The 92nd Annual Academy Awards took place on Sunday February 9th at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The show once again went without a host like last year which kept the ceremony moving at an easy pace. The Academy provided their usual predictable movie stereotypes for nominees. They love men who wear suits (“The Irishman”) and war pieces such as “1917” for example. However the nominees were quite diverse and left many categories to be any films to either win or lose.
The categories that were pretty much locked up were Actor in a Leading Role, Actress in a Supporting Role, Adapted Screenplay, and Cinematography to name a few. Joaquin Phoenix from the movie “Joker” took home the award for actor in a leading role. This was to no surprise given how well received and acclaimed his take on the titular character was. This Oscar season, no one single actor was talked about more than Phoenix for the mastery of his craft and his presence within the film. Laura Dern brought home the actress in a supporting role award for her role in “Marriage Story.” Dern dazzled audiences with her minor screen time in that particular film, and although her character’s role is minute; it leaves an everlasting impact not only on the characters but on the viewer as well. She commands the screen and essentially preaches for anyone to hear. Taika Waititi’s “JoJo Rabbit” came out of nowhere when it was released this past fall and since it was released, audiences everywhere have enjoyed it so much, that it won best adapted screenplay. The way Waititi took the source material and was able to craft a film with such heart and soul is impeccable and is something that audiences will not see again for a long time. This year’s war film “1917” took home the award for cinematography, which is no surprise at all just by the sheer beauty of the film. The shadows, texture, and colors among other elements convey such great meaning to the audience while viewing. While the other films in this category demonstrated the same quality, there was a far more deeper and enriching experience while watching 1917.
As with any award show, there were definitely some surprises along the way. For best animated feature, many people favorited the final “How to Train Your Dragon” installment. But the award went to “Toy Story 4.” Although the film itself and the franchise have been well received, numerous people claimed the fourth installment to be one of the worst, which was reversed for “Dragon.” Another surprise in the particular moment the award was given was to Bong Joon Ho for his direction on “Parasite.” Also nominated were Quentin Tarantino (“Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood”) and Martin Scorsese (“The Irishman”). There was a strong following for one of these two master directors to win the award, but it was quite a surprise to see Joon Ho get the award.
However this all made sense when “Parasite” won Best Picture this year. Leading with four awards, the film truly was one of the best films last year and was quite unexpected for it to win the big Oscar. Many people felt that “1917” or “Once Upon a Time” would win the award. There was also quite a following for “Joker” to win as well. Ultimately seeing as how “Parasite” almost nearly swept, it is quite evident that it was the best film of last year to be nominated at the Oscars.
The ceremony also featured two performances that were thrilling to experience. Billie Eilish performed The Beatles “Yesterday” for the in memoriam section of the awards and Eminem performed “Lose Yourself”, which was nominated and won for best original song at the 75th Awards back in 2003. The performances provided a good break in the action of presenting the awards.
All in all the 92nd Annual Academy Awards was quite predictable, and yet one of the more memorable Oscars of recent memory. Films to check out would be any that were nominated and won, of course.