As in the recent past, the Academy Awards spread its arms around mainstream and specialty films alike. GREEN BOOK (not interested in seeing it) won due to a Trump-esque campaign of resistance from supporters who couldn’t bear their beloved film held up to scrutiny for period and/or character accuracy. And there was the spectacle of director Peter Farrelly saying a partial biography of African-American pianist Don Shirley couldn’t be made without Caucasian star Viggo Mortensen (even considering Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks company being a co-producer). ROMA won in key categories of foreign film, cinematography and director—but didn’t win Best Picture almost certainly due to anger over streaming behemoth Netflix not following the traditional rule of 90 days theatrical-before-television exposure (Martin Scorsese’s upcoming THE IRISHMAN will be the next film denied Best Picture for this reason.). BLACK PANTHER, both a huge popular and critical success, didn’t win Best Picture because some members apparently believe the superhero genre is trivial and undeserving of serious artistic recognition. BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY won Best Actor for Rami Malek (understandable), but picked up some technical awards perhaps due to member sympathy for the crew of a troubled production. Olivia Colman deservedly won Best Actress for THE FAVOURITE, defeating Glenn Close who was better than the star vehicle of THE WIFE. And Spike Lee finally won—as screenwriter instead of Best Director—for BLACK kkKLANSMAN.
Regarding the Oscar telecast: it moved along without a host, unnecessary production numbers and cute calculated go into audience or movie theater next door bits. Melissa McCarthy won Best Presenter for her parody of Olivia Colman’s Queen Anne—McCarthy’s funniest performance since playing Sean Spicer on SNL.
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