Darren At the Cinema.: 91st Oscars Wrap-Up

THE 91ST ACADEMY AWARDS

Host: None

Winners: Green Book, Alfonso Cuaron, Rami Malek, Olivia Colman, Mahershala Ali, Regina King

Notable Occurrences/Trivia:
+For the first time in 30 years, the ceremony has no host.
+3 of the 4 acting winners are people of color.
+3 of the 4 acting winners are playing LGBTQ characters.
+A record number of women won Oscars: 15.

+Production designer Hannah Beachler and costume designer Ruth E. Carter become the 2nd and 3rd women of color to win Oscars outside the acting categories.
+Spike Lee wins his first competitive Oscar.
+In a break with tradition, last year's acting winners all presented the leading categories, while the supporting categories were presented by other people.
+The 8 Best Picture nominees are presented by a mix of actors and non-film people.
+For the first time in 28 years, a woman - this time Julia Roberts - presents Best Picture solo.

The Good:
+Welp, no way not to begin with the "Shallow" performance. I'd say this moment was exactly why I love the Oscars. The way it had no introduction and just went from the last award presented right into the performance, the way it was filmed facing the crowd like in the film, the way they were sitting in the audience and walked hand in hand to the stage, the orange hot lighting making it even more scorching, the way she held her hand over her dress when he sang, the crowd woo-ing and and clapping during the performance...it was all so perfect. Four years ago, Lady Gaga performed a tribute to The Sound of Music and that is one of my all-time favorite Oscar moments. This joins it. Maybe the Academy needs to consider her an official performer for the telecast every couple of years.

+A woman finally presented Best Picture by herself! Thank you, Academy! We've been begging you for this for years. Julia Roberts was a great choice. And she surprisingly didn't make the moment all about herself. "I hate my life...Green Book."
+I was happy to see they brough Guillermo Del Toro back to present Directing. I'm curious if this was planned without taking into account who was nominated. I would say always bring the Directing winner back. Having said that, it was perfect seeing Del Toro give it to Cuaron and their hug was so big and lovely. Really sweet moment.
+Please let Angela Bassett present at every award show. I love the way she speaks.
+Melissa McCarthy and Brian Tyree Henry and their bunny.

+Some of the presenter pairings were really inspired. In particular, Melissa McCarthy and Brian Tyree Henry was one I never would have considered and it paid off brilliantly. Awkwafina with John Mulaney, and Danai Gurira with James McAvoy were other good ones. The best may have been Helen Mirren with Jason Momoa. Whoever paired them together deserves an award. Not only that, Keegan-Michael Key introducing The Divine Miss M was another inspired bit with his umbrella. I tend to want people associated with one another or with what they are presenting to go together, and this proved me wrong.
+I'm glad to be right about this: there being no host completely worked. The show ran shorter and had a much brisker pace. I've actually heard people saying it felt rushed, something I've only rarely seen the Oscars described as. It might have just been paced better.

+The stage during the musical performances were all good. Loved the country backdrop during "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings". The backdrop to the RBG song performance was also very good, and I loved what Hudson was wearing to perform.
+Adam Lambert and Rami Malek both prove that there was only one Freddie Mercury, but the opening did what it needed to: it got the crowd to their feet and gave the show a big bump of energy right off the bat.

+Javier Bardem was really dancing to the music. I remember he was really into Timberlake's performance two years ago. Always make sure Javier is there to dance!
+Maya, Amy and Tina are award show saviors and nothing will ever change that. Maybe this will inspire more funny people to participate in the show if they don't have to host.

+Was Oprah secretly there handing out standing ovations? AND YOU GET A STANDING OVATION! AND YOU! AND YOU! WE ALL GET STANDING OVATIONS!!! Seriously, I lost track and couldn't even begin to recount the number of times the crowd was on their feet. An active crowd for this show is always a good thing.
+So much energy and joy from the technical/shorts winners! (Minus the makeup winners.) It's like they knew their categories were on the line and said THIS IS WHY WE DESERVE TO BE ON THE MAIN SHOW NOT DURING THE COMMERCIALS!
+Olivia Colman pulls off an upset and then delivers that amazing speech. And then she gets a second standing ovation. I know, poor Glenn and all. Olivia's win may be that rare one that is really all about the performance.

+Spike Lee and Barbra Streisand representing Brooklyn! I think they should make a movie together.
+Samuel L. Jackson's excitement over Spike winning was great. Spike leaping into his arms while an amused Brie Larson looked on was one of the high points of the night. Spike's standing ovation was huge, too.
+Richard E. Grant's reaction to Barbra Streisand! I'm glad someone behind the scenes was smart enough to get his reaction!
+Outside of a montage at the beginning that was well made, I don't think there was another one. I'm sure that made a lot of people very happy.

The Bad:
+Some of those winners. Yikes.
+I think a lot of my complaints for this show are things I've complained about before with this show and perhaps other award ceremonies. I'd rather that than a bunch of new, ceremony-specific comments. As for my few ceremony-specific critiques, they would start with the decision to have Janney and Rockwell not present the Supporting categories. I liked that they swapped the sexes, as it would've been dull to see Gary Oldman give Glenn Close another award. (Oh, wait...) But yeah, go back to the traditional way. If they don't feel that's "starry" enough, how bout adding a legendary winner in the category presented. An example would be have Regina King present the award with two-time Supporting Actor winner Michael Caine. Something like that. Plus, this would mean more older winners.

+Which brings me to my next point and one I knew I would be complaining about and one I definitely have said before. This is the Oscars. It's the biggest award show. It needs more star power. I've said before I don't have any problem with any individual presenter, but too many of these people are "new" or of the fame level that you get to present Live Action Short. Ideally, the presenter list would be a mix of past winners, stars of that year's blockbusters and nominated films that weren't nominated themselves, a few film legends, perhaps some major actors from the upcoming year's big films, and a small handful of breakthrough actors/ingenues. I mean, I love Krysten Ritter, but she's predominantly a TV actor and hasn't been in a noteworthy film in years, if ever.

+Speaking of presenters, the "real people" mixed with actors didn't really work. There was no introduction explaining about film uniting various worlds and the world in general. So many were confused why Serena Williams was introducing A Star Is Born, and who the hell is Tom Morello? But then Barbra Streisand intro-ing BlacKkKlansman made perfect sense once she explained that she loved the film. Try for that: film legends presenting a Best Picture nominee that they loved.
+And in regards to the Best Picture clips, stop it with the edited trailer shit. Show a scene from the movie!

+Clips are always welcome and the film's should be showcased, but you don't have to do a the same style of clip package for all 24 categories. Present costume design live on stage like when Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt presented it for the 2006 show. Pull down that big screen and show cinematography like when Rachel McAdams and Michael B. Jordan presented it in 2015. Do the sound editing with the rapid sounds/images like from that same year. For Makeup, do a before and after of various actors in the film. And the reading of the script by the presenters that has been done numerous times is always welcome. Have a musician play the nominated scores on stage.
+When a winner is walking to the stage, don't entirely cut to a filmed clip from their winning film until they get to the mic. We missed some standing ovations and crowd reactions because of this. Try a split screen! Show them walking to the stage on one box, and their film work in another.
+Several people pointed this out, but despite three wins for Black Panther it took forever to get a Ryan Coogler reaction shot. They were light on crowd reaction shots. A lot of people also pointed out that Rachel Weisz appeared to not be there when Olivia Colman won. Odd.

+Another directing issue: the way the musical performed stands on stage when their song ends. Midler, Hudson and Welch/Rawlings seem to be stranded. I'm sure there's a curtain that can close or they could just bow and walk off. It's so awkward. It's like they are waiting for a standing ovation.
+The voice over person I think said that several categories have been given out since X number of years. I think we need some more personal trivia or nomination history. Also, maybe have a few people doing the voice over. That woman's voice gets very tiring after awhile. Get Angela Bassett!
+I believe the seating was done so that some of the tech winners could be closer to the stage. (Ruth E. Carter appeared to be standing right in front of it when her category was announced.) It kind of threw everything off. Use the box seats in the front for that and leave the actors the closest to the stage. I did not like this seating arrangement. And yes, I really do complain about the seating arrangement at the Oscars! That's how seriously I take this shit.

+At next year's luncheon, please play the Makeup winners' acceptance speech as How NOT to Deliver a Speech. That was seriously painful. Had they not met before? I'm sure they're nice people.
+John Bailey had some nerve making a speech. Last year he said he wouldn't because it was a waste of time. But at a ceremony where they seemed to concerned with how long the show is, he decides to. He better be voted out.
+The In Memoriam missed a lot of people. Again. How do they keep fucking his up?
+Don't cut people's mics off. That's just rude.

Not counting the winners, this show and it lacking a host was generally well received. I worry the Academy/ABC will learn nothing from this and continue to try and tinker with the ceremony. Then again, that uptick in ratings might sway them.

And fashion...

BEST DRESSED
I'm actually going to skip worst dressed this year, as I'd probably have to post about a dozen or so images. Truly, one of the worst red carpets with risks that didn't pay off. But at least it was interesting. So I'll skip it because we need more risks on the red carpet. Even if they fail. Which many did this year.