As we all predicted, Christopher Nolan finally had his big moment. Oppenheimer won 7 Oscars, including 2 for Nolan himself. It was an entirely predictable night (I did my best ever on predictions, 20/23 correct), but also a very good one. Indeed, this was one of the better Oscar ceremonies in memory. It was streamlined without feeling rushed, with good bits, great winners, and memorable speeches. I had some minor quibbles with the show itself, but overall this was what I want from an Oscar ceremony.Let’s talk about those winners. Da’Vine Joy Randolph gave the best speech, right at the start of the show. Robert Downey Jr and Cillian Murphy were both good winners, rewarding both good performances and incredible careers. The one surprise was Emma Stone winning her second Oscar over Lily Gladstone. She gave a truly incredible performance, and it’s exciting to see her be a 2 time winner this early in her career. I was sad for Lily though. I really wanted to hear what her speech would have been.
Another winner worth mentioning is Wes Anderson. His career has spanned almost 30 years and he has never won before. It feels weirdly right that he won for a short film, given how unusual his filmography is. He feels like the kind of guy who would likely never be acknowledged by the Academy for what he does on a big scale (see the entire shutout of Asteroid City this year alone), so winning here felt good, even though he couldn’t make it to the show to accept.
So, will the Academy realize how good this show was and try to emulate it again next year? I hope so, as this felt like the right way to do the show. They knew they were going to have a bigger than normal audience this year given the nominees, and they stepped up their game to try and show fair weather viewers that the Oscars are still relevant and worth talking about.
Random Thoughts
- Ryan Gosling my have lost the Oscar but he won the ceremony. His performance of “I’m Just Ken” was a show highlight. It only reinforced the idea that not only should the song have won, but Gosling should have walked away with an Oscar for Supporting Actor.
- A lot of very funny bits. The two highlights for me were John Cena chickening out on streaking, then to reveal what category he was presenting by saying “Costumes are very important.” The other highlight was Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito presenting and heckling Batman as two previous Batman villains. It reminded me yet again that Arnold should be at the top of the list for an honorary Oscar. His impact on cinema is undeniable.
- I like the actor tributes in theory, but often the details of each speech feel a little generic and sometimes the actors chosen to give the speech have no real connection to the nominee. It also meant no acting clips, which is a dealbreaker to me.
- Other small details that made all the difference: isolating the sound of films for the Sound Oscar, not playing off anyone making a personal speech, the intro clips to each Picture nominee after each commercial break. Really, the only flop was the In Memorium (just show us the people who have passed, don’t focus on dancers and singers, literally no one cares about that). Overall it was just expertly produced.
- Jimmy Kimmel was again a steady hand, if not especially memorable. But John Mulaney clearly is auditioning for host duties between tonight’s show and his stint as Governors Ball host. Fingers crossed he gets the job soon.
- Scorsese yet again goes 0 for 10. They respect him, but they don’t especially love his films. Too bad.
- And of course, Al Pacino presented Best Picture in such an anticlimactic, muddled way that I can’t imagine he will ever be asked back for that duty again. “My eyes see Oppenheimer.” No buildup, no reading of the nominees or naming who won for Producing the film. Yikes.
So can we have a year as good as this more often? The winners could have been a bit less predictable, it when the winners are as good as these it’s hard to argue.
