The 91st Annual Academy Awards

Well, this is the second time the Academy Awards has been hostless--the other time being 30 years ago in 1989. That was a ratings nightmare and I suspect this will be as well. The reasons may be different of why. Then, it could've been just because it didn't have a host which threw people off. This time I believe, because of political reasons and some very poor choices by the A.M.P.A.S. (Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, this will not be a ratings success. First of all, their decision of dragging their feet in getting Kevin Hart as host was totally handled wrong. Hart made all his apologies to the LGBTQ community multiple times, so when his words weren't taken seriously, he gracefully bowed out. Wrong move Hollywood. Then secondly, the Academy practically demanded that the awards show fall within a 3 hour running time. So much so that, they originally wanted to not air 4 of the 'sub' awards within the running time so as to come within the magical 3 hour time. Of course, when this news hit the Hollywood community, they were so up in arms about it that the Academy retracted that idea. If this presentation receives acceptable reviews, it will be a miracle. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, for a community that touts diversity, tolerance and acceptance, Hollywood is anything but. Someone apologizes and it's not good enough. And if Hart had not apologized, the Hollywood community would've come back and said, "if he had just apologized...". OK, rant over.

As for the show, it wasn't as empty as I predicted. The musical numbers for the different Best Original Songs were exquisitely well executed, especially Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper singing "Shallow" from the film "A Star is Born" which did win best song. There were some surprises, but not many. Alfonso Cuaron winning for "Roma" was surprising--I actually had my money on Spike Lee for "BlacKkKlansman" for directing. Also, the biggest upset was that Glenn Close didn't win for "The Wife". It was Olivia Colman for "The Favourite". Close has been nominated 7 times and never won and she deserved this award. The other wins weren't too surprising. So, here is a full list of the winners:

 

Best Picture:

Green Book

 

Best Director:

Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)

 

Best Actor:

Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)

 

Best Actress:

Olivia Colman (The Favourite)

 

Best Supporting Actor:

Mahershala Ali (Green Book)

 

Best Supporting Actress:

Regina King ("If Beale Street Could Talk)

 

Best Original Screenplay:

Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly (Green Book)

 

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)

 

Best Original Score:

Terence Blanchard (BlacKkKlansman)

 

Best Original Song:

Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt (A Star is Born)

 

Best Cinematography:

Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)

 

Best Film Editing:

John Ottman (Bohemian Rhapsody)

 

Best Production Design:

Hannah Beachler, Jay Hart (Black Panther)

 

Best Costume Design:

Ruth E. Carter (Black Panther)

 

Best Makeup/Hairstyling:

Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe, Patricia Dehaney (Vice)

 

Best Animated Film:

(Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)

 

Best Foreign Language Film:

(Roma)

 

Best Visual Effects:

Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles, J.D. Schwalm (First Man)

 

Best Sound Mixing:

Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin, John Casali (Bohemian Rhapsody)

 

Best Sound Editing:

John Warhurst, Nina Hartstone (Bohemian Rhapsody)

 

Best Documentary Feature:

(Free Solo)

 

Best Documentary Short Subject:

(Period. End of Sentence.)

 

Best Animated Short Film:

(Bao)

 

Best Live Action Short Film:

(Skin)

 

Well, there's the list, love it or leave it. The one delight of this was the win for Spike Lee in the best adapted screenplay. This filmmaker has not won an Academy Award, but has not been nominated either. I find that amazing! Not only was he way overdo, he absolutely deserved this award as well.

As far as the politics, it certainly wasn't as plentiful as with past years. I'm sure it had everything to do with the 90 second time limit for acceptance speeches. I personally am glad, because this night is for films, not politics. If some of these A-list actors want to show their passion, they have the funds to make a public service announcement.

Even though the producers were attempting to keep the awards presentation to a 3 hour timeline, it was, at least, only 20 minutes longer, and that has to an Oscar record. If you're not an avid filmgoer, this show would be a bit boring, but, considering all the brouhaha around this show even getting off the ground, it was better than I though it would be. As I've said in past reviews of the awards: where is Billy Crystal when you need him?

 

Out of 4 Stars: 2                                   Rated NR                                     3hr. 20mins.