Oscars 2017

That was quite a night!

Forgetting for a moment that Best Picture and Best Director split for the 4th time in 5 years (and rarely before that), the amount of diversity represented by awards winners or the excellent job done by host Jimmy Kimmel, the astonishing - I dunno what to call it, photo finish? - made the 89th Academy Awards one to remember!

Totty had the best predictions with 16 (I was only 1 behind this year!) and won the free movie tix raffle (you get an entry for each correct answer, so it was weighted a bit in his favour) for good measure.

Pete was the leader for observance in the March of the Dead with 5, and I was only 1 behind in that competition as well, thanks to Arthur Hiller, Michael Cimino, Curtis Hanson and Ken Howard.

Kimmel made an excellent host; his recurring gag of parachuting various theatre candies from the ceiling was inspired and kept the energy levels up where they need to be in a 4 hour telecast, and his prank that involved detouring a Hollywood tour bus into the Dolby Theater and the Oscars ceremony was nothing short of brilliant.

Betting favoured Denzel getting Best Actor as he won the SAG award, but I was grateful to see Casey Affleck win it; his performance in Manchester By The Sea was nothing short of heartbreaking.

I was very surprised that Moonlight beat out La La Land for Best Picture, but there is no questioning it is a great movie. I was absolutely gobsmacked when the producer of La La Land interrupted his own acceptance speech to say Moonlight had won.

The second acceptance speech, which encouraged a number of minorities, sexual, racial and otherwise, to keep faith that they will see themselves mirrored on screen, was delightful and encouraging.

None of the speeches went political to the degree that Michael Moore did back in 2003, but there was a lot of encouragement for diversity, openness, and collaboration, and derision of the idea of deconstructing the world into camps of "us" and "them" that were very encouraging.

I shared Kimmel's surprise that Trump hadn't tweeted about them, despite the fact he was attending the Governor's Ball;

All in all, a great telecast, a great year for movies and a great party!