88TH OSCARS WRAP UP

THE 88TH ACADEMY AWARD

Host: Chris Rock

Winners: Spotlight, Alejandro G. Inarritu, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brie Larson, Mark Rylance, and Alicia Vikander

Notable Occurances/Trivia:

+After 6 nominations, Leonardo DiCaprio finally wins.

+The Best Picture winner, Spotlight, is the only film in over 60 years to win Best Picture and one other award. Spotlight won the first and last awards of the evening and nothing else.

+Vice President Joe Biden introduces Lady Gaga's performance and discussed the "It's On Us" campaign to help survivors of sexual assault. Gaga's performance includes a few dozen survivors on stage with her.

+Ennio Morrocone, an Honorary Oscar recipient, wins his first competitive Oscar at age 87.

+Ex Machina becomes the first Visual Effects winner to beat a Best Picture nominee in that category in 45 years. It is also one of the lowest budgeted winners for that category.
+The show employs a scroll at the bottom of the screen where winners can list people to thank.

+Alejandro G. Inarritu becomes only the third person to win back-to-back Directing Oscars.

Host. Please?

The Good:

+The presentation of the technical categories was top notch. This show featured superbly made clip packages that showed off the films that were nominated. This is frequently one of my pet peeves with the Oscars show of late as the producers seem to look at below the line categories as things to get through as fast as possible. 

+Again, the sound editing clips were really really really great. (Though it was kind of funny that they must have accidentally played some of it as the show was coming back from commercial yielding a very confused look from Brie Larson.)
+Quite a few upsets and surprises as far as the winners go. I think the past several years have been so predictable, so this was very welcome.

+Michael Keaton being very excited for Spotlight's win. Michael has now appeared in back to back Best Picture winners.
+Morgan Freeman staring at the winner's card for Best Picture for a few seconds was great and I knew we had a surprise in that moment. Also, Morgan was a great choice for Picture. I'm not mad it wasn't a woman. Next year, though, a woman needs to present Picture.

+The producers stole from Bill Condon's Oscar show in how Costumes and Production Design were shown. The tools and material were on stage. If there's any show to rip off from, it's that one. 

+Most of the winners were solid. Mad Max dominating the tech categories was welcome.

+Ex Machina surprising in Visual Effects was pretty amazing. And I loved that Andy Serkis presented. 

+The constant Aussie accents up on stage! Australian filmmakers seem so nice and genuine. George Miller getting thanked pervasively during the show was great. (Too bad he couldn't get thanked in the form of an Oscar.)

+I appreciated some of Chris Rock's jokes. The Jada burn was great. (I'm sorry, she had some good points, but that was solely about her husband not being nominated.) The Stacey Dash bit was almost worth it just for the awkwardness of it all. And bless her for being a good sport. The bit of black people being in nominated films was also decent. The best was Tracey Morgan as the Danish Girl. That was probably the hardest I laughed all night. Oh, and Jack Black History Month was good if just for seeing Angela Bassett on Oscar night. Get her to present! Better yet: get her a role that will get her an Oscar!

+It was hard not to get swept up in Leo mania even if I don't think his performance was really Oscar worthy. The crowd was so happy for him. Me too. Though anyone denying his Oscar thirst hopefully noticed that he snatched the Oscar out of that girl's hands before she could give it to Julianne to give to him. 

+Tina Fey at all award shows from now to forever. Please and thank you.

I had to steal this from another website, so sorry about the check. RIP Wes!

+Wes Craven was first in the In Memoriam. I was worried he'd be omitted,but I was pleasantly surprised he was first. The In Memoriam overall was simple and very well done. I prefer this style over the past three years of having someone sing after it. Grohl did a good job.
+Brie Larson and Kate Winslet hugging all the survivors from Gaga's performance. Really sweet.

+The opening movie was nice. 

+The "Earned It" performance was good, best perfomance of the three.

+Louis CK was very funny, too. Might that have been an audition to host? One can hope.

+Kevin Hart, who desperately wants to host the show, came across as very sincere. His tribute to the POC non-nominees was very nice.

+The orchestra was back in the Dolby!

FUUUUCCCCCKKK MMMMEEEEEEEEE.

+Oh, Hi, Rachel McAdams and Michael B. Jordan. Make a movie together. Fuck on stage. Don't care. We want to watch anyways. And that was a simple and beautiful way to present cinematography. Probably? I couldn't take my eyes off McJordan. Apparently, I'm not the only one. Social media was shipping them pretty hard. (Also, Kerry Washingon and Henry Cavill made a sexy presenting team. Good Lord, he has amazing posture. And Liev Schreiber and Priyanka Chopra? Sofia Vergara and Byung-hun Lee? Were presenters paired based on how beautiful their mixed race hypothetical children might be? This applies to Chris Evans and Chadwick Boseman as well.)
+"Fight the Power" playing during the end credits.

We'll pretend this was for Ex Machina.

+Well, the second part of Sam Smith's speech was good. And in the controversy over his speech, it is a sad (but still needed) reminder that no out gay actor has won an Oscar for acting. Everyone was either closeted or glass closeted. 

+Charlize and Emily's "Writers are hot. A writer wrote that." was funny, simple and cute. Aspire to that kind of banter. (Remember the Globes with Eva Longoria and America Ferrera and how simple and funny their bit was?) You don't have to do a "Who's on first?" routine. 

Wer're totes getting nominated for Huntsman: Winter's War

The Bad:

+"I'm so happy to receive this Oscar. I'm now going to say the most important thing I will ever say in my life..." *CUES MUSIC* OMG STOP PLAYING PEOPLE OFF. If the show runs long, it should be for this reason and not because of bloated production numbers or banter or comedy bits. Let people speak. Though I'll admit: I got a perverse thrill out of them trying to play off AGI. Especially after this:

+The scrolling was a disaster. Social media hated it. (Though, what else is new?) It went too fast. I honestly don't remember a single thing that scrolled by. Also, the trivia bits for presenters needs to go, too. That was less of a disaster, but most of the stuff I couldn't read. 

+In regards to that, maybe they did it given how C-list the presenters line up was. (Audience at home: Who are these people? Producers: Well, here's some info.) Last year I bitched about this and I'll bitch about it again. I'm guessing people didn't want to go and seem insensitive. I don't know. See point below about Jennifer Lawrence. 

Tom McCarthy would also like to thank KFC, Patricia Clarkson and Satan. 

+Stop having people nominated present categories where their film is nominated. UGH. Why do all award shows do this??? Even Woody and Buzz Lightyear presenting to Inside Out is unacceptable! .

+I'm happy the orchestra is back, but the song choices for presenters/winners ranged from slightly questionable (Whoopi Goldberg was not in What's Love Got To Do With It?) to downright embarassing (The doc Amy won and they played "Rehab". Brie Larson walked to the stage to an upbeat "Big Rock Candy Mountain".) 

Harley Quinn and Joker have showered.

+I'm not sure I like this talking-while-walking-toward-the-camera thing Cate and Jared/Margot did. They all looked like they had difficulty doing it and the camera was moving way too slow. 

+Outside of the many Aussies, most of the speeches were forgettable. Even Leo couldn't manage much to say he hasn't said already. 

+The audience apparently disappeared for long stretches of the show. I don't know if the Academy needs to put a bar in the actual theatre and make it like the Globes, but the audience the past 2 years hasn't had much of an interest in the actual show and prefers to be in the lobby bar. Bookending the show with the top 8 categories (with only supporting in the middle) may not be the smartest idea. 

+Having 2 people present Picture is a tad better than the triple pack thing they did the past 2 years. However, the presenters made no sense. Okay, Benicio, Kate and Reese are Oscar winners. Benicio was in a AGI movie, so he presents The Revenant. But Jennifer Garner for Mad Max?? Olivia Wilde for Brooklyn? And the worst: Sacha Baron Cohen introduces Room without actually introducing Room. And why did Sarah Silverman introduce the Spectre song? And why wasn't she funny?

+And why was Sarah Silverman in the first half hour of the show, but the Minions, Buzz Lightyear and Woody, R2D2 and BB8, and Abraham Attah and Jacob Tremblay were all two hours in? I know kids don't watch this, but at least consider them. And I'm not sure what the point of the Star Wars characters was? Tribute to John Williams?  

+Jennifer Lawrence seemed to not be there during the show. Did she go there for the monologue, leave, then come back for her category. I said after the 86th Oscars they need to whatever they can to get her there, but she didn't seem like she wanted anything to do with this show. 

+The Honorary Oscar recipients need to be able to take the stage. I know Gena was the only one there, but just allowing her a quick wave isn't enough.

+The Gaga performance clearly worked in the theatre, not so much at home. The directing was way too on-the-nose and Gaga a little too theatrical. I think the message it was trying to send was muted a little, but again it clearly killed in the theater. Rachel McAdams and Kate Winslet tearing up! They are the new Chris Pine! The Sam Smith performance was really pitchy. 

+And while we're talking about the music, again I'll mention the 2 other nominated songs being cut. Either all the songs get performed or none of them do. 

+The directing of the show was largely terrible. What is it about award shows lately that we have to have camereman who at some point in the show will almost drop the camera? Every single award show lately has had that problem. Are cameras getting heavier? 

+Amy Poehler was finally at the Oscars. AND YOU DON'T GET HER TO PRESENT!?!??!!?!?!??!?!?

+Now, as for Chris Rock, as I said above he had some good digs. But all of his material was #OscarsSoWhite. Like, did he and his writers have 12 pages of that and forgot to make jokes about anything else? It's an election year! Also, no Leo material? It just went too long. And I honestly thought most of his material was too safe. I know people said that last time he hosted, but I thought he did a better job the first time. The Girl Scouts thing, while nice, also felt a little too-Ellen. Oh, and I'm not gonna bash the Stacey Dash thing. It was so awkward and the audience had no idea who she was. It ended up being perfect. Like this show's Adele Dazeem. I mean, the joke was actually kind of clever? It just completely landed with a thud. I think Kumal and Kate did a great job of burning the industry and still doing other fun stuff at the Spirit Awards. Plus, Tina and Amy could insult people but do it in a way that still made them laugh. A lot of people commented that despite some good jokes, after 10 minutes of it and more throughout the evening, it just sucked the life out of the room.

But, he had a very difficult task. There's no denying that. I applaud him for going through with it as this is a notoriously difficult room.

+There's also controversy about a lot of jokes made about women, Asians and Rock stopping himself before making a joke about Sam Smith. Again, this diversity controversy should go beyond white and black. Everyone needs a fair shot, and everyone needs to be at the table. 

Pizza delivery boy is on his way, too.

Ah yes. I remember food.

I applaud Kerry's restraint in not giving Henry a tongue bath on stage.

Team Spotlight are floored by their win. (Seriously, how cool is this Picture? I love that they did this.)

So, my friends, this year's Oscars had some high highs and low lows and showed some promise. I wouldn't mind at all if these producers were brought back. They have a few things to fix and if the Academy gives them a great and diverse set of nominees and offers up some surprises as far as winners go, we'll have a great Oscars!

The Leo Meme is now too old to date him.

AND BEST DRESSED:

1. SAOIRSE RONAN - so sexy! 

2. CATE BLANCHETT - only Cate could pull this off. 

3. RACHEL McADAMS - it's one of those dresses that looks very simple in pics but stunning and sexy in movement. 

4. MARGOT ROBBIE - her best Oscar look so far. 1980's movie star!

5. CHARLIZE THERON - rarely strikes out. True movie star!

6. NAOMI WATTS - reminds me of JLaw's SAG dress from 2 years ago, but still great. 

I wasn't crazy about Vikander's dress. I liked Larson's but not enough to put it here. I also kinda liked Jennifer Garner's dress. I don't get the love for Rooney Mara's dress, but I'm so bored by her I can't name it worst dressed. Daisy Ridley was most disappointing for me. This is her first award show red carpet and she's red hot. I wanted her to come out swinging, but it was dull. Also, did a lot of people there avoid the red carpet altogether. The Academy makes the other network's drop their coverage after a specific time, which I fully approve of. 

Worst Dressed:

Sidenote: I'm not going to name that person some people have named as Worst Dressed. Hint: she's a TV host with the initials HK. Why not? Because she's not a movie star, she's not a nominee, she's not a past nominee/winner. She's not dating anyone who should be at the Oscars. She literally just shows up to walk the red carpet wearing something really awful that will get attention and then leaves. Not giving it to her. Fuck that. I'm sure she's not a terrible person, but this gets annoying year after year. So fuck it.

I'll name Kate Winslet worst dressed. I appreciate what the dress is trying to do, and I like that she switched it up. The dress completely ruins her awesome (sorry haters!) figure and is just a big lump. I did love her glasses though on stage.

Here's Kate with Leo. One of my favorite things from this award season was seeing them together so often. I think when they are in their 60's and Kate is finished with her sixth husband and Leo is tired of explaining to 20-year-olds what the 90's were like, Leo and Kate will realize they are the loves of each other's lives and finally get together. And the world will be better off.

And these two, of course: