In retrospect, cramming the Oscars, a Risk game that ran late and a Beer Fest into the same weekend that the clocks sprang forward was probably ill-advised.
The telecast even started an hour earlier, making it challenging to get the 8+ pounds of roasted pork to the potluck table before Jimmy Kimmel started his opening monologue (5 minutes late, as it turns out!). I think Kimmelo is a great host, a bit sharper in tone than Billy Crystal, but smart, funny, appreciative and willing to poke. His acknowledgment that the people who snubbed Greta Gerwig's director nomination for Barbie were in the room that evening was a great example, while his description of Robert Downey Jr's 'highest career moment' felt offside to many.
In my mind, acknowledging RDJ's troubled past, chequered with substance abuse, arrests and rehab stints, was a great reminder of how far this actor has come - this was his third nomination, after all, and his win later on was a great validation for everyone at the time who said, "this guy is amazing and will go places...if he can get his act together." After all, Downey made sure to thank his wife Susan, and described himself at the start of their relationship as a snarling rescue animal that she loved into life.
It was a night for great speeches actually, with acknowledgements of the ongoing tragedies in Gaza and Ukraine and the importance of musical education, but also personal moments like RDJ's and Da'Vine Joy Randolph's. There are still some laundry lists of thanks, but many people took the time to say something genuinely appreciative or meaningful.
Snubs notwithstanding, I was generally happy with the awards themselves.
Oppenheimer winning Best Picture felt appropriate and Christopher Nolan finally garnering the Best Director award was a real treat which I hope gives him even more latitude in his future projects than he has had in the past. Poor Things, a movie I described as an R-rated Edward Scissorhands and which I enjoyed far more than I expected, took not only the costumes and production design gongs but a surprising Best Actress Oscar for Emma Stone.
And Barbie, which was hampered right out of the gate with snubs for Director, Best Actress, and Best Picture, and which really deserved more recognition for being such a bold and frankly educational film, at least won Best Original Song for Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” But Ryan Gosling’s amazing and electrifying performance of “I’m Just Ken” set a new high-water mark for performances of a musical nominee, starting the song from his seat in a hot pink tuxedo and cowboy before leading the cameraman onstage and joining five dozen dancers, co-writer and guitarist Mark Ronson, four of his fellow Kens from the film, Slash and Wolfgang Van Halen. After returning to the audience and handing the mic to his cast and crewmates to sing a verse or two, Gosling got the entire auditorium on its feet to belt out the chorus, with indoor fireworks capping off the entire thing.
In household entertainments, The Rare Hipster both ‘lost’ March of the Dead with 7 or 8 drinks taken (5 for me, and his last one was a bit dubious due to a huge slate of names appearing at the end) but won with 15 correct guesses for awards! My nephew Mark won the raffle for a free night at the movies.
And with the earlier start, most people were on their way back home before 9 pm! But the rest of us stayed on to chat and go to bed late, which is why this blog post came in late – apologies!
