Review: Oscars 2022

     

I really loved watching the Oscars this year, and that is something I haven’t said in a while. It was nice to hear people talk about the Oscars again even if it was about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. After how bad the Oscars were last year considering it was the least-watched Oscars show in the history of the Oscars in a year when EVERYONE is sitting at home and has nothing else to do...this really was a redemption year and a sign of going back to normal. The list of nominees was not great but I got to cheer on my favourites and have a good time. So far, I am the ONLY person I know that watched the Oscars this year. I went to a pub and asked them to turn it on like a total nerd. It was awesome.




I was most excited for Dune which ended up winning six out of the ten awards they were up for. Most of the main cast and Denis Villeneuve were all there so that was exciting for me. Although I wish Hans Zimmer was there to give his speech. So it was fun to cheer on Dune when they were winning everything. I was also really excited for Cruella, which won for costume design and Billie Ellish for her original song 'No Time to Die'. Disclaimer, I didn't get a chance to watch CODA which won Best Picture. Honestly, I was just happy for them and I didn't care as long as it wasn't Nightmare Alley or Don't Look Up. I was happy to see Jessica Chastine win Best Actress, I didn't really like The Eyes of Tammy Faye, but there is no doubt that her performance was amazing in this film. There were no awards where I was disappointed with who won. I would have loved to see Andrew Garfield win for Best Actor but I knew it was a long shot going into it. After how long will Smith's speech was and after everything that happened with him, I am sure I am not the only one who wanted someone else to win. But overall, it was a pretty successful Oscars night. 

I am glad that they didn’t end up completely removing the categories Best Documentary Short, Film Editing, Makeup & Hairstyling,  Original Score, Production Design, Animated Short, Live Action Short, and Sound that they originally said they were going to present off the main broadcast. This generated a lot of uproar because the Oscars and award shows like this are really the only places where these categories get any recognition other than the credits of their films. Whereas, best actor categories and best director are people who we see get recognition for their roles in the films because they are the face of the project. It doesn't make sense o cut out the awards from an awards ceremony for the benefit of time. In the end, these categories got shortened screen time, for their presentation but not cut which I was happy to see.



Of course, we have to talk about Will Smith. I’m the only person I know who actually watched the Oscars live so I saw this in real-time. When it happened and they cut the audio I originally thought it was staged and immediately checked Twitter. It was crazy but I don't want to get too political. Put it this way, the joke was bad yes he shouldn't have said that but that doesn't give anyone the right to physically assault someone. And I'll leave it at that. Will Smith has since been under review by the Academy whatever that is supposed to mean and has also resigned from the Academy. What this means for his future attendance, I would say definitely not for a while. 




The red carpet was really good this year, which I usually find kind of boring. It was cool that Vanessa Hudgens and Sofia Carson, two Disney Channel stars I grew up watching were hosting. I liked seeing Vanessa interview Andrew Garfield since they were costars in Tick Tick Boom. I also liked hearing all of their Oscars predictions before the broadcast and I like to think I was pretty close with a lot of my own predictions. 

Overall it was a fun night and a weird one. I was really looking forward to it and I enjoyed it a lot. Hollywood's biggest night was somewhat of a success and I think with everything that happened it will hopefully bring more viewership next year. Honestly, for the Oscars... the incidents were a bit of a gift. As always I love the Oscars and I hate the academy and I can't wait to watch next year.