Spent last Sunday watching the Academy Awards, and sad to say, I was disappointed with the show.  I’m a huge movie fan, and have always enjoyed watching the Oscar telecast, but this year just seemed boring and disconnected with the history of movies.  I actually really enjoyed the opening number with references to older movies.  But after that, they totally ignored anything not from this year except for the music when the presenters came on stage (played some great and memorable scores, which gave me the best feelings of the night), and the tribute to 50 year old Sound of Music.   Has to say something that one of the biggest applauses all night was for Julie Andrews.   Would have been nice if the had given a hint or at least mentioned the Sound of Music  tribute earlier in the show.  Seemed to come out of nowhere and felt out of place

I know the shows main purpose is to honor this years nominees, but with no reference to history or any kind of context, it just seemed hollow.  I thought the Grammys a few weeks back did a good job of mixing old with new.    And they need to show actual clips of the movies instead of the lame graphics.  The only time I got a good feeling of some of the movies (Full disclosure – the only movies I saw was American Sniper), was during the award for best score.  They showed a clip with music and it felt real

And they totally missed the boat with the In Memoriam part of the show.   Showing water color images of people when they were younger had no real meaning.   Felt totally disconnected.   Even my wife said she didn’t feel moved.  And why do they need to show all the people who have died, and then also have a song afterwards.   Show actual clips and pictures of the people, then fade to black and silence for a few seconds and go to commercial

And then there are always the people they miss / forget.    I realize they do have a certain amount of time, but the show is to celebrate the movies and those who made an impact.  And if they need to choose, the should show more of actors and actresses then  behind the scenes people.  Not to take anything away from all who passed, but not showing Joan Rivers or Taylor Negron is wrong.

As far as Neil Patrick Harris, I like him as a performer (He is very talented, and Barney Stinson is a classic TV character), but he felt out of place during the show.  Almost all of the Jokes were not funny (They must have hired the SNL writers), and felt forced.   And while the whole thing with his predictions actually had a pretty good ending, the set up and execution was terrible.  Most people had tuned out by the time of the reveal, or figured it was going to actually be his picks, and could care less.

My Rating:   I give the 2015 Academy Awards a 3

I leave you with some classic Taylor Negron from Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Dont forget that both The Amazing Race and Survivor start up again tomorrow so set your DVRS now

AA