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Review and Analysis of the 90th Academy Awards

This year’s Academy Awards was pretty satisfying in terms of the wins. The year was strong as there have been quite a lot of great films in 2017 and most were not even nominated, but of those which were nominated, mostly the best in the slates won. The ceremony was immensely predictable and even frustratingly so, but at least mostly the right people and films won. The winners were also pretty well spread out which was quite fair.

 

THE CEREMONY

The ceremony itself was pretty bad, I have to be honest. Unlike last year’s very memorable and fun show, this one was along the line of the 88th Academy Awards meaning that it was dull and slow. Not only did the predictability of the winners ruin the evening for me, but the host himself was quite weak.

Yes, Jimmy Kimmel failed this time around. He was quite good last year, but this time around he did not really make much of an effort and was too subdued which was to be expected given the entire emphasis on women during the night. Frances McDormand’s speech was typical and obvious, but necessary and it was a memorable moment. The men were definitely sidelined this year, but the women themselves did not step out also.

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I found some of Tiffany Haddish’s lines to be solid, but she was mostly over-the-top and once again stereotypical in her jokes, doing the similar shtick she did during the nominees announcement. Most of this year’s ceremony was actually very unfunny with once again the “audience” scenario being painfully unfunny and simply horrible.

That Star Wars segment brought a smile to my face and seeing the “real” BB-8 was endearing and very nerdy in a cute manner. What I liked about this Oscars is that it wasn’t too political as even the girl power speeches were not overwhelming and I loved the emphasis on film art itself for once with the Academy’s 90th anniversary as well as their war film compilation both being wonderful and well put together. But still the entire ceremony bored me so much and it was almost entirely forgettable unlike last’s year’s Oscars.

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BEST PICTURE

This was an odd year when it comes to my opinion on the Best Picture category. On the one hand, 7 of 9 movies are very overrated and did not even deserve to be nominated in my opinion. But on the other hand, the two frontrunners The Shape of Water and Three Billboards were also my two picks so I was quite happy with that. However, I still ended up being hugely disappointed by the eventual win of the former. It was somewhat of an upset and finally the Oscars recognized the fantasy genre, but it is hilarious to me how they would even reward a genre film instead of giving it to my personal favorite film. The Shape of Water is a very good film and I am glad that it won, but I was still pretty disappointed that much better and much deeper film ended up empty-handed.

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BEST DIRECTOR

As for the director category, it was one of many that was obvious and highly expected. I do not mind it myself as Martin McDonagh wasn’t even nominated. Of the nominees, Guillermo del Toro was easily the best one so this was not only the right choice but also the obvious one. And I am just happy that he was finally recognized for his wonderful body of work. This time around, they diverged from their usual scenario these last couple of years and both Director and Picture categories aligned.

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BEST ACTOR

Timothee Chalamet was the only pick for me personally of these nominees. It was a terrible year for this category as both Jake Gyllenhaal and James Franco weren’t even nominated whereas Sam Rockwell ended up in the wrong category. Chalamet would have been the best choice, but it ended up being Gary Oldman which was the most obvious choice of the evening probably. Although an extreme Oscar bait of a role, I am still not too frustrated about this choice as it was high time that they gave him his first Oscar.

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BEST ACTRESS

This category is the exact opposite from the previous one. Sally Hawkins and Saiorse Ronan are both strong choices, but in my opinion Margot Robbie is the only who could rival Frances McDormand and I would also love it if she had won. But she didn’t it as Frances once again expectedly won and I am very happy with that as she killed it in such a terrific role and movie.

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

This was also a pretty solid category. In my opinion, Patrick Stewart gave the very best performance in Logan and was thus shamefully snubbed. But still this nomination slate was strong and even though this is again an obvious case of cheating, I am more than happy that Sam Rockwell won as otherwise he wouldn’t which would have been a shame as he is marvelous in Three Billboards.

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

This category was incredibly easy to predict and obvious because Allison Janney was literally miles above any other of the nominees in terms of the quality of her performance. She excelled at playing Tonya Harding’s horrible mother and thus rightfully won her Oscar. I just wish that the movie itself was honored and recognized more.

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BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

This was a very weak category as most of the nominees had such regular stories and did not deserve to be nominated at all. Three Billboards easily should have won this one and it would have if there was any justice in this world as its deep, thematically rich and relevant story is much more important and subtle than Get Out’s on-the-nose narrative that hugely stumbles in the third act.

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BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

This was a bit better category but again the award went to the wrong movie. Call Me by Your Name is awfully sluggish, slow and pretentious whereas Logan was a much better adapted, paced and structured film. Again the Academy showed their obvious bias toward slow drama films, but at least James Ivory finally got his Oscar.

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BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

This was per usual one of the most predictable and thus boring categories. Coco won Disney/Pixar another Oscar in what seems to be an infinite streak. It is a very good, but highly disappointing, far from great film and thus I was not happy with its win. The entire slate of nominees was very weak this year, but the winner should have been The Breadwinner as it is in my opinion easily the best film from this bunch.

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BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

I was so happy with this category! I was seriously afraid that The Square would win the award as it is the only bad film in this excellent list of nominees, but thankfully the award went to Chilean A Fantastic Woman which is not only the best foreign film of the year, but also in my top ten films of the year so I was thrilled with the Academy’s choice to honor it.

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BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

This is again a pretty obvious choice from a pretty uninteresting list of nominees. I have yet to see Icarus, but I do not have high hopes and the only nominee I saw is Faces Places which did not thrill me so I was not excited whatsoever for this entire category.

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BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Dear Basketball actually ended up winning for best animated short and I have to say that the Academy made the right choice. In a Heartbeat deserved to win but it wasn’t even nominated so I am happy with this choice as it is easily the best film of the nominees. I am so glad that Pixar did not claim this category as well.

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BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

This was a weak category this year and I am not disappointed that The Shape of Water got the award as it is a very strong score, but it is still too subdued for my taste and Three Billboards has a much better, more memorable music.

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BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Remember Me won for Coco and I was pretty upset. This was an unexpected choice as This Is Me was slated for win and it is such a fun, catchy number whereas Remember Me is solid, but somewhat bland and forgettable.

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BEST SOUND EDITING/SOUND MIXING

Dunkirk won in both sound categories and although I dislike the film itself, the sound is naturally excellent in it as they recreated every possible sound that can be heard during war superbly so this was very much a deserved win.

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BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

This was also an upset as I thought Blade Runner 2049 would win here and it deserved to win, but The Shape of Water looks and feels wonderful so I am happy with it winning.

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BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Roger Deakins finally won his Oscar and it was well deserved as Blade Runner 2049 is phenomenally filmed and it looks splendid to behold. Another great choice.

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BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

I did not like Darkest Hour at all as it is such a mediocrity of a biopic, but it deserved to win for makeup as they made Gary Oldman look like Churchill almost seamlessly. I would have liked for Wonder to win here as well.

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BEST COSTUME DESIGN

I have yet to see Phantom Thread, but this was a pretty obvious, expected choice as the film itself is literally set in the fashion world so naturally it was bound to win.

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BEST FILM EDITING

War movies usually win in this category and thus Dunkirk again won after last year’s Hacksaw Ridge. But I entirely disagree as I, Tonya was shamefully robbed of its Oscar. That film is so incredibly inventive in how it was edited and so entertaining how fast paced it was that the Academy made a big mistake here.

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BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

This was a toss-up between Blade Runner 2049 and War for the Planet of the Apes. It eventually went to the former which is well deserved as that film looks amazing. However, I am still frustrated that they basically entirely ignored the Apes trilogy when at least one of its movies should have won for their groundbreaking, impressively realistic VFX.

 

In the end, this was a very good year for movies, but not so much for the Academy as the nominees aren’t the greatest, especially in the Best Picture category. However, they still picked for the most part the best people and films to win out of their respective slates and even though it was frustratingly predictable, the winners are mostly very much deserved. The ceremony itself though was pretty bad and dreadfully boring and I do hope they enliven the whole thing next year.