10 Oscar Observations and Scorecarding My Ballot

Ballot Score: 11/23

That said, I picked the ones I wanted to win rather than the ones I figured probably would. I just didn’t get into Nomadland. So sue me. For my money, Sound of Metal could/should have won a lot more hardware than it did and Emerald Fennell should have gotten Best Director alongside her Original Screenplay win.

In any case, the big night was not without surprises! Here are my 10 quirky observations from three+ hours of movie award coverage that refused to play any clips of the movies covered.

1. Daniel Kaluuya referenced his parents’ sex life. And it was awkward.
   • The speeches finally got a chance to be as long and rambling as they please… and almost certainly assured that next year the music will play folks off as usual. During Kaluuya’s rambler he eventually got to this gem: “My mom met my dad, they had sex, it’s amazing. Do you know what I’m saying? I’m here, do you know what I mean? I’m so happy to be alive, so I’m going to celebrate that tonight.” Maybe notecards next time?
2. Tyler Perry (kind of) won an Oscar!
   • Okay, he won a Humanitarian Award sponsored by the Academy, but still! Who knew he did so much outreach?
3. #oscarsnotquitesowhite
   • In all, 48 statues were handed out. 11 went to people of color, 17 to women including a Chloe Zhao double dip for Director and Picture. It still skewed white and male overall, but it was a big year for many faces not often seen holding the gold.
4. #oscarssoeuropean
   • From film editors to sound mixers, international directors to male actors, Europe had a big year also in this most American of institutions. We should heed the words of Dane Mikkel E. G. Nielsen, “I’m from Denmark, I would like to greet Denmark because they are extremely bold at funding the Danish film school. That’s amazing, this is what you get so just continue doing it.”
5. Pretty sure Regina King got to do the intro because she was ROBBED by not getting a Best Director nomination.
   • I will die on the hill of “Regina King should have been nominated for One Night in Miami” and getting to do the opening monologue to a host-less Oscars is not a substitute.
6. Two members of Nine Inch Nails won an Oscar for scoring a cartoon.
   • That’s not to take away from musician Jon Batiste, who shared the award, but Batiste was born with jazz in his soul (he’s from a musical lineage and born in Louisiana). The fact that you can say two guys from a rock band scored a cartoon is a lot of fun.
7. Glenn Close did Da Butt.
   • I couldn’t tell if the “Name that tune…” game was impromptu to spice up the broadcast or planned. Either way, it desperately needed some Glenn Close booty-shaking and we got it.
8. Amanda Seyfried in that dress….
   • I’ll leave it at that.
9. Will Ferrell singing in Icelandic could have saved a boring broadcast, but it was not to be.
   • One of the big beefs with the show was that one of the most enjoyable parts – live performances of nominated songs – took place in the pre-show rather than during the ceremony. This deprived us of, among other things, the potential to cameo Will Ferrell in full Icelandic character. Swing and miss. Speaking of…
10. That ending. Oy vey….
    • From what I can tell, the producers of the show honestly had NO idea who was going to win Best Actor. In an odd break from tradition, Best Picture was presented third from last, giving Best Actress and penultimate spot and the grand finale to Best Actor. There is NO REASON ON EARTH anyone would do this unless they assumed the winner of said award was going to be the late, great Chadwick Boseman for his all-out tour de force performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. One assumes (or at least I did) that the whole broadcast was set up for a touching tribute finale, some words about unity and the preciousness of life and how awesome Black Panther was. Instead the award went to Anthony Hopkins, who WASN’T EVEN THERE. He was asleep in Wales where it was four o’clock in the morning and he, like everyone else, just figured Boseman would win the post-humous statue. It was a head-scratcher for sure but hey, I guess it was a weird year.