Oscars 2019: My two cents

Another year, another Oscars ceremony has ended. 

While the glamor of the Academy Awards tend to diminish through the years after a series of controversies, we can say that this year’s ceremonies ended on quite a decent note.

Best Picture goes to the anti-racism drama Green Book, beating the odds from the majority who actually predicted Roma getting the top prize. Adding Green Book to the list of previous Best Picture winners is an indication that the Academy voters are really loving feel-good stories, championing them over intellectually and/ or emotionally complex narratives like The Favourite and yes, Roma. 

Green Book is a straightforward, by-the-numbers tale of a formed friendship. Its catharsis might work better if it were released decades ago, but with regards to uplifting the fight to racism, I prefer Blackkklansman. At least, we don’t get to have the musical biopic claiming the title, right? (wink, wink)

Green Book

Speaking of a musical biopic, Rami Malek is a deserving Best Actor. There’s range to his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. The race for this category isn’t really tight anyways. But if you’re gonna have me hand the award for one actor, I’ll give it to Bradley Cooper in A Star Is Born. 

The Favourite’s Olivia Colman wins Best Actress! It’s probably the biggest surprise (or upset) of the show since everyone has their bets on Glenn Close for The Wife. It is a win that is almost inarguable, and that speech by Colman is simply charming. What’s not to love?

For the supporting actor/ actress race, Green Book’s Mahershala Ali and If Beale Street Could Talk’s Regina King had their homerun after a streak of wins in other awards shows. The supporting performance wins can really go to anyone, considering every nominee are really great in their respective films. But hey, this is already great! 

Other wins aside (Spider-verse! Black Panther for Best Costume! Spike Lee winning something!), perhaps the best moment for this year’s ceremony is how smooth the program flows sans host.

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-verse

By positioning itself more towards the actual awards, the telecast is cleaner instead of having unnecessary side jokes in between categories. I still want a fun monologue at the beginning, but comedic trio Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Tina Fey, carried away just fine.

Perhaps it could be the Academy getting lucky this year amidst public backlash, but this is one of the best ceremonies of this awards show in years. 

I just hope next time, they make their prep time a lot more seamless than crammed. I heard Whoopi Goldberg is already a favorite to take hosting duties next year, which if that’s the case, start their game face on as early as now. 

At the end of the day, the Oscars is just an awards show. The viewers never really got anything other than the awe of seeing prominent people get rewarded. But it has always been fun, regardless of who wins and does not.