The 15 Best moments from the all-inclusive 2018 Academy Awards
Now that the dust has settled on the 90th Academy Awards, lets take a look at some of the highlights from the evening. No, it wasn’t laugh out loud funny, but it consistently kept a smile on my face. I’m a bit of a purist and don’t care about the low ratings or the length. I care about the movies. And unlike last year, this was a strong year in film and I actually care about most of the nominees. There wasn’t any crazy upsets like last year’s Best Picture fiasco but that’s a good thing right? I guess it’s all relative depending on whether it’s your movie doing the upsetting or your movie being upset. While the Directing and Acting categories went mostly as planned, the tighter races in the rest of the categories were distributed quite nicely. I guessed 18 of 21 correctly, only missing 3, which is an impressive feat I might add, considering how close many of the races were. But enough about how great I am. In no particular order, these are the fifteen things that I found most entertaining about the 2018 Academy Awards. What was your favorite moment?
1. You get an Oscar, You get an Oscar, Everyone gets an Oscar! – With no one movie clearly dominating the award ceremony, this is how the Academy chose to spread their love around:
THE SHAPE OF WATER – 4
DUNKIRK – 3
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI – 2
DARKEST HOUR – 2
BLADE RUNNER 2049 – 2
COCO – 2
GET OUT – 1
PHANTOM THREAD – 1
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME – 1
I, TONYA – 1
2. The year men screwed up so badly, women started dating fish. Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue was decent but the best part was the old timey black and white news intro into the Oscar show:
a. “There’s last year’s winner, Emma Stone. Will she win again? No.”
b. “There’s Gary Oldman. If you liked him in FORREST GUMP, then you’re thinking of Gary Sinese.”
c. “There’s Chadwick Boseman from BLACK PANTHER who’s character is from a country with a black president. Wouldn’t that be swell.”
3. If you like it, put a ring on it – The glittery, blinged-out stage design looked fantastic. And even earned a nice joke from Jimmy Kimmel about the perception of Hollywood elites: “Each of the 45 million crystals represents humility.”
4. “If you’re a nominee who isn’t making history, shame on you.” Kimmel in reference to some of the night’s firsts and movement to make a more diverse Academy.
a. Rachel Morrison for MUDBOUND – First female ever nominated for cinematography
b. Agnes Varda for FACES PLACES – Oldest nominated person ever at 89.
c. James Ivory for CALL ME BY YOUR NAME – Oldest person to ever win an Oscar at 89.
d. Dee Rees for MUDBOUND – First black woman ever nominated for Adapted Screenplay
e. and many others, including…
5. Instead of the band playing off long speeches ,we’re just gonna yell… – “GET OUT” wins best screenplay and it totally deserves it. Jordan Peele was the first black person nominated for Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay. He was just the third person overall nominated for all three categories and is the first black person to ever win Best Original Screenplay. More importantly, it was the smartest most deserving screenplay in a very tough category. I can honestly say, I was genuinely nervous during that category and yelled and audible cheer when the results were announced.
6. You’re my best friend – Pictures of Michael Keegan’s super excitement for Jordan Peele’s Oscar win on Twitter is almost as great as the Oscar itself. Interesting to note that the one half of the Key and Peele duo hangs out with Colin Hanks.
7. Netflix wins first Oscar! – Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night came when the Russian athlete doping investigation, ICARUS, won Best Documentary. Hopefully it will open the door for more recognition to Netflix material specifically documentaries as I usually don’t see them otherwise. Although I got my pick wrong, I was rooting for ICARUS.
8. No you may not borrow my advanced screener of SEABISCUIT. – According to Jimmy Kimmel, only one other person has been kicked out of the Academy before Harvey Weinstein. In 2004, Carmine Caridi was kicked out for sharing his movie screeners. The two crimes received the same punishment. Put that in perspective when you think I’m being a jerk for not lending out my advance critic screeners.
9. I’ve been identifying with white actors all my life, it’s not that hard to identify with a different race. – Kumail Nanjiani speaking in “The Dreamers” clip. All the clips were great additions. The introductions of past winning performance before each acting category were cut together exquisitely as well as all the different movie clips throughout the show. Some people find these to be a waste of time but they always motivate me to revisit some great films.
10. But it’s the natural rotation within my wardrobe cycle – GIRLS TRIP premier, hosting SNL, and now The Oscars – Tiffany Haddish has proudly worn her dress, that she says is too expensive to wear just once, to three known events. A point she proudly joked about during her SNL monologue. “I feel like I should be able to wear what I want, when I want, however many times I want, as long as I Febreze it.” Haddish represents the people.
11. Does Animated Short refer to clothing? – Kobe Bryant wins an Oscar. I’m still not sure how this happened. The writing and animation were far less captivating than the other nominees in the Animated Short category, which begs the question, if Kobe wasn’t a former NBA star would he have an Oscar?
12. Thank You. here’s a candy bar – Rich famous people handing out cheap candy to the average viewing public who are watching a Disney movie as a Thank You seems slightly insulting… but then again meeting Luke Skywalker and Wonder Woman would be pretty cool. Kimmel took Gal Gadot, Ansel Elgort, Margot Robbie, Mark Hamill, Guillermo del Toro, Emily Blunt, Lupita Nyong’o, Armie Hammer and Lin-Manuel Miranda across the street to surprise a movie theater audience. The best part was seeing the actors excited to introduce themselves to Mark Hamill.
13. “If we come back and everyone is slaughtered, I owe you a coke.” – Overlook Hotel commercial – Why is no one talking about this? Toward the end of the telecast there was a little ad for the hotel from THE SHINING. It showed employees scrubbing blood from the elevator doors, scraping “Redrum” from the wall, and laundering matching twin girl outfits. Well done, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
14. Sometimes actors can say something without it being written for them – Best lines from each speech:
a. “I’d like to thank anyone who has ever looked at a billboard.” – Sam Rockwell for Best Supporting Actor
b. “Put the kettle on, I’m bringing Oscar.” – Gary Oldman for Best Actor
c. “I did it all by myself.” – Allison Janney for Best Supporting Actress
d. “ Inclusion Rider” – Frances McDormand for Best Actress
15. Michael Shannon watching the Oscars on mute at a bar. – True story.
Honorable Mention: Dude Where’s My Oscar? – Frances McDormand’s Oscar was stolen the night of the ceremony only to be posted on social media by the culprit himself. Doh!