Overall, last night's ceremony was almost entirely good. After years of mixed bags, either in terms of the way that the Oscars (and their hosts) handled the ceremony, or badly-timed winners, we got a pretty strong show. Jimmy Kimmel's opening monologue is not at the same level of someone like Billy Crystal or Whoopi Goldberg, but he's done a better job of handling some of his jokes (leaving "no one has seen these movie" cuts to himself), and had a few really solid zingers, the best being to Steven Spielberg ("Steven, are you nominated again this year or do you just have season tickets"...for the record, Spielberg was nominated as he was one of the producers of Maestro, only the second film after 2006's Letters from Iwo Jima where Spielberg was nominated for a film he didn't direct). Kimmel is a good host, and as I've said a few times, I like having hosts that repeat so that we don't just give up on a good idea if it doesn't last perfectly the first time-I hope ABC keeps him in the rotation.
Though the presenters got off to a rocky start (Melissa McCarthy & Octavia Spencer doing a bit about Chippendales that tanked), they got into a decent groove after that. Emily Blunt & Ryan Gosling, Arnold Schwarzenegger & Danny Devito, Kate McKinnon & America Ferrera (again with Steven Spielberg) all pulled off their presentations with aplomb, landing decent jokes and bits. It helps to hire funny actors to present, and in all of these cases, that was achieved. We also had very few fashion misses, and in many cases (Anya Taylor-Joy, Danielle Brooks, Lily Gladstone) they were home runs.
But two things more than anything stand out as genuinely great from last night. The first was a trio of winners that were not necessarily expected (though none would be considered a surprise) that I have to admit I loved: The Boy and the Heron for Animated Feature Film, The Zone of Interest for Sound, & Godzilla Minus One for Visual Effects. None of these were gimme wins, and in all cases, the Academy had a more conventional (and less interesting) option waiting in the wings...but they still showed unusual care in picking three victories that will age well. The Academy gets such crap for not making the right choices, it needs to be acknowledged when they picked beautifully-all of three of these are well worth it.
Lastly, the single best moment of the night was Ryan Gosling going balls-to-wall with "I'm Just Ken." It has been a long time since we saw a truly impressive (and not just a "Lady Gaga can actually sing!") number that wasn't guaranteed to go well, and this could've been it. I initially assumed that Will Ferrell (one of the stars of the film) would take this on and play it for silly laughs, but instead, they had a handsome man doing his best Marilyn Monroe impression, getting up there like a sexy rock star, and landing every punchline in the song. "I'm Just Ken" is not a great piece of music, but it is a terrific set piece, and Gosling showed that in the best musical number I can remember the Oscars doing in a decade. When he wins his eventual statue, honestly...this is part of how he won it.
I'm not going to weigh in on the Emma Stone & Lily Gladstone situation, even if it's the headline this morning, because I think they're both on roughly the sage page. Gladstone is my preference, but Stone is nearly as good-neither of these wins was going to age poorly, and I'm glad Gladstone went lead because while Stone can alternate between lead & supporting without it hurting her career, Gladstone is the first true Native American leading woman in Hollywood...I don't see a world where she goes supporting for her one true lead role and it doesn't mean she's always a supporting actress. She's since gotten another lead role, and I think that may help her career more than an Oscar (even if I do wonder if this is the only time she ever gets nominated, mostly because most first time nominees only get nominated once, even genuine, decades-long movie stars like Doris Day or Debbie Reynolds who never showed up again).
But what I will say is bad is that the show felt a bit staid. Save for "I'm Just Ken" the show was a little bit too safe, and maybe too predictable. The only two things that didn't feel totally unrehearsed were Emma Stone accidentally calling Jimmy Kimmel a dick/prick (it was hard to tell which, but it was definitely one when she was caught accidentally on camera after a joke about Poor Things she clearly didn't approve of) and Al Pacino forgetting to read all of the nominees and just giving us the immortal words "my eyes see Oppenheimer"...more star charisma in a mistake than most actors have their whole careers. Otherwise...it was more respectable than thrilling.
I think part of this is the need to telegraph so much of the ceremony in advance, which is a byproduct of social media. Telling us every single one of the presenters in advance means there's no "surprise guests," which I'm sorry, you need. Having Olivia de Havilland randomly walk out to present something used to be a "drop the curtain" sort of moment from the Academy Awards, and there weren't enough of those this year. If you don't have that, you need iconic comedic talents like Robin Williams or Jim Carrey who can come out and channel their own persona for a few minutes. Even the "bring back the former winners" moments were largely a yawn (with a few exceptions-Jessica Lange & Lupita Nyong'o, you understood the assignment). Supporting Actor was entirely people who had won this century, and so it felt less special. I know that a lot of this category's most notable winners have died, but where was Michael Caine? Joel Grey? Tommy Lee Jones? There was a lack of "whoa" in almost all of the lineups, and even the legends that showed up (like Rita Moreno or Sally Field) show up all the time. I know the Academy got burned a few years back by having Kim Novak present and get attacked on social media, but I want more risks like that; the only thing that came close was the Keaton/Schwarzenegger/DeVito bit, which I loved and kind of wish they'd also included Margot Robbie & Cillian Murphy to show all the Batman villains in the audience. Bring back someone like Ali MacGraw whom the people in the Dolby would know but the people at home might have to (gasp!) watch a movie to learn more about. Also, I am officially putting this to rest on the blog after this (hopefully), but Brendan Fraser barely being able to get through his lines about acting titan Jeffrey Wright, only to be followed by Nicolas Cage giving one of the best intro's and totally upstaging him says everything you need to know about how bad the Academy screwed up by giving him a statue for The Whale.
One of the signs that this year was kind of dull was that I didn't cry during a single speech (I know some people did during earlier speeches, but I'll be honest-I'm not a "cry at a political speech" sort of person in general having followed politics & the national conventions for decades). I did, however, tear up during the ceremony, and that was when Al Pacino walked onto the stage. Pacino walking out to the theme to The Godfather (which I get to watch for the first time in a while later this year as part of a rewatch for the OVP) hit a chord with me, the 83-year-old actor all warmth and happiness as he got a standing ovation.
I have so long had the Oscars be a part of my personality, I sometimes have to remind even myself that there's a reason I love the Oscars-I love the movies. I am not, it has to be said an "awards person." This isn't to say I don't follow them-I know who won the Globes or BAFTA's or SAG Awards, and I love the pomp & majesty of the Oscars, including the show and the monologues and the fashions, but I haven't watched any awards show other than the Oscars in full for at least five years (just in morning after clips). At the end of the day, the reason I got into the Oscars were they were a guide to the movies, and the reason I keep talking about them is that they are a framework for me to talk about film. The Oscars are the one time each year where everyone sort of stops and is willing to discuss the thing that fills my heart with joy. But increasingly, with the Oscars, it feels more mechanical, like all of the magic is being commodified. The presenters & performances must be shown in advance, the awards are so overanalyzed that they lose all of their surprise and intrigue. Watching Film Twitter, one of the best vessels to discuss movies, act like winning an Oscar is just a game of chess, has made it less fun. I went 17/23 for my predictions (respectable, if nowhere near a personal best), but the one I was most proud of this year was calling The Boy and the Heron because it felt like me going with my gut for a win rather than going with the precursor math. Precursor math can help (I never would've called American Fiction without it as my gut was definitely saying Greta was getting that statue for Barbie), but it isn't very satisfying.
So it was good to see Al Pacino take the stage, and be reminded that the reason I watch the Oscars, the reason I watch movies, and don't just have them veer into "on my cell phone background noise" or (shudder) "content" is that they mean something. Al Pacino in The Godfather impacts my soul in a way few things can. And looking back on the last year, there were moments that felt like I was transported somewhere else. Paul Mescal flirting with Andrew Scott in All of Us Strangers. Lily Gladstone interrogating Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon. Rachel Zegler singing for her life in Hunger Games. These are moments that will last longer for me than anything at the Oscars, and a good reminder that it's okay to just enjoy movies, and to give them their proper respect. Put down the phone John, you can just watch the twinkling lights in the dark, and see if they might bring you somewhere (to quote another movie fan) you've never been before.
No comments:
Post a Comment