The 91st Academy Awards are over…The show turned out better than I expected. Not having a host was not a big deal. The show kept moving. It still ran over the 11:00pm hour, but only by a few minutes. There were some highlights and some low-lights…

One glaring moment for me was when Spike Lee accepted his Oscar for “Best Adapted Screenplay” for “BlackKklansman” and proceeded to speak about the shortest month, Black History month and remind us all of the events that took place some 400 years ago. I felt that was not necessary and I moved away from my living room TV until he had concluded…

There were some nice surprises like Regina King winning Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in “If Beale Street Could Talk” I was extremely happy for her and felt that the academy got that right!!

Although “Black Panther” did not win Best Picture it did take home 3 Oscars (Production Design, Original Score and Custom Design) and for that I am very happy. “Vice” fared ok, taking home 1 Oscar for Makeup & Hair Styling.

The big surprise was “Green Book” taking home 3 Oscars including (Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali) and of course the coveted prize “Best Picture”). There was a lot of controversy on Social Media about “Green Book” winning “Best Picture”. It was stated that it’s like awarding “Driving Miss Daisy II”.

The predictions were that “Roma” would win Best Picture. “Roma” took home Best Foreign Language Film, Best Cinematography and Best Director.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” took home 4 of the coveted statues, Best Actor(Rami Malek), Sound Editing, Film Editing and Sound Mixing.
“The Favourite” won the Best Actress Oscar (Olivia Colman)
“First Man” took home the Visual Effects Oscar
“A Star is Born” took home the Original Song Oscar
“Spider-Man into the Spider Universe” took home the Animated Feature Oscar

I did not review “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “BlackKklansman”, “Roma”(Netflix), “The Favourite”, “A Star is Born” or “First Man”, but the movies I did see fared very well and once again I did review the Best Picture Winner (Green Book)!!

So on with 2019, let’s hope it’s a better year for movies than 2018!!

Did you watch the 90th Academy Awards Show?

The 90th Academy Awards are over…I did not review the best picture winner…“The Shape of Water”. In fact I only saw 3 of the Best Picture Nominees (“The Post”, “Dunkirk” and “Darkest Hour”). This is a departure from the norm. Some of the best picture nominees did not open wide, some I was not interested in. I did want to see “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” I regret not being able to see that movie.

There were several surprises like Basketball great Kobe Bryant winning an Oscar for his Animated Short Film called “Dear Basketball”. I had no idea Kobe Bryant was into film making…

Female Vocalist great Mary J. Blige was nominated for a Actress in a Supporting Role Oscar for her part in the film “Mudbound”. I never heard of that movie. She did not win.

My Oscar Recap is short this Year.
I am very happy for Gary Oldman winning the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour”
Other movies I saw in 2017 that actually took home a Gold Statue are:
“Blade Runner” won 2 Statues, Best Cinematography and Best Special Effects
“Dunkirk” won for Sound Editing, Film Editing and Sound Mixing
“Darkest Hour” won for Makeup and Styling

Both Denzel Washington (“Roman J. Israel, Esq.”) and Meryl Streep (“The Post”) were nominated and again they both did not win.

So on with 2018, let’s hope it’s a better year for movies than 2017!!

The 89th Academy Awards are over…The show won’t be remembered for the fun things that happened such as Food Parachuting from the ceiling not once, not twice, but three times during the show or the Tour Bus folks who beyond their wildest dreams had a chance to meet Hollywood stars as they made their way through the Auditorium.
This year’s Oscars will be remembered for the horrendous blunder that occurred for the Best Picture Award. After 89 years you would expect that a mistake like what happened last night wouldn’t happen, but it did. “La La Land” believed they had locked up the Best Picture Award to find out they did not actually win. “Moonlight” is the Best Picture Award Winner.
I did not see “Moonlight” but was very much aware of the movie and I knew that it was receiving “Oscar Buzz” as far back as October.

Here is my Oscar Recap for Last night’s awards.

“Moonlight” won the Best Picture Award. I did not see it, but I did see 5 of the nine nominees: “Fences”, “Hidden Figures”, “La La Land”, “Hell or High Water” and “Arrival”. I gave all of these movies 4 or 5 stars.
Casey Affleck won for Best Actor in a leading role for “Manchester by the Sea”. I did not see that movie. I feel that Denzel Washington was more deserving of the Oscar for his role in “Fences”.
Mahershala Ali won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in “Moonlight”

Viola Davis won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in “Fences” in fact Viola Davis won the “Trifecta”. She won the Golden Globe, The SAG Award and topped it off with the Oscar all for her role in “Fences”. Viola Davis deserves every accolade she has received.

Emma Stone won for Best Actress in a Leading Role for “La La Land”.
Damien Chazelle won the Best Director Oscar for “La La Land”
“Zootopia” won the Best Animated Feature Film Oscar. I gave this movie 5 stars.
“Moonlight” – Best Writing Adapted Screenplay Oscar
“Manchester by the Sea” – Best Original Screenplay Oscar
The Best Cinematography Oscar went to “La La Land”
The Best Music Original Score Oscar went to “La La Land”
The Best Costume Design Oscar went to “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
Best Original Song went to “City of Stars” from “La La Land”
The Production Design Oscar went to “La La Land”
The Sound Editing Oscar went to “Arrival”
The Sound Mixing Oscar went to “Hacksaw Ridge”
The Visual Effects Oscar went to “The Jungle Book”
The Makeup and Hair Oscar went to “Suicide Squad”

If you have not seen “Hidden Figures”, “Arrival”, “Hell or High Water”, “Fences”, “La La Land” or “Zootopia” I suggest catching these movies as soon as you can.

Other Oscar Winners are as follows:

Best Documentary Feature Film – “O.J. Made in America”
Best Documentary Short Film – “The White Helmets”
Best Live Action Short Film – “Sing”
Best Animated Short Film – “Piper”
Best Foreign Film – “The Salesman”

I actually found the 88th Oscars interesting and entertaining last night. One thing for sure is that it was fast moving. The days of the long “Thank You” speeches are over!!

Here is my Oscar Recap for Last nights awards.

“Spotlight” won the Best Picture Award! I saw this movie and gave it 5 stars. Other movies nominated that I saw in 2015 were: “The Revenant”, “The Martian”, “The Big Short”, “Bridge of Spies” and “Mad Max: Fury Road”. I gave all of these movies either 4 or 5 stars. “Room” and “Brooklyn” were the other two nominees.

Leonardo DiCaprio finally won the long deserved Best Actor Oscar. He had to get mauled by a bear in “The Revenant” to win it.

Mark Rylance won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in “Bridge of Spies”

Alejandro Gonzalez won the Best Director Oscar for “The Revenant”

The animated movie that brought me to tears, “Inside Out” won the Best Animated Feature Film Oscar. I gave this movie 5 stars.

“The Big Short” – Best Writing Adapted Screenplay Oscar

“Spotlight” – Best Original Screenplay Oscar

Emmanual Lubeski won the Best Cinematography Oscar for “The Revenant”

Ennio Morricone – won the Best Music Original Score for “The Hateful Eight”

“Mad Max: Fury Road” was a surprise winner of the following 6 Oscars:

Best Costume Design, Best Sound Mixing, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing and Best Makeup

Best Original Song went to Sam Smith for “Writing’s on the Wall” from the “Spectre 007” movie

If you have not seen “Spotlight”, “The Big Short”, “Bridge of Spies”, The Martian”, “Mad Max:Fury Road” or “The Revenant”, I encourage you to seek these movies out, make some popcorn and get comfortable!!

Other Oscar Winners are as follows:

Brie Larson: Best Actress Oscar for “Room”

Alicia Vikander – Best Supporting Actress for “The Danish Girl”

Best Documentary Feature Film – “Amy”

Best Documentary Short Film – “A Girl in the River”

Best Live Action Short Film – “Stutterer”

Best Animated Short Film – “Bear Story”