The day after ... the 2020 Oscars

2/10/2020

The day after ... the 2020 Oscars

The show got off to a terrible start: Janelle Monae opened the ball with a new rendition of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood in which she had little luck getting the startled stars to sing along and belted untimely self-praise for being a women, black and queer. She wasn't nominated for anything but set a tiring tone right off the bat, which continued into the next joy-squashing segment: Past hosts Steve Martin and Chris Rock took the stage as 'non-hosts', who picked at the show's sores of having no women director nominees and only one non-white actor nominated this year. Was this funny? No, not really. And it was a strange way to open a show; by throwing verbally stigmatic acid all over the stage and thereby belittling every one who would win statuettes for their hard work in the following hours. This opening certainly argues in favor of ending the no-host reign and giving us a strong host for the show next year.
Luckily the show came underway with many strong winner speeches, a montage about songs in movies and a surprise performance by Eminem, rapping his Lose Yourself major hit from 8 Mile (2002), ending the segment with the night's best musical performance. Chrissy Metz was made to perform her I'm Standing With You haphazardly fast; Randy Newman was terrific; Cynthia Erivo had the room standing up for one of the night's most predictable moments for her slave drama song Stand Up, but Elton John's (I'm Gonna) Love Me Again was a great highlight.
My predictions held up uncommonly strong, and there were few surprises, (Ford v Ferrari taking Best Editing; Taika Waititi winning Best Adapted Screenplay; 1917 winning Best Visual Effects), - right up until the major surprise and historic turn that makes the 92nd Academy Awards truly film history: South-Korean Parasite's complete triumph. Regrettably still not having seen it, I wasn't expecting this, and my predictions actually expected this to be Quentin Tarantino's big night. A foreign language film had never won Best Picture until last night, and a Korean film had never even been nominated for an Oscar before this year. Now Bong Joon Ho's Parasite won 4 Oscars, and not 'small' Oscars: Best Original Screenplay, Best International Feature, Best Director and Best Picture. A big break in Hollywood tradition and an incredible feat. The acceptance speeches from Ho and his team were wonderful, and they sealed an Oscar night that went down the books for something amazing despite all the self-righteous nonsense of a lot of the talent chose to showcase.

My Oscars prediction record from the past now 7 years:

2014: 7 correct / 33 % - worst prediction
2015: 13 correct / 62 %
2016: 16 correct / 76 % - best prediction
2017: 11 correct / 52 %
2018: 14 correct / 66 %
2019: 11 correct / 52 %
2020: 13 correct / 62 %

Here follows a full list of the predictions, favorites and winners of the night:

Red marks the person/s or film I predicted would win the Oscar
Film Excess favorite marks the person/s or film I hoped would win the Oscar
Winner marks the person or film that actually won the Oscar

Best Visual Effects

1917 Winner
Avengers: Endgame
The Irishman
The Lion King
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Film Excess favorite

Best Film Editing

Ford v Ferrari Winner
The Irishman Film Excess favorite
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Parasite

Best Costume Design

The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women Film Excess favorite Winner
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

1917
Bombshell Film Excess favorite Winner
Joker
Judy
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Best Cinematography

1917, Roger Deakins Winner
The Irishman, Rodrigo Prieto
Joker, Lawrence Sher
The Lighthouse, Jarin Blaschke Film Excess favorite
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Robin Richardson

Best Production Design

1917
The Irishman Film Excess favorite
Jojo Rabbit
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Winner
Parasite

Best Sound Mixing

1917 Winner
Ad Astra
Ford v Ferrari Film Excess favorite
Joker
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Best Sound Editing

1917
Ford v Ferrari Winner
Joker
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Film Excess favorite

Best Original Song

I Can't Let You Through Yourself Away, Toy Story 4
(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again, Rocketman Film Excess favorite Winner
I'm Standing With You, Breakthrough
Into the Unknown, Frozen II
Stand Up, Harriet

Best Original Score

1917, Thomas Newman
Joker, Hildur Guðnadóttir Winner
Little Women, Alexander Desplat Film Excess favorite
Marriage Story, Randy Newman
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, John Williams

Best Documentary Feature

American Factory Winner
The Cave Film Excess favorite
The Edge of Democracy
For Sama
Honeyland

Best International Feature

Corpus Christi, Poland, Jan Komasa
Honeyland, North Macedonia, Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov
Les Misérables, France, Ladj Ly
Pain and Glory, Spain, Pedro Almodóvar
Parasite, South Korea, Bong Joon-ho Film Excess favorite Winner

Best Animated Feature

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
I Lost My Body
Klaus
Missing Link Film Excess favorite
Toy Story 4 Winner

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Irishman, Steve Zaillian Film Excess favorite
Jojo Rabbit, Taika Waititi Winner
Joker, Todd Phillips, Scott Silver
Little Women, Greta Gerwig
The Two Popes, Antony McCarten

Best Original Screenplay

1917, Sam Mendes
Knives Out, Rian Johnson
Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino
Parasite, Bong Joon-ho Film Excess favorite Winner

Best Supporting Actress

Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell
Laura Dern, Marriage Story Film Excess favorite Winner
Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit
Florence Pugh, Little Women
Margot Robbie, Bombshell

Best Supporting Actor

Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes
Al Pacino, The Irishman
Joe Pesci, The Irishman Film Excess favorite
Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Winner

Best Actress

Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
Saoirse Ronan, Little Women Film Excess favorite
Charlize Theron, Bombshell
Renée Zellweger, Judy Winner

Best Actor

Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Adam Driver, Marriage Story Film Excess favorite
Joaquin Phoenix, Joker Winner
Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes

Best Director

Sam Mendes, 1917
Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
Todd Phillips, Joker
Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Bong Joon-ho, Parasite Film Excess favorite Winner

Best Picture

1917
Ford v Ferrari
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women Film Excess favorite
Marriage Story
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite Winner

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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2/10/2020

The day after ... the 2020 Oscars

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