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My Review of the 92nd Academy Awards

Well, that’s a wrap on the 92nd edition of the Academy Awards. Like all years, the Oscars had some great moments, some not-so-great moments, and some hilarious quotes! Here are my reactions to some of the major highlights from this year’s Oscars:

Best Moment: Parasite wins Best Picture

Through the first 91 years of the Academy Awards, no foreign-language film had won the Oscar for Best Picture. Last night, that streak ended. As I discussed on my post yesterday analyzing the Best Picture odds, the betting lines had gotten very tight between 1917 as the favorite and Parasite as the closest challenger. Thus, Parasite’s win was not entirely surprising, although it sure made for the best moment of the night, as it was one of my very favorite films from the past decade. (Overall, Parasite dominated this year, winning four Academy Awards, the most of any other film.) Additionally, the win made history for another noteworthy reason, as it became only the second film to win both the Palme d’Or at Cannes and Best Picture at the Oscars (the first time it’s happened in 64 years).

Worst Moment: Cutting the lights off on Parasite during the Best Picture acceptance speech

As mentioned above, the Best Picture win for Parasite was historic. When it came time for the acceptance speech, it took slightly longer than most would because the producers were speaking through interpreters. In light of all this, it was extra annoying when the ceremony cut the lights off on the winners before they were finished speaking. Although this was the worst moment, it was quickly followed by the most redeeming moment, thanks to the crowd’s audible displeasure with the situation. The camera even caught the likes of Regina King, Tom Hanks, and Charlize Theron chanting for the lights to come back up. This was a huge moment for Parasite, and I am glad that ultimately, the winners were allowed extra time to celebrate the victory!

Most Surprising Moment: Eminem!

We knew about nearly all of the musical performances last night in advance. One we didn’t know about was Eminem. A video was introduced during the ceremony that paid homage to some amazing songs in film history. Toward the end of the video, scenes from 8 Mile played, accompanied by the instrumental introduction from Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” which won for Best Original Song that year. Then, the video ended…and Eminem popped up on stage to perform a live rendition of his monster hit from the early 2000s. The moment totally caught me by surprise (as well as others in the audience, based on their reactions), but I loved every second of it. Eminem did not attend the Oscars the year “Lose Yourself” won, so it was great to finally see him on stage performing on film’s biggest night!

Sleepiest Guest: Martin Scorsese during “Lose Yourself”

Twitter was on fire last night with some hilarious reactions during Eminem’s performance, but the funniest for me was the image of The Irishman director Martin Scorsese fighting off a nap. The ceremony is long, so I get it if Marty was a bit tired. But right in the middle of a loud rap performance??

Best Jokes from the “Non-Hosts”

For the second straight year, the Oscars was without an official host. However, in the hostiest of hostless ways, comedians Steve Martin and Chris Rock (both of whom have previously hosted the show) came out following the opening musical number to deliver a monologue. Some of the highlights included an absolute roasting of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, including his divorce (“He saw Marriage Story and thought it was a comedy”); poking fun at the long runtime of Martin Scorsese’s latest film (“I loved the first season of The Irishman“); and a hilarious discussion by Chris Rock of Ford v Ferrari (“I got a Ford, I got a Ferrari…it ain’t even close. That’s like Halle Berry versus gum disease”).

Funniest Presenters: Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig

Can we just hire Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig to host every Oscars every year? The two comedy queens co-presented the awards for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design, and per usual, hilarity ensued. Rudolph and Wiig wanted the directors in the room to know they “do more than comedy” and can “act.” Naturally, they crushed it!

Biggest Upset: Bong Joon-ho wins Best Director over Sam Mendes

Although I predicted that the Academy would award Best Picture to Parasite, I was certain Sam Mendes would win Best Director for 1917 for the immense technical achievement of the film. Leading up to the ceremony, Mendes was a -400 favorite to win, with Parasite’s Bong Joon-ho a +300 underdog. As I wrote about yesterday, in three of the previous four years, the Academy gave Best Director and Best Picture to different movies. Thus, I figured the split would be on again this year. But the Academy threw us all a curveball, giving Bong a clean sweep of the two awards. (Bong was the largest statistical underdog, from a betting perspective, to pull off an upset last night.)

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Posted on by mistertowle2

My Review of the 91st Academy Awards Ceremony

Well, that’s a wrap on the 91st edition of the Academy Awards. Like all years, the Oscars had some great moments, some not-so-great moments, and some hilarious quotes! Here are my reactions to some of the major highlights from the 2019 Academy Awards ceremony:

Best Moment: “Shallow” performance by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper

This performance was a knockout! Like most fans of A Star Is Born, I have listened to “Shallow” from the film’s soundtrack on repeat since I first saw the movie. The performance by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper was probably the moment I was most looking forward to last night, and it absolutely, unequivocally did not disappoint. I will admit, after watching that recent impromptu performance of “Shallow” together at a Lady Gaga concert in Vegas, I was a little worried about Cooper’s singing abilities come Oscar night – that ended up being a total non-issue, as Cooper’s performance of his portion of the song was pitch-perfect. Obviously Gaga knocked the song out of the park, and it was such a cool moment to see these two (who had some of the best on-screen chemistry in any movie last year) light it up on Hollywood’s biggest night.

Worst Moment: Green Book wins Best Picture

Talk about a letdown to end an otherwise enjoyable night celebrating cinema. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoyed Green Book. It was a good movie. A good movie. But the best movie of the year? Not a chance. Not a damn chance. The above tweet from The A.V. Club so perfectly sums up a Green Book win for Best Picture. This year, there were some wonderful movies nominated in the Best Picture category, and I would not have been unhappy whatsoever to see a win for The Favourite, A Star Is Born, Black Panther, Roma, or BlacKkKlansman – in fact, any one of those five films would be a deserving victor. You could sense it on the broadcast that the Dolby Theatre found the win underwhelming, too, as everything seemed deflated during the acceptance speech.

Most Surprising Moment: The hostless concept wasn’t that bad 

Following the Kevin Hart controversy, viewers were understandably interested in how the Academy would execute its first hostless ceremony in exactly 30 years. Although the last Oscars without a host didn’t go down in the annals of history in a positive manner, I was pleasantly surprised with how good last night’s show was despite lacking a customary ringleader. First, instead of a monologue, the Oscars kicked off with an amazing musical performance of “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions” by Queen and Adam Lambert – in a year where Bohemian Rhapsody won the most Oscars, it was a fitting start to the show. Then, we got a short definitely-not-a-monologue by definitely-not-hosts Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler – although brief, it still provided a good taste of jokes that we are used to at the Oscars. All in all, I was surprised with how enjoyable the show was without a host.

Most Awkward Moment: Vice Acceptance speech for Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Every year at the Oscars, we get some incredibly eloquent and thought-provoking acceptance speeches that are emotionally affecting and inspirational – the one for Vice’s Best Makeup and Hairstyling win by Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe, and Patricia Dehaney was not one of those speeches. It was downright painful. The three winners constantly talked over each other while reading off a piece of paper containing names of those they wanted to thank – Greg Cannom even quipped at one point when he was told by one of his co-winners to read a particular line from the “thank you” paper, “No, I already did.” It was bumbling and awkward, and many on Twitter dubbed it the worst acceptance speech of all time. Twitter ain’t wrong.

Biggest Upset: Olivia Colman wins Best Actress 

When Olivia Colman’s name was called for Best Actress, I think I might have literally fist-pumped on my couch while exclaiming, “YES! SHE DID IT!” It was such a major moment because (1) I loved Colman’s performance in The Favourite and desperately wanted her to win, and (2) Glenn Close was a MAJOR frontrunner to take home the award. I had pretty much accepted that Close would win this award after taking home nearly all of the Best Actress trophies at the major pre-Oscars award shows. (And I wasn’t even mad about it, because I loved her in The Wife.) But if ever there was an upset at this year’s Oscars, I am incredibly thankful that it was in Colman’s favor.

Best Joke: (Tie) Peeing at the Grammys and Fyre Festival

In the aforementioned brief comedy opener by Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler, the three women alternated sharing some quick jokes about the ceremony and the nominated movies/performances. There weren’t really any that didn’t hit, but there were a couple that definitely stood out as my favorites. First, Maya Rudolph looked at Bradley Cooper and said, “Don’t worry, Bradley, after four kids, I too have peed myself at the Grammys,” harkening back to Jackson Maine’s unfortunate moment on stage in A Star Is Born. Then, Tina Fey proclaimed to the crowd, “Everyone, look under your seats, you’re all getting one of those cheese sandwiches from the Fyre Festival!”

Line of the Night: From Rayka Zehtabchi during the acceptance speech for Best Documentary – Short Subject

Last night, the Oscar for Best Documentary – Short Subject went to “Period. End of Sentence.” The film is a very serious look at revolutionary efforts by women in India to not only improve feminine hygiene, but also to empower women. I have not yet seen this short film, but from all accounts, it is tremendous and meaningful. When its creators got on stage last night to give their acceptance speech, director Rayka Zehtabchi announced, “I’m not crying because I’m on my period. I can’t believe a film about menstruation just won an Oscar!” Zehtabchi’s response to winning an Oscar about a taboo subject was brilliant, funny, and full of emotion – definitely the line of the night.