Oscar Ceremony in Review: 10 Moments To Cheer or Jeer At...
Monday, March 13, 2023 at 8:06PM by Nathaniel R
"L Ron Hubba Hubba"
Like, Eric, who felt joyfully optimistic about the Oscars after the 95th Academy Awards, wrapped, I also had a good night. Did you? Overall it was a well produced, well paced, quite entertaining, and often moving night with good speeches and the requisite history being made. Now, in point of fact, history is always made at the Oscars. Each year of an institutional annual event that is super consistent in its approach (far more so than say the Grammys, BAFTAs, and Emmys which all change rules and category names so often that records and stats end up feeling blurry and mostly meaningless), will necessarily alter at least a few nooks and crannies of statistics and records. But we got a few true biggies last night: First Asian Best Actress winner, first film in half a century to take 75% of the acting prizes, first sci-fi action comedy to win the big prize.
But "it was a good time!" isn't much of a rundown of a three and a half hour glamorous event so herewith 8 things that stuck out for me, for better and worse, in no particular order...
Jimmy Kimmel's monologue
The jokes were often quite punny. I'll admit that I chortled at "L Ron Hubba Hubba" when describing Top Gun Maverick's beach volleyball scene. And the joke of recommending we all try f***ing to the Raiders of the Lost Ark soundtrack was an unexpected risque guffaw. The ending of the monologue was also a gem as Kimmel threatened people who droned on to long with being danced-off the stage, and off he went dragged by the dancers himself. It was both a relief (those monologues are always too long) and a fun and appropriate joke to usher in the big night.
Best of all there was no sneering at the nominated films as being boring movies nobody was interested in which has become a terrible-no-good-blech-we-hate-it habit of Oscar joke writers and Oscar hosts none of whom seem to actually like movies and therefore should not have the job at all! There was only one joke even remotely like this all night but it was a good one, as Kimmel suggested that no filmmaker better dare criticize the length of the show given their own padded running times this past year.
"Stay strong" Navalny
Handing the end of the Best Documentary Feature speech to Navalny's wife was a potent emotional moment. Academy voters tend to vote by way of drama and message and narrative more than they love to actually think about what is "best" (if history is any indication) but at least sometimes it results in sobering quality moments like this one which served unexpected friction between the glamour and luxury of this particular event and what this woman's life must really be like with her husband surviving assassination attempts and now in imprisoned.
Reaction Shots
No matter how you felt about Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress and Best Actor this season (and temperatures were high online about all three categories given that they were actual races and not locked up) there's no denying that it's *always* compelling to watch all the nominees in the same split frame reacting to the envelope being opened. Oscar nerds live for this and love to relive it and debate it for years. So while it might be painful right now to see, say, Angela Bassett lose, or interesting to see how Cate Blanchett responds to a loss people really didn't see coming early in the season but which she probably was happy for, these things will be less raw but still fascinating 20 years from now, provided the earth is still spinning.
In Memoriam Blues - Why can't they get this right?
The producers desperately need to step away from their John Travolta fixation (we have no idea why he's invited every year when so many other huge stars of his generation are not) but since it's apparently mandatory that he be there they made a solid choice to have him introduce this segment which began with Olivia Newton-John (still hopelessly devoted to her). But once again the exclusions were maddening to the point of ruining it. How do you have an actress leading one of the current Best Picture nominees die and NOT include her (RIP Charlbi Dean, Triangle of Sadness). How do you pass over Anne Heche, one of the greatest talents of her generation even if her filmography wasn't all that because Hollywood never knew what to do with her. That's on them, not her. It left a sour taste though Lenny Kravitz sang beautifully.
Worst Choice but an Incredible Speech Moment
An Irish Goodbye was the worst of the five live action shorts nominated in its category but its win gave us one of the most incredible moments as the audience sang happy birthday to one of its stars. A very touching bit and we'll take it given that that meant fellow Irishman Colin Farrel reaction shots. Since the Academy was just awful to the brilliant Banshees of Inisherin gifting it a total of zero statues, we'll take any looks at Hollywood's most underrated male movie star of the moment that we can get.
Speaking of Singing... RRR
We have always believed that the Academy should offer all nominees free workshops in how to give memorable speeches rather than trusting that a live event based primarily on speeches will deliver incredible ones. Upong winning Best Song composer alerted the largely American audience that he grew up listening to the Carpenters and then proceeded to sing his acceptance speech to the melody of one of their biggest hits. It was total "art/music is universal" heaven.
Disney's Grotesque In-Show Commercial for The Little Mermaid
Despite being one of the best Oscar ceremonies in recent years overall, ABC's constant attempts to meddle with the Oscars have been bearing rotting fruit for awhile now. Last night was the nadir or their meddling. The Oscars have never allowed commercials for new films so Disney got around the rule by just making a commercial into part of the show and wow what an odor! Halle Bailey (who plays Ariel the mermaid) and Melissa McCarthy (who plays the seawitch Ursula) came out, not to present an award, but just to do a presentation of footage for the live-action remake of the animated musical. Disney's current policy to remake every possible animated classic in live action (or "realistic" CG animated films if the cast is all animals) started well with the beautiful and entertaining Cinderella but that film notably stood on its own and had a take on the fairy tale rather than regurgitated the original. The films are getting worse and worse and The Little Mermaid looks to continue the disgusting trend of just trying to copy actual frames from the animated film with live actors doing the same blocking in the same compositions like obscenely budgeted karaoke party. I personally worship The Little Mermaid (1989) but hated every second of that presentation and felt terrible for Bailey and McCarthy.
Jamie Lee Curtis & Michelle Yeoh Speeches
With formidable competition neither of these legends have won every prize leading up to the big night. Therefore we weren't sick of them and they could have theoretically repeated a speech if they wanted to. Thankfully they did not. On the long campaign trail (they've been pushing this movie for literally a full year now) both had clearly thought about what they were going to say and delivered their words with appropriate gusto, beautiful messaging, and genuine emotion without getting lost in the weeds of their feelings the way their male counterparts kept doing before the Oscars and at the Oscars.
Best Presenting Duo... Paul Dano & Julia Louis-Dreyfus presenting Best Costume Design
We weren't expecting Paul & Julia to win "Funniest Presenting Duo" of the night but they did! Other celebrities gave good intro so it's not like the field of was dire and this was an easy win. Janelle Monae and Kate Hudson, representing Glass Onion, had fun with the canned jokes in their Best Sound intro and Mindy Kaling and John Cho had even better material to work with on Best Original Score. Good pairings, though we have to admit it was extremely strange for the Academy to not mention 4 Weddings and a Funeral when reuniting MacDowell and Grant. Celebrate film history every chance you get, producers? Seriously. This shouldn't be so difficult for you to grasp. (Note: Warner Bros montages which skip most of their Old Hollywood classics in order to squeeze in MGM films don't count.)
And finally...
Lady Gaga's performance
She's become a mainstay of the Oscars which nobody would have predicted in her "The Fame Monster" era or maybe even in her "Born This Way" era. But Mother Monster brings it every time and also keeps us guessing. Whod'a thunk she would try to represent the inarguably glossiest hit of the year with this most stripped down t-shirt/no makeup indie approach.
What were the moments that had you gagging (in a good way) or taking a pee break at your Oscar party ?
Reader Comments (26)
Sigourney Weaver needs an honorary Oscar ASAP, she was sitting right behind Yeoh and Curtis all night, watching two genre queens winning Oscars.
Don’t make her wait, Academy! Give it to her this year. Make it right.
I said my thoughts on the prior blog... Wish I were as positive about the show as you were.
I just find the lack of showmanship missing in the whole picture. There really needs to be more star power ... I do understand the diversity angle and I agree with that.
For me the Oscar should resonate excellence throughout!!!
Generally in agreement, especially on the inspired pairing of JLD & Dano, but disagree on Gaga. I thought she was awful, with a confusing intro and a poorly executed series of camerawork as she over sang the song. Usually she’s great singing live, but this was rough.
They got it almost right but not quite. The acting clips were montages, not single scenes. I swear, they fuck this up more often than they get it right, and it’s the most obvious thing to do. And the crafts clips could’ve been a little more substantial — maybe like 5 seconds of the cinematographer setting up a shot. But overall, a good show and improvement from last year.
-Angela Bassett couldn’t lose her sour frown, clap or even attempt to stand up and cheer for the BSA winner. Surely ‘expected’ to be given the award.
-The Little Mermaid looks like she’s swimming in a sewer. Turn your back in these pitiful Disney remakes.
I was rooting for Jamie Lee Curtis with every fibre of my being so the night peaked way too early for me. Terrible to present the supporting awards back to back. Don't ever do this again, Academy.
The show was an improvement compared to the Soderbergh atrocity and the shit-show of last year but where still not a the 2012-2013 level.
I deliberately skipped all precursor shows which helped make things more interesting for me.
But I agree with you, the show ran pretty smoothly.
The Little Mermaid promo was unacceptable, and Disney should not get to foist this sort of thing on us next year.
2 wins made my evening. I loved seeing Jamie Lee Curtis win an Oscar, such a talented women and so under-appreciated
Sarah Polley winning best adapted screenplay was a joyous moment. From "The Road to Avonlea" to "Women Talking" is quite the journey. Thrilled to see this thoughtful, well made film get some recognition.
Finally, I seriously wish that Hugh Grant would host the Oscars next year instead of Kimmel..
Can we take Diane Warren's honorary Oscar back and give it to someone else who is more deserving like Sigourney Weaver? I'd rather have Glenn Close get one than Diane Warren.
I enjoyed the show, but the absolute worst thing IMO: the morbid stills they chose for the acting winners and then plastered on giant screens to the side as they gave their otherwise rousing speeches. Quan and Fraser's in particular were unfortunate.
AN IRISH GOODBYE was the *second* worst in the category... NIGHT RIDE was worse. But the happy birthday moment was indeed sweet!
A few things that stood out to me:
Jimmy Kimmel seemed to be strangely subdued. His delivery was tired and he seemed slightly absent. I don't regularly follow his late show, but when I have caught it, he comes across as genuine and passionate about his positions and not adverse to using his platform to advance important conversations on social issues. Perhaps for that reason I was very surprised by his willingness to indulge the poor "comedy" writers who supplied him with the punchlines related to the recently deceased Robert Blake. Regardless of Blake's own failings, it should take a genius to realize that the man's loved ones are still grieving a fresh loss and, for their sake, he should have refrained.
I know that he received criticism as well for trying to wrangle Malala into his comedy bits. It fell flat for reasons that should have been obvious.
But I'll admit that I found Malala's fashion choice to be a bit at odds with the gravitas and stature befitting a Nobel Laureate. Kimmel's attempts to recruit Malala as a "straight man" for his comedy routine were jarring, patronizing, and condescending. But Malala and her image consultants were at some level complicit in creating that disconnect. Her glittering get-up, with her diamond, emerald and silver accessories seemed a bit at odds with her mission to advance the cause of young women fighting poverty, war, and discrimination under harsh circumstances that are at the complete opposite spectrum of the environment in which she was immersed. The fact that she was wearing Ralph Lauren when that company has been implicated in a number of cases filed by workers in India and elsewhere alleging exploitative labor conditions adds to the odd optics.
For similar reasons, I was struck by the, to me, awkward optics of Yulia Navalnaya and her daughters leaning in on the glamour and gowns. The anti-corruption campaign that is a hallmark of the imprisoned dissident's political platform, juxtaposed against the backdrop of glitz and glitter and six figure giftbags, created a series of dissonant chords as jangly and unnerving as the ones that echoed through the amphiitheater everytime ALL QUIET won an award. How much more meaningful that moment in the spotlight could have been if the Navalnys had more soberly echoed some part of the messaging that Zelensky was unable to impart because of the Academy's refusal to let him speak to the international audience that the Oscar award show attracts.
And what is there to say, really, about the moment when ALL QUIET was given its spotlight as one of the best picture nominees? All that footage reflecting the carnage of war followed by an immediate pan to cheery escapist imagery and bright twittering tunes made me feel as disoriented as Evelyn felt when first coming to grips with her being catapulted through a myriad multiverses.
Finally, one more moment that had a strong impact: the close up on Jessica Chastain wearing her mask. As someone who is currently starring on stage, Chastain showed a high degree of solidarity and empathy for her colleagues in the theater, those whose livelihood could be strongly impacted if the production had to shut down because a cast member caught Covid. But given the obvious attempt that Chastain was making to minimize her potential exposure, why would Kimmel put her in the difficult position of having to choose between protecting herself (and her colleagues) or playing nice and engaging in silly banter?
Moments like these created as much dissonance and landed as flatly as David Byrne and Stephanie Shu's off-pitch performance of the EEAO song (and come to think of it, the acronym for the movie seems like a perfect onomatopoetic expression to connote the aural injury inflicted on the audience. EEEEEAAO[W] indeed!
Agree on a honorary Oscar for Sigourney Weaver, but also James Hong ! Great actor for a long time !
For some reason the Warner bit and The Little Mermaid promo were cut from the international Disney+ broadcast.
Kimmel did make a dig at Babylon being a huge flop, mirroring last year's The Last Duel ridicule.
I thought Gaga was bad and she is definitely trying too hard to stay in these circles. Let's not ignore the "I won't perform at the show... okay I will perform at the show" drumming up she's done. But at least it wasn't as awkward as last year's BP presentation.
Davide: Agreed, that Chastain moment was weird, especially after knowing Glenn Close would not appear due to testing positive. I saw it mentioned in another post, the Butler-Bassett clutching hands thing also felt kinda strange and "thirsty"-like.
thevoid99: Yeah and the singer had to even mention the number of nominations Warren's got during the performance itself (which also made Gaga's look less bad). I guess now they will make song a nail biter every year now for her.
Had to edit for the in memoriam bit, I had to check the montage again on their official site to be sure they also skipped Hugh Hudson, which is inexplicable, he directed one of the most famous BP winners. Pairing him up with Vangelis would have been most obvious, wonder if the Academy has some personal issue with Hudson!
I agree with your assessment, Nathaniel. This, for me, was easily the best show since 2009, when Hugh Jackman hosted and which was the best show of the modern era. Was it perfect? Hardly, but considering all the ways it cold go wrong, it was pretty impressive how well things went.
One jarring bit was the use of some rather disturbing photographs projected on big screens during the acceptance speeches. For the most part, the photos were fine, but there was one of Ke Huy Quan from EEAAO with blood on his face looking.... well, dead. There was also one of Frances McDormand in WOMEN TALKING looking more than a little severe, glaring away in the background when that film was being discussed.
I've mentioned elsewhere the awkward Malala bit and the two not-commercial commercials, and the utter lack of historical consciousness in considering films Warner owns now to have been Warner Bros. films (Yikes!) The staff at the Academy should, in the future, be able to veto things (clearly prepared by the studio providing the clips) that are just not historically accurate. Every film professor I know was appalled at that series of clips claiming to celebrate Warner Bros.
The fact that they had duos present two awards in a row clearly helped them save time and should be continued. Pairing up celebrities is fun and until the final award, should just be standard from now on. Other ways of saving time (cutting on screen awards, cutting clips of the nominees, cutting songs, etc.) are clearly not acceptable.
To me, the Michelle Yeoh moment stands on its own as the high of the night. She gave a great speech, was clearly touched, and it was a moment we weren't sure would happen. Having Halle Berry there to present was a BIG gamble by the producers, but it truly payed off and felt well deserved.
I loved seeing Bassett and Butler holding hands. It felt like one of those genuine connections that just forms after being seat mates for 3 hours and being at all the same award shows for a season.
I thought it was a huge mistake to put the Supporting Actor and Actress categories back to back. It made the middle portion very easy to skip out on for non-Oscar lovers.
I like how they meted out the song performances. Even if all the songs weren't great, it created variety and reminded us that big singers were ahead. Overall, this was a very safe, but well executed show.
Best show in years. A minimal monologue that didn't eat up too much time. Jokes that were mostly respectful of the films and actors for once. At least a few fun/good presentations - JLD and Dano were the best, but hey I even liked Cocaine Bear and Banks. And some great acceptances, especially Yeoh and the Navalny folks. Overall - more of this, please.
I also loved seeing Bassett and Butler holding hands. And if I were Bassett and lost the Oscar to Curtis, I would have reacted exactly the same way she did. But then again, one of my favorite Oscar moments is from the 1973 ceremony, when Ellen Burstyn and Joanne Woodward justifiably react with disgust when Glenda Jackson is announced as the Best Actress winner for A Touch of Class.
I too enjoyed the show the RRR song performance was a winner.
GaGa was okay but she always does the thing people least expect her to do,I don't like the song so it didn't bother me how she performed it,she gave us that butt cleavage red carpet look.
In Memoriam was terrible as usual,Travolta looks the best he has in a while.
I'd have liked Ford to have presented with Weaver.
Salty Angela Bassett even makes losing a moment,is it bad I keep watching it for a flicker of movement..
Polleys win and the casts reaction.
Frances M's initimidating photo.
Andie M's grey hair,a new look for her.
David Byrne's track I wonder if it hurt Lesley Manvilles ears
To few stars Cara Delawhatever doesn't count neither does Eva Longoria
I don't think the UK got the Little Mermaid promo,I love the original and i'm animation averse is one of the best,it was the first Disney I took my little sister to see and can't imagine these copy n print remakes will capture the magic of the 89 film.
Bring back a Film Star as presenter Steve Billy Whoopi.
Good summary, I agree with you on most. It was a bit dull, but I appreciated the speeches. I do not understand how they could so abruptly cut off some winners, but let others ramble on. The Little Mermaid commercial was ridiculous. Would have been nice if they reunited co-stars more consistently. The RRR song seems to be popular with people who have never seen a, Indian film before. I was curious if the David Byrne song was supposed to sound that way?
At the time, I said Bassett's Critics Choice win felt forced. Whether they voted just before or just after the Globes, BFCA members thought the wind was blowing a certain direction and went with it.
In the end, they didn't predict the Oscar winner (like they try to do) OR boost a lesser-known critical darling, which is their job to do. I have no problem with HFPA overweighting star power or SAG overweighting industry popularity, and Oscars are won that way all the time. In a different universe Bassett would have, and it'd be fun to see. But if the BFCA wants to be relevant it needs to vote like a critics organization, and there are reams and reams of receipts showing where the critical passion really was this year.
DK -- yeah, it's really unfortunate that that's the way they vote. The true supporting actress passion from critics (generally speaking) this year wasn't with Bassett or Curtis.
"the morbid stills they chose for the acting winners and then plastered on giant screens to the side as they gave their otherwise rousing speeches. Quan and Fraser's in particular were unfortunate."
Evan,
Completely agree.
Bizarre and morbid.
Quan so happy and euphoric on stage and his face covered of blood on screen.
Terrible!
Bassett's gross reaction was hilarious. It made me even happier than JLC won. You were entitled and owed nothing, girl. Grow up and act better and in a better movie. BYE.
The people giving Bassett a hard time are wrong AND the people righteously defending her reaction are wrong.
It’s admirable to act supportive of someone who wins an award even when it’s not you, even when you’re disappointed. Sportsmanship is an ancient and useful concept for that reason. Contrary to what the “Bassett owes JLC nothing” crowd says, it’s what we should all aspire to! The idea that we have a *duty* to forget our manners and express the most honest feeling we can each moment is lunacy. It’s gained a lot of traction among the extremely online but it’s not a good way to move through the world!
But it’s also not a capital crime to get lost in the moment and fail to live up to that ideal, it happens, we should move on. You also can’t read a person’s entire life into five seconds of footage!
Monologue - I liked it! As you say, they kept the "movies are boring!" jokes away for the first time in so long. Jimmy even got in a joke about female directors that I wouldn't have expected (although apparently James Cameron had a death in the family so that joke stands out as a bit off-putting in retrospect).
Navalny - I noted at my friend's gathering that the orchestra is having a terrible time playing people off because everyone was giving such good speeches (Curtis before Navalny included, and they weren't gonna play off Del Toro off the bat) and that is a good thing. Playing people off should only be for the VICE make up people and those sort of cases. RRR and Irish Goodbye had great moments, too.
In Memoriam - Yeah, it's weird. And they make people go to an online register or something? Tacky. Not sure why they can't just keep a database and then build a piece that is long as required rather than shaving off a dozen big names (Heche wasn't even the most high profile!) because the song has reached the end.
Presenting teams - The three you highlighed were strong. Andie and Hugh were not. I don't understand why Halle Berry didn't get to read out Michelle Yeoh, though?
The Little Mermaid - I don't think we saw this in Australia. There was a moment where it appeared to be coming back from commercial and then... went back to more commercials. I assumed it just meant ABC in america weren't ready yet, but maybe the network airing it down here deliberately didn't want the Disney promo. Sounds gross either way.
Gaga - Sure.
For the love of God. The way folks have been going on the past three business days one would think Bassett left the auditorium in a huff in the middle of Curtis's speech when all she did was try to smile through what clearly was a heartbreaking loss and eventually join everyone else in the standing ovation -- even if she didn't clap.
I dare you all to take five minutes of introspection to figure out why you needed her to fake an enthusiastic response to losing to extend her [more] grace. I mean...I know why, but ask yourselves anyway.