Happy Leap Day! The 88th Annual Academy Awards have come and gone. Earlier in the year, I did my predictions on who would win in the 6 major categories. (Check it out here) Today's blog I will be revisiting those predictions and saying if the Academy got it right in my humble opinion. I will also give my thoughts on the host, Chris Rock, and my overall thoughts on the night as a whole. Without further ado, let's get started.
Host: Chris Rock
Personally, I really enjoyed Chris Rock's opening monologue. He did a very good job balancing the need to address the #OscarsSoWhite dilemma while making the speech more enjoyable instead of sounding like a political rant. I thought the jabs he threw at both Will and Jada Smith were the perfect examples of how he perfectly balanced throughout the monologue and the night. My favorite bit of the night was the "Black Actors Get Roles in White Movies". (Watch Here) This sketch was both hilarious and confronted the diversity issue that shadowed over this year's Oscars. Overall, even though the ratings for the show were the lowest in 7 years, I thought Chris Rock did a fabulous job hosting this year, and frankly, this was one of the more enjoyable Oscars to watch in the past couple of years. Chris Rock gets a solid two thumbs up for his performance.
Best Supporting Actress
My Pick: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
2016 Winner: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
My Take: This was an easy layup for the Academy in this category. Alicia Vikander could have been nominated for her performance in Ex Machina this year as well. But she rightfully won for her magnificent performance in The Danish Girl. To co star next to Eddie Redmayne is a difficult task within itself, but to utterly outshine him is almost unfathomable to believe. Vikander did exactly that as she steals the movie away from Redmayne. Overall, The Danish Girl was a bland movie, but her performance is what keeps your attention drawn to it. So it is easy to say that I am very pleased the Academy got this one right and Alicia Vikander completely deserved her first ever Oscar.
Best Supporting Actor
My Pick: Sylvester Stallone, Creed
2016 Winner: Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
My Take: Here lied my biggest beef with the Academy on the night. While I knew it was not a lock Stallone would win the award, I was shocked he lost to the actor I had ranked 4th out of 5th in the category. Not to insult Rylance, he did deliver a very good performance, I thought the performances of Stallone, Hardy, and Ruffalo were all better and more compelling than his. Stallone took a historically one note character and delivered a performance that showed the character of Rocky had layers instead of being the Italian boxer known for screaming Adrian. Tom Hardy, one could say outshines DiCaprio in The Revenant, while Mark Ruffalo gave the best performance in the film that won Best Picture. It was disappointing to see Creed, a movie snubbed in so many categories, get snubbed in the one category it was nominated for.
Best Actress
My Pick: Brie Larson, Room
2016 Winner: Brie Larson, Room
My Take: Just like the Supporting Actress category, this one was another slam dunk for the Academy. In the beginning of Oscar season, it was Cate Blanchett, Carol, who was getting all the Oscar buzz for her performance, but as we got closer and closer to the awards show, Brie Larson was gaining more steam and winning all the awards. Rightfully so because she is just magnificent in Room and it was really no contest between her and her counterparts. Brie Larson wholeheartedly deserves her first Oscar and I look forward to seeing what she does next in her career. No complaints to the Academy from me on this one.
Best Actor
My Pick: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
2016 Winner: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
My Take: Leo gets his first Oscar and now all the "No Oscar for Leo" memes are dead. While it wasn't his best performance in The Revenant, there was not much competition this year in the Best Actor category against him. It's funny how things work sometimes. Many believe he should have won for many of his other brilliant performances, and he wins for the one that is not even his best. As I've said before, I think Tom Hardy is the best part of The Revenant. So it is kind of funny Leo gets his 1st for a movie he is not even the best part of. Anyway, no complaints for the Academy as this one was pretty easy to get and congrats to Leo for getting his 1st Oscar he was so badly overdue.
Best Director
My Pick: Tom McCarthy, Spotlight2016 Winner: Alejandro G. Inarritu, The Revenant
My Take: Even though I got this one wrong, I am not overly upset with the decision of the Academy. The one thing I will never understand though is how Best Director and Best Picture do not go hand in hand. If you were the best director, one would think your movie was the best of the year. I personally went with McCarthy for Spotlight because when I think of directing, I think of the ability of telling the most compelling story. To me, the story of The Revenant was the film's weakest point. The cinematography and performance were both more of standouts than the story of the film. In the terms of story telling, I thought Tom McCarthy did the better job. But again, The Revenant was such a beautifully shot film, I can see why Inarritu won.
Best Picture
My Pick: Spotlight
2016 Winner: Spotlight
My Take: The Academy absolutely got this one right because Spotlight was by far the best film of the year in that category. Director Tom McCarthy does an amazing job telling the story of the Boston Globe reporters uncovering the scandal going on within the church. The ensemble cast all give fantastic performances, 2 of which were nominated for awards this year, and the movie delivers a heavy story with ease. This one was an absolute shoe in for the Academy and I am very glad they got it right.
The 88th Annual Academy Awards Show
Overall, this years Oscars were very enjoyable to watch but yet again are too long for their own good. One thing they can do to help this problem is taking out the performances. There is not much need for us to listen to the songs up for Oscars. They do not give us a taste of any of the others up for an award, then why do we need that for the songs? If people want to hear the song that is up for an award, they can go online and listen to it. In the end, host Chris Rock was one of the better ones in the past few years which made this years Oscars were much more fun than the previous 2 years.
My Score for the 2016 Oscars: 8/10 - FUN/ENTERTAING
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