That's All Folks! An Oscars Post Mortem

And just like that, Oscar season is over.

Last night's show was one of the best in ages. In terms of the telecast itself, the Academy had little to do with how things turned out, but producers Donna Gigliotti and Glenn Weiss should absolutely get the credit they deserve. 3 hours and 15 minutes is amazing. The set was gorgeous, the sound, the direction...Adam Lambert, Brian May and Queen...all top notch.

According the TV Line, the ratings seem to have gone up!

"According to very preliminary numbers, Sunday night’s host-free, tight-and-bright, 200-minute ABC telecast scored a 21.6 rating in the metered market households. That’s up 14 percent from last year’s 18.9...."

And the Academy should get some credit as well. They made some historic choices. Here are a few off the top of my head.

• Ruth E. Carter was the first black artist to win an Oscar for Costume Design
• Hanna Beachler was the first black artist to win an Oscar for Production Design
• Spike Lee won. He finally won! (Perhaps it's time for me to finally watch "Do the Right Thing")
• Alfonso Cuaron was the first director to win both Directing and Cinematography
• Mexico won Foreign Language Film for the first time

After the opening musical number I asked "What's next? How do they do this without a host?" And out came Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler (not Whoopi Goldberg) giving a very abbreviated "non monologue" and from there intros were done by an announcer as I assumed and more time was given to presenters.

Gigliotti and Weiss stuck to their word about speech time. That bleeped part of Spike Lee's speech? That was him saying not to start the clock...and they didn't. But when an opportunity presented itself at a pause after an "ending," speeches were ceased. No one really seemed to have a problem with it, from what I could see. Everyone in the room was truly in good spirits all night.  And although I've seen a few detractors on Twitter (deleting that app in 5, 4, 3, 2...) almost everyone seems good with the show.

Congrats to Sasha Stone with Awards Daily for predicting 22/24 categories. You could feel her excitement on Twitter at doing so well. I only met Sasha once although I wouldn' be here doing this without her. She is a genuinely sweet woman and a very good writer. Back in 2014 I went 22/24 and it is an amazing feeling indeed.

When Ruth Carter won Costume Design for "Black Panther" I got a little cocky thinking this could really be my night in terms of predictions. It wasn't. I had my worst year predicting in forever. 14/24. I tied with Eric Kohn at Indiewire, which makes me feel a little better. He and I actually had a few of the same riskier picks.

I missed 2/3 shorts, which is better than missing all of them. Yay, "Period. End of Sentence!" Boo "Skin"....although it was an Oxford Film Festival alum, which is cool. Had I known that I might not have trashed it so much here...oh well.

Could I have done things differently? I wish I had gone with "Black Panther" for Score. That seems obvious now. But I'm still glad with my choices for "Production Design" and even Original Screenplay.

Many people are saying that "Green Book" won Best Picture because of the Preferential Ballot which certainly played a major part, but Original Screenplay is certainly not a Preferential Ballot, and the Academy awarded "Green Book" there too. They loved the film, and so did a lot of other people not part of the Film Twitter bubble. Heck...after I saw it the first time I loved it as well. On the 2nd viewing, I was a bit less impressed, but I was also finalizing my Top 10 and my critical senses were on high alert.

I read on Twitter that when "Moonlight" won, it really threw a wrench into the idea of the "Oscar" movie...but "Green Book's" win last night shows, the OSCAR MOVIE is alive and well.

"Moonlight" was a situation where the film was so loved, the right film at the right time...and THIS IS IMPORTANT - awarding "Moonlight" sent a message.

Awarding "Roma" would have sent a message as well. That Netflix produces theatrical movies, and that is a message the Academy was not ready to send.

Almost no one saw Best Actress coming.  Olivia Colman winning over Glenn Close was certainly a shock, and, yes, it is unfortunate that Glenn still doesn't have an Oscar. Close deserved it, not because she is overdue, but because of the 5 actresses nominated, I believe she gave the best performance. I just don't believe the Academy thought so. Also, with men they have less of a problem giving an actor the "overdue" award. With women...not so much. But at least Colman wasn't a 20 year old, right?

I did love Olivia Colman...she, along with Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone were in my Best Performances of the Year. But this category fraud thing is real. I'm finally coming around to that. Timothee Chalamet should have been in Lead. Mahershala should have been in Lead. Emma Stone was the lead of "The Favourite" if their was one, but if not, Colman was still supporting, even if she was the Queen.

But would it have mattered? I'm not sure. For all we know Lady Gaga might have won instead.

Speaking of: Let's just take a look at "Shallow" one last time before putting that song to bed.



After everyone went home and I was alone and trying to process everything, the weight of my predictions score started to set in. Honestly, and if you are still with me reading this you already know - I wasn't feeling this Oscar race like I have in the past, which was very strange for me.

I have been somewhat defined by the Oscars since I was 12 years old, and as always, the morning after I am having all sorts of reflective and projective thoughts. 

I do believe in sign posts, and had I gotten 22/24 or even last year's 18/24 I might have gone into next season in the same way I have for the past 10. Who knows, after a break I might still? 

I am planning a break, although I will be back in the coming weeks to write a few things completely unrelated to the Oscars.

Last year on this day after the Oscars I watched "The Shape of Water" again and relaxed.  I still plan to relax...but  I probably won't be watching "Green Book." Instead I think I'm going to watch a few episodes of "The X-Files."

For those of you who don't know - after watching "The X-Files" for the first time I marched down to the University of Southern Mississippi Registrar's office and changed my major to Acting.

Also today, my filmmaking friend John and I are headed out to location scout for a film I'm acting in. I'm tired and emotionally exhausted, so obviously I want to declare all sorts of things today, right here, right now. But no major decisions today. Although the direction my day is taking is telling.

See you in a bit.

Some additional highlights for me: