I actually enjoyed Conan as host. It was pretty much just an extended late night monologue and sketch segments and it worked for me. Conan and crew really know how to play a joke just long enough that they dare you to laugh at it. You can tell he loves to host.
For the rest: The only song segment I would've cut was Bond. I even like Bond but just didn't care about that segment. I kind of assumed costuming and cinematography were elevated because (a) they needed/wanted to cut that setup for the acting categories because of the
Karla Sofía Gascón controversy and (b) they're two awards the actors interact with in a tangible way to be able to speak about and have enough well-known nominees to engage some of the general audience. Nobody really knew the sound designers at my watch party but plenty of people knew or had heard of Paul Tazewell.
Honestly that Bond segment was so random, I actually thought it might end with whatever actor will play him next coming onstage at the end and saying, "I'm Bond, James Bond." But that also wouldn't have made much sense.
Had the same thought last night about Baker - it was REALLY impressive how he balanced all four speeches. Since you brought it up, I do wonder how much that Globes speech hurt Corbet. We know there are plenty of voters who care about this stuff, and "We must support movies in theaters" is a much more palatable message than "DIRECTORS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE AND ALL MUST BOW BEFORE US."
Regarding Best Actress, I really think it was voters looking at an Anora near-sweep and saying, "Wait, why aren't we including the performance that's the heart and soul of this entire project?" For my money, as incredible as Demi was, Mikey Madison gave the performance of the year. (I'd also wager Baker wouldn't have given a OUATIH shoutout if Tarantino hadn't been the one to hand him the trophy.)
I think this was generally a great thing about Anora winning this year, that it is a very unpretentious movie that is still really "about" so many things, while still being a crowd-pleaser. As much as I like and respect The Brutalist, it is very much a pretentious movie in that it (and its director and star) are intent on saying very clearly "THIS IS AN IMPORTANT FILM" whereas Anora is just quietly a really wonderful film that isn't trying to call attention to itself in that same way. And you can really see that contrast in how Sean Baker and Brady Corbet present themselves.
You're absolutely right that The Brutalist was made with the intention of winning Best Picture. (It occurred to me a few days ago how annoyed I'd be if a film doing PTA-cosplay won before Anderson himself.) By comparison, I'd imagine that if you forced Baker to be absolutely honest, he would have no idea why THIS was the film of his that broke through compared to his past ones.
I am super looking forward to Kiern Culkin presenting the Best Supporting Actor award next year. Can't wait to see what sort of bit they cook up for him.
Somehow I made through entirely on Hulu with my Roku app with never a single issue. Lucky me!
I was very happy for Anora and for Mikey Madison. Very few of my personal choices won their awards, but Anora was one of them (except I wanted A Real Pain for screenplay, but oh well) and I think deservedly so.
Brody was my second choice for actor after Chalamet, but his ridiculously self-important speech made me wish that literally anyone else in the category had won. They were all strong performances.
I did the Oscars Death Race this year (watching every nominated movie and short before the ceremony) and I don't think I'll do it again next year. I think I'd be fine with just watching the Best Picture nominees and then anything else that appeals to me.
P.S. I know it would never happen in one billion years but I wish Hundreds of Beavers would've been nominated for Best Visual Effects. They did so much with so little and with great impact.
I'm seeing a lot of people shocked (or at least very surprised) by Mikey Madison's "upset" win, but the precursors indicated it as a dead heat with Madison maybe slightly ahead. Moore won a few higher profile awards (GG, CC) but Madison outpaced her at virtually every regional critics association awards (where they were both frequently beaten by snub of all snubs Marianne Jean-Baptiste, but that's another discussion entirely)
Plus, the BAFTA has now correctly predicted 9 of the last 11 Best Actress winners, while the SAG has only hit on 7/11. And this year, the SAG awards were after Oscar voting closed, so there was no opportunity for Moore to get any kind of a last second bump among late breaking voters.
Both were incredibly deserving winners, and it's a shame that Moore probably won't get another shot like this, but the framing of it as a huge upset seems to give the Golden Globes a lot more weight than they deserve.
The Hulu stream was a mess. I accidentally closed the app at some point and wasn't able to get back in until much later. I got caught in a log-in loop. But, like Myles, I managed to get back in almost immediately after the best actress cut-off, so I'll count that as a win.
Another positive: I got to talk about the experience in the TV course I'm teaching. Only one (college) student across 3 classes had watched any of the broadcast, and she had just caught clips on TikTok. Not exactly the Oscars demographic anymore.
I, too am bummed for Demi but happy for Mikey. It just goes to show how much the Academy doesn't really give a shit about horror; Nosferatu was completely shut out, and the one award The Substance was a lock to win (makeup) was the only one it got.
With that said, while Mikey did an amazing job in Anora, I don't like it as picture of the year. It felt like the Academy was all set up to give Emilia Perez (an absolutely laughably crappy movie) the most award nominations and several wins, until we found out the lead actress is a garbage human because someone found her twitter account. So they scrambled and gave Anora big props, when the Brutalist, I'm Still Here, Wicked, and hell, even Dune 2 might have been more deserving for best picture. Anora had great performances but its tone was all over the place.
I started Hulu during the red carpet, so I wasn't impacted by whatever that login bug was, but I was definitely impacted by the stream ending at exactly 10:32 and was quite frustrated by it. I couldn't get the stream restarted like you were, so I missed Best Actress and Picture.
First I tried Disney+, since that's usually how I watch Hulu since they started doing the bundle. The Oscars show didn't show up. Then I tried the actual Hulu app on my TV, and the Oscars didn't show up. Then I tried my phone's Hulu app, to try casting to my Chromecast (which I had to fish out of a bin in my closet, since I don't use it much these days), and it kept saying my email wasn't a legitimate log-in, or saying my password wasn't correct, and it was clearly glitching out. Finally the phone app and Chromecast method worked around 15 minutes in, so I missed Conan's monologue. Then, right before Best Actress was announced, the live-stream ended and had a message saying the program was over. So I had to watch the Best Actress and Best Picture clips later on YouTube.
All in all, quite a failure of Hulu live-streaming. Very disappointing.
If I get the Disney+ Hulu combo, I expect to not lose on Hulu benefits Bastards. When I signed up I was a little worried because I have to watch Hulu through the Disney app now. I was right to be worried.
I actually enjoyed Conan as host. It was pretty much just an extended late night monologue and sketch segments and it worked for me. Conan and crew really know how to play a joke just long enough that they dare you to laugh at it. You can tell he loves to host.
For the rest: The only song segment I would've cut was Bond. I even like Bond but just didn't care about that segment. I kind of assumed costuming and cinematography were elevated because (a) they needed/wanted to cut that setup for the acting categories because of the
Karla Sofía Gascón controversy and (b) they're two awards the actors interact with in a tangible way to be able to speak about and have enough well-known nominees to engage some of the general audience. Nobody really knew the sound designers at my watch party but plenty of people knew or had heard of Paul Tazewell.
Honestly that Bond segment was so random, I actually thought it might end with whatever actor will play him next coming onstage at the end and saying, "I'm Bond, James Bond." But that also wouldn't have made much sense.
I believe they had already decided to alter the Actor/Actress presentations before the KSG tweets surfaced, fwiw
So glad you mentioned better things. That show was great!
Someone mentioned how much they found Mikey's character to be so annoying in that show, and like, that demonstrates what a good actress she is?
Had the same thought last night about Baker - it was REALLY impressive how he balanced all four speeches. Since you brought it up, I do wonder how much that Globes speech hurt Corbet. We know there are plenty of voters who care about this stuff, and "We must support movies in theaters" is a much more palatable message than "DIRECTORS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE AND ALL MUST BOW BEFORE US."
Regarding Best Actress, I really think it was voters looking at an Anora near-sweep and saying, "Wait, why aren't we including the performance that's the heart and soul of this entire project?" For my money, as incredible as Demi was, Mikey Madison gave the performance of the year. (I'd also wager Baker wouldn't have given a OUATIH shoutout if Tarantino hadn't been the one to hand him the trophy.)
I think this was generally a great thing about Anora winning this year, that it is a very unpretentious movie that is still really "about" so many things, while still being a crowd-pleaser. As much as I like and respect The Brutalist, it is very much a pretentious movie in that it (and its director and star) are intent on saying very clearly "THIS IS AN IMPORTANT FILM" whereas Anora is just quietly a really wonderful film that isn't trying to call attention to itself in that same way. And you can really see that contrast in how Sean Baker and Brady Corbet present themselves.
You're absolutely right that The Brutalist was made with the intention of winning Best Picture. (It occurred to me a few days ago how annoyed I'd be if a film doing PTA-cosplay won before Anderson himself.) By comparison, I'd imagine that if you forced Baker to be absolutely honest, he would have no idea why THIS was the film of his that broke through compared to his past ones.
I was gonna say Adrien Brody provided a masterclass in how to waste time and say nothing of substance, but Myles referenced it in the Observations too
"Conclave and A Complete Unknown had been shut out"
Conclave at least won Adapted Screenplay; Nickel Boys and A Complete Unknown were the only Best Picture nominees to get nothing.
Very interested to see what Baker does for his next movie.
Yeah, I cleaned up those sentences, thanks. Point stood, details wrong.
I am super looking forward to Kiern Culkin presenting the Best Supporting Actor award next year. Can't wait to see what sort of bit they cook up for him.
Best Man Speech introductions are least favorite thing about Oscars in recent years. Just show impressive clips from movies!
Somehow I made through entirely on Hulu with my Roku app with never a single issue. Lucky me!
I was very happy for Anora and for Mikey Madison. Very few of my personal choices won their awards, but Anora was one of them (except I wanted A Real Pain for screenplay, but oh well) and I think deservedly so.
Brody was my second choice for actor after Chalamet, but his ridiculously self-important speech made me wish that literally anyone else in the category had won. They were all strong performances.
I did the Oscars Death Race this year (watching every nominated movie and short before the ceremony) and I don't think I'll do it again next year. I think I'd be fine with just watching the Best Picture nominees and then anything else that appeals to me.
P.S. I know it would never happen in one billion years but I wish Hundreds of Beavers would've been nominated for Best Visual Effects. They did so much with so little and with great impact.
I'm seeing a lot of people shocked (or at least very surprised) by Mikey Madison's "upset" win, but the precursors indicated it as a dead heat with Madison maybe slightly ahead. Moore won a few higher profile awards (GG, CC) but Madison outpaced her at virtually every regional critics association awards (where they were both frequently beaten by snub of all snubs Marianne Jean-Baptiste, but that's another discussion entirely)
Plus, the BAFTA has now correctly predicted 9 of the last 11 Best Actress winners, while the SAG has only hit on 7/11. And this year, the SAG awards were after Oscar voting closed, so there was no opportunity for Moore to get any kind of a last second bump among late breaking voters.
Both were incredibly deserving winners, and it's a shame that Moore probably won't get another shot like this, but the framing of it as a huge upset seems to give the Golden Globes a lot more weight than they deserve.
The Hulu stream was a mess. I accidentally closed the app at some point and wasn't able to get back in until much later. I got caught in a log-in loop. But, like Myles, I managed to get back in almost immediately after the best actress cut-off, so I'll count that as a win.
Another positive: I got to talk about the experience in the TV course I'm teaching. Only one (college) student across 3 classes had watched any of the broadcast, and she had just caught clips on TikTok. Not exactly the Oscars demographic anymore.
I, too am bummed for Demi but happy for Mikey. It just goes to show how much the Academy doesn't really give a shit about horror; Nosferatu was completely shut out, and the one award The Substance was a lock to win (makeup) was the only one it got.
With that said, while Mikey did an amazing job in Anora, I don't like it as picture of the year. It felt like the Academy was all set up to give Emilia Perez (an absolutely laughably crappy movie) the most award nominations and several wins, until we found out the lead actress is a garbage human because someone found her twitter account. So they scrambled and gave Anora big props, when the Brutalist, I'm Still Here, Wicked, and hell, even Dune 2 might have been more deserving for best picture. Anora had great performances but its tone was all over the place.
I started Hulu during the red carpet, so I wasn't impacted by whatever that login bug was, but I was definitely impacted by the stream ending at exactly 10:32 and was quite frustrated by it. I couldn't get the stream restarted like you were, so I missed Best Actress and Picture.
Hulu stream didn't start until one minute into the show, and ended just before Best Actress. I restarted the phone and it didn't help. Boo.
It was supposed to be Live on regular Hulu right, not Hulu plus Live TV?
I have the Disney+/Hulu bundle and for the life of me I could not find the livestream anywhere.
Seemed like it wasn’t streaming through Disney+ at all.
First I tried Disney+, since that's usually how I watch Hulu since they started doing the bundle. The Oscars show didn't show up. Then I tried the actual Hulu app on my TV, and the Oscars didn't show up. Then I tried my phone's Hulu app, to try casting to my Chromecast (which I had to fish out of a bin in my closet, since I don't use it much these days), and it kept saying my email wasn't a legitimate log-in, or saying my password wasn't correct, and it was clearly glitching out. Finally the phone app and Chromecast method worked around 15 minutes in, so I missed Conan's monologue. Then, right before Best Actress was announced, the live-stream ended and had a message saying the program was over. So I had to watch the Best Actress and Best Picture clips later on YouTube.
All in all, quite a failure of Hulu live-streaming. Very disappointing.
If I get the Disney+ Hulu combo, I expect to not lose on Hulu benefits Bastards. When I signed up I was a little worried because I have to watch Hulu through the Disney app now. I was right to be worried.