Oscars bust

After the hosting disaster that was Anne Hathaway and James Franco, it seems the Academy decided to be more conservative this year.

Unlike last year, Billy Crystal seemed to have the show under complete control from the opening moments, which is expected, as it was his ninth time as the host of the Oscars.

Crystal worked in quite a few good one-liners about the theater formerly known as Kodak and strong women (like J. Edgar) wearing heels.

Crystal did what was expected of him and little more. He wasn’t outstanding, but he added something to the show.

In person, the Cirque Du Soleil performance was probably one of the highlights of the show, but it didn’t translate well on TV. Nevertheless, it was a nice change from the typical musical performance.

One of the more intriguing bits from the show were three segments of testimonials from a variety of actors.

The first was a reflection on their movie experiences growing up, the second was about what they thought made a great movie and the last was about what they learned or saw about themselves in films.

These clips gave a unique insight to many different actors and how movies have changed and are still changing their lives.

Another highlight was the fake test crowd for “The Wizard of Oz” as portrayed by Christopher Guest and his crew, who got easy laughs from good jokes.

Nevertheless, this year the Academy Awards seemed a little lackluster.

The show and presentation did not match the star power of the crowd, turning much of the anticipation into whom the camera would show next.

In the end, Billy Crystal described the ceremony best: “Millionaires present each other with golden statues.”

­— wfgryna@indiana.edu