15 for 23. Amazingly, my pessimistic strategy accounts for most of my misses. Perhaps it’s time to give the Academy more credit.
Before I defend myself, some thoughts on the ceremony itself:
After years of the broadcast producers seemingly ashamed to be producing the Oscars and trying to disguise the fact that the purpose of the show is to give awards to movies, it’s a relief to see a show that’s just… normal. Just famous people saying nice things to other famous people interspersed with some funny bits. They even started late and ended early, as if Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes about the ceremony length are rooting in nothing after all.
And there were some genuinely good bits! John Cena has an impeccable sense of timing and a willingness to commit that will make him box office magic if the studios ever decide to release comedies in theaters again. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito having a back-and-forth about Batman and then immediately giving an Oscar to Godzilla is laser-targeted at me specifically. And Messi the dog clapping is going straight into my gif speed dial.
Kimmel as host was serviceable. Still too many jokes about how much he disliked the nominees at a show ostensibly dedicated to honoring them. I did enjoy the absurdly long walk he took to arrive at the Yorgos joke and I can’t tell if I’m saying that ironically or not. A lot of people are talking about John Mulaney’s presentation and saying he should host. I’m not sure that could happen. He’s too good for it. I mean, yes, it should happen, but does he need it? The Oscars’ hosting situation could be its own post.
There is a palpable sense during Ryan Gosling’s performance of “I’m Just Ken” that everyone in that room suddenly realized they voted for the wrong song.
The most exciting change from a show perspective was the return of the acting awards being presented by 5 previous winners. Even though that came at the expense of our beloved acting clips, it’s a trade-off I’m happy to make. But again, it ended early. Do both!
Anyway, here are the 8 categories I guessed wrong:
The “Yay”s
- The biggest noise I let out while watching (besides Cena) was when Anya Taylor-Joy read out the name The Boy and the Heron instead of Across the Spider-Verse. Bravo to the Academy for recognizing their potentially last chance to give Hayao Miyazaki gold.
- If Anatomy of a Fall was only going to win one award, Screenplay is the place to do it. Shoutout to the orchestra for actually playing P.I.M.P. as the walk-up music.
- Documentary Short successfully dodged the clear worst nominee, The ABCs of Book Banning, and instead went to the clear best, The Last Repair Shop.
- The Zone of Interest is defined by its soundscape and it’s refreshing that the Academy recognized that. I’m so used to awards going to “Most Sound” or “Most Editing” that it’s exciting whenever they go for the more subtly powerful option.
- Similarly, I thought Barbie‘s color palette would get it a costume nomination even though I don’t think the Barbie costumes are particularly noteworthy when they’re not pink. I’m glad it went to Poor Thing‘s much more severe outfitting instead.
The “Huh”s
- Emma Stone over Lily Gladstone. No one can successfully argue that Emma Stone did not deserve to win, and if you think you can you’re wrong. That performance is transcendent. But we all got a little over excited about the possibility of the first Native American winner in the category. It would have been good TV. I wonder if Emma agrees.
- In retrospect, American Fiction was too much of a TIFF darling to walk away empty handed. Again, Screenplay is the place to recognize it. When I said I would have voted for Oppenheimer for the feat of condensing that tome into a breezy 3 hours, that was before knowing it was going to win 7 other trophies.
- Finally… I’m gonna try to walk a real fine line here. I am not opposed to Godzilla winning his first Oscar. He should have one. I love Godzilla. Some of my best friends are kaiju. That said, I think Godzilla Minus One is, very visibly, not the best visual effects of the year. That decision seems to be more a recognition of what that VFX team did on such a limited budget. Which is fine, and creating something out of constraints has been the rationale for past awards (I assume). I’m not so in love with the other nominees that I would take this one away.
Overall, it was a conventional show that made more correct than incorrect decisions, and that’s enough for a solid B- these days. If they can replicate it next year with a more interesting host, I’ll feel we’re getting back on the right track. (Also PUT IT ON STREAMING!!)