This year's Oscar race was an interesting one, because all the nominated films were generally good, and many of the big races were unpredictable. There was no clear winner for Best Picture or Best Actor going into Oscar night, for instance, with several of the precursors contradicting each other, so there was some genuine tension. Every single awards ceremony brought on a fresh wave of speculation and drama, from the unfortunate outburst at the BAFTAs to Sean Penn being a no-show all season long. This year's Oscar villain turned out to be Timothee Chalamet, who made a stupid remark during an interview, and is going to have to weather ballet and opera jokes for the rest of his career. I wish I'd been able to have more fun with it, but I wasn't in the mood to participate much this year.
On to the ceremony, which was a pretty good one. Conan O'Brien returned to host, and came up with some amusing bits, including both the intro and outro skits. I found his monologue pretty middling, but he landed a few zingers. Politics and the concerning state of the entertainment industry were largely downplayed, though there was plenty of acknowledgement of the sorry state of affairs all night. There was also a current of existential dread about the fate of the Oscars themselves, which are moving to Youtube in 2029. One of the better pre-recorded bits involved Jane Lynch in parody Youtube ads interrupting the broadcast. There were also surprise cameos from Sterling K. Brown, Misty Copeland, and Josh Groban. Other moments of welcome absurdity included O'Brien fantasizing about winning a statuette, and a "Marty Supreme" themed "bum drum." However, O'Brien was at his best when he was helping to smooth over the multiple technical snafus in the ceremony, like a microphone being mistimed. I also really liked the "One Battle After Another" outro sketch capping off the evening.
Most of my favorite moments came from the presenters. Former Oscar host Jimmy Kimmel being recruited to present the Documentary categories was an inspired choice, setting the tone for the most politically charged part of the evening. Javier Bardem opened with "No to War and Free Palestine," and wasn't bleeped. Take that, BAFTA. I really enjoy the trend of cast reunions at awards shows, and this year we got the ladies from "Bridesmaids" doing a comedy bit with some good audience interaction, and Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor presenting Best Picture. The "In Memoriam" segment had special tributes for Rob Reiner and Robert Redford, with Barbara Streisand even singing a few bars of "The Way We Were" for her departed co-star. On that note, it obviously wasn't fair that all the song nominees weren't performed at the ceremony, but I'm glad that all the effort was put into two big production numbers for "Golden" and "I Lied to You," and they skipped the rest. It makes a significant difference to the Oscars' running time, which was well over three hours this year.
Still, there's not much I would've wanted cut. Okay, the new Casting category came with tributes that ran too long, and the Academy president's remarks are always boring. The winners' speeches are always better than I think they'll be, and this year it was hard to find a winner who wasn't deserving. EJAE getting cut off was rough. Cinematography probably should have gone to "Train Dreams," but I can chalk that up to a matter of taste. Frontrunners "One Battle After Another" and "Sinners" both came away with major wins, and it felt like the Academy spread the wealth pretty well. Jessie Buckley had the best speech, but Michael B. Jordan definitely had the best reaction to winning.
I gripe about the excessive awards season drama, but Oscar viewership held steady this year thanks to another batch of popular nominees and competitive races. The show still feels like a big deal in a steadily declining television landscape, and it helps the film industry when the film industry needs all the help it can get. Hollywood's not on literally fire anymore, but between the mergers and the likelihood of more strikes ahead, it may as well be.
But for now, let's celebrate a catastrophe-free Oscars and a new batch of winners. See you next year.
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