The Oscars happened on Sunday night, and thankfully, they started an hour early. I gathered with a few other movie watchers and enjoyed the night. Overall, it was a solid ceremony. In 2019, I really started to watch movies and seek out those that are being nominated for the awards, and that first year, my favorite movie of the year, Parasite, won, but since then, I have not been as lucky, and this year, that hurt went beyond the winner of best picture, it affected some other areas as well.
To start with, Kimmel’s opening monologue was good. It created some laughs, and as usual these laughs came at others’ expense. I think his best/most controversial line came at Germany’s expense. He mentioned Sandra Huller staring in two movies, one about a woman who may or may not have murdered her husband, and the other was about being the matriarch in a Nazi family, and Kimmel said in Germany, those are just called rom-coms, which was awful, but also funny. Personally though, the two people that really stole the show comedically were John Mulaney and Kate McKinnon. Mulaney did the intro for the sound awards, and he gave an incredible soliloquy about Field of Dreams. He sped through so much in just a short amount of time, and it was comedically great. Kate Mckinnon presenting the best documentary award was also hilarious. She talked about thinking that Jurassic Park and Jurassic World were documentaries, and then she made a joke about sending nudes that Spielberg played into perfectly.
A big change from previous years was how the awards were presented to those in the acting categories. Normally, they just show a montage of all the nominees’ performances, but this year, they had past winners come up and share a brief monologue about what made each nominee so great. Some of these speeches were better than others, and for the supporting actress nominees, it seemed to have the most power. I think all the nominees teared up when they were being read. Overall, I think the women did a better job with these presentations than the men (except Nick Cage), but it was an interesting change. I just wish that they also kept the montages, because that is a great way to get people interested in the movies if they have not seen them.
The first disappointment for me came during the award for best animated feature. The Boy and the Heron won, and Miyazaki was not even there to accept his award, and he was not there to accept the award when he won his first time. The first time he won was for Spirited Away, which is an amazing movie, but The Boy and the Heron does not come close to that level. So I was beyond surprised when it won, and it is not even about how good it is, it is more about how amazing Across the Spiderverse is. I saw it multiple times, and it is the most beautiful, animated movie I have ever seen. Each frame is a work of art, and on top of that, the plot is so engrossing, which is something The Boy and the Heron seriously lacks. This was so disappointing.
One of the best parts was how much recognition Poor Things got. Poor Things is like the adult version of Barbie, and it is so much better. It is so original, and everything about the movie is beautiful, so it makes sense that it won for makeup, production design, and costumes. They have some amazing outfits, especially Emma Stone. Also the set pieces are like nothing I have ever seen. It just slightly bends the reality of the normal world to make it looks so much more enticing. Then the cherry on top came from Emma Stone winning best actress. I have no problem with Lily Gladstone, but Emma Stone was charged with carrying this movie, and she did an incredible job. I only wish that Mark Ruffalo would have taken home supporting actor instead of Downy Jr.
It was also great to see Godzilla Minus One take home best visual effects. The way they made Godzilla look was so real, and so much better than recent iterations of the monster. The CGI also looked way more realistic than many other movies that had a much higher budget, so it was very well deserved. It was visible how much it meant to their team to win the award. Even the video of them receiving the nomination is awesome.
My other big disappointment came in best original screen play. Anatomy of a Fall won instead of Past Lives. Both movies were in my top five, but I loved Past Lives so much. It was my second-best movie of the year, but it was close to being number one. Of the best picture nominees, Past Lives was my favorite, and I thought it was the best. It was an original story, and it was so heartfelt and emotional. The ending hits right in the heart, and the story throughout creates a large investment in the result of the story. I knew it was not going to win best picture. Oppenheimer was basically guaranteed, so I really needed Past Lives to win Original Screenplay. Sadly, Past Lives went home winless, but it was Celine Song’s directorial debut, and it was this good, so hopefully she will be back and take a win.
Oppenheimer was the big winner of the night. Not only did it win best picture, but it won seven other awards, and it was very deserving, especially for director and film editing. This was literally made on film, and at the end of each day, they would have to go and literally cut the film. This was not done on the computer in a program. It was real film making, and it is a true dedication to the craft. Nolan winning best director was also well deserved. He has become one of the most revered names in the movie business right now, and every time he makes a movie it is going to be really good just as a baseline. The one award that confused me that it did not win was adapted screenplay, if it is the best picture, should that not guarantee that it was also the best adapted screenplay? Another one it was speculated to win but did not was sound, but the only reason Zone of Interest is so great is its sound. It is an integral part of Zone of Interest’s storytelling, so it made sense to me that it won that category.
Overall, it was a good Oscars, and it had some great moments like Ryan Gosling performing “I’m Just Ken.” It was an absolutely electric performance, and he got the whole crowd involved. The two big winners were Oppenheimer and Poor Things. Hopefully next year some of my favorites will receive more representation and wins, but we will just have to wait and see. There were some great movies this year, and there were some diverse nominees for best picture and getting nominated in general for other categories, so I hope this trend sticks. We need more weird movies like Poor Things to get the credit they deserve!
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