(Opening #1: I went 17 for 21, Good Job Shane)
(Opening #2: We Had To Watch The Grammys For The Academy To Finally Reward The Right Movie.)
The Real Opening: We Love Bong Joon-Ho.
Best Picture Reaction:
I wrote in my Oscar’s prediction blog, “I’m curious to see if the Academy goes in a bold new direction and awards a film like Parasite, or if they stick to their traditional ways and choose the conventional choice, 1917.” And I’ve got good news everyone, Motherfucking Parasite won Best Picture, and the real winner of the night was Mr. Bong Joon-Ho.
Right now, I don’t even care about being a nice guy and celebrating 1917 for the great film and technical achievement that it was. Fuck that. Yes, it’s a good movie, but it should not have won Best Picture, it did not win Best Picture, and I am so happy about that.
The Academy celebrating Parasite matters. Even more so than when they awarded Moonlight a few years ago, this feels like a noteworthy shift within the Academy. They awarded a film that truly deserved Best Picture. They awarded a film that represented the great year in film that 2019 was. They awarded a master filmmaker for his greatest work. They awarded a film made by actors and filmmakers from outside the United States.
There were two awards early in the broadcast that led me to doubt the chances of 1917 winning Best Picture. Those awards were Sound Editing and Production Design. Even though they may seem like relatively small awards, once I saw 1917 lose in both of them, I began to think it was not a lock for Best Picture.
Parasite made history tonight as the first foreign language film to ever win Best Picture. This feels like a landmark moment in the history of the Oscar’s. I hope this leads to the Academy celebrating different, and more non-traditional “Oscar’s” films in years to come.
Why Was This The Grammys?
Hey, Academy … find a host.
It is unfortunate that one of the most satisfying Oscar’s nights of my lifetime, awards-wise, was also one of the strangest and worst Oscar’s telecast of my lifetime. I am not sure how they came up with their brilliant idea to remove a host and add a whole bunch of musical performances, but I know it doesn’t work. It was boring, and it was awkward. This is the Oscar’s. I do not need to hear random, out-of-place, live music every 20 minutes.
So, what is an easy solution to this problem? Go back to having a host. I don’t understand why the Oscar’s chose to go hostless for a second consecutive year. I love Billie Eilish, I love Janelle Monáe, I love Eminem, but having them randomly pop up during a film-centric award show did not work. It will not help ratings, and it felt awkward and out-of-place in the moment.
I am not one to just criticize without providing a suggestion though. So, here you go Academy, listen up. There is a man. That man’s name is John Mulaney. Hire him. Make him the host for next year’s Oscar’s, you’re welcome.
The Speeches:
Here is what I learned from the speeches tonight: Laura Dern may very well be better than every single one of us. Brad Pitt is Brad fucking Pitt, and his bromance with Leo is important. Roger Deakins is oh so british, and oh so charming. Bong Joon-Ho is an absolute legend. Joaquin Phoenix is a little out of his mind, ambitious, sincere, and intelligent, but his speech didn’t really work for me. Renée Zellweger STILL has not given a single memorable speech during award season, but somehow she won every single Best Actress award for a forgettable movie.
Quick Closing Thoughts:
I love that Parasite won.
The show itself will be forgetful, besides the Best Picture winner.
They need to go back to a host.
The Oscar’s still matter.
Greta got robbed.
As a person with a twitter.com account, I’m so glad Joker or Jojo Rabbit did not win.
Parasite deserved it, but, Little Women, Marriage Story, The Irishman, and Once Upon A Time … in Hollywood are all amazing.
I hope the unexpected selection of Parasite is not a one-time thing, and actually marks a change in what types of films the Academy chooses to reward.
Not A Real Person Yet 