94th Oscars Wrap Up

THE 94TH ACADEMY AWARDS

Hosts: Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, and Wanda Sykes

Winners: CODA, Jane Campion, Will Smith, Jessica Chastain, Troy Kotsur, and Ariana DeBose

Notable Occurrences/Trivia:

+8 categories were given out in the non-televised first hour and the moments were edited into the ceremony. 

+A streaming company, Apple, wins Best Picture.

+CODA becomes the first Best Picture winner since Grand Hotel with fewer than four nominations and zero below the line nominations.

+Jane Campion becomes the third woman to win Best Directing.

+Troy Kotsur becomes the 2nd deaf person to win an acting Oscar.

+Ariana DeBose wins an Oscar for playing the same character her co-star Rita Moreno played in the original West Side Story. DeBose also becomes the first queer woman of color to win an acting Oscar.

+Billie Eilish becomes the first person born in the 21st century to win an Oscar.

+The show moves back to the Dolby Theatre after last year's lowkey ceremony at Union Station.

+The show has a host (three, in fact) for the first time in three years.

+The night marks several anniversaries, including the 50th anniversary of The Godfather. 

The Good:

+The hosts did a decent job overall. Schumer, in particular, seemed like a natural. Hall had a fun bit that of course pissed people off involving some of the men in the audience. Sykes, who I thought would fare the best, actually had the least to do outside of a should-have-been-cut sketch involving the new museum. They weren't among the best, but far from the worst.
+The musical numbers were pretty good. Billie Eilish was terrific, loved how breathy and raw that felt. Reba was solid, and I suspect that Sebastain Yatra probably made a lot of new (horny) fans. Loved the staging of "We Don't Talk About Bruno (Oscar Edition)" in how it took advantage of most of the theater. 

+When taking into account all the nominees, performers, guests in attendance, and some presenters, there was a decent amount of star power.  

+Hey, a queer acting winner! Finally!

+I like the concept of cast reunions. I liked the Pulp Fiction trio's bit. 

+Clips were back!

+The Dolby was back!

+Standing ovations were back!

+Kinda dug the seating/layout of the theatre. If felt like a "best of both worlds" with the Oscars and the Golden Globes combined. 

+Glad to see Anthony Hopkins get the standing ovation he should have gotten last year.

+I know some people didn't care for it, but I liked Kevin Costner's dramatic introduction of Director. We need more stories of people discovering their love of movies at the Oscars.  

+As the night drew closer to its end, I thought "Are they actually going to have Lady Gaga present Best Picture?" Then, she was introduced with Liza and it was like "Ahhhhh!" Gay nirvana attained. And how sweet they were to each other! Liza is obviously in failing health, but her energy was through the roof. "I got you!"

+The audience's reaction to CODA's win was sweet. Even the people in competing movies seemed ecstatic. (Yes, the win won't age well, but it was a nice moment.)

+The night ended on some love, at least. 

The Bad:

+Well, that happened. The Oscars got their viral moment they wanted. The Oscars' Slap cast a shadow over the last hour and probably ruined some of the emotion from the last half a dozen winners. In particular, it really killed Questlove's moment. It was jarring seeing Chris Rock visibly shaken. Probably one of the top 5 Oscars moments in 94 years for all the wrong reasons. The only plus side was we got a great Lupita GIF. 

+And then they gave him a standing ovation. Two, in fact. 

+The presenters list. Why were most of the people stars that peaked in the 90's, and most of the remaining ones people who were born in the 90's? It was seriously C-list. And what I really didn't understand was people from nominated films in the audience - Zendaya, Chalamet, Bradley Cooper, Jamie Dornan, Alana Haim, and Maya Rudolph to name a few - could have easily presented? Queen Latifah and David Oyelowo were also in attendance. Instead we get three athletes that were irrelevant to the ceremony, and way too many musicians. Why did Kaluuya need H.E.R. with him? Tracee Ellis Ross (who I otherwise think is fabulous!) has been in exactly one movie in the past 10 years. DJ Khaled? A thing last year's show did get right: every presenter except Zendaya was a nominee or winner. 

+I actually really like cast reunions as presenters, but White Men Can't Jump? Juno? And then "the 28th anniversary of Pulp Fiction". Huh? 

+Both montage tributes were bad, and they really had Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Francis Ford Coppola just kind of stand there and say a sentence each? And it was introduced by Diddy? 

+Unless you are getting all the Bonds on the stage together at once, stop it with these James Bond tributes. They did one at the Oscars 9 years ago, and BAFTA just did one. Someone on social media nailed it when they said the Bond clip was like something from a DVD. 

+While clips were back, the clip packages were very generic. It would be nice if they could bother using clips to illustrate the importance of the category but obviously we don't care about that because we need to get to Shawn Mendes. 

+Same problem as many other award shows: stop using trailer excerpts at clips. One thing last year's ceremony did get right: the clips they did show were beautifully chosen. 

+While I liked the seating mostly, the stage needed some work. Everyone accepting on the end of the peninsula thinger made it seem really claustrophobic. 

+The In Memoriam was baaaad. Interpretive dancing? How many different songs? Four presenters for it? And people still left out???

+They really need to figure out a way to incorporate the Honorary Oscar recipients into the ceremony better. I know they want the Governor's Awards to be its own night, but they need to be better acknowledged in the ceremony. 

+Painful banter.

+I appreciate the Disney princesses moment (minus the Animation diss the writers wrote for them) and they seem like lovely ladies, but that was a People's Choice Awards moment. 

+I'm going to guess that "We Don't Talk About Bruno" (Oscars version) was supposed to be the opener. Probably would have been smart and given things a burst of energy out of the gate, but it's really awkward to open a show with a performance that while solid is also at a different location and pre-taped. 

+Oh, god, I almost forgot the fan favorite/Twitter bullshit. Oh, you cut shit from the show just for that nonsense. The Flash enters the speed force!?!?!?! Fuck all that. Fuck it. Fuck it. Fuck it. 

+And the big one: the edited categories. Was it really worth it for a show that still ran three hours and fucking forty minutes?? The disrespect show to those artists, and the fact that apparently we will never get to see some of their moments in entirety is fucking bullshit. 

+To make matters worse, no one mentioned it. I thought some winners would stand up for it, but I don't think anyone did. 

Best Dressed:

Too much red on the red carpet. Top looks:

I wasn't a big fan of Jessica Chastain's ceremony look, but her after party look is the best of the night. Why didn't she wear this instead? Iconic look!

Zendaya's look felt like a throwback to something Sharon Stone would have worn in the 90's. Best dressed for the actual show!

Timothee Chalamet gets a runner-up for his sexy, androgynous look.  

And another award season bites the dust. Not too great winners this year, they were definitely better the past two years. Things will be totally normal next year, right?

Look, I've posted endlessly about the Oscars on here. I've said everything I can possibly say about "fixing them". I've said everything I can possibly say about why the show constantly trying to get a viewing audience that either doesn't exist or doesn't care is a huge mistake. I've said that they are alienating the people who actually love this shit in their mad pursuit of ratings. I'm not alone in saying these things. It's just a matter of when we'll actually be listened to. Is it before this show becomes something completely unrecognizable? Is it before the remaining people who love the Oscars completely give up on them?