With the Oscars wrapped up again for another year, I thought i’d compose a little list of what I think are the stand out moments from the 89th Academy Awards…
5. Jimmy Kimmel tweeting Donald Trump
Of course there would be loads of shots aimed at Trump tonight, but this took the biscuit. After realising Trump hadn’t tweeted about the Oscars yet, Kimmel tweeted Trump himself asking ‘u up?’ and ‘#merylsayshi’. At the time of writing this, no response has yet come from the president, but the tweets have blown up on Twitter with the first having over 194,000 re-tweets.
4. The Kimmel/Damon rivalry
At the start of the show, Kimmel said he wanted to ‘bury the hatchet’ with Damon. However any hope of that was quickly gone. Kimmel pointed out the commercial and critical failure of The Great Wall, starring Damon, which Damon actually passed up for Casey Affleck, which was clearly a mistake. Of course Damon got a little bit of revenge on Kimmel, tripping him up as he walked past him whilst he was presenting. But Kimmel quickly but Damon back in his place by ‘playing him off’ (playing loud music when the person speaks to signal they’re talking too long) when Damon was attempting to present an award with Ben Affleck. It’s a tough ask to stay up for the Oscars in the UK, but this back and forth has made the night for me.
3. Emma Stone winning Best Actress
I remember watching Emma Stone in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 just 3 years ago, and now she’s won an Oscar. She was by far the Best Actress. Her performance in La La Land was simply stunning. Her acting and singing throughout the film was beautiful. Although maybe an obvious winner for her performance, Emma Stone winning the Oscar after only her second nomination is a brilliant achievement. Sadly, her co-star Ryan Gosling couldn’t take home the Best Actor Oscar, but 1 out of 2 ain’t bad right?
2. Suicide Squad winning an Oscar
This, is by far the most surprising moment of the Oscars. Suicide Squad, critically panned almost worldwide by critics (and myself), won an Oscar. Admittedly it was for Hair and Make-Up, but now Suicide Squad can be called ‘the Oscar winning Suicide Squad’. Great for Superhero Movies to be recognised of course, but sadly, the only Superhero Movie that gets an award was the worst one from last year, and one of the worst from the past 10. (of course this is personal opinion, others may really like Suicide Squad, but it should not have won the Oscar, not when it was up against Star Trek Beyond and its alien make-up).
1. Best Picture Cock-Up
In a terrible twist, after such a great show without anything going wrong. The wrong film was read out for Best Picture. La La Land was awarded the Oscar, the whole cast and crew were up on the stage and in true Miss Universe style, the mistake was revealed. After recieving the Oscar the award was handed over to Moonlight. Moonlight has won the Oscar for Best Picture. This moment will go down in Oscar history, but not for the right reasons. Not only was it a huge mistake from the show runners, but also a shock that La La Land didn’t win the Oscar for Best Picture, one it was expected to take home…
It’s safe to say this years Oscars was a memorable one, mostly for the brilliant hosting of Jimmy Kimmel, and every year it reminds me why I want to become a Film Journalist. The films and acting that come up year after year get even more stunning and imaginative, even the Animated films and Short Films. I love it. Film is a stunning art form and it’ll forever by in my heart. Now, it’s time for bed, I’m only gunna get 4 hours sleep but it’s so worth it.
Connor Mountford 