Best: Olivia Colman
Last year, Colman stole the show with a wonderfully funny and self-deprecating acceptance speech for “The Favourite.” She kept it going while she presented Best Actor this year by touching her now blonde (or is it white?) dyed hair when she took the mic saying “winning an Oscar ages you.” After a pause for some laughs, she continued, “Thank you for having me back. It’s such a pleasure to be here. Last year was the greatest night of my husband’s life. He actually says that. And I’ve given birth three times. I hope you are all having as good a time as he did.” Dead. Can the Academy convince her to return every year, please? – GE
Worst: Presenters’ presenters
The Oscars are an overly long affair, that much we can all agree on. It was supposed to be one of the main reasons the show stopped having a host in the first place. But this year they decided to introduce random presenters that would talk about the next presenter that is supposed to present the award? If that sentence sounds unnecessarily complex, it’s nothing compared to the colossal waste of time that was seeing actors go on stage just to talk about a presenter. It didn’t add anything, and it extended the runtime of the show too much, which meant that some speeches were cut short. At least George McKay, randomly called upon to introduce HRH Olivia Colman, drew attention to just that nonsense with his bit. – RM
Worst: Eminem
OK, so maybe the biggest problem with having Eminem deliver a surprise performance was that there was zero explanation behind it. It turns out the idea was to give the Oscar winner a chance to perform during the show after he skipped out in 2003 because he was convinced he wouldn’t win. That was the reasoning spread among the publicists and media after the show, but it made no sense in context. And that was 17 years ago. Not 20, not 10. I mean, why this particular telecast to have him sing “Lose Yourself?” Inevitably, the audience in the Dolby Theaters was totally confused and the camera people had a hard time finding anyone in the audience who was into it (the horror on Idina Menzel’s face and the bored look in Martin Scorsese’s body language instantly became reaction gifs). Also, had anyone in The Academy seen Eminem perform recently? He brought about as much energy to this performance as he has on his recent tours, which isn’t much. And a white rapper this year of all years? Really? – GE
Best: Billie Eilish
We weren’t sure whether Billie Eilish needed this much exposure after dominating the Grammy Awards just two weeks ago, but the 18-year-old pop star delivered an impressive rendition of The Beatles’ “Yesterday” during the annual In Memoriam segment. It more than made up for her red carpet attire which was for lack of a better word, a “choice” for this particular event. – GE
Worst: Original Score montage
In concept, the thought of having Maestra Eimear Noone conducting the Academy orchestra in a melody of the original score nominees wasn’t necessarily out of the box. It’s been done in other iterations (including with dancers!) numerous times over the 92-year history of the Oscars. It simply didn’t gel together this time around possibly because Noone and the Orchestra were pretty much under the stage. It didn’t help that the video was projected on moving screens with no one stage. One circular, half of a tube screen came down from the stage’s ceiling timed to one of the scores. All this writer could keep thinking was, “Wait, did they pay for that expensive screen just for this number? Cause I haven’t seen it anywhere else.” Also, let’s be frank, these weren’t necessarily the most engaging musical compositions either to throw into a five-picture melody. – GE