Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Da fuq?


Well that was weird.

Remember that time everyone though Jack Palance read the wrong name, leading Marisa Tomei to win an Oscar for My Cousin Vinny?

Well if that did happen, no one was willing to let the mistake be repeated in 2016.

I've only just finished watching and so I'm sure there's a lot of "getting to the bottom of this" that will occur in the next 24 to 48 hours, but somehow, the wrong best picture winner was announced at the Oscars.

It doesn't sound like Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty were at fault, but boy, they sure are likely to take the blame.

Here's hoping that the thrill of winning outweighs the unintentional dilution of the spotlight Moonlight's creative team should have had all to themselves. And congratulations to them. As you know, I was rooting for them.

My biggest "da fuq?" moment of the evening, though, may have come when my #1 of 2016, Toni Erdmann, did not win best foreign language film. It turns out it's "always the bridesmaid, never the bride" for Erdmann, which was predicted to win the top prize at Cannes last year but came away the (presumptive) runner-up to I, Daniel Blake. Then at the Oscars, somehow the least great film Asghar Farhadi has ever made swooped in and won best foreign language film, leaving Toni as the (presumptive) runner up once again.

But which film is getting an American remake starring Jack Nicholson, I ask you?

Also: Would the results have been different without Trump's Muslim ban?

It was a weird ceremony for any number of reasons -- mostly in a bad way. But here were some other good "da fuq?" moments, like:

- The best picture animated feature was not given out by Dory and Marlon

- Sascha Baron Cohen did not come out dressed up as one of the aliens from Arrival

- No famous diva came on and performed an unusual ode to some beloved film from 50 years ago

- Jimmy Kimmel didn't make a joke that the show was at its halfway point just before best picture was announced (oh wait, that did happen)

And some not so good "da fuq?" moments:

- Almost any rehearsed comedic bit between two presenters, most notably that bit with Kate McKinnon and Jason Bateman

- The awarding of two Oscars to Hacksaw Ridge

- The awarding of any Oscars to Suicide Squad, which had one more Golden Raspberry nomination than it had Oscar nominations

- That time Justin Hurwitz didn't thank anybody because he spent all his time talking about how thanking people would bore everybody ... but then did thank them when he won the very next Oscar, something he presumably knew would happen

- The (predictable but still disappointing) shunning of Hell or High Water

As for Kimmel? Mostly flat, though I did get a chuckle or two. His two attempts to create an "Ellen selfie moment" -- the parachuting snacks and the bus of unsuspecting tourists -- were actually reasonably successful, I thought.

And yeah, I liked all the Matt Damon stuff, particularly the We Bought a Zoo bit and the orchestra playing him off ... when he was a presenter.

There's probably more I could say and you certainly deserve a more in-depth Oscar recap, but it's 12:35 a.m. and if I don't hit publish on this right away it will really be yesterday's news by my next chance to do so.

But in closing ... yay Moonlight. The Oscars have "seen the light" for the second year in a row, after Spotlight last year.

Now ... which 2017 film is going to hurriedly change its title to Starlight or Backlight or Flashlight?

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