1. The Host - One of my favorite opening sequences to any awards show was the Jimmy Fallon hosted Emmys, when he sang live to Springsteen's "Born to Run". It was energetic, fun, and featured a slew of guest celebrities singing and dancing along (including the late Cory Monteith - NOPE STILL NOT OVER IT). Anyway, my point is, I am a big fan of Fallon. I watch The Tonight Show because of him (I hated Leno), and I still watch his old SNL skits and laugh my ass off. I'm not really sure when it became "cool" to hate him (I know a lot of people have trouble with his "normalization" of Trump, but I think that is an overreaction. He's not a hard-hitting journalist. He's an entertainment host who is probably warned against any political stand. Does everyone remember how much shit The Roots got for playing the song "Lyin' Ass Bitch" for Michele Bachman's intro?). I think Fallon is a much better host than Jimmy Kimmel, who is somehow hosting The Oscars this year, even though he was a terrible Emmy host. Sure, Jimmy sticks with light material, his strengths, and plays "nice" with celebrities, but I still think he's funny (I think Gervais is funny too, even though he does the exact opposite in his hosting gigs). That being said, I think this is the weakest Fallon has been in a long time. The opening sequence was cute, I guess. I haven't seen La La Land, so it didn't really mean much to me, but I enjoyed the cameos - obvi. Justin Timberlake should have hosted the whole show with him! Wouldn't that have been spectacular.?! Jimmy didn't really handle the teleprompter thing very well, considering his experience. He is trained for live television and for improvisation, instead of coming up with a quick-witted sketch, he just joked about the prompter not working and then....joked again about it not working. That's about all I remember of his hosting duties. He kind of disappeared for the rest of the show, and I wonder if it was intentionally supposed to be like that, or if he realized he was bombing and decided to scale it back a bit.
2. The Show - Overall, I found the show to be pretty boring. Mostly because, again, I haven't seen La La Land. It's annoying to watch an awards show in which EVERY award is going to a movie that you haven't seen yet! The show had some really great moments, though. Obviously, Meryl is perfect. She will be referred to as "Dame Streep" for the rest of eternity, and I *might* have to forgive her for her ludicrous portrayal of Margaret Thatcher (again, *might*). The best presenters, always and forever, were Kristen Wiig and Steve Carell. I mean, that could have gone really badly, but their deadpan presentation was just hilariously perfect. The worst was obviously Sophia Vergara, the accent is no longer funny - even on Modern Family. The speeches were blah, except for Tom Hiddleston who told an overlong, tone-deaf tale of how much his show helps people. It was spectacularly narcissistic, and I think it made a lot of people lose respect for him. I loved the reaction shots from the audience, though. They were all trying to work out how this speech was going to end, and upon realizing it was the epitome of a humblebrag, I could almost hear their stomachs turning. I also though it was super weird to do a tribute to Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, but none of the other entertainers who passed away in 2016. Losing these two legends so close together is devastating, and a huge loss to the entertainment industry, but Florence Henderson, Garry Shandling, Gene Wilder, and Patty Duke are also legends, so....what gives? I thought it was tasteless.
3. The Winners - So, obviously, I need to see La La Land. But actually, out of the total 10 picture nominations, I've only seen 2 of them and they are both in the comedy/musical category - Deadpool and Sing Street. I'm one of the few who don't really get the love for Sing Street, but I LOVED Deadpool. I don't get why there is so much backlash - first, it received both critical and audience praise; second, it was really funny; third, people have been complaining for YEARS that comic book movies are ignored during awards season and now there is finally a movie that (rightfully) broke through the barrier, and people still complain! WHAT THE FUCK? Just be happy for once. I was shocked that Natalie Portman didn't win for Jackie, I thought that was actually the only real "lock" of the season. I was also shocked that Aaron Taylor-Johnson won for his supporting role in Nocturnal Animals, but I can't argue it - he was so terrifically creepy. On the television side, I don't get the love for The Night Manager. It's a good series, and I love Hugh Laurie and Olivia Colman, but I don't think either of them were worthy of awards specifically for this show. Especially up against another fantastic year of television. I'm happy that Sarah Paulson won, and that American Crime Story took the big prize - I was nervous that it was actually going to go to The Night Manager, and that would have been really frustrating (but the Golden Globes are usually pretty frustrating). I'm also happy that Atlanta won, even though it wasn't my favorite comedy of the season (Better Things is), it's still original, and extremely well-written and acted. The Golden Globes are known for going with new shows, so I think everyone assumed that Westworld and Stranger Things would sweep, but they went with The Crown (also new, but not really as well-known), which reminds me of when they awarded Mozart in the Jungle last year, and everyone was like "what's that?", and guess what...it is a fantastic show. So, I will definitely give The Crown a watch soon.
4. The Fashion - Hands down, best dress was Emma Stone's starry gown. It's so ethereal, and relevant to what she is nominated for. Plus, I love how pale she is; it's hard for pale women to wear blush tones, but she pulls it off and looks stunning (and I've seen people list it as a "worst" dress, and I am STUNNED. Like, how can that possibly be worst? I don't get it). I also really liked Lily Collin's dress. It's not something I would wear (too poufy for me), but she looked like a princess. I loved the super low-cut trend that Jessica Biel and Kristen Bell sported, but I don't actually like the dresses. I don't really like to call people out for "worst" dressed, but there were some dresses that I just don't really understand - like Sophie Turner's dress - it looks like it went through a shredder before she put it on.
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