The reviews are out, and Chris Rock is getting a mixed bag of feedback for his duties as the MC of the Oscars. The NY Daily News' David Bianculli says he wasn't edgy or funny enough, Variety says his opening monologue was great (subscription required), the Hollywood Reporter says that Rock wasn't on a roll, and the Washington Post's Tom Shales says Rock was strangely lame and mean-spirited. Gothamist wonders if there's a generational divide between the reviewers, because we thought Rock was the best thing about the Oscars. It's like some of these reviewers weren't familiar with Rock's material before. At least Tim Robbins (left, photo AP), whom Chris Rock made fun of, could take a joke ... we think. As for the show, sure, it seemed to move quickly and was "well-produced," and, yes, we were happy certain people won, but since there wasn't much enthusiasm for any one nominee, the whole show was boring. And Gothamist doesn't care what Gil Cates's "producer's blog" says!
We're still a little winded from our liveblogging of the Oscars, but Gothamist is eager to hear what you have to say. And we heard from strategically placed L.A. sources that Sidney Lumet's daughters (including the one with the huge rack we noted yesterday during our liveblogging) were sort of like the Hilton sisters of the late 80s and 90s, so Gothamist is optimistic that the Hilton sisters will just be over soon. Also, when Jerry Orbach's name came up on the "In Memoriam" segment, there was a huge roar in the crowd. Finally, a five year-old summed up what many people probably thought of Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows: "Love the song, hate the hair."
Roger Ebert (who was great on the red carpet and asked interesting questions that stars would want to answer but ABC paired him with some doofus and totally brought him down) writes about the evening's awards and show; he called Rock's monologue "high energy." The NY Times has a feature on the Hotel des Milles Collines, aka Hotel Rwanda; the NY Times also has its Oscar coverage, including how two-time Oscar winner and Calvin Klein underwear model Hilary Swank ended up wearing Guy Laroche. And E! has a great Oscar package as usual.
And as much as Gothamist complained about the show being late, Londonist liveblogged the show as well, poor babies. Chicagoist liveblogged brilliantly, too, but they have Central Time - wimps!
