95th Oscars Wrap Up

THE 95TH ACADEMY AWARDS

Host: Jimmy Kimmel

Winners: Everything Everywhere All at Once, Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Brendan Fraser, Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Jamie Lee Curtis

Notable Occurances/Trivia:

+Everything Everywhere All At Once breaks the record for most wins in "above the line" categories (i.e. the top 8 categories). 

+EEAAO also becomes the first film since Network to win three acting awards. The only other film that can also claim that is A Streetcar Named Desire.

+EEAAO was released in March. The last film released in the first quarter of the year to win Best Picture was The Silence of the Lambs, which was released in February 1991.  

+For the third year in a row, the Best Picture winner is led by a woman. 

+Michelle Yeoh becomes the first Asian woman to win Best Actress, and only the second woman of color to do so. Halle Berry, who co-presented the Oscar to Yeoh, was the first. 

+A24 won all four acting categories, the first time a studio has done this.

+Ruth E. Carter becomes the first black woman to have multiple Oscars. She won Oscars for designing the costumes for Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

+Jamie Lee Curtis joins Liza Minnelli and Laura Dern as Oscar winners who have parents that were both nominated as well. 

The Good:

+The show was actually good. I think this will probably be one of my shorter wrap-ups because I'm mostly happy with the actual ceremony.

+Kimmel did well, with only a few cringe moments. He kept things going. Jenny the Donkey and Cocaine Bear (I really wanted it to be Matt Damon!) are the exact sort of zaniness these award shows could use more of. 

+The stage looked amazing. When they did the first shot of the theater all lit up, I actually went "Ooooh, pretty!" I liked the big screens on the side, and it definitely gave the immersive vibe the producers were going for. In particular, when they presented clips from the Best Picture nominees, I like that the colors of each row changed. Nice touch.

+Winners actually seemed genuinely happy to be there and to win. I know this season had a lot of narratives floating about, so it was easy to root for a lot of the nominees. This leads to some emotional acceptance speeches, which gives the night a great sense of weight. Yeoh, Quan, JLC, and Polley seemed ecstatic to win. 

+Most of the clips were well done, and not just trailer excerpts. 

+The presentation of the technical categories felt like an apology for last year's debacle. They spent more time on some of them, and had some props on the stage. The costumes from the nominees were featured. Not only that, when the presenters walked out, the big screen in the background played clips from several past winners in the category. It was a simple way to add some history to the proceedings, but it worked well. Reverence! More of that, please! 

+They actually took the animation category seriously and it wasn't just "Your kids love 'em!"

+The "Naatu Naatu" performance. Exhilarating and did exactly what it needed to at just the right time: gave the show a huge burst of energy. You could sense the excitement even during Deepika Padukone's intro of it. 

+Enjoyed Gaga's stripped down version of "Hold My Hand". Yes, she's extra. What else is new?

+Lots of standing ovations! All four acting winners got one.

+Loved JLC remembering her roots and genre fans. 

+The second half of the show really picked up the pace. The way the first hour went, I thought for sure it was going to be a 4hr+ show.

+Andrea Riseborough's leather jacket. 

+The opening montage was strong, with lots of behind the scenes footage from the making of this year's films. 

+Hugh Grant said 'scrotum', which makes up a bit for him being an ass on the red carpet. 

+No one got slapped. 

+Loved all the people being introduced as "Academy Award Winner/Nominee". 

The Bad:

+I don't think this will be looked at as a particularly strong set of winners, and there could have been more wealth spreading. 

+I once again must ask to get more A-list stars to be presenters. Too many people who haven't been relevant in a good decade or so, or aren't really relevant at all. And, like last year, there were numerous people there to support their nominated films who could have presented: Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, Sandra Oh, Miles Teller, Harris Dickinson, Jenny Slate, Seth Rogen, to name a few. 

+Also, more past winners. Was it just Connelly, Berry, and Kidman? Everyone else that was a winner won last year. 

+While they mostly let people speak, a few winners did get cut off. 

+The Little Mermaid intro DURING the show is a big no-no from me, and a lot of people agreed. Why get Melissa and Halle there just to do that? Give them a category, then show a pre-recorded scene of them intro-ing the trailer as the start of the commercial break. I have to think Disney demanded this be on the show, and the Academy caved.

+Mostly ditto to Margot and Morgan doing the 100 years of Warner Bros. That was especially messy given the studio's current situation. I think there was a way they could have paid tribute to the studio, but that wasn't it. 

+Jimmy's bit with Malala was awkward mostly for "Malala Land". Eek. He really does have some weird fascination with foreign names.

+That big camera at the front of the stage was in way too many shots. 

+Seating was a little random. I wish they'd go back to bringing the tech nominees up to the boxed seats when their category is ready, thus saving some time in getting them to the stage. 

+Still not a fan of acting clips being mini-trailers for the performances, but at least they were well made. Go back to clips. The supporting actress ones could have been great. 

+Some of the presenters introductions to the categories were a little long winded.

+Presenter duos presenting multiple categories is a good, time-saving idea, but the acting awards should all have individual presenters. I get why they did it this year, though. 

+Something else I've said here before and now I'm fully behind and will shout from the rooftops now and forever more: Get rid of the In Memoriam. Once again, people are rightfully pissed off at the names left off. Anne Heche, Paul Sorvino, Charlbi Dean, Melinda Dillon (a double nominee!), and many more. Just make a montage, put it on the Academy website, and do that scancode thing during the show. 

+The other nominated song performances not mentioned in The Good weren't great. 

+The Crisis Team didn't fix the night's biggest problem: Tem's outfit blocking people's view. 

Best Dressed:

Pretty awful fashions. I think the champagne carpet did not go over well. 

Cara Delevingne gets Best Dressed from me. I think of all the people announced as presenters, she was the most puzzling as I can't remember a single movie she was in since 'Suicide Squad' where she was awful. However, she looks amazing and did a great job presenting!

Also liked: Halle Bailey, Emily Blunt, Jessie Buckley, Jessica Chastain, Danai Gurira, Stephanie Hsu, and Margot Robbie. 

Most Disappointing: Ana de Armas. How did one of the most beautiful women in the world not have a single memorable or even good look all season?

And another award season down. One for the history books. The Oscars are reportedly staying put in March, so the season will continue to be long. It will be interesting to see what changes are made due to "social media". The ratings were up from last year, so that's a good thing. More films released early in the year, please. Nice lesson to take away from this year: a Malaysian actress in her 60's, a legendary scream queen, a 90's era himbo, the kid from Temple of Doom, and the guys who made the farting corpse movie from a few years ago. All won Oscars. 

Never give up, kids!