Well, that was …. interesting.

Actually, I really enjoyed the 91s Annual Oscar ceremony this year.  And you know why I enjoyed it?

There wasn’t a host.

For all the talk about how not having a host would be the death of the Oscars, the ceremony functioned just fine without an endless opening monologue.  It turns out that the Oscars don’t need someone organizing a huge selfie.  It does’t need someone demanding that the audience buy girl scout cookies.  It doesn’t need Jimmy Kimmel bringing in random tourists or sending actors to crash the theater across the street.  The presenters can do the job of the host just fine and, even better, they’re gone before you get sick of listening to them.

The show seemed to move quicker, though it still went over 3 hours.  In fact, at 3 hours and 20 minutes, it wasn’t really any shorter than the previous ceremonies.

The audience seemed strangely subdued.  Perhaps that’s because so many mediocre films were winning.  Bohemian Rhapsody took home the most Oscars, 4 in total.  Of course, not once was the name Bryan Singer mentioned.  Singer was like Voldemort at the Oscars.  In fact, you could kind of sense that people in the auditorium were cringing with every award that Bohemian Rhapsody won.  They were probably imagining what some of the headlines will be tomorrow.  “While patting themselves on the back for being woke, the Academy honored Bryan Singer.”

According to my TSL colleague, Leonard Wilson, there were boos in the audience when Green Book won best picture.  I didn’t hear them but I don’t doubt they were there.  Green Book isn’t a terrible film as much as it’s just a rather bland one.  It’s a film about a different era that feels like it was made in a different era.  Much like the last film to win without being nominated for best director, it seems destined to be forgotten.

(That last film, by the way, was Argo, which was an okay film — much like Green Book — but which isn’t exactly held up as a groundbreaking winner.)

The top moment for me was Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga performing Shallow. Lady Gaga’s acceptance speech was amazing.  My second favorite moment was when Olivia Colman defeated Glenn Close for Best Actress.  That’s nothing against Close.  It’s just Close was such a favorite that it was nice to see Colman score an upset victory.

Now, we just wait for the ratings to come in.  My fear is that the ratings are going to suck and ABC will be say, “It’s because we didn’t have a host!  It’s because we didn’t do Best Popular Film!  It’s because we didn’t give out any awards during the commercial break!”

Of course, the opposite is true.  Despite some unfortunate winners, this was a pretty enjoyable broadcast.  This was what the Oscars should always be like.  We don’t need a host.  We just need better nominees.

(In my opinion, Eighth Grade was the best film of the year.  Of course, it didn’t get a single nomination.)

Well, this concludes another Oscar Sunday!

Thank you, everyone, for visiting the site today.  With the Oscars now out of the way, we can focus our attention on the films of 2019!  Let’s hope this year in film is a good one!

Thanks, everyone.

Love ya.