Surprises:
Olivia Colman
We could be wrong, but we feel like Best Actress more than most categories is pretty much sewn up before the night – you have to go back to the Marion Cotillard/Julie Christie match-up in 2008 to find the last year the category was truly competitive. This year was closer than most, but most prognosticators (though not ours — good job Greg!) were predicting that Glenn Close would win. So it was a delight – to the extent that it more or less saved the night – when Colman ended up taking the prize, and giving one of the most effortlessly charming speeches in memory. Given that jokes were being made just a week or two ago on SNL about how no one knows who the British actress is in the U.S, it was thrilling to see her win, and for the best actress to go to, well, the best actress.
https://twitter.com/cinephile24/status/1100031209038626816
“Green Book” in Original Screenplay
Who said surprises always had to be good thigns? Often the Original Screenplay award becomes a sort of consolation prize to more leftfield movies that voters like, but not quite enough to give Best Picture over more traditionally prestigious fare (see Jordan Peele for “Get Out” last year, or Spike Jonze a few years earlier for “Her”). That was… not the case this year. “The Favourite”’s hotly tipped screenplay sadly missed out in favor of eventual Best Picture winner “Green Book,” a collaboration between the writer-director of “Dumb & Dumber To,” the man who played ‘NASA Tech’ in “Armageddon,” and your MAGA-hat wearing uncle. Which is… a choice.
https://twitter.com/lindaholmes/status/1100025399474573312
“Black Panther”
For all of their relative consistency, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has rarely flirted with actual greatness. That changed with “Black Panther,” which gathered Oscar buzz as soon as it hit theaters a year ago, and saw the season through. Even so, with the film doing less well at actually winning prizes on the precursor circuit, it was easy to see the movie coming away without an actual Oscar, with the recognition being seen as enough for a superhero movie. That turned out to be far from the case – Ryan Coogler’s movie ended up taking three trophies, the same number as winner “Green Book” and only beaten in terms of total haul by “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It’s a rightful recognition of the film’s game-changing nature, and of the impeccable craft that it featured. Could it mean that “Avengers: Endgame” becomes a real contender a year from now? Probably not, but stranger things have happened…
3️⃣ #Oscars for #BlackPanther: Best Costume Design, Production Design & Score. @iamRuthECarter & #HannahBeachler are the first black women ever to win these categories & these are Marvel’s first Oscar statues. I’m so grateful to have been part of this journey. #WakandaForever 🙅🏿♀️ pic.twitter.com/8oxyg0UhVJ
— Lupita Nyong'o (@Lupita_Nyongo) February 25, 2019
The Strength Of “Bohemian Rhapsody”
This is perhaps stretching the definition of ‘surprise’ a little bit — it’s become clear over the last few months that despite being a critical whipping boy, and the Bryan Singer of it all, that “Bohemian Rhapsody” was a serious awards player. But we were still a touch shocked to see that the film won the most trophies of any movie last night with four — Best Actor, Best Editing and two Sound prizes. The question it raises is – had the film had a less controversial filmmaker at the helm (or if Dexter Fletcher had taken over early enough in production to take the credit), might it have gone all the way to Best Picture? And how much of a threat will Fletcher’s Elton John biopic “Rocketman” be next year?
Huge congratulations to #JohnCasali, who won Best Sound Mixing for @BoRhapMovie at last night's @TheAcademy awards 👏 pic.twitter.com/IERb2FCm1k
— Independent Talent (@ITG_Ltd) February 25, 2019
Click here for more from our Oscars 2019 coverage.
