Sunday night, the 91st Academy Awards ceremony allowed movie fans all over the world to finally see who would bring home the biggest award in cinema: the Oscar.
The first few minutes of the show started off with a bang as Queen, with guest lead singer Adam Lambert, played some of their hit songs such as We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions. After the dust settled following the wonderful performance by the British band, Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, and Amy Poehler, formally introduced the 2019 Oscars with a barrel full of laughs.
Since The Academy didn’t have a traditional host this year, they decided to have a group of people present the awards. This is because of the controversy that clouded the Academy and Kevin Hart – since the comedian and movie star was fired from hosting after the resurface of some 10-year-old tweets that Hart had jokingly made about homosexuality. Although, it might have been for the best because this was a terrific show that the Academy put together. They didn’t just bring in a trio of comedians and an old English rock band to entertain the guests. They brought in all sorts of different talent to perform at the Oscars including Bette Midler, Jennifer Hudson, and more.
The first Oscar that was given out was for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, which went to Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk) – making it her first Oscar. Everyone applauded for the talented King as she walked up the stage. Even Captain America himself, Chris Evans, helped King walk up the steps as she stumbled at first. She gave a heartwarming speech with an admirable quote to share with everyone, “I’m an example of what it looks like when support and love is poured into someone” King said.
The next award was for Best Documentary Feature, which went to Free Solo. The documentary was about a rock climber who free climbed the El Capitan’s 900-metre vertical rock face at Yosemite National Park.
The next award went to Vice for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. I can’t say I wasn’t surprised. The film had an enchanting way of capturing the former Vice President Dick Cheney and the makeup and hairstyling is what made it feel so real.
Black Panther managed to win these next two categories, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design, which is something I can completely agree with. Black Panther was filled with unique costumes that brought more life and meaning to the tribes of Wakanda. The actual suit for Black Panther was awesome to behold. The mix color of the black and purple just made the suit even cooler than the last iteration of the suit that was worn in Captain America: Civil War.
One of my personal favorite categories, Best Cinematography, went to Alfonso Cuaurón for Roma. I shouldn’t be surprised though because the film was enchanting and one of the reasons was because of the cinematography.
Bohemian Rhapsody won in the category of Best Sound Mixing. The mis of footage from the film and recordings from the actual songs that Queen played was magical. Truly deserving and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It was so good that you would believe that Rami Malek was actually singing.
This next category, Best Foreign Language Film, was won by Roma. Is it to anyone’s surprise? Not even in the slightest, Roma killed it this year at the Oscars.
This next one kind of took me by surprise: Bohemian Rhapsody won yet another Academy Award for Best Film Editing, making it the film’s third Oscar of the night.
Mahershala Ali won his second Oscar for the category of Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of Don Shirley in Green Book. Ali previously won for Moonlight in 2017, and since then has become one of Hollywood’s seminal talents.
Besides Best Picture, Best Animated Film was my most anticipated category to see who would win. While I knew that Incredibles 2 was a great film, I just knew that it couldn’t beat Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and my prediction was correct. The film was just magnificent, and even though it was greatly helped by its cast and story plots, the artwork alone could have carried it to victory.
The next victory went out to Bao for Best Animated Short Film. This is an incredible telling of a mother who didn’t want her son to grow up. It played in theaters from all around the world when Incredibles 2 was released. It was charming, funny, and brought tears to my eyes when I first watched it. Bao deserved this win.
Period. End of Sentence took home Best Documentary Short Subject. Director Rayka Zehtabchi went on stage in tears, thanking Netflix for giving the film a platform, her family, and the women in Delhi, India who fought for menstruation equality.
While I was sad that Avengers: Infinity War was only nominated for one category, I was fully expecting it to win Best Visual Effects, however First Man snuck past and won the award. I believe that Avengers: Infinity War was snubbed. It’s truly hard for people to feel captivated by a CGI character like Thanos and that should have gotten it the award along with the other stellar effects that the film had.
Skin was the winner for Best Live Action Short Film, which is about an innocuous moment when a black man who smiles at a 10-year-old boy in a supermarket and would later cause a ruthless gang war that ends in a shocking backlash. Only 20 minutes long, it is totally worth the watch.
Green Book managed to get its first win of the night with Best Original Screenplay and was closely followed with BlackKklansman for Best Adapted Screenplay, which earned Spike Lee his first Oscar in five nominations.
I truly didn’t expect Black Panther to win Best Original Score, which was its third win of the night.
I have witnessed more than enough people crying as they left the theater after watching A Star Is Born because of the tear-jerking song that played at the end. That song, Shallow, won Best Original Song. Not at all surprising. What is a surprise is that Cooper and Lady Gaga performed the song again at the Oscars making everyone tear up just one last time.
Rami Malek, for his incredible performance as Freddie Mercury, won Best Actor in a Leading Role. It was tough to decide who was more deserving of Best Actress in a Leading Role, but Olivia Colman won for her colorful performance in The Favourite.
I was really hoping that Spike Lee would win Best Director, but Roma’s Alfonso Cuarón won instead with Roma. It was Cuarón’s 2nd win for Best Director; he’s the 5th Mexican filmmaker in 6 years to take home the award.
Now the category that had everyone at the edge of their seats, Best Picture, went to Green Book. I was completely hoping that BlackKklansman would win because of how smart the film was. The cast was excellent, the story had meaning to it, and it was just wonderful to watch. I am relieved to find out that Black Panther didn’t win. The film itself was great, but it certainly didn’t deserve the obsessive amount of nominations the film achieved. I will note that Black Panther did deserve the Oscars it won.
To sum it all up, it was a night that no one will forget. Black Panther broke the record for most Oscar wins for a comic-book film, tears were everywhere, and some went home happy. I can’t wait to see next year’s 92nd Academy Awards.
