A Look Back at the 89th Academy Awards
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Then came the first of three moments in the telecast where one of today's movie stars reflected on a film that influenced them, which I thought was such a nice touch. It began with Charlize Theron reflecting on how the Best Picture winner of 1960, The Apartment, was an influence on her. Thus, she got to present with Shirley MacLaine the award for Best Foreign Language Film, where there seemed to have been three films nominated last year that had some potential to win. A Man Called Ove was the only one that was a multiple nominee (it was also nominated for Best Makeup & Hairstyling). Though Toni Erdmann seemed like a frontrunner early on in the season (not to mention that film did receive headlines that it would be remade in America with Jack Nicholson and Kristen Wiig). But the Oscar went to...
This was the second Academy Award for Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, who had previously won five years earlier for A Separation. Though this time around, he was unable to attend the Oscars due to President Trump's travel ban for immigrants. Farhadi even stated that "I have decided to not attend the Academy Awards ceremony alongside my fellow members of the cinematic community."
Then came the Animated categories, both of which were presented by Gael García Bernal & Hailee Steinfeld. Best Animated Short Film went to Piper. For Best Animated Feature Film, there was some competition. Kubo & the Two Strings and Moana were the only nominees that also had additional nominations (Kubo was also up for Visual Effects while Moana was also up for Original Song). In fact, Kubo & the Two Strings was the first animated film to have been nominated for Best Visual Effects since The Nightmare Before Christmas back in 1993. But in the end...
Then came the Animated categories, both of which were presented by Gael García Bernal & Hailee Steinfeld. Best Animated Short Film went to Piper. For Best Animated Feature Film, there was some competition. Kubo & the Two Strings and Moana were the only nominees that also had additional nominations (Kubo was also up for Visual Effects while Moana was also up for Original Song). In fact, Kubo & the Two Strings was the first animated film to have been nominated for Best Visual Effects since The Nightmare Before Christmas back in 1993. But in the end...
A Disney animated film released almost one year earlier won. The next category was presented by Jamie Dornan & Dakota Johnson of Fifty Shades fame, and it was for...
Only about 1 hour and 44 minutes into the show, La La Land finally picked up some hardware. The husband-and-wife team of David & Sandy Reynolds-Waso were awarded who their stylized/fantasy take on Hollywood.
Now came the first of three moments in the telecast where at least one of the presenters was given a category where they had a film nominated in. I have no idea how that happens, but it really shouldn't. In any case, the presenters were Riz Ahmed & Felicity Jones from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and the category was Best Visual Effects. Before nominations were announced, I thought Arrival would win this award based on the strength of being a Best Picture nominee. Usually when there's a Best Picture nominee in contention for Visual Effects, that tends to standout with winners like Forrest Gump, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Hugo. Yet, Arrival somehow didn't end up making the cut for nominations. So therefore, the film that was the frontrunner early on in 2016 prevailed...
Now came the first of three moments in the telecast where at least one of the presenters was given a category where they had a film nominated in. I have no idea how that happens, but it really shouldn't. In any case, the presenters were Riz Ahmed & Felicity Jones from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and the category was Best Visual Effects. Before nominations were announced, I thought Arrival would win this award based on the strength of being a Best Picture nominee. Usually when there's a Best Picture nominee in contention for Visual Effects, that tends to standout with winners like Forrest Gump, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Hugo. Yet, Arrival somehow didn't end up making the cut for nominations. So therefore, the film that was the frontrunner early on in 2016 prevailed...
Then came the second moment in the telecast where one of today's movie stars reflected on a film that influenced them. This time, it was Seth Rogen reflecting on how much Back to the Future was an influence on him. Not only did he get to present with Michael J. Fox, but they both made their entrances in the DeLorean itself...
In the category of Best Film Editing, many of us expected La La Land to take it in a sweep. Especially given all the acclaim Tom Cross received for how he was able to cut together that film's finale. Though some people thought statistically speaking, Arrival would be the threat. But Hacksaw Ridge was able to repeat its victory from BAFTA about two weeks prior to the Oscars.
Then came the third and final moment in the telecast where one of today's movie stars reflected on a film that influenced them. This time, it was Javier Bardem reflecting on how The Bridges of Madison County was an influence on him. Thus, he got to present with Meryl Streep the next award, which was for...
Then came the third and final moment in the telecast where one of today's movie stars reflected on a film that influenced them. This time, it was Javier Bardem reflecting on how The Bridges of Madison County was an influence on him. Thus, he got to present with Meryl Streep the next award, which was for...
Linus Sandgren very deservingly won Best Cinematography for his work on La La Land. Not only did that film have such a beautiful color scheme, but several of the musical numbers were done all in one shot. The next award was presented by Samuel L. Jackson, and it was for Best Original Score.
Given that La La Land was a completely original movie musical from top-to-bottom, how could it not have won this award? Then came Scarlett Johansson to present the award for Best Original Song, where there were actually two songs from La La Land in contention, which were 'Audition (The Fools Who Dream)' and 'City of Stars'. I remember there was such split opinion on which of the two was the better song (I myself personally preferred 'Audition'). Therefore, it seemed possible that those two would cancel each other out, and potentially benefit 'How Far I'll Go' from Moana. Had that happen, Lin-Manuel Miranda would've completed his EGOT (though I guess that song's recent victory at the Grammys was a nice consolation prize). In the end, one of the two songs from La La Land prevailed. Which one was it you may ask? Pretty much the one that was repeated throughout the film.