The 88th Academy Awards was full of ups and downs. Here are best and worst moments of the evening.
BEST
5. Chris Rock selling girl scout cookies
Rock was a wonderful host, which is really the key of a successful ceremony and his stunt of asking all the rich movie stars to help his daughter out with her campaign was an absolutely delightful sight.
4. Leonardo DiCaprio winning his Oscar
This category was almost more anticipated than the Best Picture winner. DiCaprio has been nominated over five times and never taken the Oscar home when there were at least two occasions when he should have won. (Not thanking the Bear was kind of unfortunate though)
3. Rock’s poll in Compton, California
In light of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, Rock taking a poll of viewers of color in Compton was very clever. Hearing unanimous praise from viewers about “Straight Outta Compton” showed how out of touch The Academy is with its viewers while still poking fun that many people won’t go see another big hit quality films was very funny.
2. Rock’s opening monologue
When his 10 minutes were up, I wanted Rock to keep going. He did a wonderful job highlighting the importance of the controversy surrounding the awards while still pointing out the absurdity of Will Smith making millions and still complaining while Jada Pinkett Smith boycotted the Oscars when she wasn’t even invited.
1.”Spotlight” taking the coveted Best Picture
It felt like everybody was anticipating “The Revenant” to be the big winner of the coveted Best Picture award. I was incredibly surprised when it wasn’t called. However, while “The Revenant” was a major technical accomplishment, “Spotlight” does a glorious job of taking a story, that could easily be a TV movie, and turn into an incredible cinematic spectacle that is as equally satisfying as it is heartbreaking.
WORST
5. Stacey Dash failing her joke
She is famous for her stance on abolishing the practice of dedicating TV channels and a month to people of color. She believes it to be a form of segregation and a form of racism for people of color to be the only minority to have that kind of recognition. It was a bold move bringing her out for a joke and it could have been a great one. However, the lack of context of who she was and what she believes about the subject left a lot of confused faces and one of the most awkward Oscar moments.
4. Roger Deakins getting nothing for the 13th time?
Deakins is hailed as the greatest living cinematographer. He has been nominated 13 times for films such as “Shawshank Redemption”, “No Country for Old Men”, “Skyfall” and this year’s “Sicario.” He has been snubbed year after year. Emmanuel Lubezki took the award for “The Revenant” and it isn’t a bad call, however, seeing the master leaving empty handed again made this a very bittersweet category.
3. Sarah Silverman talking about James Bond
You could feel Silverman trying to build momentum back up when she realized her joke was failing as she was opening the “Best Original Song” award. It wasn’t the most awkward moment of the night, but hearing about Silverman’s bad experience having sex with James Bond seemed very desperate and kind of lame.
2. “Spectre” winning Best Original Song
You might remember Adele winning Best Original Song for the last Bond film “Skyfall.” It was everything a beautiful Bond song should be: sexy, suave, emotional and memorable. It isn’t bad enough that Sam Smith’s “Writing’s on the Wall” hardly ties into the story of the newest Bond film “Spectre.” The worst part about it is that it is a rather bland addition to the infamous James Bond legacy. On its own, Smith’s ballad is not a bad song. It just does not live up to the greatest Bond themes or any of the other songs nominated this year.
1. Rock’s Asian joke
The night’s most awkward moment belonged to Rock. He was a wonderful host and he should definitely return. However, bringing three Asian children on stage to call them accountants seemed in very poor taste. Rock has been called out for hypocrisy about making jokes at the expense of a minority he is not a part of. #OscarsSoWhite is about more than one minority. It was a good reminder that Asian and Hispanic actor receive almost no representation when it comes to The Academy Awards, yet, they received little to no attention.