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Wow, so much to say about this year's Oscars. I got 19 out of 23 right which I consider a pretty good year. If you won your Oscars pool and I helped, let me know! I know at least one person viewed my picks and he won! Let's spread the word about the blog. :)
Obviously there were some serious highlights of the evening -
I thought Jimmy Kimmel was a great host (again) though he had a couple of cringy jokes, he did a great job. His final joke where he asked former President Trump, "aren't you up past your jail time" slayed, in the room and at my house.
Ryan Gosling and the Bar-boys with their tribute to Marilyn Monroe were a huge highlight of the night. Mark Ronson warned that the song would be a huge spectacle, and it was in the best way! I've watched it back already many times, and I can't stop! Go Ryan Gosling!
The best speeches of the night were given by Da'Vine Joy Randolph (it's good to be different) and Cord Jefferson (take a risk, make smaller films that tell many kinds of stories, make more movies with smaller budgets rather than huge movies with larger budgets). I love when winners use their speeches for inspiration rather than a list of thank you's, though Da'Vine Joy Randolph's publicist and Robert Downey Jr's entertainment lawyer both got kudos that were meaningful, rather than just a list of people. As always, when one person hogs the acceptance speech time and doesn't let his/her fellow winners get a word in, I always wish that they had just practiced a bit and written down what they were going to say. (You're one of 5 nominees out of everyone on the planet, there is at least a chance you'll be on the stage. PREPARE.)
Most annoying moment of the night - once again this award goes to the In Memorium segment, otherwise known in my house as the Necrology Report.
1. You don't need dancers.
2. If you do need dancers to entertain the people in the room because you think this segment is boring, the people at home don't want to see them.
3. We want to see the names and pictures on the screen. The long shots do not lend themselves to the millions of people at home who can't see a damn thing on the screen. These long shots only serve to frustrate the viewers.
4. This was even more evident with the final slide which only had names with no photos - I couldn't read a single name and I'll bet neither could anyone.
5. No fancy camera work is needed. Set up on the screen and don't fucking move.
My message: either honor the people who died and the viewers at home so that they can be properly seen, or cut the whole damn thing.
And now, for the worst part of the night.
These "Artists for Ceasefire" people - I'm assuming that they are speaking to Hamas, who has rejected multiple ceasefire offers? Also, does the pin remind us that there was a ceasefire in place on October 6th that HAMAS VIOLATED? I am also assuming that they are calling for the innocent Israeli hostages to come home? Plus there's always this, just a little pesky fact about murdering Jews:
And then there's the truly disappointing and horrifying speech by Jonathan Glazer, The Zone of Interest filmmaker and Director. So let's do a little clearing things up because I like facts. Glazer is being criticized for renouncing his Judaism. It's a poorly worded sentence but that's not actually what he did and it turns out that sentence construction matters. What he did was renounce the use of Judaism and the Holocaust in order to justify... well, I'm not sure, the state of Israel existing at all as a Jewish state? (Yep, that's the one.) The Israeli-Palestinian conflict? The bombing in Gaza? But even that is disgusting.
First, Hamas wants all Jews dead, they don't care what you renounce, you idiot. Second, you can't act like the bombing of terror tunnels in Gaza isn't justified and no mention of hostages or context or history... well, if 45 seconds isn't enough to do it properly (or a single blog post about the Oscars), then maybe keep your mouth shut. Finally, you don't get to insinuate so many things about the Holocaust when you make a film about the Holocaust that has not one Jew in it. Did you know that Germany lost about 1.5 million civilians in World War 2 and England lost about 69,000... does that make Germany right and Great Britain wrong? No, we don't determine morality based on losses, and the fact that Gazans are dying in larger numbers (provided by the Gaza Health Ministry, so SUSPECT) than Israelis is irrelevant, and very sad but is - ABSOLUTELY - Hamas' fault. And the thing I'm most angry about? That I'm having to address this conflict at all in a damn blog about the Oscars. Thanks for ruining my favorite night of the year, dumbass.
And for one last word on the subject, it was disappointing not to see one person with yellow ribbons to symbolize bringing innocent hostages home. Steven Spielberg - arguably one of the most powerful Jews in Hollywood - doesn't have enough power to risk being open about his support? Not one Jew in the audience could speak for the innocent hostages being held and sexually abused by their captors? Where is Michael Rappaport when you need him?
Having said all of that, I loved the show. I am an easy audience, and I come to the night ready to enjoy it (and scoring about 82% with my picks never hurts), but I thought it was a fun night. I was sorry to see Lily Gladstone and Spider Man lose their categories, and the historic win of 20 Days in Mariupol for Ukraine was exciting. I loved the revival of including past winners (and there you can see, WHOA, lots of white people, no?) to present the new winner his or her trophy, which hasn't been done since 2009.
And now, back to watching terrific movies! If you would like to take a listen, Rabbi Yechiel Hoffman and I deliver our Best of 2023 list on our podcast 2 Movie Jews this week - get it most places you get your podcasts. So many movies, so many more opinions.
