It has been a week since the Oscars! Crazy how time flies! Anyways, these are my thoughts a week out, after I have had some time to mull over what happened, what did not happen, where I went sorely wrong in my predictions, and in which ones I was right!
What did I expect?
- I did expect Rami Malek to win Best Actor!
What a cutie. He was an obvious choice, so not a hard prediction to make. Also, I had the opportunity to see Bohemian Rhapsody, and though my movie stopped running five minutes before the end, when I finally did finish it, I was overcome with emotion. Not only was Malek’s performance as Freddie Mercury magical, but the songs were riveting and the performance scenes were fantastic. Not a traditional Oscars pick, so I didn’t expect it to win Best Picture, but I must say there was a small part of me that really hoped it would.
- I did expect Bao to win Best Animated Short; how could it not?
If you have not seen this short, please do so now before continuing. It was quite literally one of the saddest things I have ever seen, yet it was heartwarming all the same. I was tearing up watching it, and there could not have been a single dry-eyed person in the theater where I first saw it. If so, the dry-eyed people probably would have just been cold hearted; that’s the end of that. I also loved the film because they did such a wonderful job of food animation, something that is often painstakingly difficult to get right; it’s fake food that has to look appetizing (not the baby bao though, he was just plain cute!).
- I did expect “Shallow” to win best song; have you heard it?
Also, Lady Gaga deserved an Oscar in at least one of the categories. She did a rockin’ job.
- I did expect the Academy to be more inclusive in the categories.
I thought the amount of awards that went to Black Panther showcased some of the change going on in the Academy. They have faced a lot of controversy in recent years, and I think it was time for them to step up their inclusivity game. Now, I did not actually know whether this change was going to be evident, but when Black Panther, Blackkklansman and Green Door all took home awards, I was happy for them to have strayed from their earlier patterns. I don’t think that a movie should win an award if it does not deserve one, but I do think that movies which deserve awards should not be overlooked or underrated due to underlying racism and sexism. I, for one, am happy about the Academy’s inclusivity as well as excited to see what the future holds.
- I did expect The Favourite to win at least one large award, and that came in the form of Olivia Coleman as best actress.
Confession: I have yet to see The Favourite, but it is playing in a theater near me, so maybe I’ll stop by sometime and see it. LOL. That said, I have done plenty of research on the film, and even though it did not win Best Picture, it definitely deserved some recognition for its unique plotline and high-caliber acting.
What Surprised Me?
- I did not expect Roma to take home only three awards.
Alfonso Cuarón won Best Director, and the movie won Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography. Those are definitely awards I would have expected it to win, but I did think it was a serious contender for Best Picture. I saw it and found it to be beautiful. My family and I did have a long discussion afterwards about how the film seemed to be more of a snapshot of life than driven by plot. So, seeing as the Oscars have now ended, I understand why Roma did not win best picture. It certainly is worth a watch, though, because the black and white cinematography is absolutely exquisite along with the intense cultural information displayed in the film through its setting in Mexico.
- I did not expect Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper to almost kiss on stage, but I sure am glad that it happened.
For any fans of A Star is Born, at least the remake of it which premiered this fall, I am sure this ~almost kiss~ was a wonderful sight. I thought it truly added to the dynamic of their friendship, and they probably got great publicity. It also showed that the song “Shallow” was the one to beat in the Original Song category. For those of you who don’t know how the movie ended, skip this sentence. It was truly heartwarming to be reminded that A Star is Born was just a movie, and to see Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga together again was, at least for me, the best kind of closure from its tragic ending.
- I did not expect Green Book to win.
I thought either Roma or The Favourite would be the ones to win, given The Favourite’s clever and creative plot and Roma’s artistic beauty. Green Book was a great film; I am aware of the controversy behind it, but I did enjoy the movie and I thought that Mahershala Ali played his character, Dr. Don Shirley, quite well; he deserved the Best Supporting Actor title. Though I enjoyed the film, I didn’t feel like it was a classic Academy pick, so I was definitely taken aback. I think the Academy attempted to stray from their classic choices and surprise viewers a little more. It definitely seemed to work.
- I did not expert Adam Lambert to perform with Queen.
Though I kind of feel like I haven’t seen him in a while, I thought he did a pretty good job imitating Freddie Mercury, adding his own flair, of course. He definitely has the range, at least for “We Will Rock You,” and “We Are The Champions,” but I would have rather heard “Don’t Stop Me Now,” and “Now I’m Here.” They went for two of their most well-known crowd-pleasers, but I find that Queen’s best songs are a little more nuanced. Anyways, it was definitely an enjoyable surprise.
- I did not expect the show to be as interesting without a host. Turns out, the host is not as necessary as the award announcers.
I was expecting the Oscars to be boring this year because I always believed the host to be a pivotal part of the awards show. That said, I forgot all about that fact that the host does not announce the actual awards. I think that it is not completely necessary to have both a host and varying announcers. I found the program plenty enjoyable with the hosts and their comic twists. For example, we had Melissa McCarthy’s giant dress covered in stuffed animal bunny rabbits. And then there was John Mulaney who announced with Awkwafina, two comedians who I follow and find endearingly hilarious. And then of course there was Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, and Amy Poehler who opened the show. And with all the other celebrities who came onstage and announced the awards, I did not think that the host was that large of a missing space.