Oscars Wrap Up... A Day Late!

For the first time ever, I was unable to "wrap up" the Oscars the day after, so I apologize and let's carry on!

Once again, I thought Jimmy Kimmel was an excellent host.  He kept the opening short and funny, kept the politics to a minimum (not that I care about that... funny is funny), and set the tone for a terrific evening.  I know that the pundits are saying that it was a boring Oscars, but honestly, in my house, we all laughed and were engaged every moment.  Even those of us who generally fall asleep part way through the broadcast stayed awake.  If I were going to cut anything for time, it would be the repeat of last year's joke of regular people getting to meet famous people... except that when Guillermo del Toro comes marching into a theater with a gigantic sub on his shoulder, that's pretty funny.

I LOVED the way the broadcast honored the 90th anniversary.  I loved the clips of best performances and including Oscars royalty like Eva Marie Saint and Rita Moreno (wearing her dress from her win in 1962) made it all the more special.  The montages almost all made me teary.

Here's my general complaint from the last couple of years.  The live performance of a song during the In Memorium (or as my dad calls it, the necrology report) section of the broadcast is fine (unnecessary, but fine), but STOP CUTTING AWAY FROM THE SCREEN to the live singer.  If you're someone who likes to see the "slide show" suddenly cutting away from the screen means that you can BARELY see the name of the deceased person.  This is BAD production and BAD direction, and whoever is doing that must stop it.

Let's get to the winners:

Best Picture: The Shape of Water
A beautiful film.  Fun to know that del Toro has been dreaming of this idea since he was a boy.  (And bravo to Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty for taking a joke.)

Actor in a Leading Role: Gary Oldman
I mean, duh.

Actress in a Leading Role: Frances McDormand
In addition to a powerful performance, an incredibly powerful speech.  And I love a woman who doesn't wear any makeup to the Oscars.  She's the real deal and such a talent.  This is my favorite part, "Come on Meryl, if you do it, everyone will do it."

Actor in a Supporting Role: Sam Rockwell
I still think it should have been Woody Harrelson.

Actress in a Supporting Role: Allison Janney
We love ya, Flamingo. (see West Wing)

Animated Feature: Coco
I highly recommend seeing this film, even if you have no kids.  It will truly bring a tear to your eye.  Brilliant.

Cinematography: Blade Runner 2049
I was thrilled to see this film win.  I thought it was excellent, and there was no other film like it last year.

Costume Design: Phantom Thread
It had no competition in this category.  The costumes were the best part of the (generally good but a little weird) film.  I guess if you're making a movie about a fashion designer, the fashion better be pretty darn good.

Directing: Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
I think that he was a lock from the beginning, but this is one of those categories that could have gone in almost any direction.

Documentary: Icarus
Timely and important and available on Netflix.  But I still think Faces Places should have won.  Still, this documentary single handedly brought down Russia's doping system in worldwide sports.

Documentary Short: Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405
This one really chaps my hide.  The best of these films was a short called Heroin(e), this film fell to my 4th place of the 5 nominees.  I found this shocking.

Film Editing: Dunkirk
Though I knew this would win, I honestly thought I, Tonya deserved it.  That whole film's narrative comes down to the editing.  Dunkirk won because it intertwined three stories, but had almost no dialogue to work around.

Foreign Language: A Fantastic Woman
Truly the best of the 5.  So well deserved!!!!!

Makeup and Hairstyling: The Darkest Hour
If you can find any Gary Oldman under that makeup, I truly congratulate you.  That performance is 50% makeup.  Amazing.

Original Score: The Shape of Water
Ok, fine.  They can have it.  (JOHN WILLIAMS FOREVERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!)  I mean, congratulations Shape of Water.

Original Song: Remember Me, Coco
Please prepare for my rant.  Ready?  Ok.  THIS AWARD IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE, AND THIS IS THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW THAT AN F UP THIS BAD HAS HAPPENED.  This Is Me was performed on stage as powerfully as in the film.  It wasn't embellished for the Oscars.  It was replicated for the Oscars.  It is an anthem for our time.  It should have won.  It's so good, it should have won this year and then again next year, just for being so great this year.  I'm really mad about this.  Rant over.

Production Design: The Shape of Water
Blade Runner should have won.  Blade Runner should have won.  Blade Runner should have won.  Are you catching my drift?

Animated Short: Dear Basketball
I know some people are mad about this, but it made me cry all three times I saw it so yeah, Kobe for the win.  I wonder how he feels finally being successful at something?

Live Action Short: The Silent Child
This was my favorite of all the live action shorts.  I genuinely thought DeKalb Elementary would win because it is about gun violence in a school and is based on a true story.  But I deeply love sign language, and this film was wonderful.

Sound Editing and Sound Mixing: Dunkirk
Over Star Wars? Come on.  Star Wars is just never going to take another Oscar home.

Visual Effects: Blade Runner 2049
Yes, agreed.  That movie was incredible and the visual effects made it so.

Adapted Screenplay: Call Me By Your Name
As you know, I consider the screenplay awards to be the consolation prizes for not winning Best Picture.  Call Me By Your Name was the only screenplay nominee that was also a Best Picture nominee.  So it was almost inevitable that it would win.  But I would have given it to The Disaster Artist - it's hard for funny films to do well at the Oscars, and just to be in this category means that it was one of the funniest films to be made last year.

Original Screenplay: Get Out
I really liked Get Out, but am I the only one to notice that the screenplay is just an updated The Stepford Wives (the original, not the Nicole Kidman garbage)?  I'm so happy for Jordan Peele, I'm absolutely a fan.  But if it was my choice, the award would have gone to The Big Sick.  However, I'm not angry about this choice as I was for some of the others (Original Song, seriously????).

That's another year at the Oscars.  If I can put in my plug now, I'm hoping to see Black Panther nominated for Costume Design in 2019.  Try not to forget about it, Academy!  

Thank you to all of you who followed and reposted and shared.  The Oscars are my favorite hobby each year, and I love that I get to share that with others.  See you next year!