Tuesday, March 04, 2025

Oscar Fashions: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and Timothee Chalamet

Here we are, another year, another Oscars, with a little pretty and a little ugly, and one that I will have to scrub from my brain to forget that I saw it, so let’s dive right in …

THE VERY BEST

Halle berry sometimes misses the mark and sometimes tries to hard, but damn, any women that looks this fabulous in a mirrored dress needs to be wearing a mirrored dress so she can see herself all the time.

VERY GOOD

Demi Moore; we all see the work done to her face, with her mouth taking on some weird upside down shape, but … in this dress I forgive her. She looks stunning in a simple silvery sequin number that gave her some curves she desperately needed—did she steal some butt pads from a drag queen. A wee quibble is that I wish she’d get rid of the Cher Hair … even Cher has putt hat away for most events.

Raye looks regal and sexy and so not pink and blush and nude and sweet; she’s out for a helluva night and even though she’s a wee lass, the dress is not swallowing her up;  brava.

Selena Gomez rarely smiles on the red carpet but she was the other night and it may have been this gorgeous gown; it’s va-va-va-voom and she worked it from the hair to the jewels to the shoes.

GOOD—clockwise

Ana de Armas; it’s simple and elegant, but the neck-piece ratcheted it up a notch and only the stringy hair knocked it down a peg.

Lisa is a singer I’ve never heard of, and while this look may seem wrong to some, I love the edge, and the idea of a very oversized coat over a very oversized shirt and pants; very rock-n-roll.

Michelle Yeoh always brings some Old Hollywood glam, and I like that as much as I liked Lisa’s edge. Michelle is chic and cool and colorful.

Brandi Carlile in a suit; but not  a boring suit, a suit with dots and a red sash. I kinda wish the pants were a bit more straight legged to g ive them an edge , but Brandi always does Brandi and no one does it better.

Zoe Saldaña; some of you might not like this, but it’s giving me modern Victorian Grecian goddess; the hair could’a used some work and the gloves are a No, but she brought a new silhouette to the Oscars and she gets props for it not being silver or blush or nude …

Cynthia Erivo is here because she has style and she takes risks and she loves some fashion; I like the dress and it’s deep green nod to Wicked but it kind of swallows her up.

NICE … I HATE NICE

Elle Fanning has made it her mission to wear the cute, sweet, pinky, flowy princess dresses to very single awards show but I bet she would kill the carpet in something dark and moody and evil slutty. Do you hear me, Elle?

Emma Stone. I love the new short hair, and I love her attitude, but with her pale skin and the color of this dress it’s all kind of a one-note gown; pretty but nice and who wants to be nice.

FROM MEH to VERY GOOD

Ariana Grande on the carpet looked ridiculous; I am over her in the cutie pie fluffy, gauzy ball gown-y flesh toned concoctions; plus, how in the hell is she gonna sit down in that thing? 

But then, the bitch shows up onstage to sing wearing a gorgeous blood red sequin-and-tolle gown with some mothertucking ruby slippers! 

That’s the dress, Ari; take note.

MEH—clockwise

Lily-Rose Depp; I get it, Nosferatu, but did she have to create this gauzy, shreddy hooker-ish mess with an ice skating top and salon girl bottom; and do not get me started on that pose.

Lupita Nyong’o usually looks so good and fashionable and chic and also edgy and here she looks like the last girls picked to be a bridesmaid. It bores me.

Margaret Qualley looks dull; I mean, between the boring nothing dress and that up-do on her head, I’m just walking past her.

Mikey Madison is lucky she won an Oscar or else people might remember her for this boring number; she’s a young girl who looks like she raided her Nana’s closet. It looks Good and Plenty and yet it reads like Meh and Less.

Scarlett Johansson is another actress far too young to be looking so matronly. Did her career die and she’s off to the funeral?

Meg Ryan crawled out of the substance to make an appearance and while I like a red velvet gown as much as I like red velvet cake, what’s with the clod-hoppers on her feet. Is this her mucking out the stalls drag?

Connie Nielsen is another one who plays up the dress and then forgets what's on her head. The dress is nice, though the nude illusion, pink blush colors are over for me, but I cannot forgive the hair. Why!!!!!

Isabella Rossellini is a gorgeous women who was swallowed up in her salute to David Lynch and Blue Velvet. Yes, she’s of an older generation but she doesn’t have to wear Grannies drapes.

Felicity Jones in a column of silver. It’s pretty but she could hardly walk and it was giving me Tin Man vibes … and she wasn’t in Wicked!!!

Fernanda Torres is another older actress but this mess doesn’t do her any favors. The peplum is too long and the sleeves, too. I kept thinking if she cut off the bottom of the skirt beneath the peplum  and shortened the sleeves it’d make a nice glitzy fun and flirty cocktail dress … but as an Oscar gown it’s not working.

BAD

Miley Cyrus is always trying to hard to look either chic or tough, designer or trash bag, and she fails on all counts. This all black number is a mess and then she threw on lace driving gloves? While you’re out buying yourself flowers, get yourself a stylist with tatse.

Mindy Kaling looks like Jiffy Pop; she ;looks like the piece of mfoil I take off of the turkey for the last half hour or so to let it brown. Look at Demi or Halle to see how silver is done because it’s not this Reynolds Wrap nightmare.

Penelope Cruz id a beautiful woman but she never quite gets it; the corset on the dress seems too long and covers her hips so she looks like she has none; and those two straggly bits at the bottom? Is the dress trying to escape?

Rita Wilson is an attractive woman and yet she always dresses like someone took the drapes down in the dining room and slapped them on her body in some sort of homage to a chiffon Mumu.

WORST

Whoopi Goldberg is looking good after losing some weight but this shiny number does her no favors; it doesn’t move and so the front lifts off the ground when she stands still and she looks ready to take off. The top part is gorgeous but the bottom part starts too low on her hips … sigh … she almost had it.

Goldie Hawn. That’s all.

WORST OF THE WORST

Jackie Weaver looks like an orderly at the Old Actors Home. All she needs is some sensible shoes with non-slip soles.

THE BEST MEN

Jeff Goldblum has his own quirky style and it’s always something. I love the untucked shirt and white jacket; I love the flower on his lapel,  and I love the colorful placket on the shirt. It’s whimsical and a bit wicked.

Colman Domingo always brings the fashion and this take on a tuxedo, in scarlet no less, with a wrap belt, says it all. And he never forgets the jewelry either.

Paul Tazewell shows he’s a costume designer and stylist with this look; it looks like a classic tuxedo, but then there’s a very wide cummerbund and the white silk scarf doubling as a tie with a jeweled accent. Yes sir, you worked it.

VERY GOOD

Andrew Garfield went casual, but it’s kind of 70s cool guy casual who might just toss his car keys into the fishbowl at the start of the after party if you get my meaning. Additional points for no black and looking long and lean and mean.

Joe Locke, an actor I’ve never heard of, took a sort of old school jacket and pants and set them on fire with a glittering vest and white tie … he just looks cool and I like a messy hairstyle, too.

Sterling K Brown went old school in the white jacket tuxedo and he always looks good; not fussy, but hot.

GOOD—clockwise

Kieran Culkin nails the all-black chic look, from the jacket and shirt all the way down to the shoes; add that in with his irreverence and sense of humor and he’s smoking hot.

Dave Bautista proves a big monster of a man—and I’d like to climb him—can dress chic and classy in a deep blue tuxedo with a hint of glitz on the lapel; take note, Dwayne Johnson.

Adrien Brody always revs my engine, even in a safe tuxedo; tall and lady with a sweet smile and the dash of glamour on the coat—no doubt thanks to his partner, the fabulous Georgina Chapman—he looks fabulous.

Jeremy Pope is sizzling sexy in a black silky suit with an Asian twist; where are my chopsticks?

John M Chu brought out a wee bit of the Wicked—he was the director—in his dark green velvet jacket with silk lapels; just a slight change in color and the look is fresh..

Jeremy Strong  in Obama Tan, with a riff on a tie and some cool shoes. He got the memo that the Tuxedo Barn is not the place to shop for your Oscar drag.

MEH

Edward Norton is a brilliant actor and needs a brilliant stylist who will tell him that his tuxedo may be from 2025 but it’s giving me 1965 Eddie and that’s not good.

Sean Evans is a social media personality on YouTube and he’s only here because, while I loathe the ordinary tuxedo, I have an affinity for a bald man and he fills the bill. Now, if he learned to dress better …

Guy Pearce could be another Jeff Goldblum, but he went for the boring basic bitch of a tuxedo look; he’s a very attractive man but I just want to ask him for another glass of wine from the bar.

Willem Dafoe. I like an all-black look—I’ve been known to rock an all-black lookbut Dafoe is giving me shaggy dog who had his head out the car window on the way to the ceremony and it’s ruined everything.

WORST

Jerry O’Connell looks like he always looks … a slimy used car salesman woefully out of place. I  guess those Vegas casinos that offer the 49-cent dinners were one maître de short Sunday night.

Bowen Yang has great style but what self-respecting gay man would wear a flowered embroidered bolero jacket? Oh Bowen, honey … no, no,

Sebastian Stan is smoking hot, with a body like few other men, but this basic tuxedo does him no service especially when the shirt looks a little nicotine stained and the laundry couldn’t bleach it away; it just makes it all look drab.

VERY WORST

Timothee Chalamet  likes to be different but this Country Crock Butter Nutso thing is a miss by a mile. The color is hideous, though I guess if you were playing ‘Where is Timothee’ in the audience shots the other night, you’d appreciate it. I don’t. Sorry, Chalamet, I can’t believe it’s not better … and that’s no typo.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Omar Apollo, American singer-songwriter and actor; I’ve never heard of him but he gets props for going outside the box with the cool shoes, the all black suit, the checked scarf as tie and the jewelry on the lapel. But where he really wins me over is the additional of a mothertucking veil! Werk!

Monday, March 03, 2025

Oscarvations

Well, here we are again … the 97th Academy Awards and me, writing my 97th post about show; okay, so it feels like I’ve been blogging for 97b years! It was a good show, not a great show, and had some fun and funny  moments and some STFU moments, and good fashion and bad fashion, so let’s rip …

The show opened with what I thought was going to be about the recent fires in LA and rebuilding the city but then we had Ariana Grande, in ruby slippers no less, onstage singing ‘Over the Rainbow’ from The Wizard of Oz quite beautifully, followed by Cynthia Erivo giving her gorgeous rendition of ‘Home’ from The Wiz. Then the two united and sang ‘Defying Gravity’ from Wicked; beautifully done, though of course this queen loved anything Oz-ish.

Conan O’Brien was host and we see a stage hand knocking on his dressing room but he’s not inside. Instead it’s Demi Moore from The Substance giving herself the shot and then collapsing on the floor. Her back rips open and out crawls … Conan, ready to host except … he lost a show. So he dips back into Demi, literally, and retrieves the footwear before heading to the stage  to a voiceover …

Please welcome to the stage, a four-time Oscar … viewer!

And Conan hit the stage …

Hi, Demi. How are you? That was weird. Yeah, awkward. I’m missing some car keys.

Welcome to the 97th Academy Awards. It’s Hollywood’s biggest night, starting at four in the afternoon. Everyone here just had brunch — I don’t understand it.

O’Brien did an extended bit with Adam Sandler, wearing a hoodie and basketball shorts in the audience, which I thought was going to evolve into a Zelenskyy bit about his lack of wearing a suit to meet The Felon; that was a missed opportunity, I thought. But hey, they can’t all be gems, so let’s dig into the show, with some of Cona’s bits sprinkled throughout.

Robert Downey Jr. presents OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR  … Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain. He reminded his wife of a promise she made:

'About a year ago, I was on a stage like this and I very stupidly, publicly said that I want a third kid from her because she said if I won the award she would give me the kid. Turns out she said that because she didn't think I was gonna win. Later, she goes, "Oh god, I did say that. I guess I owe you a third kid." And I turned to her and I said, "Really, I want four,"' and she said  I will give you four when you win an Oscar.'

Andrew Garfield is out to present with Goldie Hawn and some uneasy banter ensues about her career and how loved she is only making her appear old, which she is; they present … BEST ANIMATED FILM … Flow … and then BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM … In the Shadow of Cypress.

Little fact for you: ‘Anora’ uses the F-word 479 times. That’s three more than the record set by Karla Sofía Gascón’s publicist.

O’Brien then pitched his voice up to imitate Gascón’s reps:

You tweeted WHAT?!

The camera cut to Gascón, who seemed to be in on the joke, making prayer hands.

Karla, if you’re going to tweet about the Oscars, remember, my name is Jimmy Kimmel.

Lily Rose Depp, Elle Fanning, John Lithgow, Connie Nielsen and Bowen Yang all present … OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN … with Bowen wearing his Wicked costume to … Wicked … and to Paul Tazewell—HOT MAN ALERT—the first Black man to ever with the award.

Amy Poehler is up and, as usual, every time I see her on an awards show stage, my first thought is, ‘Where’s Tina Fey?’ … she says she’s ‘honored to be here to present the two most important awards, Most Athletic and Best Hair but first BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY … ‘I believe it was William Shakespeare who said, ‘writing is a bitch’’ … Sean Baker for Anora … then BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY … Peter Straughan for Conclave

If you haven’t seen ‘Conclave,’ its tagline is: A movie about the Catholic Church, but don’t worry.

Chalamet will not get hit on his bike ride home tonight in that suit

No Smart phones were allowed on the set of Dune. The director didn’t want them Googling what the film was about.

June Squib and Scarlett Johansson are out to present … June says she got a little makeup done and is actually being played by Nosferatu’s Bill Skarsgård … ‘Half the time you see me in public, it’s Bill Skarsgård. The Real June Squib is at home with a book.’ … BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP … The Substance

Note to Garfield and Hawn: that’s awards show banter.

Another movie nominated for best picture is ‘I’m Still Here.’ Incredible film. It’s about a woman who forges ahead alone after her husband goes missing. When my wife saw it, she called it the feel-good movie of the year.

Amazon has taken over creative control of the 007 franchise. They just announced the next James Bond. It’s Amazon Senior Vice President of Global Affairs Steve Belsky! Ladies love him!

Halle Berry looking stunning in Siriano … pays tribute to Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson and their Bond franchise that they no longer control with singer Lisa singing ‘Live and Let Die’ … Doja Cat giving us ‘Diamonds are Forever’ while literally dripping in gems and Raye singing ‘Skyfall’ and making me long for Adele. Raye’s good, but, c’mon, Adele.

Conan shows off his new film viewing service, Cinemastream … a movie theater screen made up entirely of cell phones for people who don’t go to the movies but watch them on a 3’ by 5” screen.

Timothée Chalamet is nominated for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. Bob Dylan wanted to be here tonight, but not that badly.

Daryl Hannah is out to present but first says Slava Ukraini, the battle cry of the Ukrainian military in one of the very few political references last night … ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING … Anora and Sean Baker again!


Da'Vine Joy Randolph … BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS …  Zoe Saldaña … Emilia Pérez … My fellow nominees, the love and community you showed me, I will pay it forward. Zoe thanks her husband—HOT MAN ALERT—Marco Perego-Saldaña before saying she is the American of Dominican origin to win that award.

Ben Stiller, whom I do not find funny at all, won me over a bit last night after the stage got stuck lifting him up to present so he had to hop up and down before finally crawling out … BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN … Wicked

Mick Jagger … all 81-spry-years of him … stayed tuned later this week for a Tale of Carlos about Mick …is out to present BEST ORIGINAL SONG … I wasn’t the first choice to present this award the producers wanted Bob Dylan but he refused saying the best songs were in A Complete Unknown and he suggested they find somebody younger … so here I am … to—HOT MAN ALERT—Clement Ducol—Camille, and Jaques Audiard for ‘El Mal,’  Emilia Pérez

I really liked Babygirl … in which Antonio Banderas plays a man who doesn’t know how to give his wife an orgasm. He described it as the most challenging role of his career.”

A complete unknown and a real Nosferatu; just some of the names I was called on the red carpet tonight.

Selena Gomez and Samuel L. Jackson … BEST DOCUMENTARY  SHORT FILM … The Only Girl in the Orchestra … Molly O’Brien and Lisa Remington … and BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE … No Other Land … Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan  Ballal, Yuval Abraham

Next up was a Salute to LA Firefighters … after the longest ovation of the night, deservedly so, Conan asks three of them to tell a joke even he wouldn’t say:

Our hearts go out to those who lost their homes and I’m talking about the producers of Joker 2.

To play Bob Dylan Timothee Chalamet had to learn to sing, in fact his signing was so good he almost lost the part.

It’s great to be back with Conan. Usually when he calls he’s stuck in a tree

Miles Teller and Miley Cyrus … two  of my least favorites who seem to think everyone loves them … got news for you, they don’t … BEST SOUND … Dune Pt 2 … Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill

At the first Oscars Emil Janning won for The Way of the Flesh and two years later he won for the sequel, The Way of the Flesh 2: Electric Flesh-aloo.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is so prestigious and it’s also a sidewalk.

We’re at the halfway point of the show so it’s time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a pedophile.

Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot … BEST VISUAL EFFECTS … Dune Pt 2 … Paul Lambert, Stephen, Rhys Salcombe, Gred Nefzer … followed by Ana de Armas and—HOT MAN ALERT—Sterling K BROWN … BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM … I’m Not A Robot … Victoria Warmerdam and Trent.

Morgan Freeman is out to pay tribute to recently deceased Gene Hackman and then we get The Death Crawl In Memoriam … with a choir … I haven’t heard tell of who got left out of the tribute … yet.

Joe Alwynn—HOT MAN ALERT—Alba Rohrwacher, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista and Willem Dafoe present OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY … The Brutalist, Lol Crawley

I loved ‘The Brutalist,’ I really did. I didn’t want it to end, and luckily, it didn’t.

MARK Hamill … looking rode and put away wet … BEST ORIGINAL SCORE … The Brutalist Daniel Blumberg

Oprah Winfrey … goddess why is she here … and Whoopi Goldberg salute the career of Quincy Jones before Queen Latifah … why … performs  Ease on Down The Road why … in some sort of Tin Man madness.

If your speech goes on too long we cut to John Lithgow looking slightly disappointed …or show one of your old had shots … Chalamet in the womb .

Penelope Cruz presents BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM …  I’m Still Here … Brazil

If you’re still enjoying the show you have something called Stockholm Syndrome.

Cillian Murphy … last year’s winner … OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE … Adrien Brody—whom I find very hot—The Brutalist … spoke of gratitude and respect and getting along and divisive times and uniting and working together and acting and his parent … in what would have been a good speech if it wasn’t so long that the orchestra attempted to play him off … twice!

Quentin Tarantino … loathsome … full of himself ….obnoxious …. BEST DIRECTOR … Sean Baker, Anora … again … who pleads for people to go to the movies and enjoy film on a big screen

Emma Stone … last year’s winner … OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A LEAD ROLE … Mikey Madison, Anora … I had expected Demi Moore to win since she’d won so many awards this year for The Substance …but Mikey read a nice handwritten looooong speech or her college thesis

Anora’s doing well tonight. It picked up two awards, I guess we’re happy to finally see someone stand up to a Russian.

Meg Ryan, finally settling into her new face, and Billy Crystal, the greatest Oscars host ever … I used to work here … … BEST PICTURE … Anora, Sean Baker—his fourth Oscar of the night, Samantha Quan and Alex Coco … who pleaded for more independent films to be made.

And … it was an okay show, no real drama, some funny bits, no surprise except for Demi Moore losing … all in all, I’d give it a Meh+ … goodnight!