Next year’s Oscars: The suggestions

I remember when the Academy Awards was all about movies and entertainment and fun. Now it’s filthy mouths and vitriolic politics on stage. The program has lost its focus.

Bill Gourlay

Westlake Village

*

The Academy Awards ceremony has lost its way, its class and its sophistication. At this point in its history, it’s living on tradition and memories, but looking and sounding like many of the other wannabes.

Dr. Allan Boodnick

Los Angeles

*

I have been watching the Academy Awards my whole life. My friends and I make a big deal out of it, from seeing all the movies to watching the pre-show, etc. We all agree that this year was the worst show ever. It wasn’t Chris Rock; he was delightful. It wasn’t the winners; we were pleased with them. It was the overly manipulated pace of the show. Rushed acceptance speeches, awards handed out in the aisles, nominees standing awkwardly on stage, a lack of film clips, a lack of banter and spontaneity from presenters, best song nominees not being sung by the people who sang them in the movies -- and always the feeling that the show was being rushed rushed rushed.

My friends and I plan for this evening all year long. Who cares if it lasts another hour? We love it at four hours; we love it at five hours. We don’t love it boring.

Sharon Wells

Huntington Beach

*

I for one thought the show to be fast paced, interesting, funny, and had four beautiful songs performed magnificently. The film clips were amazing and moving ... and the Yo-Yo Ma touch to the memory of those who have passed was beautiful.

Mark Borde

Santa Monica

*

Could it be that the Academy Awards didn’t get the viewers it anticipated because the ceremony lacked “Passion”?

Roland A. Pinza

Los Angeles

*

Long after I forget to remember who won for best supporting players of 2005, I’ll relish in Sean Penn’s eloquent reminder to Chris Rock that Jude Law is a force in the artistic community.

Paul Mantee

Malibu

*

Paul BROWNFIELD’s review of the Academy Awards [“New Tune, but Song’s the Same,” Feb. 28] seems to characterize the show as a self-aggrandizing bore. Acting is hard and scary work. Few people are willing to go to the place that we see Sophie Okonedo go in “Hotel Rwanda” or that Hilary Swank goes to in “Million Dollar Baby.” Few have the talent to reveal difficult emotional life while re-creating physically a real person, as Jamie Foxx does in “Ray.”

Why shouldn’t they congratulate themselves?

We go to the movies to glimpse ourselves in all our crazy, scary, funny, loving, dangerous humanness, whether it’s “The Aviator” or “White Chicks.” And we should honor those who take risks to take us there.

Kelly Bailey

Glendale

*

Not to try to “out-Penn” Sean by coming off superior-than-thou, but after all the thank yous at the Oscars, there are some we never hear. These are the thank yous to the moviegoing public who regularly and willingly shell out too many dollars for what is usually way too little entertainment.

At the Tony and Grammy awards, there are usually several artists or producers or writers who remember who really pays their oft-ridiculous salaries: we folks who buy their product. The thanks to the agents, attorneys, lawyers, accountants, publicists have all become a big joke, at least to this member of the viewing public. Thank the real bosses for a change!

Steve Parker

La Quinta

*

Wouldn’t common sense suggest a relatively simple option to shorten and improve this ceremony? Request that all the nominees supply their long list of people to be thanked prior to the ceremony; input these names into a computer; roll all the names on the screen under the winners’ pictures, give them each 30 seconds simply to share what the Oscar means to them.

The winner does not have to fear forgetting someone; the people named can record their names for posterity; the audience is respected by not having to hear an endless and rushed list of names with whom 99.9% of the viewers have no familiarity; everyone gets a shorter ceremony that is more meaningful.

Marshall McNott

Claremont