Entertainment: Academy Awards 2019 Recap
The 91st Annual Academy Awards aired this past Sunday night an the night's winners were both unsurprising and yet totally unexpected.
The show (notably host-less since a debacle with comedy icon Kevin Hart occurred at the end of 2018 regarding “homophobic” tweets from almost a decade ago) started abruptly with a performance by Adam Lambert and Queen since BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, the Queen biopic about Freddie Mercury, was up for so many awards. The opening number was fun and got the crowd on their feet until a dull opening gag-a-thon from Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler put everyone back to sleep with a Bingo-card for predictable jokes including a self-depreciating gag about the Oscars being without an MC, a President Trump “wall financing” joke, and several other routine yucks that woke douchebags on Twitter pretend to laugh every year.
The awards went off without much of a hitch or...well, much of anything really. Disney's BLACK PANTHER loomed over the night like an imposing sickness that, had it won “big”, would have effectively fully discredited the already laughable Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences but besides that stupid CGI mess of a picture potentially winning anything important (it didn't) there wasn't much of a high-stakes show.
Big winners included Rami Malek for his starring role as Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in 20th Fox's BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY. This is the kind of white-hot winning that people should have seen coming (and many did) since his Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award win. Malik is the first-generation son of Egyptian immigrants and gave a stirring speech about finding one's voice, which is especially meaningful coming from the man who portrayed Mercury. Malek has starred in films like NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM as Pharaoh Ankmenrah, BATTLESHIP, NEED FOR SPEED, and recently the remake of PAPILLON as Louis Dega. He beat out heavy-hitters and more traditional favorites such as Christian Bale, Viggo Mortensen, Bradley Cooper, and Willem Dafoe.
Best Actress was another huge upset as it went to 45-year old Olivia Colman for her portrayal as Queen Anne in THE FAVOURITE, besting Melissa McCarthy, Glenn Close, and newcomers Lady Gaga and Yalitza Aparicio. Colman can next be seen as Queen Elizabeth in Season 3 of Netflix's THE CROWN, one of the best television series ever made.
Supporting Actor and Actress went to Mahershala Ali for GREEN BOOK (Ali won Best Actor just years ago for MOONLIGHT) and Regina King. Best Animated Film was another upset as it went to Sony Picture's SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE, one of my absolute favorite films of the year. Spider-Man deserved that, but the loss is a huge blow to Nazi-lite film studio Disney who had INCREDIBLES 2 and WRECK IT RALPH 2 in contention.
Writing (Adapted) went to Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman and Writing (Original) went to GREEN BOOK. The Neil Armstrong pic FIRST MAN scored the Oscar for Visual Effects over powerhouses like SOLO, Ready Player One, and Infinity War. BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY took home the gold for Sound Mixing and Sound Editing as well as Film Editing. I couldn't really complain about these options, but I sure as Hell could complain about BLACK PANTHER winning Costume Design, Musical Score, and Production Design, none of which it deserved. I suppose it was a good consolation though as Original Song went to “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper from A STAR IS BORN.
The two's performance was the most sexually charged thing I'd ever seen in my life and one of my friends openly cried while watching the duet. I'm serious. I did too, okay? It was great.
Best Picture finally came as the last award of the night to GREEN BOOK, another giant upset that saw Spike Lee throw one of his usual temper tantrums and a hundred thousand beta males and annoying “woke” kids crying on Twitter because the movie isn't evil enough about the racist 60's south and was, in fact, just a solidly wholesome film.
All in all, I got drunk and I had a good time. I didn't scream (much) or roll my eyes (that often) and the winners were pleasant. I would have preferred A STAR IS BORN to sweep and for Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga to take home the big awards but I loved BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY and while I have yet to see THE FAVOURITE I think Colman is a sheer delight and an utter talent. Gaga will have her turn again, and so will Bradley. Both should be happy regardless at the film they made.
Well, I guess that's it for me. Oh! The Blackwell Journal-Tribune got accepted as Press for the Naka-Kon Anime Convention next month, so stay tuned for that.
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