Everything Oscar All at Once

For better and not for worse for a change, the 95th annual Academy Award presentation is behind us.

The Academy and probably the industry itself is touting that this is this year is a return to form which is fairly accurate. It resembled a ceremony from the pre-Covid era which made it one of the better productions of the last 5 years. Virtually drama free with lots of good feels for a change combined to make a better than average show or more accurately an average show which is better than it has been to be sure. Ratings were up so the Oscars live to fight another day before it too goes to streaming in a few years.

There were some clunkers to be sure. The lame-ass Cocaine Bear bit, for example, celebrating a modestly successful flash in the pan and a guarantee that fucking Elizabeth Banks isn't going away anytime soon. But the worst had to be the egregious promo for the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid that was shamelessly passed off on the live broadcast. Disney owns ABC which broadcasts the Oscars. Hence, Disney pimps away without an ounce of integrity. Hope they paid for that ad because otherwise, foul ball. 

But mostly, the show moved along quite well without the political speechifying that has drug down the proceedings as of late, not to mention whatever pass for comedy in the last decade. Lack of witty banter was displaced by sad ass fashion choices. (Really, Florence Pugh?) Jimmy Kimmel turned out to be in innocuous house once again making him pretty much safe for the masses and Hollywood in general. who can take a gentle ribbing, but the truth hurts these thin-skinned celebs, that's for sure. 

The lack of what passes for controversy this time around served to benefit the proceedings, no matter what you read on social media, though the rallying cries still echo. The call of "Oscars So White" rang hollow in 2023 mainly because it's already a tiresome cliche' to this Hollywood elite. No women directors again? C'mon, folks. Women Talking, directed by Sarah Polley, should have been a shoo-in at the very least. At least she got a writing trophy out of the deal. And the supposed Angela Basset snub? They still ain't tossing big awards out to the MCU no matter how much money they're still pulling in. As far as losing gracefully, so what? She bought into the hype, believing she was a lock. Didn't happen. Hey, at least she didn't walk out like Eddie Murphy did when he lost for Dreamgirls. These supposed outrages are all so typical of what flotsam and jetsam floats on the waves of the Internet, though I think many of them are perpetuated and drug out by publicists to keep the Oscar dialogue going long after the broadcast in a too desperate attempt to remain relevant as the rest of the world is on to the next pile of nonsensical bullshit with a sweep of their phones,

What was telling about this year's Academy Awards was the story of redemption all around. All four winners in the acting category or either comeback stories or validations of one sort or another. Brendan Fraser and Ke Huy Quan both had resurgences after long droughts in their careers. Jamie Lee Curtis proved she belonged at the table after years of peaking below the surface of stardom. And of course Michelle Yeoh made everybody stand up and listen to the fact that age doesn't matter especially for a woman in Hollywood. You'd better listen to her too or she'll kick your bleedin' ass. The Oscars itself had to redeem itself as well after last year's fiasco not to mention the doldrums it's been under for the past decade. The Everything Everywhere All at Once sweep brought a slew of fresh faces to the foray, all of them wanting to be there and to belong to this community that wouldn't have welcomed them a few years back. Their enthusiastic and genuinely emotional wins were infectious and ruled the night.

I'm frankly pleased that the Big Show (not the wrestler) was as decent as it was since this is my Oscars swan song on this format. (Okay, don't get all weepy on me.) After the last few years, these post-game wrap-ups of mine have felt more and more obligatory rather than anything heartfelt because frankly, my dear, my heart ain't in it no mo'. This year, I approached the Oscars with an near-sense of dread and geared up for another 3 and 1/2 hour hate watch. How insipid is that? My lifelong passion for all things film related have turned me into this grumpy old asshole who picks apart the proceedings like a scavenger bird launching into a corpse buffet. So this is it. I mean it this time. Honest. Even though I stated in last year's post featuring Slap Happy Pappy Will Smith's inglorious day in the Oscar sun was to be my own not so grand finale, this was meant to be a postmortem more than anything else.  So I'm packing my troubles in my old kit bag and backing away from the keyboard from what used to be my favorite time of year. It's rather similar to when I quit smoking. I swore I would give up cigarettes when they stopped tasting so damn good and I did. Same thing here. It's not like I'll stop watching. I just stopped caring.  Looking behind the curtain is a bittersweet proposition. That the 95th Oscars went out on a high (well, higher than usual) note takes a lot of the sting away for me and that is enough.

So Booyah for Hollywood once again. For me though, this is my last Booyah. They're playing me off.