Oscar Postmortem Pt. 3: John Travolta must be stopped

This is about as silly a microcosm of last Sunday's Academy Awards broadcast there is, but I feel like this level of snarkiness merits its own post.

You'd think John Travolta would have learned to tread more carefully when the whole world is watching him on camera. Last year's infamous "Adele Dazeem" flub -- the hilarious mispronunciation of Idina Menzel's name -- seems destined to be one of those celebrity bloopers that stands the test of time, admittedly dogging Travolta far more than the sporting Menzel.

Banking on the longevity of this much Twitter-ized and parodied moment, producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron had the wherewithal to have Menzel and Travolta present an award together, with Menzel introducing him as "Glom Gazingo".

Cute banter ensued (in fact, the only funny presenter shtick of the night), but so did this...

[Menzel whispers:] "send help..."

... and social media exploded once again with a fresh wave of mockery to last us until next year.

When Aliens see a human being. pic.twitter.com/qVUBq5HNPG
— Sam Kalidi (@samkalidi) February 24, 2015

Oscar Postmortem Pt. 2: Sweet closure

My full review of the Oscar telecast will be up sometime in the next few days, but there's one microcosm of the show I wanted to address while it's still fresh in my mind.

Far and away the most heartbreaking part of Sunday's ceremony, for me at least, was seeing Adele Dazeem (aka: Idina Menzel) struggle through her performance of the Oscar-winning power ballad "Let It Go" from Frozen. To say I was psyched for this moment would be an understatement. I fully hoped and expected it to be the musical highlight of the night. But much as I love Menzel -- and Lord knows she doesn't have to prove her talent to anybody at this point in her celebrated career -- I couldn't close my ears and pretend not to notice how nervous she sounded; A rushed half-beat ahead, voice quivering (not in commanding vibrato either), and you can definitely hear it cracking on that last high note. Her disappointed facial expression afterwards says it all. Was she distracted by John Travolta's dyslexic mispronunciation of her name? Was it the damp air from all that rain (maybe the cold DOES bother her anyway)? Whatever the cause, it was more than a little saddening.

But whatever. She's a stunning talent even on her off days, and there was never any question that she'd take the bitter with the better and rebound in no time. She, and fans of the song, can finally see her nail it live courtesy of Jimmy Fallon and the Roots, who accompanied her in this uber-cute rendition of the song played on classroom instruments. Watch it below:

Review - Frozen

Casual moviegoers with kids to entertain for an hour or so can be forgiven for thinking that the latest animated effort from Walt Disney Studios is little more than a slapsticky romp about an impish snowman. That is, after all, the only clue they've been given by the TV ads and movie posters, but those only represent the tip of the proverbial ice berg. With Frozen, Disney actually makes as earnest an attempt as they have in the last 15 years to recapture the magic of their 1990s musical heyday, with a Broadway pedigree cast and not one, but two new Disney princesses front and centre.

The story, written by Shane Morris and co-directors Jennifer Lee & Chris Buck, is based very loosely on Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen, although its vague Scandinavian setting seems to be all that was retained from Anderson's original 19^th century fable. This re-imagining tells of two princesses in the fictional land of Arendelle. Elsa, the eldest and therefore first in line to inherit the crown, was born with the magical ability to form ice and snow with the slightest gesture. Anna, the youngest, adores frolicking in the indoor winter wonderlands her sister can conjure, until a near-death accident convinces their parents that the girls should be separated and Elsa's powers kept under wraps.