2023 Oscar show

[Snarky Oracle!]

Did anybody see it?

I didn't think I could get through it, and I was right. I slaved through the horrid red carpet pre-show segment, and then started to watch the Oscar broadcast itself, but I gave out fast and shut it off.

I was just too weak.

It's tone. I just couldn't take it -- which is notable, because I've made a habit of watching the Academy Awards for decades.

It didn't help that I hadn't seen any of the movies, but that's not why I couldn't hack sitting through it.

BTW: when Jamie Lee Curtis won her Supporting Actress award, nominee Angela Bassett (in a spectacular I'm-gonna-win purple gown) scowled, refused to applaud, and neglected to join the other nominees in the same category who jumped to their feet in a standing ovation for Curtis.

Ah, the era we're in. It's a dying industry, and it's shot itself in the head.

 

[Angela Channing]

I watched the Oscar ceremony itself, I have no interest in the red carpet stuff beforehand. I thought the ceremony was good, it was long but went along at a brisk pace so it didn't really drag. Maybe it helped that other than Avatar The Way of Water, I had seen all of the films nominated in the main categories which gave the show more context for me.

I wasn't happy with all the results, particularly best female actress which I thought should have gone to Cate Blanchette who in Tar gave one of the best performances I've seen ever. I was happy for Michelle Yeoh. If I had a vote, I would have chosen Austin Butler for best actor but I can understand why Brandon Fraser won. The best film should have been All Quiet On The Western Front but I suppose the consolation of winning Best International Feature partly made up for its loss. I liked how the producer acknowledged the brilliant performance of Felix Kammerer in that film (he really should have been nominated for best actor) and how adorable he was on the stage during that moment.

The highlight of the show was trailed as being the music performances of Rihanna and Lady Gaga but for me the best performance of the night was Naatu Naatu from the Indian film RRR which was spectacular.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I watched most of it. Nothing against Jimmy Kimmel but I just couldn’t enjoy him as host. For some reason I’ve never found him to be that funny. I thought both acceptance speeches in the Supporting Actor/Actress categories were phenomenal and filled with raw emotion. I think the Best Picture winner was no surprise at all but I was kind of hoping for Top Gun: Maverick to pull off the upset, even though I knew it was a huge long shot at best.

 

[Rove]

I think the Best Picture winner was no surprise at all but I was kind of hoping for Top Gun: Maverick to pull off the upset

What it is with Hollyweird and their disdain for awarding a film which had people queuing up at the theatres. The King filmmaker himself - Steven Spielberg - acknowledged that Top Gun saved the film industry after nearly being wiped out post Covid. Most critics loved the movie despite it being "Popcorn" fodder but hey, let's reward some movie which most have considered difficult to follow and the acting sub-par.

Two things I loved about this years Oscars. Brendan Fraser winning and Ke Huy Quan catching up with Harrison Ford. Two feel good moments.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Ke Huy Quan catching up with Harrison Ford.

Bizarrely, I'd spend Sunday afternoon and evening watching two different reaction videos to Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom. Naturally, it reminded me that Short Round stole the show and I found myself wondering what had happened to the actor. Before I even got round to looking up his name, Ke Huy was all over the news due to his win and the reunion with Harrison. It made my week.

 

[DallasFanForever]

What it is with Hollyweird and their disdain for awarding a film which had people queuing up at the theatres. The King filmmaker himself - Steven Spielberg - acknowledged that Top Gun saved the film industry after nearly being wiped out post Covid. Most critics loved the movie despite it being "Popcorn" fodder but hey, let's reward some movie which most have considered difficult to follow and the acting sub-par.

Two things I loved about this years Oscars. Brendan Fraser winning and Ke Huy Quan catching up with Harrison Ford. Two feel good moments.

Considering the amount of money it made, which was way more than anyone thought it was going to make, I would’ve liked Top Gun: Maverick to be celebrated more than it was. Admittedly I didn’t see this year’s Best Picture Winner so I really can’t comment on it yet. From the clips I’ve seen I thought the acting looked incredible but the previews just didn’t hold my interest enough.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

The show is being criticized for allegedly woke neglect by leaving out numerous people from the "In Memorium" segment -- including Anne Heche and Paul Sorvino and others, while including obscure band leaders who were never in the movies or members of the academy.

 

[Angela Channing]

The show is being criticized for allegedly woke neglect by leaving out numerous people from the "In Memorium" segment -- including Anne Heche and Paul Sorvino and others, while including obscure band leaders who were never in the movies or members of the academy.

Why is it considered "woke" to have left out Anne Heche and Paul Sorvino?

 

[Angela Channing]

This years show was considered to be a success. Although well down on previous highs, the TV audience increased by 13% on last years figures.

Oscars Draw Nearly 20 Million Viewers According to Live+7 Ratings, Up 8% From Last Year

This year’s Oscars live+7 linear and digital ratings ere in, bumping viewership for this year’s telecast close to the 20 million viewer mark.

variety.com

 

[DallasFanForever]

This years show was considered to be a success. Although well down on previous highs, the TV audience increased by 13% on last years figures.

Oscars Draw Nearly 20 Million Viewers According to Live+7 Ratings, Up 8% From Last Year

This year’s Oscars live+7 linear and digital ratings ere in, bumping viewership for this year’s telecast close to the 20 million viewer mark.

variety.com

I guess most tuned in to see if another skirmish would break out this year perhaps? Hence why Adonis Creed was sitting so close to the stage.

 

[Karin Schill]

I was also surprised Austin Butler didn't win, as he was great as Elvis.

I only watched the red carpet which was super boring as the Swedish commentators were showing themselves on screen rather than the people on the red carpet and only had interviews with Swedish "stars" who were there. I think commentators should be heard but not seen that much. Who cares to watch them when you want to see the Hollywood stars?

I went to bed after the first category had been handed out and then I googled the results the next morning. I watched Jamie Lee Curtis thank you speech online. It's odd I just saw "Halloween" for the first time a couple of months ago. It's hard to grasp it was the same actress who won an Oscar!

 

[DallasFanForever]

I watched Jamie Lee Curtis thank you speech online. It's odd I just saw "Halloween" for the first time a couple of months ago. It's hard to grasp it was the same actress who won an Oscar!

I think what struck me the most about this was it was her first Oscar. I couldn’t believe she had never won before. Secondly, I loved her tribute to her parents at the end of her speech.

 

[ginnyfan]

Angela Bassett gave us the only honest, raw moment of the night. The rest of it was the usual fake, pandering, wokefest. So she was not gonna stand up, clap, pretend she's thrilled for the nepo baby Curtis and then give interviews about women supporting women. Good for her! I'll take more of these ''bitchy'', vintage Oscar moments than the usual boring PC crap.

Jamie Lee run one of the most shameless Oscar campaigns ever. She literally was everything, everywhere, all at once. She rode the nepo baby wave. the Asian wave, the women rule wave and somehow turned it all into her favor and came on top. I'm not sure if we should admire or loath her.



But the worst of it all, is the winner of the night, that got 7 awards, all the big ones included. WTF. I saw it the other night and my God, what a nightmare. I can not even begin to understand how anyone thought this should be nominated for anything. It's an exhausting, video game like mess, with no depth or substance, even though it desperately wants you to think it has tons of it. Or at least those in the Academy, who chose to lift it to the higher level of an Oscar winning piece of art, want us to think so. As years pass, it will surely be remembered as one of the, if not the worst BEST PICTURE winner ever.

To think that other nominees which are serious, proper movies were ignored and left without any wins, because of this??? It's plain crazy!

 

[Monzo]

Who gets invited to the Oscars? This is as a question I always asked myself. I have now found a five-year-old article that answers my question and may also be of interest to you.

Who gets invited to the Oscars?

Over the past two years, most everyone has applauded the motion picture academy’s decision to add nearly 1,500 new industry professionals as a long-needed step toward diversifying the group’s ranks.

www.latimes.com

Are celebrities that you see in photos of the after show parties also at the ceremony? That's the other question I ask myself, but to which i can't find an answer. You see certain stars from the music industry or sports or supermodels at the parties every single year, but did they ever make it into the Dolby Theatre?

 

[Angela Channing]

Angela Bassett gave us the only honest, raw moment of the night. The rest of it was the usual fake, pandering, wokefest. So she was not gonna stand up, clap, pretend she's thrilled for the nepo baby Curtis and then give interviews about women supporting women. Good for her! I'll take more of these ''bitchy'', vintage Oscar moments than the usual boring PC crap.

Jamie Lee run one of the most shameless Oscar campaigns ever. She literally was everything, everywhere, all at once. She rode the nepo baby wave. the Asian wave, the women rule wave and somehow turned it all into her favor and came on top. I'm not sure if we should admire or loath her.



But the worst of it all, is the winner of the night, that got 7 awards, all the big ones included. WTF. I saw it the other night and my God, what a nightmare. I can not even begin to understand how anyone thought this should be nominated for anything. It's an exhausting, video game like mess, with no depth or substance, even though it desperately wants you to think it has tons of it. Or at least those in the Academy, who chose to lift it to the higher level of an Oscar winning piece of art, want us to think so. As years pass, it will surely be remembered as one of the, if not the worst BEST PICTURE winner ever.

To think that other nominees which are serious, proper movies were ignored and left without any wins, because of this??? It's plain crazy!

I liked Everything Everywhere All At Once but I think the number of awards it won was totally over the top and far exceeded what it deserved. Jamie Lee Curtis is an actress I like but she wasn't the best supporting actress this year, she wasn't even the best supporting actress in her film, I think that was Stephanie Hsu. Personally, I don't even think her performance was good enough to get nominated because Dolly De Leon in Triangle of Sadness was far more deserving of a nomination but was totally overlooked.

 

[Brian Kinney]

What it is with Hollyweird and their disdain for awarding a film which had people queuing up at the theatres.

For others Top Gun Maverick is US military propaganda and should've never been nominated for best film or adapted screenplay. Apropos disdain: you are writing in a forum that is based on TV shows made in Hollywood.

The rest of it was the usual fake, pandering, wokefest.

Always a good moment to stop reading. Just copy and paste from Twitter.

Jamie Lee Curtis is an actress I like but she wasn't the best supporting actress this year, she wasn't even the best supporting actress in her film, I think that was Stephanie Hsu.

No I don't think Stephanie Hsu was much different in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (but Michelle Yeoh -also in both films - certainly delivers more). That's why I think Curtis deserved it, of all female performers in EEAAO she was most out of her comfort zone. I usually prefer Angela Bassett as an actress but I didn't like Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Most unfair nomination was Judd Hirsch's overacting in The Fabelmans, that slot should've given to Seth Rogen in the same film who was really nuanced in his acting.

 

[Angela Channing]

These would have been my choices for the main awards:

Best Picture - All Quiet on The Western Front
Best Director - "The Daniels" Everything Everywhere All At Once
Best Actor - Austin Butler Elvis
Best Actress - Cate Blanchett - Tar
Best Supporting Actor - Ke Huy Quan Everything Everywhere All At Once
Best Supporting Actress - Angela Bassett Black Panther
Best Original Screenplay - "The Daniels" Everything Everywhere All At Once
Best Adapted Screenplay - Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, and Ian Stokell All Quiet on The Western Front
Best Animation - Turning Red

 

[TaranofPrydain]

I had seen Everything Everywhere All at once shortly after it turned up on Showtime in November, and while I appreciate Yeoh and Quan's performances, I felt as though the script was alarmingly thin and the visuals were assaultive on the eyes. I thought that except for the performances, it was a painfully bad film, and I guess I should say in passing that I am probably in the target age range for this film (I'm 28), so its not as though its a different generation thing, although heaven knows my film and TV tastes run older.

That said, I feel part of the reason why it swept the Oscars was that in many large cities, theatre attendance was dreadful in 2020 and 2021, even after cinemas reopened, and this film, due to rampant praise from film critics and on film Twitter/Letterboxd, was the first non-blockbuster and indie film to be a success at the box office since the pandemic started. For many in the film's audience, it was their first return to theatres in years, and I feel that, coupled with the fact that most of them liked the film sealed the deal. The problem with the other films was that none of the other 9 films up for Best Picture had gathered together a large enough cross-section of the other Academy voters to make a play as a clear alternative. They all had only niche appeal if the blind Academy member ballots had anything to say about it.

Not that I have seen too many films from last year, but my favorite one (three Thousand Years of Longing) wasn't up for anything. I would have picked Elvis out of the Best Picture nominees, followed by Women Talking.

 

[Brian Kinney]

These would have been my choices for the main awards:
Best Actor - Austin Butler Elvis

That was my favourite performance of all in the acting categories, really exciting and drawing me into a film that I originally didn't want to see because I have no connection to Elvis.