![]() Out in the mezzanine lobby the team behind India’s best documentary short winner The Elephant Whisperers (Netflix) were celebrating and posing for photographs, a nice accompaniment to best song winner ‘Naatu Naatu’ from Indian smash RRR. Inside the room, Everything was gaining momentum with wins for Jamie Lee Curtis for supporting actress, Paul Rogers for editing, and Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan for original screenplay. The two most predictable Oscars of the night out of the way, the ceremony moved through the winners towards the great unknowns – lead actor, lead actress, best picture.Īfter Netflix’s All Quiet On The Western Front won the international feature film Oscar and several crafts awards, there was a sense in the room that this could be the night the streamer might finally bring home the best picture Oscar.Īnticipation levels were rising. Netflix’s Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio was the first win of the night followed by Ke Huy Quan’s male supporting actor win for A24’s Everything Everywhere All At Once, only the fifth acting win for a person of Asian descent and the second in the category. ‘Everything’, ‘All Quiet’ contested close race The audience became a little restless at these points, but overall the mood was positive, buoyed by streamlined superstar musical performances from the likes of Rihanna, David Byrne, Diane Warren, the RRR cast and Lady Gaga, whose appearance in a low-key rendition of ‘Hold My Hand’ from Top Gun: Maverick was arguably the only surprise of the night after show producers had previously advised she would not perform live. ![]() The Academy continues to wrestle with how to engage the watching general public and didn’t help itself with self-indulgent pieces highlighting the Academy Museum and centenaries for Disney (whose corporate stablemate ABC broadcasts the Oscars) and Warner Bros. A brief section in which Kimmel posed questions from the public to audience members Malala Yousafzai, Colin Farrell and Chastain fell flat. There were aaaaahs when Kimmel came on with what turned out to be an equine stand-in for Jenny the donkey from The Banshees Of Inisherin, and tittering quickly turned to tedium when a hoarse Elizabeth Banks presented the visual effects category alongside an actor dressed up as a bear costume in reference to her current release Cocaine Bear. Berry filled in for the Academy-banned Smith to present the best lead actress award. Jungle Cruise stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, Andie MacDowell and her Four Weddings And A Funeral co-star Hugh Grant, Margot Robbie and Morgan Freeman, and Jessica Chastain and Halle Berry among others did what was asked of them with grace and a minimum of fuss. The producers did a good job of pairing presenters who were not required to trot out corny routines. Set against an elegant, retro-style backdrop that made good use of screens to dress the stage and its surroundings in gold and silver, the show felt brisk, even though three hours and 34 minutes was longer than some recent ceremony run times. Show producers made sure to highlight the collaborative nature of filmmaking, with part of the stage dedicated to recreating editing rooms and recording studios when crafts awards were handed out. A few missed, most drew indulgent, polite laughter, like when he poked fun at Cruise and Avatar: The Way Of Water director James Cameron for not turning up to the theatre despite being huge advocates of theatre-going. Kimmel kept things moving along at a fair clip, firing off mostly milquetoast gags like a benign grown-up with a Nerf gun at a children’s party. “If anyone in this theatre commits violence at any point during the show,” Kimmel said early into his third stint as Oscars MC, “you will be awarded the Oscar for best actor and permitted to give a 19-minute speech.”Īnd with that the memory of Will Smith’s moment of madness at last year’s ceremony was officially laid to rest. There were no slips-ups or hot dog fingers on Sunday night, although there was the promised comedic reference to “slap-gate”. ![]() Outside the Dolby Theatre, two Navy jets whizzed past overhead, the flyover eliciting gasps from the audience watching on big screens. Wisely, the Academy had opted for safe pairs of hands in executive producers Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss and show host Jimmy Kimmel, who made a grand entrance as he was lowered onto the stage in a harness and parachute after a video clip riff on Top Gun: Maverick showed him ejecting from Tom Cruise’s fighter plane. In urgent need of a credibility reset after last year’s shenanigans the 95th Academy Awards delivered a reassuringly conventional, heartfelt show that harkened back to days gone by yet at its heart seemed to offer a glimpse of generational shift. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All At Once
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