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Were the 85th Academy Awards a game changer?

From songs about boobs
to (Gl teddy bears

By Angela Espinoza, Arts Editor

he 85th Academy Awards

happened on Sunday,
February 24, and it was, to say
the least, interesting. First-time
host Seth Macfarlane managed
to keep the otherwise mediocre
show afloat with—what
oftentimes felt improvised—
semi-offensive jokes. An
apparent “musical theme” ran
throughout the ceremony as
well, and while most of the
songs performed were from
previously Oscar-nominated
films, this failed to take away
from the handful of amazing
musical performances. As usual,
the worst part of the show was
the awkward banter between
award presenters.

But back onto the positives,
the majority of the awards
handed out this year felt very
fair. Some were pretty obvious
wins, such as Christoph
Waltz’s second win for Actor
in a Supporting Role (although
Phillip Seymour Hoffman in
The Master was definitely a
close second) and Daniel Day-
Lewis’ third win for Actor in
a Leading Role for Lincoln. As
always though, the surprises
were the real treat of the night,
with some of the bigger ones
including Searching for Sugar
Man for Documentary Feature,
Anne Hathaway—who I
might add gave a tearfully
heartfelt speech—for Actress

in a Supporting Role, and the
biggest surprise of the night,
Argo for Best Picture. Argo’s win
was such a surprise because

so many other excellent films
were nominated with it, all of
which were fair game. This
year’s Oscar ceremony had one
of the best film lineups in recent
years—though I will say that

I think Life of Pi got a little too
much love for many of the same
reasons that Avatar did back in
2010.

What I feel people will
be Googling most though is if
there’s ever been another tie in
Oscar history, since both Skyfall
and Zero Dark Thirty won for
Sound Editing... either way,
good for both of them!

Finally, my last and most
important award reaction,
Animated Feature going to
Brave? Bull. Shit. Go watch
Wreck-It Ralph or ParaNorman.
Now those films deserved an
award!

Going back to Seth
Macfarlane, I knew from the
moment he was announced as
a host that I would love him. If
he were the go-to host for the
next... we'll say five years, I’d be
ecstatic. Whether his jokes were
on or off-script, the majority
were fairly hilarious. His little
dance numbers and brief songs
at the start of the show were
definitely some of the stronger
moments—although the “intro”
also ran longer than it should
have. With a very strange drop-
in by an elderly James T. Kirk
(William Shatner), the odd
skit was greatly livened up by
some classy dance numbers
performed by Channing Tatum
with Charlize Theron, and

 

Daniel Radcliff with Joseph
Gordon-Levitt (and Flight
recreated with sock puppets was
pretty amazing too). Even as
the show ran about 40 minutes
overtime, Macfarlane, albeit
nervous, never completely lost
his cool, and brought some of
the better-improvised jokes of
the evening during that time
period.

What kept the class-factor
up as Macfarlane stood to the
side for those always god-awful
award presentations were,
again, the song performances.
From Catherine Zeta-Jones’
lively rendition of “All That
Jazz” to 76-year-old Shirley
Bassey’s jaw-dropping
performance of “Goldfinger,”
the musical performances
never failed to impress. One of
the bigger highlights though

What would you do for your son?

We review the new
film ‘Snitch

By Steven Cayer, Contributor

om) |)

never thought I'd write this,

but Dwayne Johnson almost
made me cry. In Snitch (released
February 22), a crime-drama
directed by Ric Roman Waugh
and based on true events, a
loving father (Dwayne Johnson)
finds his estranged son (Rafi

6

Gavron) arrested for drug
possession. The film states

that US drug laws require a
minimum of 10 years in jail for
drug possession in the case of
first-timers. In order to lower
his son’s sentence, Johnson's
character makes a deal with the
prosecutor (Susan Sarandon)

to become an informant for the
DEA, while also hoping to make
more than just an arrest.

The first time I saw the
trailer for Snitch, I thought it
would be just another Dwayne
Johnson action movie—boy, was
I was wrong. The movie didn’t
waste any time pulling me into
the plot and its characters, and
not just at the beginning; I was

on the edge of my seat the whole
time. Waugh does a good job
in making the audience really
feel something and care about
protagonist John Matthews
and his partner (played by Jon
Bernthal, known best for his role
as Shane on The Walking Dead).
This brings me to the
question I asked at the
beginning: what would you
do for your son? Throughout
the movie, I found myself
repeatedly asking this same
question. Now, I found this a
bit tough, considering I don’t
have ason, but I found it easier
to imagine it if I put myself in
Johnson’s likely humongous
shoes.

was definitely the live full-cast
performance of “Suddenly”
from Les Misérables—Hugh,
Anne, Amanda, and even
Russell were all fantastic to
watch.

As for the weirder
moments, I suppose a good
place to start might be the
CGI recreation of Ted (voiced
by Seth Macfarlane) for an
award presentation with Matt
Damon. While I'll say the CGI
on Ted was incredibly lifelike,
it was also unsettling to look
at, especially during the many
zoom-ins. Then there was the
co-presentation of Best Picture,
done by Jack Nicholson—which
made me happy—and for some
inexplicable reason, Michelle
Obama—which made me
confused. Without exaggeration,
there was no reason for the

I wouldn’t think of Johnson
playing a family man, but he
pulls it off well. Johnson’s
performance in Sitch has got
to be the best performance I've
ever seen him do. I saw him as a
father who would do anything
to save his son from doing jail
time, even if that meant risking
his life. I think he’s been trying
to get more into the films he
takes on and more into being
legitimately credited by his
name.

Of course, I need to give
a shout-out to the other cast
member that backs this movie
up, Susan Sarandon. At the
beginning, she was cold and
nonchalant, but as the movie

The 85th Academy Award Nominees | Photo courtesy of Greg Harbaugh/ A.M.PAS.

i

“a

f

First Lady (via video feed, I
should add) to be presenting
that award. There was also
poor Jennifer Lawrence’s fall on
her way up to the podium for
her speech, but she recovered
with a delightfully self-aware
acceptance. Speaking of
speeches, the most entertaining
speech of the night belonged

to Ben Affleck after Argo won
Best Picture—speeding along,
stumbling, and seemingly on the
verge of tears, Affleck’s speech
made sitting still for nearly four
hours almost worth it.

And with that you have the
85th Academy Awards summed
up in a nutshell. The ceremony
wasn’t anything spectacular, but
it was largely a treat to watch,
and it’s raised the bar for next
year’s ceremony. Until then, go
watch some quality movies!

progressed she became warmer
and, well, more ‘chalant.’

Another thing that made
Snitch a great movie was the
cinematography. The way
the camera moved and used
certain angles made the whole
experience even more intense,
using the “shaky hand” or the
“handheld” technique.

Overall, ] think Dwayne
Johnson has made his own name
more known as a serious actor,
and if you enjoy intense drama
and a beautiful father-son
relationship, then definitely go
see this movie. Of course, if you
just want to see some cop-like
action, you'll also find plenty of
that here too.