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There’s still a lot to discuss and digest from the 2012 Oscars, from the glitz and glamour, to the surprises, snubs and glaring omissions.

Speaking to the snubs and omissions category, MTV News couldn’t help but notice that, for an awards show designed to appeal to all movie fans, three of the most buzz-worthy film franchises of the last decade were mostly left out of the festivities: “Harry Potter,” “Twilight” and “The Hunger Games.”

This is not a story about the lack of nominations for the films; we’ve already complained about the “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2″ shutout and “The Hunger Games” hasn’t even been released yet. But why not involve a few of these noteworthy films’ castmembers in the telecast? We consulted a few experts on the subject.

“I think this year is more glaring than most, for sure,” said Entertainment Weekly senior writer Sara Vilkomerson. “Personally, I’m surprised there was not a lot of ‘Potter’ stuff; that was a very lucrative franchise for a lot of people and really critically acclaimed, the last movie. I feel like there was a definite lack of youth. I know in my house, when the ‘Hunger Games’ ad came on, it felt a little more exciting than certain parts of the telecast.”

“The Academy obviously went out of their way to acknowledge the lack of youth appeal ? but a handful of jokes in Billy Crystal’s video montage and a little token Bieber isn’t enough to fix it,” added Brooke Tarnoff, senior editor for NextMovie.com. “It’s a hard line to walk, enticing younger viewers but still voting with integrity. Maybe the answer is expanding Academy membership to more young actors who will be able to choose ‘young people movies’ with a clear conscience.”

“I’m a house divided on the Oscars and the youth audience,” said Shylah Addante, who runs “Hunger Games” fan site Down With the Capitol. “On one hand, as a card-carrying fangirl, I absolutely understand the outrage about last night’s ‘Potter’ snub. For a franchise that has touched the hearts and minds, not to mention the wallets, of so many people around the world for a decade, the absence of Oscar gold left me feeling like the Academy was full of Dementors. On the other hand, the fiercely proud side of me wants a film to win an Oscar because it deserves it ? not because it’s a tentpole franchise or because it made one bajillion dollars worldwide. If ‘Hugo’ was any lesson to young Oscar viewers, it is that, in the right hands, a children’s/young adult book can become a film worthy of major awards.”

“It’s a very, very hard line to teeter on. I have full sympathy for the people who are trying to organize it,” Vilkomerson said. “It just shows how challenging it is to put on a really good Oscar telecast that makes everyone happy, that hits everything that everybody wants. It’s a hard, hard show to put on. Maybe next year, ‘The Hunger Games’ will be nominated and that will be the easiest way to interlace these two worlds.”

Addante agreed with next year’s potential for “The Hunger Games.” ” ‘Potter’ and ‘Twilight’ may not have wooed the Academy, but ‘Hunger Games,’ with its decorated cast and crew, contemporary social and political messages and dramatic plot, may just have what it takes to finally give some critical legitimacy to young adult series and their fans.”

The MTV Movies team has the 2012 Oscars covered! Keep it locked at MTV.com for updates on the night’s big winners and the best red-carpet fashion.

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1680067/oscars-2012-hunger-games-twilight.jhtml

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With the end of Oscars season, we say goodbye to awards shows for a few months. The spectacles honored the best in television, music and movies, and each handed out a good amount of hardware. But who put on the best show? Not all awards shows were created equal, and some get the benefit of live performances while some have to rest on the laurels of acceptance speeches.

As the 2011-2012 awards season comes to a close, the MTV News staff has taken a look back at the year that was to give you the breakdown on which shows earned standing ovations and which were just seat fillers.

The Academy Awards
“Another year, another reminder that the Oscars are no longer the can’t-miss movie event they once were. Barring a surprise win for Meryl Streep and a fleeting hour where you thought that maybe, just maybe, ‘Hugo’ would topple ‘The Artist,’ the 2012 Oscars ceremony was a total dud. Yes, it was nice to see Billy Crystal back onstage; no, no one will complain about a cameo from Christopher Guest and friends; and sure, there is nothing that sucks about watching Sacha Baron Cohen spill ‘Kim Jong Il’s ashes’ all over Ryan Seacrest. But those moments are why the Internet exists. As a whole and on its own, the 84th Annual Academy Awards were a giant, predictable snooze fest.” C ? Josh Wigler

The Grammys
“The Grammys are kind of like the Pu Pu Platter at the hip Chinese joint at the local strip mall: There’s a bunch of the golden oldies your granny and mom love scattered among a bunch of weird new stuff that the grandkids can’t get enough of. In other words, it tries to be all things to all people while typically turning off most of them. Except this year. The show drew near-record ratings thanks to a well-deserved sweep by Adele, a touching homage to just passed R&B superstar Whitney Houston and a grab bag of performances from the Foo Fighters, Chris Brown, Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Rihanna, Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt and that now-infamous messy EDM mashup thing. If that, along with two meh sets from ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and a mystifying one from Nicki Minaj sounds like the weirdest, least appealing festival lineup ever, well… And yet, host LL Cool J set an appropriately somber, not morbid tone for the show while keeping it moving, Jennifer Hudson absolutely nailed her Houston tribute and Adele simultaneously dragged the Recording Academy into the present while serving up just enough throw-back flavor to keep several generations happy.” B+ ? Gil Kaufman

The Golden Globes
“There are many things to love about the Golden Globe Awards. First and foremost, it combines the best and brightest from the worlds of television and film, an interesting occurrence because for some strange reason the stars of TV and cinema don’t regularly interact in the awards-show wilds. Second, there is a decidedly more laid-back air to the affair, made possible by the bottles and bottles of champagne that are handed out to attendees from the moment they arrive on the red carpet to the moment they depart. Third, the nominating body for the Globes is the mysterious Hollywood Foreign Press, the membership and qualifications about which no one really knows that much. This year’s award show wasn’t especially full of shocking surprises, but it definitely delivered on the fun factor. Ricky Gervais returned to host and managed to not offend too many celebs in attendance, save for one jab at Madonna that she playfully tossed back in his face; George Clooney and Seth Rogen both made penis jokes and on a more sincere note, deserving Best Actor winner and ‘Game of Thrones’ star Peter Dinklage used his acceptance speech to call attention to an injustice.” B ? Kara Warner

Screen Actors Guild Awards
“The SAGs get a lot of credit for their ability to predict the Oscar winners a month or so in advance. While the SAG Awards have rightfully earned their reputation as accurate fortune tellers, actually watching the show will make you wish you’d just Googled the results that next morning. With onstage union talk and no host to keep the show moving, the ceremony this year took its name too literally and sagged.” B- ? Kevin Sullivan

American Music Awards
“The AMAs kicked it off with Nicki Minaj/David Guetta performing and wrapped it up with Justin Bieber and David Hasselhoff shufflin’ alongside LMFAO. Squeezed in between were performances and awards handed out to stars like Minaj and Taylor Swift, among others. For a show that feels like it’s Cinderella to its Grammys step sister, the AMAs proved that sometimes it’s more fun to have fun.” B ? Jocelyn Vena

Critics’ Choice Movie Awards
“Hosts Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer might have dubbed this show ‘the ninth most exciting night in Hollywood,’ and it might have delivered long stretches of snooze-worthy TV, but the CCAs also have us some great, ‘Human Giant’-esque video bits, a live performance from Bob Dylan and Best Supporting Actor winner Christopher Plummer’s onstage confession, ‘I’m completely turned on.’ It was the night’s introductions and speeches, in fact, that made the show an overall winner. Judd Apatow dropped f-bombs, Sean Penn spoke via satellite about the continuing hardships in Haiti, and Patton Oswalt said, ‘There are plenty of nuanced roles for schlubby actors out there. And the ones that Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman don’t take are all mine!’ “B+ ? Eric Ditzian

People’s Choice Awards
“For anyone who was wondering if hiring the girl from the ‘Big Bang Theory’ to host an award show was like a bang-up good idea, well then they should watch the 2012 PCAs, again and again and again. (Spoiler: it’s not.) Also, when the biggest headline of the night is the fact that Robert Pattinson presented with a shaved head, well then you might have a dull show on your hands, folks. Seriously, what else even happened at that show?” D ? Vena

What awards show deserves the best grade this year? Leave your comment below!

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1680034/2012-award-season-oscars.jhtml

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The 54th annual Grammy Awards are just a day away and everyone in the MTV Newsroom is starting to get excited. Will Beyoncé” show up? How will Adele sound in her first major live performance since undergoing surgery to repair a vocal cord hemorrhage? What color will Katy Perry”‘s hair be? What will Lady Gaga” wear? We can’t wait to find out. But if last year’s show is any indication, it’s safe to say that just about anything could happen at Los Angeles’ Staples Center on Sunday night.

The quirk factor was high at last year’s Grammys, and it got started long before a single award was handed out. Lady Gaga’s red carpet arrival inside of a pearlescent egg carried by four scantily clad dudes wearing prosthetics on their faces and shoulders should have been reminder enough that the unusual is the norm at the Grammys. But in case it wasn’t, the show itself delivered Muppets and Katy Perry on a swing. We’ve rounded up five big moments from last year’s show to remind you why the Grammys are the craziest awards show of the year.

» Lady Gaga arrives in that freakin’ egg, er, “vessel.”
Never one to just casually stroll the red carpet in a pretty dress, Lady Gaga went to great lengths to make every element of her Grammy appearance part of a larger art piece that culminated in the performance of her then-new single “Born this Way.” It all started on the red carpet, when she arrived already inside her “vessel,” later claiming to Jay Leno that she’d been in a state of artistic incubation inside it for 72 hours. (Did you just roll your eyes? We think you just rolled your eyes!) The pop star emerged to deliver a full-voiced ? if otherwise joyless ? performance of the song, which at the time was drawing heavy criticism for sounding maybe a little too much like Madonna’s 1989 classic “Express Yourself,” and went on to score three Grammys, including Best Pop Vocal Album for The Fame Monster.

» Did Christina Aguilera fall down after that showstopping Aretha Franklin tribute?
Last year’s ceremony kicked off with an Aretha Franklin tribute featuring Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Florence Welch, Martina McBride and Yolanda Adams. The ladies delivered a rousing group performance of “(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman” before launching into solos of “Ain’t No Way,” “Until You Come Back to Me,” “Think,” “Respect” and “Spirit in the Dark” and closing with “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves” ? tearing the roof off the Staples Center. Except all anyone wanted to talk about afterward was how Christina maybe slipped a little in her towering heels.

The performance came just one week after Xtina botched “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl XLV (luckily, Kelly Clarkson’s rendition this year went smoothly), and it seemed like the “Beautiful” singer and “Voice” judge had fully redeemed herself after the debacle, delivering a fantastic vocal performance … until she stumbled onstage, sending gossips into a tizzy that the singer may have been, we’ll say, out of sorts during the performance despite much evidence to the contrary. Or maybe people just like a good near-fall? People get very excited when an entertainer loses her footing ? don’t they, Madonna?

Anyway, while everyone tried to make Xtina’s mini-tumble a bigger story than it was, the ladies earned a richly deserved standing ovation for their tribute to Franklin, who was rather ill at the time but has since recovered, lost a bunch of weight, gotten engaged and ended that engagement. (A year in Hollywood time is like five years in normal person time … maybe that’s why everyone is so afraid of getting older!)

» Bieber performs big, loses Best New Artist to unknown jazz bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding.
Justin Bieber’s medley performance began with an acoustic strum through “Baby” but quickly segued into a raucous take on “Never Say Never,” complete with breakdancing ninja acrobats, fire breathers and a cameo rap by “Karate Kid” star Jaden Smith. Biebs’ mentor Usher even joined in on the fun for a pop-and-lock-heavy dance-off to his hit “OMG.”

But the real story with Bieber at last year’s Grammys was that he lost. To Esperanza Spalding. A critically acclaimed but otherwise unknown jazz performer. Bieber didn’t take the loss so well but his fans went even crazier, expressing the profound sadness they felt and bearing witness to their idol’s defeat by hacking Spalding’s Wikipedia page and changing her middle name to both “Justin” and “Quesadilla.” One fan wrote, “Justin Bieber deserved it go die in a hole. Who the heck are you anyway?” while another scribbled, “So the Esperanza Spalding has only 8 thousand followers on twitter and how many does Justin Bieber has?”

It seems someone forgot to tell the Belieber army that the Grammys are not a popularity contest (well, they’re not supposed to be, anyway) and that one’s amount of Twitter followers is not taken into account when deciding the winners. Duly noted!

» Katy Perry performed the ballad “Not Like the Movies” while on a swing, playing video from her wedding to Russell Brand.
If you needed further proof that a lot can change in just a single year, look no further than Katy Perry’s performance at last year’s ceremony. Much like she did on her California Dreams Tour, Perry performed her ballad “Not Like the Movies” while sitting on a swing as video from her elaborate October 2010 wedding to Russell Brand was projected behind her.

Though one would think a sweet performance like Katy’s would shut the gossip mill down for at least a little while, the couple was already back to defending their strange union less than two months later when Brand co-hosted “Live!” with Kelly Ripa. By year’s end, Perry and Brand’s marriage was officially no more, and it made re-watching her performance from last year for the purposes of this article, um, kind of awkward.

» Cee Lo performed “Forget You” with a bunch of Muppets (and Gwyneth Paltrow).
No, no one at your Grammy party spiked your drink. Cee Lo Green, wearing a crazy red bear suit and a rainbow fan of feathers (think peacock), really did perform his Grammy-nominated smash “Forget You” backed by a bunch of singing and dancing Muppets while Oscar-winning home health guru Gwyneth Paltrow writhed atop his piano. Oddly, the whole thing worked like gangbusters and was a big old ball of fun. (And when was the last time anyone associated the word “fun” with Gwyneth Paltrow? Such is the funky power of Cee Lo.)

This year’s show has the potential to outdo last year’s in the water-cooler department with Rihanna and Chris Brown both set to perform under the same roof for the first time since, well, you know … in addition to plenty of interesting collabos, including a special electronic dance music performance set to feature the Foo Fighters (right?), and whatever Lady Gaga decides to get into.

What are you most looking forward to at this year’s Grammys? Let us know in the comments below.

Chaos! Profanity! Wardrobe malfunctions! Don’t miss our Grammy red-carpet live stream this Sunday, February 12, for a full three hours of mayhem, starting at 5 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And the fun doesn’t end Sunday: MTV News has you covered for all the Grammy red-carpet fashion, Grammy winners and Grammy news until the hangover wears off!

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1679008/grammys-2012-flashback.jhtml

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1678680/a-guide-to-the-grammys-2012.jhtml

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