by Nathaniel R
John Cena presenting Best Costume Design. Screenshot from ABC
There are 23 categories at the Oscars but always about 2,038 things to discuss. What to focus on? Here's an attempt to focus with a baker's dozen of things that stood out for yours truly. Overall it was a fun and well paced night. But your mileage may vary. Would you add any particular moment to this list?
In no particular order...
01 Da'Vine Joy Randolph's Oscar speech. Finally ditching the crinkly acceptance speech note, we have no notes. What a moment! She looked beautiful and saved her best speech for last. She also ignored the "don't do that" notes and thanked her publicist which quite honestly more winners should do given how hard those folks work to make things feel "inevitable" by the end of a season whether or not they started that way.
Arthur Harari and Justine Triet win Best Original Screenplay. Screenshot from ABC
02 A great night for heternormativity! Chris Nolan and his wife Emma Thomas were the center of attention via Oppenheimer. It's beautiful that the very famous director acts as her plus one at these things (not every powerful man in Hollywood is that eager to share or cede the spotlight) praising her so often that you begin to think long and hard about how important producers are to the success of a filmography, despite the auteur theory being widely believed by just about every one. Meanwhile the night's other co-nominated power couple, France's Justine Triet and Arthur Harari won for Anatomy of a Fall's screenplay. What's more there were plentiful beautiful shout-outs to husbands and wives from multiple winners. The only straight power couple nominated together that didn't win (Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach) still got a lot of love from the room via Barbie's ubiquity.
03 The endearing power of being a good sport. Paul Giamatti and Lily Gladstone were surely the closest to winning of any of those who lost last night and they both sold 'happy to be there' reaction shots. This was especially true for Lily Gladstone who surely had reason to believe she might win. May she get the opportunities she deserves and return again to the big show as a nominee. Winning an Oscar can feel like a short sprint from the outside, but for most artists a big career and an Oscar win is much more like an endurance race.
04 Jimmy Kimmel's Dad Jokes. There were quite a few groaner jokes on the big night, from the complaint that the Heron from The Boy and The Heron hadn't flown in to accept the Oscar to the double name joke about Poor Things Greek director and editor "Yor-gos is as good as mine". But most of the night he stayed out of the way which is always wise for the Host...
A refreshing silly moment for the audience.
Everyone raise your glass to Mister Colman Flamingo!
05 Streaker / Tequila ... the only true gags that risked slowing things down, proved delightful. The references to the 50th anniversary of David Niven's interrupting Oscar night streaker (with John Cena in the altogether presenting Best Costume Design) and the tequila shot refreshments (complete with mangled star-names) were both obvious hits in the actual room and surely at most Oscar-watching parties, too!
Oscar Glamor 4ever
06 Return of the Best Oscar Presentation Format We Never Thought We'd See Again. We knew it was happening ahead of time thanks to the press release but please give us some variation of the "co-stars, winners, or fans" speaking about the nominees list every year. It's such a thrill to see so many starts gathered which is what the Oscars should be about and lean into! That it comes at the expense of clips is a tiny bummer but it's still a beautiful way to honor actors.
07 Where the §@ª# was Michelle Pfeiffer !?!? We were thrilled that La Pfeiffer was announced as a presenter -- and we still long to see her return as a nominee even if her current career doesn't suggest she's interested in doing so -- but then she was a no-show on the big night. There's nothing on her fairly active Instagram account addressing the situation. With a fairly good ceremony and reasonable winners, this was our biggest disappointment Sunday night.
"I'm Just Ken" got the crowd on their feets
08 That circular window set. Kudos to the designers of the Oscar stage. That circular opening and closing look for the orchestra pit was a thing of elegant beauty, as was the single color theme / lighting choices for the Best Original Song performances be they pink ("What Was I Made For?"), white ("It Never Went Away"), red (" Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People"), orange ("The Fire Inside"), and back to hot pink ("I'm Just Ken")
09 Godzilla Minus One's charming win. Let this be a lesson that whenever an unlikely contender (for reasons of national origin or 'long shot' status or whatever) emerges or makes a finalist list, they actually have a strong shot at the nomination or even win. This is the same factor that made Society of the Snow feel like a no-brainer in Best Makeup (for the nomination round at least). In addition to those crazy Godzilla toys they held aloft with joy, the visual effects team were also wearing Godzilla shoes when they walked the red carpet!
Beetlejuice reunion for Best Makeup Presentation
If I had a nickel!
10 Beetlejuice Reunion. It took us by surprise but the Beetlejuice reunion (complete with music) for Michael Keaton and Catherine O'Hara was a delight. As was Michael Keaton's reaction to former Batman villains (Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny De Vito) presenting later in the night.
11 20 Days in Mariupol win. Best Documentary Feature winner Mstyslav Chernov wished he had never won or even made the moment. A startling sobering moment about war and peace, well written and delivered.
Finally...
Sandra Hüller had a big night even though she didn't win
12 Sandra Hüller Rising. While she never seemed like a credible threat to take the Best Actress statue for her riveting star turn (it was Emma vs Lily all season) she got abundant screen time from her enviable seat, was name-checked in multiple speeches, and was moved to photogenic tears in her dazzling "Best Dressed!" Sciaparelli when Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest both won highly deserved statues. The only thing that would have made her night better is if her screen dog "Messi" had been seated next to her for more photo-ops because his reaction shots were bliss, too.
Emily Blunt & Ryan Gosling - a dream pair of presenters
You were riding Barbie's coattails all summer.
13 Ryan Gosling stole the show, thrice over. He may have lost the Oscar for the third time but he proved more than "Kenough" on Hollywood's High Holy Night. Consider... 1) All those dazzling reaction shots including a Jimmy Kimmel joke about winning "the genetic lottery" 2) He wins the Gold Medal (shared) for Best Presenter paired hilariously with "Barbenheimer" rival Emily Blunt. Their faux argument was the night's heartiest and most sustained laugh out loud joke apart from arguably John Cena's streaker 3) "I'm Just Ken" was also the best and liveliest Best Original Song presentation from his seated hat-wearing intro, to his game in-tune energy and dance moves, to the audience inclusion joy of having the audience sing along.
...in conclusion though they didn't win Oscars, we think Sandra Hüller and Ryan Gosling emerged as the night's true champs.
P.S. And if you left your Oscar party early you might have missed this very Jimmy-Kimmel sight gag of Messi threatening Matt Damon.