In case you missed it, last night was the 91st Academy Awards, a.k.a. the Oscars. It was Hollywood’s biggest night! People have been waiting for this night for months.
This year was a memorable one for more reasons than one. For starters, this year was the first year that the Oscars didn’t have a host. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably heard about the whole Kevin Hart story. Therefore, once it was clear that he would not be hosting the Oscars, the Academy didn’t really make that much of an effort to find a replacement. There was also the fact that not a lot of people wanted to host the Oscars after the whole Kevin Hart fiasco. So the Oscar’s went hostless. Although it still turned out to be a successful night, it was mostly just announcing the winners and getting the night over with.
A Tribute to Queen
The night started off strong with Adam Lambert’s tribute to Queen. Bohemian Rhapsody had a strong nomination count going into the Oscars. So, what better way to start off the Oscars than my playing a tribute to Freddie Mercury? We’ll tell you this much: the song “Champion” had almost everyone on their feet singing along to the words. Freddie would be proud.
A Year of First’s
Best Supporting Actress – Regina King
This year was all about first time winners and nominees. Regina King, first time Oscar nominee took home her very first Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for her role in If Beale Street Could Talk. The contenders in that category were strong with Emma Stone (who is also an Oscar winner), Rachel Weisz and Amy Adams. Regina is a strong actress who has played solid roles throughout her career. So, it comes to no surprise that everyone was extremely happy to see her take home her long overdue Oscar.
Best Actor – Rami Malek
Another first that everyone was extremely happy to see win was Rami Malek. This was also his first Oscar nomination. He took home the Oscar for Best Actor as his role of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. What was really impressing was his acceptance speech about how it’s okay to be different since that’s our world needs now.
We made a film about a gay man and an immigrant who was unapologetically himself. It’s proof we’re longing for stories like this. Part of my story is being written right now, and I could not be more grateful.
Best Adapted Screenplay – BlackKklansman
Spike Lee was also part of the Oscar first’s. The famous film director has been nominated several times throughout his impressive career. However, he never took home an Oscar. Although he didn’t win Best Director, he did take home the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for his movie BlackKklansman. In fact, he was so excited that as soon as he went up to accept his award he jumped into the arms of Samuel L. Jackson who was presenting the category. To say that his Oscar was long overdue is an understatement. There was actually a standing ovation at the Oscars when Spike Lee won. We wouldn’t expect anything less.
Best Actress – Olivia Colman
The biggest surprise of all was probably the Best Actress winner. Olivia Colman who took home that award for her role in The Favorite was also very surprised. In fact, it didn’t even look like she had prepared a speech because that’s how she was sure she would not win. Our money was on Lady Gaga or Glenn Close. But we have to hand it to Olivia because she did charm us with her acceptance speech. Especially when she said “this will never happen again”.
Best Original Song – “Shallow”
We were rooting for Lady Gaga to take home the Oscar for Best Actress in her role A Star is Born. But when that didn’t happen, we were happy that she had at least won an Oscar for her song “Shallow”. The Oscar performance with her co-star Bradley Cooper was extremely moving so off course we wanted that song to win. And let’s be honest, the other songs didn’t even come close to hers.
Other Impressive Wins
Other people we were rooting for and who took home Oscars were off course the cast of Green Book. Mahershala Ali took home his second Oscar last night for Best Supporting Actor. He won his first Oscar 2 years ago for his role in Moonlight. Seeing as this is his second Oscar in just 3 years, we have a feeling that his name on the list of many directors as we speak.
Green Book also won Best Picture, which off course we saw it happen. There were some strong contenders in that category with movies like Vice and BlackKklansman. But Green Book won out in the end.
All in all, it was a successful night. The only thing missing was having a host but maybe next year the Academy will learn from this and be better prepared.
For the full list of Oscar winners, make sure to visit their official website at www.oscars.go.com
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