that became recurring hits throughout the season though.

Best Sketch - "Maine Justice" - A court room in Maine is run by a group of Hurricane Katrina refugees that never went back to New Orleans.  And let the hilarity ensue.

16.  Kevin Hart (Episode 15)

Kevin Hart strikes me as the type of talent whose skills fit perfectly for SNL (and he even mentioned his SNL audition, and rejection, in his monologue).  Although there were some good moments, it overall was underwhelming.  However, his DeNiro impression was pretty great.

Best Sketch - "Z-Shirt" - The best of the commercial sketches of the year featuring a host was definitely this one about a new line of shirts called Z-shirts.  It's not an ordinary shirt, it's a Z-shirt.  "Is it an A-shirt?"  "Is it a B-shirt?" (5 minutes later) "Is it a Y-shirt?"  Said only as Kevin Hart can.

15.  Daniel Craig (Episode 3)

007 does comedy, and it actually wasn't half bad.  Who knew he could do comedy?  Well, he can pretty much do anything.  It was pretty much on par with Kevin Hart's episode, but the expectations were lower for Craig so the performance seemed better.

Best Sketch - "Construction Workers" - A group of construction workers are talking at the water cooler, and one of them doesn't quite know how to use all the lingo quite right.  Guess which one that was...

14.  Jennifer Lawrence (Episode 11)

Right before Jennifer Lawrence became an Oscar winner, she became an SNL host.  Her monologue was one of the best parts, as she talked trash about all her competition for the Oscar while complementing them at the same time.  Of course, there had to be the shameless Hunger Games sketch which was not that impressive.

Best Sketch - "Girlfriends Talk Show" - A sketch that became a recurring bit this last season starred Aidy Bryant and Cecily Strong as tween best friends hosting a show, but Cecily always brings a friend that acts a little older and ruins all the planned sketches.  Lawrence goes goth and completely nails it.  "My band is called Vag Hat.  Does that scare anyone?"  Aidy's plans are ruined as she wanted to talk about guinea pigs and ended up talking about New York bisexuals instead.

13.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Episode 2)

JGL has hosted before and has shown he is a great host for the show.  This was not one of his best efforts, but it was still a worthy outing.  His ridiculous Magic Mike monologue was a bit much though.

Best Sketch - "Tres Equis" - You can probably guess the premise of this one.  "He is the son of the most interesting man in the world."  "I don't always drink beer, but when I do I drink Tres Equis because it's one better than my dad's."

12.  Adam Levine (Episode 12)

He actually appeared on the show twice in season 38, once as a musical guest with Maroon 5 and this one as a host.  The monologue mocked "The Voice" as Cameron Diaz, Andy Samberg, and Jerry Seinfeld gave him advice on how to host.  This episode also gave me one of my favorite sketches of the season even though Adam Levine had very little to do with it.  Bill Hader's firefighter freak out when Levine shows up with his ex-girlfriend Rula.  Priceless.

Best Sketch - "YOLO" - With a guy like Levine hosting, Samberg and the Lonely Island crew came back to shoot the only digital short of the season, and it was definitely worthy.  The basis of the song was taking the YOLO motto and flipping it.  You only live once so you better not take any risks.  Adam Levine's voice was perfect, and watching Kendrick Lamar rap about 401k's was icing on the cake.

11.  Jeremy Renner (Episode 8)

Here is another actor who is one of the last ones you think of when it comes to comedy, however Jeremy Renner pulls it off.  His best moment of the night was the monologue, where he sings songs about some of his recent movies (his Kings of Leon parody of "Someone Like You" being the best).  The sketches were solid, but this was his best of the night.

Best Sketch - "The Morgue" - Picking a best sketch was hard since the monologue was the highlight, however this one was pretty funny.  Renner's brother died, and he needs to identify the body (Taran Killam) as next of kin.  Somehow he doesn't get it, and goes from saying it is Yao Ming to thinking it's him dead.  As the answers get more ridiculous, Bill Hader as the morgue tech does everything in his power to make Taran crack as the dead corpse, but is unsuccessful.  He is a rock!

10.  Justin Bieber (Episode 13)

Easily the biggest surprise of the SNL season was the episode featuring Justin Bieber as one of the three double duty host/musical guests of the season.  When I heard he was hosting, I rolled my eyes much like I did when I heard Miley Cyrus would be hosting in a few weeks.  However, he was great.  He had no problem of making fun of himself or putting himself in almost any situation.  This episode produced another one of my favorite sketches of the year when Bieber accidentally says "It's glice to meet you," and Taran Killam didn't let him forget it.  "GLICE?!?  WHAT?!?"  Hilarious!

Best Sketch - "Bieber Doubles" - The "Glice" sketch may have been the best sketch of the night, but Bieber's best sketch was actually one that turned into a Bieber bashing party.  In the "Bieber Doubles" sketch, Bieber's new head of security invokes a new security strategy by using multiple stunt doubles (played by every member of the cast except Sudeikis who was the head of security).  When he asks why, the only answer he gets is, "Hey, it worked for Saddam."  When Beiber realizes there are even girls in the group, the explanation is, "Yeah, that's our A-team."  When he is forced to sing to prove how his voice changed, the response from the guys is, "Wow, they must have dropped."  The only one Bieber says looks like him turns out to be Kate McKinnon dressed up like Ellen.  It's always refreshing to know someone like Justin Bieber doesn't really take himself as seriously as it seems.

9.  Louis C.K.  (Episode 6)

The episode immediately following Superstorm Sandy, a still almost abandoned New York City came back to life with Louis C.K.'s night on SNL.  This episode was just fun.  From the monologue, where Louie so unashamedly just did 5 minutes of his stand-up routine (even got a hand-held mic up there), to the closing sketch, you could tell the cast was having as much fun as Louie and the audience was.  Louie is not much of an actor, but it's hard to teach that level of funny.

Best Sketch - "Last Call" - Although many would say Louie's portrayal of Lincoln walking the streets of NYC telling black people "You're welcome" was the best sketch of the night, my favorite was the last sketch of the night.  It's last call at the local pub, and Louie and a early-90's dolled-up Kate McKinnon are the last two at the bar.  It becomes quite obvious that they both decide they are drunk enough and desperate enough to just hook up since they are the last ones left, but the drunken flirtations that led up to them leaving together were priceless.

8.  Zach Galifianakis  (Episode 19)

He is one of the most naturally funny people around.  In a lot of ways, this episode was similar to the Melissa McCarthy episode (invent situations for the host to do their thing as much as possible).  The difference was simply in the execution.  The Game of Game of Thrones sketch was great with Zach dressed up as a dragon on a game show, and his closing of having a stand-in for his house party video so John Hamm could show up later was just ridiculously funny.  A cameo by The Hangover crew doesn't hurt either.

Best Sketch - "Racist M&M" - The scene: an M&M Store with Galifianakis dressed up as the life-size M&M being forced to apologize to the rest of the staff in the store for all the racial slurs he dropped in the first four hours he was on the job.  That's about all you need to know.  Let the awkwardness and hilarity ensue.

7.  Anne Hathaway  (Episode 7)

Seriously, is there anything Anne Hathaway can't do?  She started out as a Disney princess, has done rom-com's, found some serious roles, has now won an Oscar, and has become a very reliable SNL host.  Her monologue was my all-time favorite of the season as the whole cast slowly found their way on the stage as they rewrote the epic Les Miserables song "One Day More" to be about the end of a crazy work week at SNL.  It was ridiculous, but so good at the same time.  Also, her impressions of Katie Holmes and Claire Danes via Carrie Matheson were scary good.

Best Sketch - "The Legend of Mokiki" - Oh my word, I loved this!  It started as Taran Killam just wondering around NYC being insane, but then Anne Hathaway hops in, and they they do the Sloppy Swish together.  It had me laughing at its sure ridiculousness from start to finish.

6.  Christoph Waltz  (Episode 14)

Now we are getting to the fun ones.  Of all the people that could host SNL, this would be one of the last ones you would think of.  However, if you were anything like me, once you heard he was hosting you knew it was going to be awesome.  Forget about the Dos Equis guy, Christoph Waltz is the most interesting man in the world.  Every sketch he nailed.  Two of my favorite sketches of the year came from this episode so I have to mention one here.  "The JaMarcus Brothers" was so silly as Waltz played the adopted brother in a black family that was now recording soulful love songs with his two brothers.  When you make a guy like Kenan crack up in the middle of the sketch.  You know you're nailing it.

Best Sketch - "Djesus Uncrossed" - As much as I loved "The JaMarcus Brothers," this may have been my favorite sketch of the season.  How can you have Christoph Waltz on SNL without taking a pot shot at Quentin Tarantino?  You can't.  Enter the movie trailer for Djesus Uncrossed starring Waltz as Jesus in a Tarantino take on the Messiah.  Every line in it was perfect!  Also, seeing Jesus with a machine gun taking out the Pharisees is so ridiculous, I wouldn't be surprised to actually see Tarantino do it at some point.

5.  Kristen Wiig  (Episode 20)

Part of why Ben Affleck's season finale fell so flat was because one of the most popular cast members of the last 10 years hosted the week before the season after she left the show.  Kristen Wiig brought all the energy we should've had in the finale, including random cameos from Jonah Hill and Maya Rudolph.  It also allowed for a rebirth of all the classic Wiig sketches like Target lady, the Baby Hands, Gilly, Garth and Kat.  Whenever you get a chance to bring back all these well-loved characters, you're going to have a great show.

Best Sketch - "Acupuncture" - Even with all the classic sketches, the best sketch of the night was an acupuncture session with Jason Sudeikis performed by Wiig and Aidy Bryant.  Everything is going fine until blood starts shooting out of his back.  By the end of the sketch, everything is covered in blood as his back is now gushing.  They even start feeding it back to him.  It was just hilarious.

4.  Bruno Mars  (Episode 5)

There were two newcomers to the hosting ranks at SNL I can't wait to see host again sometime soon.  Bruno Mars is definitely one of them.  Starting with his monologue where, of course, he sang a song about how he has no business hosting SNL, Bruno showed everyone why he is a perfect host.  He is smart, funny, talented, and will do anything for the laugh.  The next time he hosts (and he will host again), he will be even more comfortable and even better.  Next time, I hope he just hosts though.  Split it up like Adam Levine did.  His voice was seriously tired by the end of that second song.

Best Sketch - "Devin the Pandora Intern" - This was the perfect way to take advantage of your host.  There's a power outage at Pandora, and random channels are shutting down their vocal tracks.  Here comes Devin the Intern to the rescue.  Bruno shows off his impressions of Green Day, Katy Perry, Aerosmith, Louie Armstrong, Justin Bieber, and yes, even Michael Jackson.  It may not have been the funniest sketch, but it was one of the most entertaining sketches of the season.

3.  Martin Short  (Episode 10)

I was wondering to myself, "Why are they bringing back an old irrelevant comedian that has nothing to plug to be the host of the Christmas episode, one of the biggest shows of the year?"  Then I watched the episode and found out.  Martin Short is damn funny.  With the Christmas episode also brought more cameos than I can count, but it was Short (with some help at times from musical guest Paul McCartney) that stole the show.  Seriously, Martin Short yelling at McCartney in a Christmas audition telling him he's not allowed to sing?  Amazing!

Best Sketch - "The Royal Ah-Hem" - My favorite sketch of the season.  Martin Short plays a representative of the royal family going to visit Kate Middleton's OB/GYN to give him the proper procedures for dealing with a royal "ah-hem."  And the magic commenced.  When Bill Hader, as the OB/GYN, asked if he could call it anything but the royal "ah-hem," the list of alternatives just sent it over the edge.  The Chunnel?  Her Downton Abbey?  Dame Judy Dench?!?  I was laughing for days.

2.  Seth MacFarlane  (Episode 1)

The season got off to a great start as one of the most talented behind the scenes people in the business all of a sudden became very much in front of everyone this last year.  Between Ted, hosting the Oscars, and kicking off the SNL season, Seth MacFarlane has shown just how talented he is without the drawings.  He didn't deviate too far in his monologue though, which featured Peter Griffin, Stewie, Brian, Quagmire, Kermit, Marty McFly (oh my word, Marty McFly!!!), and a mopey Democratic dog.  It also came up again in his puppetry class which Bill Hader stole.  The most fun of the night was the ode to "Gangnam Style," as it started with some impersonations and ended up with Psy on stage getting everyone dancing.

Best Sketch - "Wooden Spoons" - I may be alone on this one, but my favorite sketch of the show was the throwaway sketch just before it all ended.  It was a one minute sketch max about some Amish spoon makers discovering the internet to help them sell their products.  Their commercial included their website without any knowledge of what letters are called.  It started with, "Double valley, double valley, double valley, time freckle..."  It seems harmless, but it gets ridiculous the further into it you go.  It's the simple things really.

1.  Justin Timberlake  (Episode 16)

Was there any doubt?  It takes a true talent to come in and instantly become a part of the cast.  It also is telling when you can put together almost an entire episode of classic bits from a guy who was never a regular cast member.  Then he took two sketches Jamie Foxx started (Maine Justice and the Porn Star Infomercial gals) and made them funnier.  On top of all that, this was JT's 5th hosting gig, which put him in the "5-Timers Club."  When it seemed like no one cared that Ben Affleck joined this prestigious group, everyone showed up to honor Timberlake's induction.  When your monologue includes Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Martin Short, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Paul Simon, and Candace Bergen, you know you are in for something special.  Then you "Bring it on down to Vegan-ville" with a tribute to the Harlem Shake, and have the Three Amigos in full regalia introduce one of the musical numbers.  It was a special night.

Best Sketch - "It's a Date" - You can't have Justin Timberlake on SNL without Andy Samberg and a tribute to the "Dick in a Box" guys.  They popped up here as dual bachelors on a dating show.  Every response they had another one of their priceless jams.  Then we pan over to their competition and you see, wait for it, Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin as the Wild and Crazy Guys.  Oh, the symmetry of it all.  What an amazing show!



Well, we will see how Season 39 kicks off tonight.  With Tina Fey hosting, I'm sure it will start pretty strong.

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Oscar Recap: Winners/Losers, Stats, and more

It was a terrific and memorable Oscar ceremony. For the first time in years, almost everything that happened was acceptable. There weren't any real downright shockers, but the surprises were cool and interesting. This is as good as it gets for Oscar telecasts. I am not as good at this as Zach, but check out my thoughts below:

Seth MacFarlane

Reviews of the ceremony, whether justifiably or not, will always start and end with the host. Seth MacFarlane was hilarious. He got the humor of the Oscars to be a bit more lively and hip, but he wasn't disrespectful. He pulled in the younger demographic with his Family Guy-type humor, but it was tame enough to stay classy enough for the event. He took a few cheap shots at easy targets like Mel Gibson and Chris Brown, but they worked. From his opening line about making Tommy Lee Jones laugh to the final number with Kristin Chenowith, MacFarlane got it right.

His opening monologue with William Shatner was funny throughout, but it took forever. It was almost like a sitcom episode. His skits about The Flying Nun and Flight were ok, but they were odd and really made the thing go a bit overboard. I loved his subtle Good Will Hunting reference (“It's not your fault.”) after telling Ben Affleck that the Academy knows they screwed up. Later, however, he apparently pissed off Affleck with something he said, either the Kardashian bit or the “getting inside Lincoln's head” bit, but either way, he was not pleased and had a very awkward moment telling him off, almost in a Sean Penn-highly-uncomfortable type of way. Almost every joke he gave worked, and the ones that didn't, he acted like a pro and deflected the negative energy. He was the best host in years.

Oscar Stats

1. Daniel Day-Lewis became the first 3-time Best Actor winner. He is only the 6^th ever to win 3 acting Oscars of any kind. All 3 came within an 11 film span.

2. Ang Lee became the third Director ever and the first since 1956 to win 2 Best Director awards without having either win Best Picture. He previously won for Brokeback Mountain (and should have won for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).

3. Christoph Waltz becomes only the third actor in the last 30 years to win Oscars in his first 2 tries. The previous ones were Sally Field in 1979/1984 and Kevin Spacey in 1995/1999.

4. George Clooney became the second person ever to have nominations in 6 different categories. Walt Disney was the other.

5. Life of Pi won Best Visual Effects, extending the streak of Best Picture nominees in the category. The last time a Best Picture nominee lost to a non-BP nominee was 1970.

6. There was a tie in the Sound Editing category, the 6^thin Academy history and the first since Live Action short split in 1995.

7. Jennifer Lawrence (22) became the second youngest Best Actress winner ever, only being topped by Marlee Matlin (21).

8. Argo became the first Best Picture winner since Driving Miss Daisy in 1989 to not be nominated for Best Director.

9. Argo became the 2^nd film in the last 36 years to win Best Picture with only 3 wins. Crash was the other, also presented by Jack Nicholson.

10. Silver Linings Playbook was the first film in 8 years to be nominated for Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay. Million Dollar Baby was the last to do so.

Oscar Speeches

There is always a lot of talk about the Oscar speeches. Who gave the best, most emotional, most genuine, most boring, longest, etc. Here are my rankings of my top 5 of the ceremony:

5. Ben Affleck, Grant Heslov, George Clooney – Best Picture – Argo. Affleck continued his trend of speaking almost incomprehensibly fast, appearing nervous and just astonished that he has come so far since he was last invited 15 years ago.

4. Claudio Miranda – Best Cinematography – Life of Pi. You could tell that Miranda was just so touched and overjoyed that his work he loved so much was singled out, almost to the point of not being able to express it in words.

3. Daniel Day-Lewis – Best Actor – Lincoln. Day-Lewis was funny, charming, and his bit about his wife living with all those different crazy men was beautifully delivered.

2. Christoph Waltz – Best Supporting Actor – Django Unchained. Waltz was so overwhelmed with receiving the award and basically gave all of the love to Tarantino. As Zach pointed out, he really is Tarantino's Dianne Wiest.

1. Chris Terrio – Best Adapted Screenplay – Argo. Terio's speech was frenetic, brilliantly-delivered, and emotional, just like his film. He was so moved and gave Affleck the props for helping him achieve the same heights that Affleck did with his first script.

One of the weakest speeches probably belonged to Tarantino, which you could see by Jamie Foxx's reactions that he almost sounded like a complete dick during it until he brought it back. He cut off the band to finish up his wayward speech. He is awesome anyway. Brave's winners were also a bit off during its award. Not all that many of them were bad, though. There are usually a handful that are horrible or just way too long. They did well this year.

Winners and Losers

Ok, so here is my “Sportsnation”-style winners and losers rundown. Check it out:

Winner: Quentin Tarantino. He has his first award in 18 years, officially showing that the Academy will recognize him no matter how indulgent the material.

Loser: Stage ushers. The biggest moment of the night when the star Best Actress winner Jennifer Lawrence goes up to accept her trophy, there is no one to help her up the stage? She fell flat on her face, if you didn't know already. Good thing she is so quick n her feet and a goofball or else that could have been a devastating moment.  

Loser: Chasing Ice and “Pi's Lullaby”. I am not sure why the other three songs got a live performance and these didn't. A little distasteful. That would have been a cool excuse to invite Scarlett Johansson to the ceremony as well, if appearing with the rest of The Avengers cast wasn't enough of a reason. 

Winner: Ben Affleck. Not being nominated for Best Director and everyone knowing what a joke that is, he is on a path to become the next in the line of great directors without an Oscar and getting that important “overdue” label. His Best Picture speech was great and essentially what he would have said for Best Director.

Winner: Jaws theme. Great choice by the Academy to not just have the normal orchestra music to cut the long speeches off.

Winner: Singers who were popular in the '60s. Shirley Bassey (“Goldfinger”) and Barbara Streisand (“The Way We Were”) both got standing ovations for their performances of their songs from 40-50 years ago.

Loser: Harvey Weinstein. He wasn't able to buy Best Picture this time, and his two main contenders (Django Unchained, Silver Linings Playbook) only won a total of 3 awards.

Loser: Joaquin Phoenix's Oscar clip. Despite being perhaps the best scene of the year, Phoenix appears in the audience shaking his head, showing again his displeasure for the whole process.

Winner: Ties. The first tie in 18 years gave a cool and rare twist to the ceremony.

Winner: Jack Nicholson's house. Ted and Marky Mark revealed the massive Hollywood orgy's secret location during their presenting of the Sound categories.

Winner: Neighbors. Tarantino accepted his reward by letting everyone know that his presenter Charlize Theron was his neighbor, and how cool that is that he gets it from her. Oh, and thank you Mr. Hoffman.

Winner: Possibility of Day-Lewis and Streep as costars. DDL's speech was awesome with his bit about Streep. They clearly have a lot of mutual respect. They need to join forces at some point.

Loser: The audience. They were totally awkward when they clapped during Kidman's presentation of 3 of the Best Picture nominees and not clapping during DDL's announcing of Kushner, Spielberg, and Honest Abe.

Winner: Chicago, apparently. There was a long love-fest with the Oscar darling from 10 years ago, including their whole principal cast giving out the music awards. 

Losing: Tipping your hand. The last two major Oscar musical Best Supporting Actress winners performed, followed by Hathaway performing. Then they gave her the Oscar. “Skyfall” is performed alone just before it receives the Best Original Song Oscar.

Winner: Star Trek. The appearance of William Shatner and some other talk of the franchise throughout the ceremony helps this year's release into the Star Trek canon.

Winner: Kilts. Screw typical American formal wear, I am wearing my kilt when I am accepting my Oscar!

Loser: The Avengers. The blockbuster smash lost Best Visual Effects and their presenting was stupid if it was staged and just distasteful if it wasn't.

Winner: Appearing to be stoned. Renee Zellweger and Kristen Stewart. Go watch it back if you don't believe me.

Winner: Best Picture format. The new format finally worked. If there had been the 5 BP nominees, then Argo would probably not have gotten nominated. They were able to get at least this category right, even though they screwed up the other big one.

Loser: Foreign Films' chances of winning big. Amour appeared to be more Diving Bell than Talk to Her at this ceremony. Note: If it is nominated for Foreign Language Film, it will not contend in the major categories anymore.

Winner: John Lasseter. Pixar takes Animated Feature in an upset, and the Papermandirector thanks him in his speech.

Winner: Silent movies (again). Paperman taking Animated short proves that the Academy is still longing to live in the past.

Loser: Beasts of the Southern Wild. It was the only one of the 9 Best Picture nominee to get shut out.

Winner: CGI. Cinematography and Visual Effects have gone to the same major CGI film each of the last 4 years.

Loser: The novelty of seeing Kate Winslet's boobs. MacFarlane's ode to toplessness on screen pointed out how often our favorite nude star shows us her...assets.

Winner and Loser: Michelle Obama. Announcing Best Picture was a cool twist. However, whatever she was saying was so damn boring and longwinded that no one remembers it.

Winner: The Coppolas. Roman Coppola was another Coppola nominated, which was pointed out by MacFarlane in a funny bit about their family dynamics.

Winner: The Oscars. The show was a much better production than in past years. They may have found their host of the future, one who is even a nominee now. They didn't let the beginning drag only to rush the most important awards, at least not as much as usual. It was a great show, one of the best I have seen.

Thoughts on the ceremony? The winners? The snubs? MacFarlane? How did you do on the Oscar Challenge? Let me know!

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