The Best & Worst Of The 2017 Oscars - Page 2 of 2

Search
Home

Best

Jimmy Kimmel Was Mostly Pretty Good

Our expectations for Jimmy Kimmel as host were not super high, we have to say. He’s obviously preferable to Jimmy Fallon, but he seemed like a choice born mostly of corporate synergy and wanting a safe pair of hands. Ironically, the biggest mistake in Oscar history happened on Kimmel’s show (though was not remotely his fault, obviously), but other than some of the moments discussed above, he proved to be one of the better recent hosts, and capable of being a little more than just ‘safe’ too. Though there were some lazy jokes in the opening monologue, Kimmel also landed some really good ones, most notably his Trump jabs, and the line about this being the year when “black people saved NASA and white people saved jazz.” The Meryl Streep extended riff on her being ‘overrated’ walked a fine line but ended up being both funny and touching (partly because of watching Streep’s husband bristle a bit), too. Unlike some hosts who disappear after the first ten minutes, Kimmel was a constant presence, which on the whole worked well — he was collegial rather than edgy, but kept needling at Trump effectively and funnily, and felt like a clear presence leading the show (the presumably ad-libbed joke about Sweden after Linus Sandgren showed the benefits of having a pro like him around). And his best bit, of course, came when he kept returning to an old rivalry…

moana
The “Moana” Performance

Despite this being a year when a musical movie won the most awards, it wasn’t the most inspiring year for musical performances on the show: Justin Timberlake and John Legend were fine but functional, and Sting was, well, see above. So props to 16-year-old Auli’l Cravahlo for absolutely nailing her song from “Moana.” Yes, the Miranda intro was unnecessary (see above again), but Cravahlo was poised and relaxed as she sang the hell out of the best of the nominated songs, even though the dancers kept trying to smack her with the flags. The young star wasn’t really front and center during the “Moana” marketing, which meant that this felt like a real star-is-born moment: expect to see a lot more of her in future.

farhadiAsghar Farhadi’s Statement

Made all the more powerful by being delivered in absentia by Iranian-American engineer and space traveller Anousheh Ansari (with her, the “Hidden Figures” trio and Katherine Johnson making a surprise appearance, it was quite a night for non-white females involved in the space program), Farhadi’s statement on winning the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar was typically poised and intelligent. In fact, unlike its principled winner, it can wholly speak for itself, so here it is:

“It’s a great honor to be receiving this valuable award for the second time. I would like to thank the members of the academy, my crew in Iran, my producer, Amazon, and my fellow nominees.

I’m sorry I’m not with you tonight. My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of other six nations whom have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the US. Dividing the world into the “us” and “our enemies” categories creates fear. A deceitful justification for aggression and war. These wars prevent democracy and human rights in countries which have themselves been victims of aggression. Filmmakers can turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break stereotypes of various nationalities and religions. They create empathy between us and others. An empathy which we need today more than ever.”

mahershalaMahershala Ali’s Win/Speech

As the first Muslim to win an acting Oscar, the first Oscar to go to the immensely popular “Moonlight” back when we had no idea it would pull off one of the biggest upsets in recent Oscar history and literally snatch Best Picture out of “La La Land”‘s hands, and indeed the first Oscar of the night in general, Mahershala Ali’s speech was key to setting up the show. And in fact it set up a much better show than really was delivered: with everyone still bright-eyed and wide awake, Ali’s speech was the embodiment of exactly the man we’ve all fallen in love during this awards season — sincere, humble and beautiful in a genuinely grateful and dazzled way. Most unusually for a man clutching a gold statue on the highest podium his profession affords, he started his speech thanking the teachers who taught him that acting “is not about you” and by the time he got to the bit about having had a daughter born just four days prior there was basically no one watching who wouldn’t have taken a bullet for him.

violaViola Davis’s Speech

Winning an award that’s widely expected is a tough job sometimes, but Viola Davis’ victory speech, years in the making (many believe she should have won Best Actress five years ago over Meryl Streep), more than rose to the occasion. The words could have been a little pretentious, but Davis brought her central thesis into something coherent, incredibly personal and moving, and delivered, as she always did, as the living embodiment of the fire emoji. It was a performance so good that we half expect her to be nominated for it next year, and it’s sure to be played in compilation clips for years to come.

rogen-foxPairing Actors With Their Inspiration

Getting two stars to present awards together, one a younger performer, the other one that inspired them, with a brief clip with the former talking about what the latter’s work means to them, is such a simple but pleasing idea that it’s kind of amazing that no one tried it before, so props to Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd for an innovation that’s sure to recur in future years. Seeing Charlize Theron, Seth Rogen and Javier Bardem pay tribute to Shirley MacLaine, Michael J. Fox and Meryl Streep was a sweet idea in theory and equally charming in practice, in part because the pairings all had great chemistry together (quite literally, in the case of Bardem and Streep…). The younger lot seemed palpably thrilled, particularly Rogen, the older lot were game, and it all paid off beautifully with the Jimmy Kimmel/Matt Damon bit too.

Mark Rylance’s Supporting Actress Presentation intro (but especially Mark Rylance’s hat)

It’s perhaps a little divisive — there are those who found it a little rambly, and he certainly didn’t go for any easy punchlines — but Mark Rylance’s thoughtful introductory speech when giving the Best Supporting Actress Oscar actually amounts to one of the more engaged and provocative speeches of the night. Not only did it perfectly set up eventual winner Viola Davis, but his unusual point about “opposition” felt deeply relevant to the world outside the Dolby Theater, and his observation that women have a facility for “opposition without hatred” was compelling, respectful and inspiring. And he did it all in a porkpie.

cho-mannJohn Cho & Leslie Mann

It shouldn’t need saying that diversity is about more than just African-American representation, but with Dev Patel the sole Asian acting nominee this year (and only the 16th ever out of 1500+ nominations ever, and only the 13th if we count all Ben Kingsley‘s nominations as one) it’s clear that there’s a great deal of room for representational improvement. And so it was a delight to be able to rest our eyes for a bit on the inordinately handsome features of John Cho, and then to see him knock his bit with Leslie Mann about the Science and Technology awards which they hosted, completely out of the park. The single most successful, witty and skewedly self-deprecating presenter segment of the night, Cho and Mann made a terrific case for upgrading them to more prominent hosting duties in future. There was a faint aura of surprise in some quarters, especially at Cho’s suave, funny turn, but to anyone who’s seen his revelatory turn in Kogonada’s “Columbus” (which, no, I will not stop plugging) it’s obvious his star is in the fast ascendant and Hollywood needs to give him something other than sidekick, team-member roles or goofy comedies.

damon
Jimmy Kimmel & Matt Damon

We all knew this was coming — host Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon’s faux-antipathy is one of the most successful and consistently entertaining late-night bits of this era. True to form, Kimmel and Damon played it out from the very top of the show, with Kimmel poking fun at Damon for “The Great Wall,” and then it kept running throughout (including an excellent fake trip at one point). But it really peaked near the end, with a ‘tribute’ to Damon’s performance in “We Bought A Zoo” from Kimmel that, like the feud in general, felt just spiky enough to not feel like back-slapping (it always helps that Damon’s such a good actor that you always sense some genuine hurt), before enlisting Ben Affleck to help make fun of him and then proceeding to play him out. It was a genuinely funny bit, and yet when it ended with Damon announcing the win for longtime pal Kenneth Lonergan, it felt like Damon won this round too.

jenkins
Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney Accepting Best Adapted Screenplay

“Moonlight” is an incredible work of adaptation, that’s the first thing to be said — to take a play, however well-written and turn it into a film that completely lives and breathes as cinema is about the purest definition of “adaptation” that we can think of. So it was wholly deserved on that level (as would a win for “Arrival” have been also). But the really noteworthy thing aside from JUSTICE BEING DONE, was Jenkins’ and McCraney’s acceptance speeches — they were not curtailed and kerfuffled the way the eventual Best Picture speech would be, and they were both prepared: it was an award they clearly hoped and expected to receive. Their speeches were powerful, concise and complementary and contained actual pledges of support and continuing care for the very people whose lives their magnificent film reflects.

“All you people who feel like there’s no mirror for you, the academy has your back, the ACLU has your back, we have your back, and for the next four years, we will not forget you.” said Jenkins, followed by McCraney’s impassioned agreement: “…we can be somebody. Two boys from Liberty City up here representing 305. This goes out to all those black and brown boys and girls and non-gender-conforming who don’t see themselves, we’re trying to show you you, and us. Thank you, thank you. This is for you.”

Anything else? Shout it out in the comments.