89TH OSCARS WRAP UP

THE 89TH ACADEMY AWARDS

Host: Jimmy Kimmel

Winners: Moonlight, Damien Chazelle, Casey Affleck, Emma Stone, Mahershala Ali, and Viola Davis

Notable Occurrences/Trivia:

+In one of the most memorable/shocking moments in the Academy's history, the wrong movie is announced as the winner of Best Picture. (More on that later...)

+To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Bonnie and Clyde, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway present Best Picture.

+Viola Davis wins on her third nomination. She is the most nominated black actress in Oscar history.

+Mahershali Ali becomes the first Muslim to win an acting award. 

+Meryl Streep earns her 20th nomination.

+Moonlight becomes the first LGBTQ film to win Best Picture.

+Moonlight becomes the first film with an all-black ensemble to win Best Picture.

+La La Land becomes the third film to get 14 nominations, and the first to lose Best Picture. 

+Kevin O'Connell, a sound mixer, wins on his 21st nomination.

+The real life Katherine Johnson, the subject of Best Picture nominee Hidden Figures, appears on stage with the cast. She is 98 years old. 

+In a few segments, actors talk about the actors that inspired them. They included Charlize Theron talking about Shirley MacLaine, Seth Rogen talking about Michael J. Fox, Javier Bardem talking about Meryl Streep, and Jimmy Kimmel talking about Matt Damon. The last one was a joke, obviously. The first three groups all present together.

The Good:

+The show was actually really good! Funnily enough, this was the show with one of the most embarrassing moments in Oscar history and yet there were very few embarrassing things about the actual show.

+Justin Timberlake opened the show with his nominated "Can't Stop the Feeling". This was a great way to bring energy up from the get go and seeing everyone standing/dancing/bopping along/actually looking happy at the Oscars set the upbeat tone of the show. This would be a great idea to do from now on, but the problem lies in that very few nominated songs are huge hit songs like Timberlake's. The song was so ubiquitous that everyone there knew the words and could sing along. The only recent nominee that could have done the same thing was Pharrell's "Happy". Next year, get Janelle Monae to open the show.

+Seeing Isabelle Huppert and Jeff Bridges swaying to Justin Timberlake = crossing something off my bucket list.

+Jimmy Kimmel was a terrific host. For the most part. I think the audience liked him, and the never-ending Matt Damon jokes actually worked.

+The candy dropping from the sky was fun. I think my favorite recurring bit from the past several award seasons is how happy everyone in the audience is for food.  

Next year: drones!

+"Ben Affleck and guest". Probably my favorite joke of the night.

+Sara Bareilles performance during the In Memoriam was perfect. She did it at the Emmy's with "Smile". 

+Lots of genuine speeches and happiness. And very few winners were cut off! I was so worried when I saw one of the producers saw winners had 45 seconds and that time started when they got out of their seats. But most winners got to talk. Thank you, thank you! Only Matt Damon got played off by Jimmy. 

+And the show ran long because of this. If there ever is a reason for the show to run long, it should be because people were allowed to give their speeches, and not stupid production numbers and montages.
+Jimmy made a joke about Mel. Good. I'm glad no one really seemed to care about him. Go home with your granddaughter/girlfriend and never be heard from again.
+The Honorary Recipients were actually mentioned and introduced! Nice change of pace from just ignoring them. Plus, we saw Jackie Chan clapping earlier.

+I think the bits with people paying tribute to one another were nice. I wouldn't be surprised if we see this in the future. It's a solid way of bringing out people we haven't seen in awhile.

+The acting clips were well chosen, for the most part. And rather spoilery.

+Great use of clips of previous winners before the acting categories! Love that!

I don't know what my sexuality is anymore. Am I an Amysexual?

+Oh yes! FIVE TIME OSCAR NOMINEE AMY ADAMS SHOWED UP LOOKING LIKE A MILLION BUCKS. I believe we call that a "FUCK YOU" moment. Get it, Amy! (And WOOHOO at Arrival now being an Oscar-winning film!)

+They showed actual clips for the all the categories, didn't they? That was very good, but could be refined. I'll go into that later.

+Auli'i Cravalho - very lovely performance. And she got hit by one of the flags but handled it like a pro. How is she 16, though? I thought Lin-Manuel's part wasn't needed, though. The stage looked gorgeous during that number. The whole thing was just lovely.
+Lots of standing ovations. All four acting winners got one. Don't know when that happened last. Crowd was into the show, me thinks. 

+Some politics, not as much as expected. The SAGs probably had more a political feel this year. The T***p tweet bit was good. And Jimmy mocking "overrated" Meryl was funny.

+However fleeting the moment may have been, it was nice seeing Rosemarie DeWitt on the Oscar stage. Just felt right. 

+Nicole Kidman clapping. Oh my. Nicole looked like she was having so much fun with the Hidden Figures ladies. Also, can the Hidden Figures ladies be at every award show from now on? Someone online suggested Taraji, Janelle and Octavia for a remake of Hocus Pocus and I've never wanted anything as badly as I want that. 

The Bad:

+Can we please (please please please) try and make this thing a little bit more A-list? I know some stars won't attend unless they are nominated. I know that a lot of others won't because of social media waiting to pounce on anyone who says the wrong thing or looks the wrong way. I don't blame them in that regard. It's just a little odd that so many big names go to Oscar parties and attend events throughout the weekend but won't go to the Oscars. I've said this the past several years: I don't have a problem with any one specific person there. (Usually.) But when about a third of your presenters are people who should present something like Live Action Short, you need to aim a little higher.

I still don't know if John and Leslie's jokes about the Sci/Tech ceremony were really funny or mean.

+The directing was way off. It got better as the show went on. As amusing as the dancing was during "Can't Stop the Feeling", it felt a little too scattershot. I know live events are probably a nightmare to direct, but things should flow a little more smoothly. They used a bit too many direct overhead shots throughout the show. I had no idea who we were seeing, but I didn't need to see their baldspots.

+I said above about the clips being very good. They were. I just wish more of the technical categories were presented like Sound Editing last year. Or when Costume Design and Production Design are presented, show artistic sketches! But again, I'm happy they used so many film clips!

+The bus bit should have been cut. I know this was pretty divisive and it must have been a thrill for some of those people, but it went on too long. It also had a weird feeling of being at a zoo, though I'm still not sure who the animals were supposed to be. The people walking through or the celebs? (WE BOUGHT A ZOO!) Also, I don't like any of the bus people. If you are not watching the Oscars, you are dead to me! DEAD. TO. ME. :-) Also, it was just revealed one of the guys just got out of jail for rape. Must have felt at home with Mel and Casey? OH BURN!

+Glad Brie was a total pro with Casey, but still felt bad for her.
+I like the idea of film scores/songs being used during the telecast, but too many of them made no sense. Apparently, Vikander walked out to the Toy Story theme. And they kept playing Flashdance music. 

+Samuel L. Jackson had to give an Oscar to film he bashed in the press a few days earlier. Maybe give him another category?

+AND STOP HAVING PEOPLE PRESENT CATEGORIES WHERE THERE FILMS ARE NOMINATED! Amy presented Adapted Screenplay, while Matt presented Original. I know Matt and Ben won Original, but they should have switched with Amy.

+They put a picture of a woman still living in the In Memoriam.
+Did Amy Adams and Ben Affleck show up mid-show? I think Ben took Halle's seat in the audience. Did Kate McKinnon leave after she presented? I am the only person who worries about stuff like this. 

+Holding Sunny Pawar like The Lion King was a tad tone deaf.

+Mean Tweets should have been cut, too. Or they should have done it live.

+The La La Land medley didn't work at all. Legend sounded not great. For all the criticisms of Ryan and Emma's voices, they at least gave their numbers personality. John just sounded so bland. This is proof that you don't need to be a perfect singer to make a song yours. The staging of the numbers was nice, though. Slight sidenote: if I were a producer, I would have sent someone out to the audience to wake Chrissy up or tell her to go to the lobby. It looks bad to have someone sleeping in the audience. I'm not sure if she was intentionally doing that to become a GIF as she clearly loves doing things like that.

+I'm never one to complain about the running time of the show. The Oscars are once a year. People need to accept that this a 3.5+ hour show. There are rarely any complaints about the runtime of the Super Bowl. I do think that this show could have been paced slightly better. There was a little dragging. Just a tad. It ran 3hrs 49min, I believe. Of course, that end definitely added a few minutes. Some trimming could occur here and there.

The Mix-Up:

+And here we go...

LA LA LAND WINS BEST PICTURE!

UNTIL IT DIDN'T!

MOONLIGHT WINS BEST PICTURE!

And there you have it. The most shocking moment in Oscars history. 

Laughs, joy, confusion, shock, gasps, hands-over-hearts, jaws on the floor, tears, a show of grace and then surprise. What the fuck just happened? You couldn't make it up if you tried. Those faces. A picture is worth a million dollars, right? And it's so rare to see the people in the Dolby in such an almost vulnerable moment. Reactions to these events are so planned sometimes long in advance. We give fake Oscar speeches in mirrors. When stars get into their limos to go to these events, they think about what they might say. They rehearse. And then, something like this pulls everything out from underneath us. Those faces pictured - Meryl, Matt, Busy, Isabelle, Naomie, Trevante, Warren - mirrored my own. And Shirley! With her hand over her heart! Such drama! And Ryan giggling! 

I think in the end this probably helped both films' reputations. It was all very embarrassing and humiliating and human. It was Adele Dazeem times a million. It was unforgettable. At 89, Oscars still know how to surprise. 

And what a way to end award season. Never think a film is finished. The race ain't over until the envelope is opened. And even then...

BEST DRESSED!

Gotta go with Emma for #1. I want this pic above as a poster. Instantly iconic image!

Truth be told, I didn't really love too many looks. 

Some others that I liked...

Auli'i Cravahlo

Nicole Kidman

Taraji P. Henson

Amy Adams

Charlize Theron

Brie Larson - This is her party dress. 

Again, why must some ladies wear awesome dresses to the parties after wearing really bland dresses to the Oscars. 

As for Worst Dressed...

I had to debate, because I think there weren't many outright terrible looks. I even sorta liked Dakota Johnson's look, which most people hated. I wasn't that crazy about Janelle Monae's dress, which I know a lot of people loved. 

In the end, I went with Naomie Harris. Mostly out of disappointment. Man, she really killed it at the Globes then looked underwhelming everywhere else. There's just lots of bizarre things with this look. Oh well. I love her and am so happy she's now an Oscar nominee.

Anyway, I guess that's an official wrap for Award Season 2016.

Suggestions for host next year...  Get it, Kate.

Keep dreaming, fools!