Here we have "The 89th Annual Academy Awards", more commonly referred to as the Oscars. The director here was 11-time Emmy winner Glenn Weiss and this was the first time he directed the Oscars. And he sure won't forget them that quickly. But first things first. Previous awards shows are always a good indicator how the Oscars would pick and this was true here as well for the most part. "La La Land" was the favorite and also ended up with most of the awards. But the love was not as immense as at the Golden Globes for example. It took home all the categories where it was considered a lock, but it did not win where it was considered first or second likely for the win. This also includes the prestigious Screenplay award. As for the actors, Viola Davis was probably the biggest lock of the night and she won of course. Stone and Ali weren't safe, but upsets by Bridges, Patel, Huppert or Portman (who absent because of her pregnancy) did not happen. Denzel Washington's recent SAG win made people think he could also beat Casey Affleck at the Oscars and it was basically a 50-50 situation. Anyway, I expected Affleck to take home the prize still and that's what happened. As for Washington, I think he has a decent shot at another trophy in the next 15 years for sure.
Big surprises were probably that La La Land did not win any of the Sound categories, but I am perfectly fine with Arrival taking one of the prizes. And even if Mel Gibson did not win his category (as expected), he was still among the big winners of the night as his resurrection piece "Hacksaw Ridge" won twice while most people doubted it would even win once. Really happy for the man. Also the wins for Fantastic Beasts and Suicide Squad weren't really expected. "Star Trek" and (again) "La La Land" were considered more likely to take the trophies. Never underestimate Colleen Atwood I guess. But the biggest sensation of the night probably came right before the show ended. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway reunited from Bonnie & Clyde and presented the Best Picture trophy to La La Land. All as expected. All as expected? In a huge mishap apparently, Beatty was given the wrong envelope, the one that listed Emma Stone as a winner and this also explains Beatty's initial hesitation. Seconds later, the turmoil was huge and we find out "Moonlight" is the real winner. What a mess. And while there is almost only losers in that scenario as the "La La Land" crew had to leave the stage immediately, it was hardly a wonderful victory for Barry Jenkins and his team because of the circumstances. I still want to give my respect to Beatty because he was really doing well in this situation. He was hesitant to read out the name and without Dunaway screaming out the "winner", he may even have told everybody right away what was going on. Anyway, I hope that the incompetent idiot who handed Beatty the wrong envelope and who probably earns $5000+ a month gets sacked right away. Seriously, how can you screw up the only (or the most important thing) you have to do all night. Unreal stuff. i read as well that there was a wrong photo inclusion during the in memoriam sequence that really makes me question what kinds of people working on this show. Stuff like that has not happened in the past and it should not happen. If Cheryl Boone Isaacs has any sense of responsibility, she will step down.
About the show itself, it was not really the anti-Trump event I would have expected, even if host Jimmy Kimmel gave his best to turn it into one. His tweet at Trump was probably the most embarrassing moment of the night. Luckily not too many honorees joined in and I applaud everybody who helped in keeping these slightly over 3 hours as unpolitical as possible. With Kimmel it was pretty much the expected, he is as stale and monotonous in his line delivery as you could expect and it wasn't helping at all. The "stars read mean tweets part" was somewhat expected and the Matt Damon references were no surprise either. Actually, these were pretty hilarious most of the time, but I'd also say this was more due to Damon than to Kimmel. I hope he won't return as a host. He said at the end that he messed up and he was somewhat right, even if he obviously is not responsible for the confusion at the very end.
As for the winners, some of them fit in nicely with the global political climate, for example the Foreign Language Movie winner. I am okay with it. "The Salesman" is a good film and I'd say it is superior to his only real contender "Toni Erdmann". I have not seen "La La Land" yet, but I am glad for Emma Stone's win, like her a lot. Haven't seen "Fences" either, but just like Viola Davis' previous acceptance speeches this season there is always something contrived, fake and arranged to her presentations in my opinion. She is as cold to me (even if she tries to be warm) as she is a professional. I hope her performance is at least deserving. These awards were certainly the epitome of diversity: Moonlight, Fences, Hidden Figures, O.J. and Loving received such a great deal of attention, so that Will Smith and his wife can't complain this year. Maybe too much attention? And where are the Asian-American movies, the Hispanic-American movies? Luckily(?) these people are not as vocal if they get shut out or otherwise they would have to change the rules every single year. My final note about the end of the 2017 awards season goes to Kevin O'Connell, possibly also for me the happiest moment to see him finally win. See you next year.
Big surprises were probably that La La Land did not win any of the Sound categories, but I am perfectly fine with Arrival taking one of the prizes. And even if Mel Gibson did not win his category (as expected), he was still among the big winners of the night as his resurrection piece "Hacksaw Ridge" won twice while most people doubted it would even win once. Really happy for the man. Also the wins for Fantastic Beasts and Suicide Squad weren't really expected. "Star Trek" and (again) "La La Land" were considered more likely to take the trophies. Never underestimate Colleen Atwood I guess. But the biggest sensation of the night probably came right before the show ended. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway reunited from Bonnie & Clyde and presented the Best Picture trophy to La La Land. All as expected. All as expected? In a huge mishap apparently, Beatty was given the wrong envelope, the one that listed Emma Stone as a winner and this also explains Beatty's initial hesitation. Seconds later, the turmoil was huge and we find out "Moonlight" is the real winner. What a mess. And while there is almost only losers in that scenario as the "La La Land" crew had to leave the stage immediately, it was hardly a wonderful victory for Barry Jenkins and his team because of the circumstances. I still want to give my respect to Beatty because he was really doing well in this situation. He was hesitant to read out the name and without Dunaway screaming out the "winner", he may even have told everybody right away what was going on. Anyway, I hope that the incompetent idiot who handed Beatty the wrong envelope and who probably earns $5000+ a month gets sacked right away. Seriously, how can you screw up the only (or the most important thing) you have to do all night. Unreal stuff. i read as well that there was a wrong photo inclusion during the in memoriam sequence that really makes me question what kinds of people working on this show. Stuff like that has not happened in the past and it should not happen. If Cheryl Boone Isaacs has any sense of responsibility, she will step down.
About the show itself, it was not really the anti-Trump event I would have expected, even if host Jimmy Kimmel gave his best to turn it into one. His tweet at Trump was probably the most embarrassing moment of the night. Luckily not too many honorees joined in and I applaud everybody who helped in keeping these slightly over 3 hours as unpolitical as possible. With Kimmel it was pretty much the expected, he is as stale and monotonous in his line delivery as you could expect and it wasn't helping at all. The "stars read mean tweets part" was somewhat expected and the Matt Damon references were no surprise either. Actually, these were pretty hilarious most of the time, but I'd also say this was more due to Damon than to Kimmel. I hope he won't return as a host. He said at the end that he messed up and he was somewhat right, even if he obviously is not responsible for the confusion at the very end.
As for the winners, some of them fit in nicely with the global political climate, for example the Foreign Language Movie winner. I am okay with it. "The Salesman" is a good film and I'd say it is superior to his only real contender "Toni Erdmann". I have not seen "La La Land" yet, but I am glad for Emma Stone's win, like her a lot. Haven't seen "Fences" either, but just like Viola Davis' previous acceptance speeches this season there is always something contrived, fake and arranged to her presentations in my opinion. She is as cold to me (even if she tries to be warm) as she is a professional. I hope her performance is at least deserving. These awards were certainly the epitome of diversity: Moonlight, Fences, Hidden Figures, O.J. and Loving received such a great deal of attention, so that Will Smith and his wife can't complain this year. Maybe too much attention? And where are the Asian-American movies, the Hispanic-American movies? Luckily(?) these people are not as vocal if they get shut out or otherwise they would have to change the rules every single year. My final note about the end of the 2017 awards season goes to Kevin O'Connell, possibly also for me the happiest moment to see him finally win. See you next year.