Introduction

As per usual I will be live-blogging the Academy Awards because I can’t help myself, even though I haven’t seen very many of the films and have a low-tolerance for Jimmy Kimmel. But here we go.

Also, there may be less red carpet commentary tonight than in previous years as I may be flipping back and forth between red carpet coverage and the New York Rangers game.

Red Carpet

Awkwardness is already abound in the interviews between plying Gael Garcia Bernal about Zorro details he can’t divulge and recounting Viggo Mortensen taking the Captain Fantastic kids to meet some of the cast of The Lord of the Rings.

One of the fortunate things about being behind is that the turnaround from theatrical release to home video availability is quicker than ever.

Glad to see ribbons supporting the ACLU are big this year.

Very cool to hear Octavia Spencer talk about wanting to produce more films ad bring more underrepresented people to the big screen.

“My other wife Tom Ford” by Justin Timberlake may be the joke of the red carpet so far.

Clearly, one of the stories of the day is the death of Bill Paxton. RIP. I wouldn’t be too hard on the Oscars if there was nothing prepared except for some off-the-cuff remarks. I’ll have more to say about him soon as well.

My biggest rooting interest of the night is Kubo and the Two Strings.

UGH! The longest red carpet reaction panel ever with minimal insight, personality or interest. The show can’t start soon enough.

Time for the final half-hour on ABC, the most pointless half-hour of them all. Oh, how I wish the start would be pushed back to 8 PM/ET again.

I agree with the above sentiment.

Dwayne Johnson on the red carpet. He was one of the people in entertainment who kept me most pleased in an all around crappy year.

Commercials, then the show. Finally.

The Show

Justin Timberlake kicking things off with “Can’t Stop the Feeling” is definitely a wrinkle and an improvement to the usual formula.

Great start to the show!

“Probably my last time here.” Indeed.

“225 countries that hate us.” Politics right off the start.

Brings up the Matt Damon grudge in the monologue also.

“Remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist.”

“I am glad Homeland Security let you in the country.”

The movies no one saw joke is the well he will return to too often.

Meryl Streep speech.

Alicia Vikander out first to present Supporting Actor.

Mahershala Ali wins. Moonlight is at the top of my must see lit for nominated films.

Threw out the fake news outlets.

Kate McKinnon and Jason Bateman present Costume and Makeup.

This is one of those awkward moments: I was rooting against Suicide Squad because it was horrible, but these guys did great work on makeup. The first to mention immigrants as at least one member of the team was Italian.

Yes! Coleen Atwood. Sure, she’s won a lot but I really wanted it for this one.

A joke on Ben Carson as Dr. Stange. I love it.

One of the inspirations for Hidden Figures comes out to help the cast members introduce Best Documentary Feature.

O.J.: Made in America wins! This one I saw, and I loved it was my #2 on the year.

Dwayne Johnson jokes about not being allowed to sing live. He introduces Auli’i Cravalho and Lin-Manuel Miranda performing an original prologue and one of their nominated songs form Moana.

“Something all too rare these days a President who believes in both arts and sciences” to introduce the AMPAS president.

Red Vines and Junior Mints are parashoot-ed down from the ceiling.

Sound Editing and Mixing comes up.

I pretty much only had the clip to go off of, and I liked what I heard from Arrival.

Hacksaw Ridge gets the Mixing award.

Love tremendous shows of gratefulness, that was the moment of the show so far.

“A conscientious objector who decides to work with Mel Gibson anyway” love that Mel was laughing at that.

Vince Vaughn comes out to introduce the Governors Awards. The honorees were Lynn Stahlmaster, Anne V. Coates, Frederick Wiseman, and Jackie Chan.

Mark Rylance comes out to present Best Supporting Actress. States that women are better than men at opposing without hatred.

It seems overdue for Viola Davis. Thankfully she won now.

After a clip on the influence of The Apartment on Charlize Theron, she and Shirely MacLaine come out. They also announce Best Foreign Language Film.

I was hoping The Salesman would win just because Farhadi couldn’t attend thanks to Trump’s ban. A statement he wrote is read, on the ban and in thanks for the Awards.

“If we don’t have the courage to challenge authority, we don’t have journalism…” a quote by a reporter slain by ISIS whom inspired the documentary for which Sting wrote his Oscar nominated Best Original Song “The Empty Chair.”

The New York Times wins the commercial of the night.

Hailey Steinfeld and Gael Garcia Bernal come out for the animation awards.

Piper wins Best Animated short!

Bernal goes after Trump’s wall. Gets a standing ovation.

Laika is never get it. Friggin’ Oscars!

La La Land gets the Production Design Oscar and I can feel the tsunami approaching.

The tour group walk through. LOL!

Best Visual Effects introduced by two actors from Star Wars: Rogue One, but The Jungle Book wins!

Seth Rogen and Michael J. Fox come out of a Delorean after his filmed segment on how Back to the Future inspired him. They introduce Film Editing award.

Hacksaw Ridge takes Best Editing surprisingly. It’s usually a strong indicator of Best Picture but will this year’s winners be all over the place?

Lemonheads and Mike & Ikes are the next candies dropped by Jimmy Kimmel with help from Sunny Pawar of Lion.

Google ad in this break also ties into Lion as there is a Google Earth connection in the film.

The White Helmets wins Best Documentary Short Subject and it brings another opportunity to talk about Donald Trump. Asks for  standing ovation to show support for a swift en to the Syrian civil war after reading a statement.

Live Action Short Film is next…

Sing wins, not the animated feature clearly.

The Science Technical Awards come out and are “explained” and introduced. I’m so nerdy I wouldn’t mind more time delving into each of the winners annually as its hard to keep up especially when there are 18 “wonderful toys” so honored this year.

Javier Bardem talks about Meryl Streep in The Bridges of Madison County and her performance of the four miracles of acting (truth, character, interaction with objects, and body language). They introduce Best Cinematography nominees.

La La Land again…

Jimmy Kimmel being allowed to mock the non-existent incident in Sweden was hilarious, though.

La La Land medley of sleepy music after 11 PM Eastern was not the best production decision.

Samuel L. Jackson comes out to introduce Best Original Score nominees…

I think Sam wanted to say one these because Moonlight sounds gorgeous.

 

Scarlett Johansson announces the winner for Best Original Song…

It’s a musical so it has to win Best Original song, right.

Jennifer Aniston comes out to introduce the In Memoriam segment. She mentions Bill Paxton and gets choked up.

Ugh, for some of them it was a grim reminder of something I’d tried to forget like Anton Yelchin.

Jimmy Kimmel talks about how We Bought a Zoo inspired him.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck come out for Best Original Screenplay. Damon is introduced as guest.

No script pages whatsoever this year. Lame.

Kenneth Lonergan wins Best Original Screenplay for Manchester by the Sea.

Amy Adams comes out to introduce Adapted Screenplay. Moonlight gets it!

And a great speech supporting ACLU, Academy, and to kids who need to hear a message of inclusiveness.

Halle Berry is introduced Best Director. Damien Chazelle. Will it be a spit?

He becomes the youngest Best Director winner. Orson Welles rolls over in his grave.

 

Brie Larson comes out to introduce the Best Actor nominees. Casey Affleck wins as he has been all awards season long.

Leonardo DiCaprio comes out to introduce the Best Actress nominees.

Emma Stone in La La Land just like all award season long, yay drama! I love her, and that was a tremendously humble acceptance.

Kimmel’s “Matt Damon” feud really got in the way, especially right before Best Picture as it kind of telegraphs what we can expect to see.

Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway present Best Picture.

The biggest pregnant pause in the history of the awards and then La La Land. At least the voice over told me it only hit on 50% and some projections I saw said nine of 14.

Oh my God, I have never in my life seen anything like this. They were most of the way through the speech and then found out that Moonlight actually won! This is crazy!

Now Beatty is explaining the craziness.

How did he see “Emma Stone La La Land” in the envelope. The Academy changed procedures after the Jack Palance debacle. Great to see the sportsmanship and camaraderie between the two films.

The mic disappears on Jimmy Kimmel. “It’s just an award show.””I knew I would screw this up somehow.” “I promise I’ll never come back.”

Kimmel actually blaming himself too much. Someone on the production/direction end is going to be receiving a boatload of crap for that.

END.