Oscars review

This year’s Oscars, at least for the time being, will go down as a slightly predictable ceremony in terms of those who finally achieved their Oscar glory. Yet, the ceremony itself perfectly captures the state of mind that Hollywood has found itself it in the wake of the Times Up movement.

As a minor casualty, two-time host Jimmy Kimmel had to play his jokes safe rather than being edgy. The last time a host was truly edgy was back in 2013 when Seth MacFarlane hosted, yet it yielded mixed to positive results. However, the reactions to Jimmy Kimmel’s hosting job certainly had it’s fair share of positive ones. Perhaps Jimmy Kimmel is the new heir to the Oscar hosting throne that had been occupied by Billy Crystal.

Admittedly, the jet ski bit by Jimmy Kimmel where he awarded the Oscar recipient with the shortest acceptance speech a jet ski, was actually pretty funny, even if only a handful of winners actually took that advise into consideration when giving their acceptance speech. The eventual winner of the jet ski was the Costume Designer who won for Phantom Thread, Mark Bridges, with a lean acceptance speech that clocked in at 36 seconds.

The acting categories went off just like predicted after all of the winners won many of the precursor awards such as at the Screen Actors Guild ceremony. Best Supporting Actress went to Allison Janney for I, Tonya, Best Supporting Actor went to Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, Best Leading Actress went to France McDormand for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, and lastly, Best Leading Actor went to Gary Oldman for Darkest Hour. Interestingly, while the allegations leveled against James Franco sunk his chance of securing a Best Leading Actor nomination for his elsewhere-praised performance in The Disaster Artist, the domestic allegations against Gary Oldman ended up being not considered when voters were checking their ballots.

The biggest category of the night, Best Picture, went off without controversy. Controversy in terms of both the actual announcement of the award not being infamously messed up again by Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, and that its winner, The Shape of Water is a safe choice. More daring choices that were up for the award, such as the films Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri and Get Out, ended up not making the cut after many voters feeling that both films were perhaps too political.