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Sunday, March 4, 2018

AWARDS SEASON 2018 : THE 90TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS
A Long Heartfelt Night Saw Del Toro Float On "Water"


Guillermo Del Toro (foreground) speaks as the cast and crew of "The Shape Of Water" looks on. Kevin Winter/Getty Images
       
by Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        FOLLOW                                            TWEET
Sunday, March 4, 2018

It was a long, slow and predictable Oscars night at the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood and Highland in Los Angeles tonight, one resulting in "The Shape Of Water" winning Best Picture and three other Academy Awards including Best Director for Guillermo Del Toro. 

The honors were part of a pro forma night lacking any sense of surprise or freshness.  The 90th Oscars celebrated the past, genuflected to the future but stayed very much with tradition in its acting and directing winners and the sheer length of the broadcast (three hours and 49 minutes), one of the longer ones on record.

The Academy had clearly sent a memo to its nominees about paring down their speeches.  All of the winners were remarkably brief, and even on the rare occasion they weren't they remained focused, affectionate and heartfelt.

Overall, Oscar Night sparkled but without much of the hoopla accompanying past Oscars.  It was a night without any surprises -- only the skits (including a trip to a movie theater to say thank you to moviegoers) -- which took up a lot of time.

On the nominated films themselves "Dunkirk" had a strong showing, winning almost half of its eight nominations (a 37.5% win rate), a better ratio than "The Shape Of Water" (a 30.7% win rate).  Though it won mainly technical awards Christopher Nolan's film did well.  The biggest prize Mr. Nolan's film won was best editing, Lee Smith -- also no surprise.

Jordan Peele won Best Original Screenplay for "Get Out", and punctuated his historic win (first Black director to win a screenplay Oscar) with a moving speech.  Allison Janney won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Livonia Harding in "I, Tonya" and later Gary Oldman won Best Actor for his role as Winston Churchill in "Darkest Hour".

"Three Billboards" took home two Oscars, with Sam Rockwell winning Best Supporting Actor for playing a racist cop and, in the moment of the night, Frances McDormand winning Best Actress.  Ms. McDormand triumphantly invited all of the female nominees to stand inside the Dolby Theatre.  All of them did.  It was the best moment, one that will be remembered decades from now, even if the show overall won't.


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