Oscar Night in Review: Highs, Lows, and "What Just Happened?" Head Scratching
Monday, March 3, 2025 at 1:45PM by Nathaniel R
Conan O'Brien hosts the 97th Academy Awards. Photo © Myung J. Chun for the Los Angeles Times
It was one of the great livery-stableman's most masterly intuitions to have discovered that Americans want to get away from amusement even more quickly than they want to get to it.”
-Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence
Another cinematic year has ended. Another eagerly awaited Oscar night's credits roll over clips of the key moment. Out there in the dark, at home and at Oscar parties, everyone immediately wishes to put it all behind them. I am also that livery-stableman, but shouting "Wait, wait! There are a few things we should talk about before we depart!" So please bear with us, dear reader, as we think aloud at you and with you (should you choose to join in the conversation) and wrap up this cinematic year and twisty awards rollercoaster. We'll try to 'get away from (this) amusement' within a week's time and move on to 2025 (and other years as we do for mini celebrations). That's the goal.
So let's talk Oscar night's highs and lows and wtf moments...
THE HIGHS
'Let's Go Down to the Ozdust Ballroom!' The 97th Academy Awards, began without a host, for an unusual occurence: a mini-concert entirely devoted to one movie but not constraight by it. Beautiful Most Supportive All Season Long Duo, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, began the evening on several high notes (literally) singing three eternally classic songs, one each from the key Emerald City texts, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (The Wizard of Oz), "Home" (The Wiz), and "Defying Gravity" (Wicked). Wicked -Part One (2024) may have only won two Oscars but in a curious way it won the big night. Jon M Chu's two part adaptation of the Broadway phenonemon will suffer no backlash from taking too many Oscars (just the two where it was most deserving of its nominations) and it has set itself up perfectly, if Wicked For Good (2025) delivers, for a tremendous night at the 98th Academy Awards.
Conan O'Brien Loves Movies. Emceeing the Oscars has nearly always been a thankless job. Hosts generally get grumpy reviews no matter how strong they are (see that Wharton quote again up top) as journalists desperately flee the building / tv set, eager to file their reviews and move the hell on after an interminable awards season. I'd argue that Conan O'Brien did just fine, if not fine enough to inspire throngs to demand an encore. He began with an inspired satiric bit from The Substance, emerging from Demi Moore's rubbery body, to deliver his generally funny opening monologue. He mostly kept out of the shows way throughout which is the smartest thing you can do to avoid adding to the bloated detours and obstructing the joy and tears of the core moments (the envelope and the speeches). His argumentative bit with the announcer (Nick Offerman) and his recurring silliness around the Dune sandworm were highlights. Just about the only dud moment was his "I Won't Waste Time" musical bit, which was probably funny in the writers room but super flat in execution. I've placed Conan O'Brien in the "Highs" section because we FINALLY had an Oscar night wherein the Host actually seemed to love movies. Please give this to us every year. The number one prerequisite to hosting this gig, beyond being entertaining, is that you should love the movies. That's just two must-haves but they rarely come together in the minds of Oscar producers.
Costume Design & Cinematography Presentations. These were just so welcome and sublime. What an inspired idea to take that time-consuming but wondrous format of 5 stars presenting to 5 nominated stars thing that Oscar fanatics loved so much in past Acting presentations and apply it to the crafts instead. It was a thrill to hear famous actors share their love and respect for these crew members and these crafts that perpetually elevate their own far more celebrated work.
Flow wins Best Animated Feature. A triumph for cat people everywhere. I really really did not expect this to happen but I couldn't have been happier about it.
THE LOWS
Demi Moore Losing Best Actress. In this sad moment -- it was hard to miss the frozen heartbreak on the movie star's face once the initial envelope/applause had passed for Mikey Madison's big moment -- we discovered the ultimate dark side of the current circus we call Awards Season. In Ye Olden Times before there were so many televised awards events and so many outlets endlessly yammering on about predictions and narrative, Oscar night could have surprises that didn't feel like they were doubling as nasty slaps in the face, just preferences. But when the whole larger system is designed as a long multi-party coronation (not the Academy's fault, I'm aware!) it makes surprises feel like industry petty grievances or general dislike for one performer played out on a global scale, even if that's not what happened at all! Demi has been the public frontrunner for so long that this moment played less like an appreciation of Mikey Madison's electric darkly funny breakout turn (which is what a win should have felt like) and more like a rebuke and reminder to Demi to stay in her "popcorn actress" lane. I like the two performances about the same in actuality, and neither will take my gold medal, but I was heartbroken for Demi. If the system were different, or if precursor bodies were more daring about simply stating opinions outside of narratives and what other awards bodies are doing (as they most definitely should) then actors and actresses and directors could just feel ecstatic when they win but never actually expect it, which probably dulls both ecstacy and disappointment.
Worse still, Demi's loss unfairly and uncomfortably paints Mikey Madison as the "Sue" in a real life Substance battle. It ironically suggests that the Academy didn't really hear the message of The Substance despite it being pretty fucking hard to miss.
Anora's five Oscar tally. Listen, I love Anora. It was one of my happiest moviegoing memories of the year and it's one of my own Best Picture nominees. I first saw it with a group of friends and we were just with it the whole time, laughing, riveted, and finally moved. It's a great movie. That doesn't change the fact that it won too many Oscars. My message to Academy voters (and anyone who votes on awards): Just because you love something doesn't mean you should vote for it in every category. The five Oscar haul feels even more egregious when you consider that four of those went to Sean Baker himself. I've been a Baker fan for over 10 years and I'm so so happy for his expanding success. But nobody needs to win four Oscars for the same movie. One (or two maximum!) would suffice and then other incredible artists (like Brady Corbet in Director or Jesse Eisenberg in Screenplay or anyone in Editing) could also have left the Theater knowing that the industry really values their work and artistry.
Why is it so hard for people to understand the concept of sharing the wealth?
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
Kieran Culkin's Babies + Adrien Brody's Gum Toss + That Short Film Speech + Sex Worker Wins. I immediately confess that this one was inspired in the "Yikes" comment from longtime reader Peggy Sue and not something I put together myself without their prompt. But the combination of four things that happened did make me uncomfortable by evening's end. First Kieran Culkin repeated the 'not really a joke' joke about wanting his wife to give him more kids in his Oscar speech. Whatever, Keiran's going to Keiran regardless. Later Adrien Brody, realizing he was still chewing gum as he ascended the stage threw his gum directly at his wife, who sportily caught it (good for her and fine all by itself, everyone looks out for their partner!) Inbetween those two Actors there was an exceedingly strange moment in Best Animated Short when the male winner cut off the female winner as if she was reading their speech incorrectly, ONLY TO REREAD EVERYTHING SHE'D ALREADY SAID VERBATIM. Finally, late in the evening, Demi Moore lost to Mikey Madison which will undoubtedly lead to much editorializing in the media about the Academy's preference for younger women AND their obsession with actresses as sex workers. In fact we'll probably discuss the latter ourselves in another article.
Are we being too sensitive since we're traumatized by the US lurching perilously toward some Handmaids Tale future or did this feel weird to all of you, too?
An Evening of Many Songs -- None Were Oscar Nominees. SEVEN songs got full fledged production numbers at the Oscars as if the night had temporarily become the Grammys. There were three James Bond songs, and four Oz-related songs, three at the top and one later on as a Quincy Jones tribute). None of these seven songs as you surely noticed, were up for an Oscar for Best Original Song this year. I've made no secret of the fact that I struggle to respect Oscar's music branch. Year after year they make horrible choices given their plethora of eligible options (usually just shy of 100 songs and well over 100 scrores are eligible) both within their finalists lists and in the nominated quintet. What's more they alternate between weirdly defiant and pissily literal about their own rules, without any consistency, which makes the rules feel either nonexistent or punitive, depending on which way the wind blows that day.
If the Academy really feels that no Best Original Song nominees were worth performing at the ceremony, then they need to stage an intervention with the music branch and figure out some other way of voting so that there are more exciting nominees that the audience would love to see performed. OR they need to screen new members and make sure they have better taste. OR they need to change the rules. OR they need to cancel the Original Song category altogether. In short, they need to do something. If, by contrast, they think nothing at all is wrong with their music branch, they need to show the nominees some respect and actually have the songs performed. In short they need to do something. If they don't they'll continue to invite (and deserve) ridicule!
John Lithgow is Disappointed In You. Early in the evening Conan O'Brien did a very funny bit about the camera cutting to Lithgow looking disappointed in you if you let your speech drag on. We laughed both times they cut to Lithgow. So how on earth did the control room never think to circle back to Lithgow to make this bit even funnier as a throughline. No long speech anywhere in the evening led to a callback to this hilarity. Did Lithgow peace out early or was this a total missed opportunity?
That's all I have for now, eager as I am to leave this amusement behind for the rest of the day. Please do share you own highs, lows, and wtfs from the big show, won't you?
Reader Comments (59)
I see people getting bent out of shape about Kieran's speech, but honestly, I think that's just how straight people talk ;) I also, for what it's worth, think "love of my life, ye of little faith" is a super funny aside.
On Anora, I tend to agree that 5/6 is too much, and I want the Oscars to get out of its sweep era. I LOVE Anora, it's my favorite of the nominees, but it's not built to withstand the kind of scrutiny that comes with that much Oscar love. I love Mikey, as well, and people have all kinds of theories about the why of her win. I think the biggest reason is clear just "being in Anora."
Anyway - god bless Conan. I hope he gets the gig again next year.
Continuing the conversation from the last post....the "screaming scene" in Anora is definitely polarizing from what I've seen. I watched with my prudish 84 year old mom and she was howling out loud at it. But I have definitely seen people online who just can't with the cursing and screaming in the film.
I suffered the most watching Adrien Brody's speech. His award should have been rescinded on the spot. The entitlement he shoved down our throats was full of chauvinistic pride. Would a Black man have been given the same allowance? Would a woman? Would a winner of a lesser award gifted with 20 seconds have been allowed to calm the orchestra?
Whunk -- i'm also a fan of the screaming scene. as previously stated it breaks the movie open and then it's a runaway train from there. It's as structurally necessary as the final scene is structurally brilliant / cherry on top. Did the scene need to go on that long? Absolutely not. So the award I'd most like to rescind among its five wins is Editing.
MJC -- i was also surprised by Brody's speech. While we've seen other winners (including women and black men since you mentioned) it extended beyond their alloted time... he was quite weird about it even stating he'd be brief and then wasn't brief at all thereafter.
Mike - how straight people talk. LOLOLOLOL. Probably but i woudln't know.
@Nathaniel-
How on earth did you fail to mention the hilarious June Squibb in the HIGHs category?
BEST PRESENTER OF THE NIGHT HANDS DOWN!
Love that I'm still a source of inspiration even when we're not sleeping together anymore.
My thoughts exactly!!! What is Sean Baker supposed to do now? Retire?! Crazy
The Brody speech was horrific, but I do find it funny that Culkin had previously called him out for lengthy awards speeches at his own SAG acceptance speech.
Margaret Qualley, the woman that you are.
I will never understand how she missed that nom.
Brady Corbet also seemed a bit entitled about getting final cut in his Globes speech. Maybe if Adrien had given this speech at that time, the Academy would've voted otherwise. What an insufferable set to be on for a good movie.
Justice for Demi
Have you guys seen the pic of Brady Corbet with Daniel Blumberg naked in his arms?
Adrien Brody's speech revealed that he's a total charisma void. There is a way to go long and have it be charming (Julia Roberts and Meryl both did it). Maybe if Brody had more of a personality we'd hear from him more than once every two decades.
Conan's musical number was fabulous - how can you resist a sand worm playing the piano?!
Best bit was Ben Stiller's presentation, though, obviously.
Ceremony needed more montages of classic films. How did the opening LA montage not include a single black-and-white movie???
It was now or never for Demi: I would’ve loved to see her speech.
That said: I preferred Madison on quality. Too often we say, “X doesn’t need to win this year, she’ll win for something else someday, Y may never have another shot.”
Lord knows sometimes “someday” never comes! I’m actually not sure what kind of career Madison has in front of her. But she'll always have this.
You have to reward the great work when it’s right in front of you. I’d rather someone win for a great performance than for residual goodwill from losing for a great performance.
jules: Just because you're a great actor doesn't mean you're a great public speaker. But Brody's speech was perfectly fine, and had more to say than many others.
When thinking after about what win really satisfied me, I was surprised that it was Zoe Saldana. I’ve liked her ever since “Centre Stage”. I love actors that can really move, and that are unafraid of new formats (like Avatar). Hard working, intelligent, versatile, I’m so glad she won an Oscar.
And presenter and last year’s winner, Da’vine Joy Randolph - Wow! They really made the right choice last year. I hadn’t realized how little the parts she’s gotten do justice to her charisma, presence, vocal power, and sense of truth. She is a Leading Lady who needs great roles.
@McGill, The Holdovers holds up and so does her performance. People will be watching that movie decades from now and will understand 100% why she won an Oscar for it. People seemed "over it" at the time but such a solid winner.
If you read the transcript of Brody's speech, you see that his words are very moving and appropriate. He just comes off so pretentious and precious in his delivery. After all, we can't all be Robert Downey Junior Junior (aka Kieran Culkin).
Have to say that the lows for me were:
The Memorial segment, once again. It was better than most years with no focus on a sole singer or dancers, but this year was presented with too much stage and not enough room for the deceased.
No film clips for Supporting Actor or Supporting Actress. It was awkward watching RDJ praise the 5 nominated actors. I'm sure that he's probably crossed paths with most of them. But there was nothing heartfelt from Da'Vine Joy Randolph. She was reading right off of a teleprompter with banal generalizations like 'you inspire us, you were fearless, you were courageous, we are in awe of your talents, etc.' Made you really suspect that she was reading cue cards on The Holdovers set.
Too many speeches were getting long and boring. Think the Academy made a mistake on announcing that there would be no Original Song presentations, thus promptly people to think that there was none more time available.
-By the time that the Quincy Jones presentation came upon, this slow moving ceremony made me wished that they'd just cancel it. Wasn't 'Ease on Down the Road' that necessary? (I will give a shout out to Eviro and Grande who were standing up and dancing).
-The gold colored clothing curse-Perhaps Chamalet fully believed that he was winning Best Actor will all of his Oscar season antics. Probably figured that his yellow banana suit would match his gold statue. Same thing happened to Viola Davis wearing gold and thinking she'd wish for Doubt or Glenn Close in gold believing she's winning for The Wife.
Overall, I thnk Conan is a great host. Love his manic energy; things that went wrong with the show were the producers' fault and not his.
The highs for me:
1. No Other Land winning; so unexpected and satisfying
2. Flow winning; so so deserved
3. Anora wins with caveat that I agree 4 wins for Baker is way too many; one or two could and should be rewarded to other nominees
4. Camille who I never ever thought of associated with Oscar winning best original song and in the process blocking Diane Warren again and in accepting the award blocking Audiard of making the speech
5. The camp event that is Zoe Saldana; love her as an actress but she is too much though understandable conisdering the circumstance
6. Baker's best picture speech regarding the importance of cinema experience and independent movie. Great stuff
7. Presentation of costume design and cinematography. I like the switch to highlight below the line categories and not just actors. I know for some categories, it's hard when there are many nominees but I hope they can switch to other categories such as editing or score when the nominees are usually only 2 or 3 max.
The low:
1. Leading actors winning supporting categories again. When will this stop?
2. Quincy Jones tribute. He is a giant but definitely more in music industry. Besides, the Grammys already had one for him; maybe the Oscar can have tribute for more influential figure in the movie? Laura Dern, Isabella Rosellini, Joan Chen are there; couldn't they have David Lynch tribute instead???
3. Bond tribute...again?? And awful lipsynching of Lisa, offkey performances from Doja Cat and Raye. How much did RCA records shell out the dough to Academy?
Meh:
1. Adrien Brody's speech. Well meaning but delivered disastrously
2. I know that KSG incident caused the presentation of leading and supporting categories differ. However, it doesn't look genuine when presenter looked at the teleprompter when delivering the praises. It's better when each performer memorize their own lines
3. Non consistency of clips and no clips.
4. The in memoriam segment. Again, producers should just mute the whole auditorium.
Is it me, or do they do a Bond tribute like every year? There are other franchises. Do a Harry Potter tribute before they f**k it all up with the HBO series.
And for an Oscars show, there were an awful lot of Broadway songs. (And if you have Queen Latifah, at least have her sing “Don’t Nobody Bring Me No Bad News.”)
Also, was Karla Sofia Gascon NOT seated on the aisle? She looked to me like she was crammed in the middle of a row, which is pretty funny if you think about it.
I shouldn't go on too much as is my way but i'm really sad for Demi mostly cos she was in my opinion the best and most daring in the category.
At least she gets my Gold.
She is linked so much to my 90's movie going when i'd trek all on my own (I had no friends in the 90's till I came out and even then had and still have very few) to our local flea pit and support her latest endeavour yes I saw all her 90's output in theatres bar Mortal Thoughts,I adore her
I thought this was really her moment tbh the horror angle always prevented me from seeing it happening and I think that was what stopped her in the end plus Anora is Mikey.
I hoped I would be writing about her triumph but like Close in 2018 which really hurt i'll get over it by next March.
.
She could not hide the fact she expected the win,her face said crushed but i'm hopeful this goodwill is going to give her some sort of awards vehicle again,Jodie did it after her Nyad nomination and she'd been gone too long and Curtis is bagging all the plum 60 something roles so there's room now for Demi.
I predict either Julia or Gwyneth will have the comeback narrative next year.
I thought the costume design presentation was one of their best ideas for a long time,loved loved it.
Morgan on Hackman was very genuine and nice to hear.,that's what we need more of,tributes to those giants who pass,Judi Dench or Helen Mirren on Maggie Smith or Meryl or any great actress on Rowlands,
I agree that Squibb was hilarious in just a few minutes.
Brody and Culkin came off badly,offputting though sincere,they are no good without scripts,right it own guys,no-one minds
The screaming scene is what bothered me about Anora reminded me of Diane Keatons crying jag in Something's Gotta Give,some scissors were neeeded during those scenes.
Some of us just have a low capacity for that type of noisy scene,b/f who is no Oscar or film fan said "Is someone gonna shut her up" and followed it up with "Can you mute it".
On second watch though I saw Mikey has charisma which i didn''t notice the first time due to her screaming and swearing and has a bit more of an arc but the sweary persona and that overlong car scene where F*** is the overused word did wear me down and I didn't care by the end but it's not the travesty I initially labelled it as.
When I saw Laura/Isabella I assumed we were getting a Lynch tribute and what we got was a useless Bond tribute with non singers,I mean Raye was no Bassey,she could barely hit a note or deliver the song and the other 2 i've never heard of but i'm an 80's music fan with a dash of 90's 00's and a dash of GaGa.
Wait, since when is five Oscars too big an Oscar haul? I think it's actually a very reasonable number of trophies. We've had Best Picture winners that have taken more than twice that many trophies (and we're coming off two consecutive years in which the Best Picture winner took seven trophies, two more than Anora did last night)!!! We've even had films that don't win Best Picture that have won more than this (Cabaret, Gravity, La La Land...)
Maybe it just feels like a big haul because it is five out of six nominations, and because four of the five went to the same person (which does feel like a lot, I agree), but it still left a lot of room for other films to take trophies. So, I don't think it's that egregious an Oscar haul.
I'm also speaking as someone who believes Anora is the best film of 2024, so take that for what it's worth.
Adrien Brody isn't married yet to Georgina Chapman. Can you imagine co-parenting Harvey Weinstein's kids?
Agree with everything Nathaniel wrote about Demi Moore. It's a difficult thing to articulate, so thank you for putting it into words so plainly. I'm of two minds because her loss illustrates, once again, the Academy's resistance to win narratives, especially when sentiment is involved. They didn't go with Stallone in 2016, Glenn Close in 2018, Chadwick Boseman in 2021, who also had the Globe/SAG/narrative momentum like Moore did.
In theory, I like the philosophy behind that and the resistance to groupthink and reputations. But when Moore got shafted – for a film about age and gender in the stigmatized horror genre, no less – the sting hurt. And I wish there was either no relentless publicity machine or that I didn't get sucked into it.
Greer Garson held the record for 82 years for the longest Oscar acceptance speech, taking an outlandish 5 minutes and 30 seconds to congratulate herself upon winning Best Actress for Mrs. Miniver. That record was shattered last night as Adrien Brody (whose performance in The Brutalist is tremendous and completely deserving of the win) gave the longest, most rambling speech in recorded human history, clocking in at approximately 947.2 hours. “I’ll be brief!” Sir, please. That was excruciating.
I’ve been practicing my Oscar acceptance speech in the shower for my entire life. I could thank all the necessary people, include an activist message on a cause personal to me with a direct call to action, and end with teary, heart-felt emotion in well under the allotted 45 seconds. A two-time Oscar-winning actor should be able to do the same. Come on now.
Brody's speech, as a transcript, had the right message.
But... it was devoid of emotion and chock full of entitlement. Privilege that comes with being a white man.
Ben Stiller's bit was... alright. It went on for too long though.
Seeing Queen Latifah on stage was joyful. But the Quincy tribute was a low point.
Why Quincy Jones? Because he's Black. And because he produced the soundtrack to The Wiz. The ceremony wanted to give Wicked all of its attention.
What movie did all of white, middle America watch? Wicked.
What movie did all of white, middle America not watch? The rest.
If anyone (me) thought the press tour was annoying this go-round, imagine when Part 2 comes out.
If anyone (me) thought the attention thrust upon Wicked at this year's ceremony was annoying, just wait!
I don't think the Demi loss said quite that much. Mikey did win BAFTA and Spirits over Demi as well as MANY critics prizes. I really think it was more the Academy's aversion to horror than a slight against Demi herself.
I'm of two minds on the Best Actress outcome.
On one hand ... I was a fan of Madison's performance and think she makes a solid winner. I don't think it's particularly fair that some folks will hold her win against her, but the internet is going to internet, I suppose.
On the other hand ... I feel sad for Moore. She was so gracious and likable during the awards season, and I found her speeches very moving. Her performance was probably only my third favorite in the line-up, so I can't act like I thought she absolutely deserved the win and yet ... I was rooting for her. I know I don't have a crystal ball, but I feel like we've all seen how these things play out--it's rather unlikely that she'll be back. These kinds of roles just don't come around that often and, to be frank, I don't think she's such a mega-talent that she's going to be hitting it out of the park in role after role from here on out. I'd love to be wrong, but I felt like this was her moment. She had a GREAT awards run, and I hope she is proud of herself.
One more thing: I know she was in the Swans miniseries, but I hope that she stays the hell away from Ryan Murphy. I'm sure he's been calling!
Adrien Brody's delivery was terrible, omg. Just dead air, no energy or charisma, devoid of joy, tone deaf. Making the orchestra stop and saying "I've done this before"--YIKES. It certainly doesn't look like you have. And then the nerve to say I'll be brief and being anything but brief, before or after, I just... Yeah.
I'm definitely gonna need some time to get over Demi losing... Not only did I love The Substance, she was easily my favorite contender this year and the one who brought me the most joy. I just watched Ghost in the theater on my bday and it made me even more excited for her win...that unfortunately did not come to pass.
Unfortunately, I am not an Anora fan, so I just really am not happy at all. However, I really wouldn't care at all about Picture, Director, Screenplay, Editing--overly generous for sure, ESPECIALLY editing which I'd say was probably the movie's biggest weakspot--had Demi won Best Actress. I literally would not care.
Mikey's performance was decent, she hit her mark, but it wasn't this "star is born" moment everyone is trying to convince me it is. A nomination, sure, welcome to the club, but winning is absolutely crazy to me. I'm interested to see what she does from here, though.
I'm really bummed for Demi. This was her chance. While I do hope this reinvigorates her career, and maybe she can come back to the Oscars again, the idea of her having this much of a shot at winning again feels unlikely.
I know awards are *supposed* to be about the performance (and Demi is still my choice in that case, srrynotsrry), but ultimately, they're about so much more than just that, and I'm sorry but I wanted Demi to have that moment. And to win for a bonkers horror film would be equally iconic. Mikey was not a moment, and she isn't enough of a presence (at all) to soften the blow the way Olivia Colman did with Glenn Close.
I do love the way you articulated it, Nathaniel. Thank you.
I will say, I find the "aversion to horror" comments especially ridiculous after the film was nominated for Picture, Director, Actress, Screenplay, and Hair/Makeup. Not saying there isn't validity, but they obviously weren't averse to it enough to not nominate it in top categories.
@Jordan—
I found Georgina Chapman's prominence in the moment kind of...icky? I feel like it would take 800 words to sort out my thoughts about it: We don't really know what she knew, without evidence I would not accuse her of enabling or complicity in the Weinstein scandal (although I recall he bullied women to wear her clothes). Let's just say there are a LOT of unpleasant unknowns about that situation and to marinate in them for what felt like 20 minutes was...uncomfortable.
If I got out of that situation, landed on my feet and bagged a handsome actor on a major career upswing, I would knock on wood every ten seconds and try to attract as little attention as possible. That's just me! You go girl, I guess.
@PhilipH
We are totally on the same page with regards to Demi and Mikey's performances.
I am a little more hopeful of Demi returning but I know it's only a hope,then again who ever thought people like GaGa and Kristen Stewart would be Oscar nominees,GaGa almost became a two time nominee,come on Demi go get another great role.
It was the look on Demi's face she did look crestfallen,she'd obviously built herself up and believed she could,reminded me of that "not again" look Close gave in 2018.
Jennifer Lopez is going to be gunning again this year for her well reviewed Kiss Of The Spider Woman role.
The comparison from The Substance to Demi losing the Oscar is just ridiculous
The people just expect to watch celebrities here and there with all the atention, no one cares the richnes of film as an art expression, is just a pose to pretend to be a cinephile
If the film were starred by an Amanda Plummer, for example, no one would care an inch and probably would it be totally ignored
The only parallelism from the movie to reality is that Demi is not a victim, is just part of a system that the audience helps to perpetuate and never change
Because I don't see people arguing that Fernanda Torres didn't win or even celebrating Mikey's acting achievement, everything is about the most popular girl in the room
Anora failing with BAFTA, with Madison prevailing, was always the sign that the Best Actress race was tight. Just like last year, with the race between the BAFTA and the SAG winner, the person with the most academy loved film won.
I do think it must be hard for actors. In this moment when there is so much press and so many predictions, they obviously see it. Demi gave great speeches, but the academy just didn't love her film (even though individual branches clearly did).
It's a hard loss, but I hope she takes on another interesting lead or supporting role in the next few years. Demi is really talented at comedy and outre acting in a way I never thought we would see from her. I've liked her in the past in standard dramatic roles, but she really can get interesting. I'd love to see her team up with Rian Johnson in the 4th Knives Out film or get out there in a West Anderson film.
Though I was pulling for Torres, I do love Madison's win. I'm not sure where she goes from here, but it's hard to argue that she really went for it in a film centered around her.
Conan should host again and again. I don't think we've had a host who loves movies this much since Hugh Jackman!
I also really loved the costume and cinematography presentations. I'd love if they do that every year with a different craft. Obviously actors work most closely with costumers and cinematographers, but it's easy to see them doing it for production design and make-up and hairstyling next year.
I will say, as a Greer Garson fan, I'm a little salty that Brody kicked her out of the record books with an all-timer of a bad speech.
Mikey Madison has an Oscar.
Glenn Close does not.
Anora was my favorite movie of the year, but if anyone doesn’t realize how nonsensical show biz awards can be…Yesterday, Sean Baker had zero Oscars. Now he has more than Steven Spielberg and twice as many as Martin Scorsese.
"I've been a Baker fan for over 10 years and I'm so so happy for his expanding success. But nobody needs to win four Oscars for the same movie."
Just be like me and pretend it's one for every film that should've won an Oscar. 1 for Tangerine; 1 for The Florida Project; 1 for Red Rocket; and 1 for Anora.
I think everyone’s being a little overdramatic about Demi Moore’s loss. Mikey Madison was the centerpiece of the runaway best picture winner and had won BAFTA, an increasingly important precursor as the Academy has become more international, so her Oscar win makes a lot of sense. It is by no means some sort of specific retort against Demi Moore. Also the characterization of Mikey as the Sue doesn’t quite fit either. She’s not the hot new charismatic America’s sweetheart who starred in a popular romcom/franchise like say Jennifer Lawrence or Reese Witherspoon when they won. Few people outside of the film world even knew who she was before last night; her run this season was powered initially by festival acclaim and critic ravings. If anything Mikey’s win feels more like if Winslet had won for Eternal Sunshine. I think everyone’s pigeonholing this whole narrative into something it isn’t.
Happy for Madison as I would have been for every nominee in that category. They were all excellent
The ceremony:
- Conan did ok. I like him. Not his best effort, but decent enough.
- The Wicked opening...now THAT's how Erivo sounds live. So we can all stop with the "she was singing live on camera while being flown around a harness!!" BS. She still sounds amazing, but there were clearly tons of sound editing in post.
- June Squib was by far the best presenter.
- Didn't mind the Culkin and Brody speeches as much as everyone else. They were messy, sure, but ok. To me the only one that was truly rude was the animated short dude.
- I might be living under a rock, but I had no idea Brody was dating ex Mrs. Harvey Weinstein, Georgina Chapman.
- The Bond tribute. Why? Margaret Qualley slayed. Bond girl perfection. Who picked the singers? I have no idea who this Lisa is or why she's so famous. She was...ok. Doja Cat??? Are you serious. She could not sing a single note. And Raye, I've seen videos of her singing live and she's amazing. What happened?
- The In memoriam. As usual, they leave plenty of people out. I thought whoever thought it was a good idea to have a chorus singing Mozart's Requiem should be fired.
- Adam Sandler bit. Ugh. Go away.
- Garfield and Hawn...just weird.
- The Quincy Jones tribute...meh.
- Camille's unhinged acceptance speech. I thought it was a highlight for all the wrong reasons. Hilarious.
The Winners:
- Listen, I liked Anora, I really did. It's not a 5 Oscars worthy movie. It also really bugs me how so many people complained about Poor Things and its representation of female sexuality and sex workers, but had no problem at all with Anora's, when it's so shallow, cliched and mostly negative. And the ending is also very questionable. I do like Baker, though, and no matter how I feel about Anora, it still is a win for indie cinema.
- I would have been fine with Anora winning everything, except Lead Actress. Yes, Mikey carries the entire film on her shoulders and makes a lackluster script seem better than it is. It's also something we've seen before from her. I guess I was already aware of how she was off screen because I'm a Scream fan and had watched plenty of interviews with her. So the contrast effect was gone already.
- Did Demi deliver the best performance? Not really. But to me none of the other nominated ladies delivered undeniable, mind blowing performances, so I was more than happy doing the "sorry Demi, here's an Oscar" narrative. And, on top of that, a horror performance. A horror, extremely bizarre and gory performance. A true first. Completely heartbroken for her.
- I'm fine with Culkin winning. I thought he was great in the movie. Pearce or Strong would've been great winners, too.
- Zoe Saldaña. Listen, she earned that. Emilia Perez is the most hated film of all time. People care more about bashing this movie than actual war. On top of that, we get those comments from the director, the casting director, and those tweets from Karla. Yet Zoe managed to escape unscathed. So props to her. She was in an impossible situation and still won. I thought she was really good in the movie, don't mind her winning.
- Brody. Deserved. So happy for all Brutalist wins.
- So happy Flow won over The Wild Robot.
- So happy A Complete Unknown won NOTHING.
Considering how unpredictable it seemed like this was all going to be, I was hoping for tons of surprises. But not really. Oh well. Another year, another Oscars.
Great post. It was much needed. Love your simplistic style of explanation.
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I could really do without that announcer. 'This is the first nomination and Oscar for Mikey Madison, this is the first nomination and Oscar for Kieran Culkin, this is the second Oscar for Sean Baker, this is the third Academy Award for Sean Baker...' It really became annoying when Dune: Part Two won Best Visual Effects and there were four recipients. 'This is the 2nd nomination and first win for...., this is the first nomination and first Oscar for....., this the fourth nomination and 2nd win for...this is the third nomination and third Academy Award for...'
When I was a kid, the Oscars used to trot out stars like Fred Astaire and Bette Davis to represent Old Hollywood. Now they bring out…Daryl Hannah. God, I feel old.
"Sorry Demi, here's an Oscar." Sorry for what?
For overlooking GI Jane? For enriching her beyond Laura Dern's wildest dreams? I said this on another thread, but Demi Moore has $200 million to show for the choices she's made; No disrespect, take the bag. But they were choices!
She never did one-for-me, one-for-them. Despite her enormous power and resources, she hasn't produced a movie for herself since 1997. As for talent/ability, she can hold a frame, carry a film, do her movie star thing. But dramatically, it's a thin skill set. I know it sounds harsh but it's the truth—let's hope she has more to show us, I've been delighted for her. But she's not owed an apology for anything.
It was funny to see Meg Ryan and Daryl Hannah in prime positions—where was Melanie Griffith? Popcorn actresses need to stick together!
DK - spot on. Demi has had a great career but that career hasn’t warranted an Oscar. And she’s fine in The Substance, but the makeup and costuming do a lot of the work for her, so I’m not sure this specific performance warranted one either. We can feel bad for her on a human level because she seemed disappointed she didn’t win, but on a professional level, it’s not like some grave injustice was done. She’s not necessarily Glenn Close here.
please, it's time to rework the entire Original song category, the whole thing is becoming so embarrasing, and what is the deal with Diane Warren? why does she keep getting nominated for such horrible songs? does she know dirty stuff about people in the music branch? are they deaf? what is it?
and the lowest thing from this year is definitely emilia perez winning anything, such despicable, vile movie deserved razzies, not oscars and that speech from that french woman was somehow worse than Brody's for being so self-indulgent and pathetic.
"Sorry, Demi" is not accurate, but it is still a way to reward a huge movie star and it happens often. Look at Sandra Bullock, and she won for a decent performance in a terrible movie and did not at all have the filmography to back it up.
It's not like Mikey Madison has earned it either. She's literally brand new. So that argument of "earned it" is null and void, unless you're only basing it on the performance, and that's all subjective anyway. But if you do want to talk about who's "earned" it, Demi does have an impressive career that has never been acknowledged and gave a breakout performance in a breakout movie this year.
"Tthe makeup and costuming do a lot of the work for her" -- totally disagree and it's pretty belitting of her work to say such a thing. She didn't have a lot of dialogue and had to emote all of that rage and despair with her face like a silent film star, and all that physical acting work in those prosthetics was not easy at all. To say the makeup did the work for her is totally discrediting the effort that took.
People can discredit Demi's skillset and talents, and I do think Mikey Madison did a good job, but I truly could see any young, talented actress killing Anora. I can't say the same for Demi in The Substance.
Sure, it's "brave" to take your clothes off a twerk or whatever, but Demi's role required a whole other level of vulnerability imo.
5 Oscars is crazy! lol
Oh, I've been so caught up Demi's loss that I forgot to mention...
The Bond tribute was a disaster. Lisa, are you kidding?? Doja Cat?? I love Doja but not for this.
And Raye, who can SANG, was terrible as well--she was OBVIOUSLY the one who should've sung Diamonds Are Forever and it's frustrating when something seems so obvious to everyone except the people in charge of the whole thing lol.
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Also, totally agree with Sad Man re: Cynthia Erivo sounding amazing live. That riff at the end has annoyed me ever since Wicked came out, but hearing it live sounded great. I knew the song somehow sounded overproduced.
I'm so happy for Mikey Madison and thoroughly excited for what she's going to do next. She is absolutely electrifying in Anora, each scene is an Oscar scene for her. I'm particularly astounded by how she managed to balance the fiery facade of the character with the hopeless romanticism and the desperation to escape her surroundings. Also when it comes down to performance vs. narrative, I'll always go with performance.
For that reason, I wasn't really bothered by Brody's speech. Him, Hopkins and Affleck are the only Best Actor winners of the last decade that can be considered all-timers, so some indulgent babbling is not enough to tarnish that for me.
Also - when's the last time we've had a composed and thoughtful Best Actor speech? Seems Dicaprio was the last one. Actors are just not required to be eloquent, funny and beautiful the way actresses always need to be, or else they'll be judged harshly.