This was one of the dullest Oscar telecasts in recent years. It’s not just because it neared the 3.5 hour mark, but, rather, due to its lack of intrigue and surprise.
Save for John Cena, Ryan Gosling and John Mulaney’s bits, there was barely any actual investment to it. If anything, I imagine most of the audience wished for more drama, more cussing, and, hell, even more slapping, anything to awaken the dead horse.
Almost every expected frontrunner prevailed. This included “Oppenheimer,” which won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Editing, Best Cinematography and Best Score.
Other noteworthy winners from tonight’s ceremony included Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) winning her second Lead Actress statuette, Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” nabbing Animated Feature, “Godzilla Minus One” winning Special Effects, and Wes Anderson’s first ever Oscar for his short film “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.”
Back to “Oppenheimer,” all throughout awards season, Nolan’s film never really had much competition. No film could dethrone it as the frontrunner and no pundit out there believed that it even had the slightest chance to lose the big prize tonight.
“Oppenheimer” was a box office hit, with almost $950 million grossed worldwide, and a critical hit, sitting at 90 on Metacritic. It was very hard to imagine that Nolan’s triumph of art and commerce could be bested by any other film.
Nolan, having never won before, also had this infectious narrative behind him, which helped him win his first directing Oscar. This “overdue” narrative was reminiscent of the one that Martin Scorsese had when he finally won Best Director for 2006’s “The Departed” — though Scorsese waited much longer for his first trophy than Nolan, 53, has had to.
However, unlike “The Departed,” a film like “Oppenheimer” might very well be seen as the crowning achievement of its filmmaker’s career. Time will tell.
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10:21 pm — “Oppenheimer” win Best Picture
10:15 pm — Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) wins her second Best Actress Oscar. Lily Gladstone’s supporting, and SAG-winning, performance loses.
10:15 pm — Ceremony has hit 3 hour 15 minute mark. Why must they do this to us?
10:02 pm — Christopher Nolan wins Best Director for “Oppenheimer.
10:00 pm — Cillian Murphy wins Best Actor. It’s very hard to imagine “Oppenheimer” not winning the top prize tonight.
9:58 pm — Matthew McConaughey can’t grow a proper beard.
9:42 pm — Billy Eilish wins Best Original Song for Barbie’s “What Was I Made For”
9:41 pm — Ludwig Göransson wins Best Score for “Oppenheimer”
9:34 pm — I’m Just Ken. Gosling, committed from beginning to end. If Oscar voters have any semblance of a sense of humor, they’ll give it Best Original Song.
9:27 pm — John Mulaney’s ode to “Field of Dreams” was hilarious. Maybe he should host next year’s Oscars? At this point, anything is better than Kimmel.
9:17 pm — Wes Anderson wins his first Oscar, Best Live-Action Short Film, for “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” and he’s not even there to accept it. Anderson is currently in the middle of shooting his next film, “The Phoenician Scheme.”
9:14 pm — Hoyte van Hoytema (“Oppenheimer”) wins Best Cinematography.
9:06 pm — “20 Days in Mariupol” wins Best Documentary.
9:05 pm — Spielberg slow nod kills me. Kate McKinnon is a riot.
8:52 — Jennifer Lame (“Oppenheimer”) wins for her intricately brilliant Editing.
8:49 pm — “Godzilla Minus One” wins Best Visual Effects. It had a reported budget of $12-15 million — an incredible technical feat that used a combination of VFX and practical effects to create its action sequences. Even more impressive, it beat films in this category with 10x its budget.
8:38 pm — Robert Downey Jr. wins Supporting Actor for “Oppenheimer.” Acting comeback of the century? 30 years ago, he had descended into heroin and crack cocaine abuse, leading to multiple arrests, numerous stints in rehab facilities and the Hollywood blacklist. He’s now an Oscar winner.
8:34 pm — I still can’t believe Short Round has an Oscar.
8:23 pm — No surprise, Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” wins Best International Feature. His hands were shaking when giving that pro-Palestine speech.
8:22 pm — The Rock looks like he’s about to go clubbing.
8:13 pm — John Cena’s nude walk-on was amusing. I watched Peter Farrely’s “Ricky Stanicky” last night and he’s great in it — it’s a very silly movie, but has more laughs than you’d expect.
8:12 pm — “Poor Things” wins Costume Design, Production Design and Makeup. If there’s one film that could upset “Oppenheimer” tonight then it’s Yorgos Lanthimos’ madcap visionary statement. Emma might now win. Gladstone sweating bullets.
7:51 pm — Cord Jefferson (“American Fiction”) wins Best Adapted Screenplay.
7:48 pm — Best Original Screenplay goes to … Justine Triet and Arthur Harari for “Anatomy of A Fall.” No other nominee deserves this one more. The brilliant ‘Anatomy’ was intricate, mysterious and Hitchcockian.
7:39 pm — Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” wins Best Animated Feature. As much as I liked “Across the Spider-Verse,” the better and more accomplished film won. Miyazaki, 83, did not attend the ceremony.
7:26 pm — Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Holdovers”) wins Best Supporting Actress. The first predictable win of the evening. Her hilarious performance in “Dolemite is My Name” was superior.
7:21 pm — Holy hell, there’s a mini speech for each nominee. We’re hitting the 4-hour mark tonight. This is going to be insufferable.
7:04 pm — Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes falling flat. Ricky Gervais or bust.
6:58 pm — Alright, here we go. My annual tradition of live blogging the Oscars. Hopefully, the ceremony ends up being under three hours