The Best & Worst Of The 2019 Oscars

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It was the best of Oscars, it was the worst of Oscars. It was the age of wisdom (Spike Lee, Olivia Colman), it was the age of foolishness (“Green Book“), it was the epoch of belief (Regina King), it was the epoch of incredulity (Sound and Editing awards), it was the season of Light (“Roma“), it was the season of Darkness (“Bohemian Rhapsody”), it was the spring of hope (10 nominations for “The Favourite“!), it was the winter of despair (9 losses for “The Favourite”!), we had everything before us (a whole 3 hours and 15 minutes), we had nothing before us (only 3 hours and 15 minutes!), we were all going direct to Heaven (“I’d like to thank God and my manager!”), we were all going direct the other way (Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me) – in short, the period was so far like the present period (the stage DID look like Trump’s hair) that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. Like us: Here are the Bests and Worsts and nothing-in-betweens of last night’s Oscar Ceremony, (with thanks to Charles Dickens, notable screenwriter of 1961 Best Picture Winner “Oliver!“).

Click here for more from our Oscars 2019 coverage.

Best: Billy Porter’s tuxedo gown
So we don’t ordinarily do much fashion coverage here at The Playlist — not sure why, as film bloggers who work from home (bed) are obviously among the best-dressed people in the world. But given the considerable dread we felt going into last night’s awards, the fact that more or less the first picture that came in from the Red Carpet was of “Pose” star Billy Porter rocking an absolutely fricking gorgeous Christian Siriano tuxedo ball gown, suddenly the night seemed like it might not be a total washout after all. With its mischievous gender-melding mix of classic menswear and old-school floor-sweeping hooped Cinderella gown, it’s obviously a message outfit, but it’s also incredibly glamorous and decadent and very Hollywood-in-2019, somehow embodying all the things that the Oscar ceremony is supposed to be about, probably way better than the actual Oscar ceremony did.

Worst: The Set
The backdrop is always part of the show that’s never make or break, but you do also end up staring at for most of the runtime and it definitely makes an impression on you either way. This year’s… did not make an impression. Feeling like the set for a touring production of “The Little Mermaid” topped by, as many pointed out, Donald Trump’s hair, it had something of Swarovski crystal vibe to it. That’s not a compliment.

Best: The Pace/Length
Keeping things short was a stated goal of the show this year, and the Academy had attempted to go to some ill-advised, and ultimately walked-back, lengths in order to make it so. What we got in the end, at three hours fifteenish, wasn’t even the shortest ceremony in modern memory, but it was notably shorter than the last few, and had a briskness and pace to it than was genuinely pleasing without feeling overly-efficient. And all of that while letting almost all the nominated songs be played, and without cutting any categories. Credit to producers Donna Gigliotti and Glenn Weiss on this front, despite the missteps and occasional graceless mic-cutting-out thing.

Worst: Queen’s opening act
But hey, it could’ve been shorter and cheaper, lads! Just in case, for a single blissful second, you’d forgotten that the Academy actually nominated “Bohemian Rhapsody” for Best Picture, the very first thing that happened at the show itself was designed to remind you. “We Will Rock You“ was also an especially obvious, uninspiring choice to kick off with, followed by a curtailed “We Are The Champions” which still felt like it went on forever because that song has the most repetitive chorus in recorded history. The Freddie Mercury backdrop punctuation was an uncomfortable decision too prompting not only unkind comparisons with Adam “trying really really hard” Lambert but also with the memory of Rami “Choppers” Malek‘s performance. It’s almost as if the ceremony was propping up one film (and one that they know they most certainly shouldn’t have) by celebrating solely its pop culture relevance via the opening number. They must have paid the band’s surviving members — and Adam “what am I doing here and why do I look like Dave Navarro?” Lambert — quite a bit to perform, but really this glossy karaoke was a bad, flavorless way to start the show, if in retrospect after Boh-Rhap taking the most awards (extremely large sigh), a very fitting one.

Best: Tina, Amy & Maya
On the whole, we didn’t end up missing a singular host all that much, and that’s partly because of the canny way that it opened (after that dreadful Queen number anyway) with Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph. They’ve long topped Oscar-hosting wishlists after Tina and Amy’s stellar Golden Globes hosting gigs, but seem to have been reluctant to take the full gig (and undoubtedly turned it down this year). This felt like a great compromise though – running through (and in a way, making fun of) monologue-type gags at lightning speed while making very clear that they weren’t hosting, and almost immediately made you happier that you were just getting on with it, rather than cutting back to Jimmy Fallon or James Corden doing some half-thought out bit after every commercial break.

Worst: Odd Opening Montage Choices
The opening montage was a reminder of … what, exactly? That “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” was a film that was made and released in 2018. In all seriousness, who has final say on these frenetic and seemingly wholly random editing choices? (Is it the “Bohemian Rhapsody” people?) It’s always a bit head-scratching which films will be included in the montages — and at least we weren’t subjected to some tone-deaf war-movie highlight reel like last year, but we’re really not sure what purpose is served by reminding people, on Hollywood’s biggest night, that “Tag” exists.

Best: Hannah Beachler and Ruth E. Carter Make History
The Production and Costume Designers for Marvel’s groundbreaking blockbuster, “Black Panther”, made history tonight, with Hannah Beachler and Ruth. E. Carter each becoming the first African-American women to win in their respective categories – on top of being the only black artists to win in a non-acting category since 1984. It was a joyous moment for many, celebrating these wins back to back, and Carter’s magnificent speech only made the moment more monumental. “Marvel may have created the first black superhero…” she began, “but through costume design we turned him into an African king. It’s been my life’s honor to create costumes. Thank you to the Academy. Thank you for honoring African royalty and the empowered way woman can look and lead on screen.” She punctuated her speech with a particularly sweet shout out to her mother: “Mom, thank you for teaching me about people and their stories, you are the original superhero!” While these were strong categories overall and our own preferences might have gone another way, absolutely no one begrudges these wins.

Best: Trevor Noah Can Find Wakanda on a Map
“Growing up as a young boy in Wakanda, I’d see King T’Challa flying over our village…” Trevor Noah’s bit about revering and idolizing The King of the Dead was just comic gold. Committed all the way through his great Mel Gibson jab (we are always here for a Mel Gibson jab), it was the perfect swipe at the supposedly progressive crowd, delivered with a grace and sophistication that belied its underlying pointedness, and feels especially relevant on a night that ended up pulling off a “Driving Miss Daisy” 2.0 and that gave “Bohemian Rhapsody” more awards than it did “Black Panther.” But Noah sort of has the last laugh — the Xhosa phrase he speaks during the speech does not have the happy-clappy togetherness massage he claims but actually translates to “White people don’t know I’m lying.” Wakanda for-absolute-ever.

Worst: Vice’s Best Make-Up Speech
“Read that. No, I already did”, bickered two of the winners for Best (Dick Cheney) Makeup. Weren’t the nominees specifically told not to just list off names at the podium? Watching that trio struggle to read their mile-long list of names –as they were being played off the stage! — was painful. We’re loathe to pick on below-the-line people on one of the best nights of their life, but guys, everyone knew you were going to win, you couldn’t have practiced at least once? (We’re not going to inflict a clip of that on you).

Best: “I can’t believe a film about menstruation won an Oscar!”
It was a night of quite a few fun, genuine, excited speeches, but the winner for Best Documentary Short, may take the quote cake. The short film categories are often easily written off by viewers — most casual moviegoers are unaware of how to even go about seeing the contenders — but “Period: End of Sentence”, will certainly be remembered by Oscar pundits for years to come now, if only just for director/producer, Rayka Zehtabchi’s amazing acceptance icebreaker.