An Academy Award Wrap-Up
By David Josselyn
The 91st Academy Awards is over, and it went off without a hitch (not counting Rami Malek’s fall after accepting his Oscar causing paramedics to be called, but that was off-screen). The host-less Oscars played it safe; cautiously handing out awards as if avoiding any opportunity for further embarrassment. The show opened with Queen performingtheir iconic mashup hit, “We Will Rock You/ We Are the Champions” led by a lackluster performance by Adam Lambert; Lambert has the pipes, but not the energy or entertaining charisma of Freddy Mercury. This set the tone for most of the show; presenters and winners chiefly stayed away from politics and divisive issues. The best presenters, by far, were the comedic team of Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler, riffing on the missteps of the Academy; although Melissa McCarthy and Brian Tyree Henry obnoxiously dressed in outfits representing every movie nominated for costume design complete with rabbits and Wakonda face paint, gave them a run for their money. One of the cutest moments was when Dame Helen Mirren, with an infectious grin, pointed at her co-presenter, Jason Momoa, like a giddy schoolgirl exclaiming, “Look who I’m with!” Low-lights for the evening include the “In Memorium” montage backed by an uninspiring John Williams composition with the fewest clips from the late Academy members’ works possible, the choices for bumper music that did not connect to the award category or presenter or winner (there were three or four times it did match which made the rest of the night awkward), and Spike Lee’s tantrum after “Green Book” took the Best Picture award.
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