“Top Gun: Maverick” earned just one Oscar Sunday night, but the blockbuster still ruled the evening.
The apolitical 2022 sequel, and gracious star Tom Cruise, set the tone for a shocking Academy Awards reversal. The 95th annual gala focused on charm, glamour and gratitude, mostly eschewing the hard-Left politics that made the ceremony unwatchable in recent years.
That doesn’t mean the 3.5-hour gala entertained us. The event remains a bloated, dull affair that can’t let go of its ceremonial excess.
The tonal change can’t be denied. Why, it’s as if someone in Hollywood realized the industry’s biggest night shouldn’t try to push viewers far, far away.
“If anyone in this theater commits an act of violence at any point in the show, you will be awarded the Oscar for Best Actor and permitted to give a 19-minute-long speech.” jokes host Jimmy Kimmel at the #Oscars. https://t.co/ndiKiHeOT5 pic.twitter.com/qofvMJ8ZD9
— Variety (@Variety) March 13, 2023
Jimmy Kimmel, yes that Jimmy Kimmel, set the tone from the jump. His monologue lacked political bite – one joke referenced Hunter Biden in toothless fashion – and he delivered a few well-deserved upper cuts to last year’s Oscar fracas.
Yes, he addressed “the Slap” because he had no choice.
Otherwise, his jokes were clever if not hilarious, endearing but not heart-breaking. In short, he summoned Billy Crystal to the best of his limited abilities.
That’s good enough in our scorebook.
The ceremony mostly took it from there. The night featured a few, unnecessary woke asides but the presenters mostly stayed on script. They praised family, friends and fellow artists and spoke of gratitude, not their pet causes.
No Trump jokes. Really.
Ke Huy Quan’s speech for Best Supporting Actor happened early and proved typical of the night’s atmosphere. The man once known as Short Round even called his win a sign of the American Dream, a pro-USA sentiment that seemed surreal given how modern Hollywood thinks.
“Mom, I just won an Oscar!” Ke Huy Quan sobs as he accepts the #Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. https://t.co/ndiKiHfmID pic.twitter.com/92QIp3PRmS
— Variety (@Variety) March 13, 2023
Elizabeth Banks, a prime-time virtue signaler, kept her podium time light by yukking it up with a man in a bear suit. Yes, her “Cocaine Bear” film made us smile once more.
As for the trophy winners, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” ruled the night, with “All Quiet on the Western Front” coming in at a distant second.
That gave “EEAAO” directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert too much podium time. The duo started strong but began to meander with their subsequent appearances.
Scheinert tried to give a shout out to drag queens, bringing the Culture Wars to the stage. Except he ignored the reason behind conservative rage at the art form. Drag queens now routinely perform their sexually-charged shtick for children, defanging his defense.
Kimmel couldn’t hold back on his partisan impulses, uncorking two anti-GOP jokes near the end of the insanely long telecast. Neither proved sharp, but the fact that he waited so long to say them spoke to something profound.
Ironically, Tom Cruise didn’t show up for the ceremony. In a way, his presence was felt more than any other star.
On some level Hollywood may understand the damage it’s done to its brand. Perhaps the success of “Maverick,” and Cruise’s charm offensive, opened up enough eyes. There’s little doubt someone at the top of the Oscars food chain instructed the production team to keep the focus on the movies, not the virtue signaling.
And it (mostly) worked.
An apolitical Oscars gala is the industry’s most subversive act in ages.
The Academy Dumpster Awards Show is dead, especially when they announced new Woke rules for movies. Honoring Woke movies by preaching misery to everybody makes the Woke Bullies a cult. Why don’t they just hold up signs and chant?
Never mind. They do that on the Socials already.
I haven’t seen the Oscars in years, for many reasons. The many reason is the decline in movies in the past 20-30 years. However, it doesn’t take someone to see the so-called “show” to know the quality of the OSCARS(even more than the movies), has PLUMMETED. However, it seems like the movie industry is getting so woke that they care more about the demographics of movie casts than the quality of the scripts. Worse, the woke crowd often feels the demographics of casts are the CAUSE of the quality of the scripts.
Why watch self indulgence? Remember our boredom in middle school when some person was sure they were cool and bored us with their narcissistic tales? Nothing changes except the size of their egos.
Everything Everywhere sucked. I live in a household of four avid movie fans and we all fell asleep trying to watch it. We had to turn it off about 3/4 of the way through. Stupid movie. You have to be really detached from reality to name a movie like that best picture. It was bad.
Your critique was spot on!
Answer: NO
I’d say the Oscars didn’t “get it” simply by the fact they had Jimmy Kimmel host. That woketard hack despises everyone that isn’t a good little Hollywood wokester/Democrat knob polisher just like him. If they had a more apolitical host, then maybe I’d think they “got it,” but when you have someone like Kimmel out front, you’re still telling roughly half the country to GFY.
Kimmel used to be a comedian. Now he’s just a joke. He’s so biased and aggressively ignorant that he is unwatchable. Get a new host. One that is likeable and entertaining.
I didn’t care for Everything Everywhere All at Once either but I’m fine if others loved it. I thought Kimmel was lame with most of his jokes not landing and I don’t think it was a coincidence he held his shots at republicans until the final minutes of the broadcast.
I would have preferred more time for lengthier montages of the brilliance done in categories like sound and cinematography and would be good with the time coming from silly wastes of time like his audience interactions and the mediocre songs which are not needed.
Just my two cents.
I don’t get why “ Everything Everywhere” won. I couldn’t get through 10 minutes, but I guess I have to grin and bear it at the next opportunity. The Oscars is the Winners are not watched by the public.
@PP
EEAO was a surprise hit with moviegoers and had remarkable box office legs. That’s impressive for a film based on an original idea and lacking big name actors.
Go back to Twitter, you filthy propagandist.
I agree. That had to be the dumbest-ass movie I have ever seen. Top Gun was the best movie. If they ever get over the Woke b.s., they can get back to recognizing the movies that actually deserve the awards.
@jojo
How was EEAO woke?