Written by Alexander Reams
The Oscars, after months of speculating, predicting, whining because “Titane” wasn’t nominated for anything, and crying because “Drive My Car” was nominated for Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, and International Feature, the Oscars have happened, they’ve taken place, have they left a mark on history like previous ones? Possibly, but for all the wrong reasons. Let’s run down the list of how the Oscars have screwed the pooch this year; Cutting 8 categories and interspersing them throughout the show- but they were introduced by a very memorable Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa, then there was the cutting off Ryusuke Hamaguchi during his very impassioned and very loving speech, and of course the moment of the night, you know the one, its spawned many memes on the internet, causing controversy, I, of course, speak of “CODA” winning best picture. Oh and that whole slapping-Chris-Rock ordeal, I won’t speak on the politics of it, or your personal feelings on him defending his wife after a very tasteless joke, but what happened happened, and now we bask in the glory of the memes that have graced the internet, but back to the real tragedy, a paint-by-numbers film with one great performance (Troy Kotsur winning was one of the highlights of the night) wins Best Picture instead of a coming of age drama that is masterfully done and is a reminder that pieces of Old Hollywood still exist (“Belfast”), or a study on grief through a man who spends his life embodying other emotions (“Drive My Car”). As usual The Academy brown noses to decide the Best Picture win, and continue to sabotage their relevance. Besides the tragedy that was Best Picture, Best Actor went to the best slap of the nigh- I mean Will Smith! Yeah, Will, oh man we cant talk about this, onto Best Actress, after months and months and months of speculation we finally have our frontrunner for Best Actress, and she was right under our nose the whole time, Jessica Chastain took home her Oscar for her role as Tammy Faye Bakker (I see this as justice for “Zero Dark Thirty”). Other notable wins from the night include Greig Fraser and Joe Walker (they won for Best Cinematography and Best Editing, respectively), giving impassioned and funny speeches that stayed with me, along with the always great Ryusuke Hamaguchi taking home a very deserving win for “Drive My Car” in an already stacked category with “Flee” (which regretfully went home with nothing.) and Paolo Sorrentino’s brilliant and heartbreaking “The Hand of God”. With the controversies that have erupted, the biggest being the win for “CODA”, the slappening, and of course, “The Power of the Dog” stans whining about only Campion winning Best Director, this just shows that it was truly a normal Oscars, nobody is happy, a celeb is in hot water, we’re back to the 1980s folks, enjoy this new Academy, you earned it.
FULL LIST OF WINNERS BELOW
BEST PICTURE
“Belfast”
“CODA”- WINNER
“Don’t Look Up”
“Drive My Car”
“Dune”
“King Richard”
“Licorice Pizza”
“Nightmare Alley”
“The Power of the Dog”
“West Side Story”
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jessie Buckley- “The Lost Daughter”
Ariana DeBose- “West Side Story”- WINNER
Judi Dench- “Belfast”
Kirsten Dunst- “The Power of the Dog”
Aunjanue Ellis- “King Richard”
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Ciaran Hinds- “Belfast”
Troy Kotsur- “CODA”- WINNER
Jesse Plemons- “The Power of the Dog”
J.K. Simmons- “Being the Ricardos”
Kodi Smit-McPhee- “The Power of the Dog”
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
“Drive My Car”- WINNER
“Flee”
“The Hand of God”
“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom”
“The Worst Person in the World”
DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
“Audible”
“Lead Me Home”
“The Queen of Basketball”- WINNER
“Three Songs for Benazir”
“When We Were Bullies”
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“Ascension”
“Attica”
“Flee”
“Summer of Soul”- WINNER
“Riding with Fire”
ORIGINAL SONG
“King Richard”
“Encanto”
“Belfast”
“No Time to Die”- WINNER
“Four Good Days”
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“Encanto”- WINNER
“Flee”
“Luca”
“The Mitchells vs. The Machine”
“Raya and the Last Dragon”
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“CODA”- WINNER
“Drive My Car”
“Dune”
“The Lost Daughter”
“The Power of the Dog”
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Belfast”- WINNER
“Don’t Look Up”
“King Richard”
“Licorice Pizza”
“The Worst Person in the World”
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Javier Bardem- “Being the Ricardos”
Benedict Cumberbatch- “The Power of the Dog”
Andrew Garfield- “Tick, Tick… Boom!”
Will Smith- “King Richard”- WINNER
Denzel Washington- “The Tragedy of Macbeth”
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Jessica Chastain- “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”- WINNER
Olivia Colman- “The Lost Daughter”
Penelope Cruz- “Parallel Mothers”
Nicole Kidman- “Being the Ricardos”
Kristen Stewart- “Spencer”
DIRECTOR
Kenneth Branagh- “Belfast”
Ryusuke Hamaguchi- “Drive My Car”
Paul Thomas Anderson- “Licorice Pizza”
Jane Campion- “The Power of the Dog”- WINNER
Steven Spielberg- “West Side Story”
PRODUCTION DESIGN
“Dune”- WINNER
“Nightmare Alley”
“The Power of the Dog”
“The Tragedy of Macbeth”
“West Side Story”
CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Dune”- WINNER
“Nightmare Alley”
“The Power of the Dog”
“The Tragedy of Macbeth”
“West Side Story”
COSTUME DESIGN
“Cruella”- WINNER
“Cyrano”
“Dune”
“Nightmare Alley”
“West Side Story”
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND
“Belfast”
“Dune”- WINNER
“No Time to Die”
“The Power of the Dog”
“West Side Story”
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
“Affairs of the Art”
“Bestia”
“Boxballet”
“Robin Robin”
“The Windshield Wiper”- WINNER
LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM
“Ala Kachuu — Take and Run”
“The Dress”
“The Long Goodbye”- WINNER
“On My Mind”
“Please Hold”
ORIGINAL SCORE
“Don’t Look Up”
“Dune”- WINNER
“Encanto”
“Parallel Mothers”
“The Power of the Dog”
VISUAL EFFECTS
“Dune”- WINNER
“Free Guy”
“No Time to Die”
“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”
“Spider-Man: No Way Home”
FILM EDITING
“Don’t Look Up”
“Dune”- WINNER
“King Richard”
“The Power of the Dog”
“Tick, Tick… Boom!”
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
“Coming 2 America”
“Cruella”
“Dune”
“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”- WINNER
“House of Gucci”
You can connect with Alexander on his social media profiles: Instagram, Letterboxd, and Twitter. Or see more of his work on his website.
