Awards Season 2022: The 94th Academy Awards

Well... that was certainly something...

Did anyone have "angry actor smacks award host for insulting his wife, then proceeds to win an Oscar" on their Oscar bingo? No? Nor did I. But that's one of the things about live events: anything can happen. 

The telecast began with a spectacular performance of Best Original Song nominee "Be Alive" from King Richard by Beyoncé from the Compton tennis courts where Venus and Serena Williams practiced when they were growing up. Talk about starting with a bang!

This was the first time in three years that the Oscars had a host and, if I'm honest, I really didn't feel that having a host (or hosts) added anything to the evening. And to be honest, that's nothing to do with who they had as hosts: it was always going to be a poisoned chalice for whoever took the job and Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall didn't do too badly. Let's put it this way: they were more Jimmy Kimmel than James Franco & Anne Hathaway. 

The three-act structure seemed to have gone by the wayside, with all three hosts periodically popping up throughout; the providers of the music changed each hour, but that was about it. There were a couple of funny lines (Amy Schumer referring to herself as "Melissa McCarthy said no" raised a chuckle, as did her "Did I miss anything?" when she reappeared after the Smith-Rock debacle; the not-so-subtle two fingers up to Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill was also a joy), but generally the skits felt clunky and unfunny- Regina Hall playing up to being the thirsty singleton went on too long, and somehow we were meant to be OK with her feeling up Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa when you just know that if a male host tried to do the same with (for example) Helen Mirren and Zendaya, people would be frothing at the mouth.   

I actually didn't necessarily mind how they edited in the eight awards that were given out in the hour before the telecast began (although perhaps the irony of having the Best Achievement in Editing as one of the eight whilst relying on editors to seamlessly put that footage into the live show was lost on them). I did mind the utterly haphazard manner in which they interspersed them throughout, and I further minded that a lot of the material that was added in lieu of those eight awards were irrelevant puff.

The much vaunted performance of Encanto's "We Don't Talk About Bruno" was not, in fact, a full performance of the song. It started out as a performance, but then metamorphosed into this rap-heavy mishmash of "Celebrating The Oscars". That was one of a couple of utterly baffling decisions made throughout the night: why have three extreme sportsmen to host the 60 Years Of Bond montage? And why not immediately follow that montage with the live performance of "No Time To Die"? 

The whole "Oscars Cheer" moment- which, apparently, was The Flash entering speed force in Zack Snyder's Justice League- added nothing, and neither did the Fan Favourite Award (which armies of Snyder fans hijacked with Army Of The Dead after the four-hour Justice League cut was deemed ineligible as it was a re-release). I found the choice of music for the In Memoriam section to be a bit odd, but I did like the individual tributes to Sidney Poitier, Ivan Reitman, and Betty White. 

The guest hosts varied from funny to excruciating- Shang-Chi's Simu Liu and Tiffany Haddish fell into the latter camp (mostly because of Haddish's increasingly erratic behaviour), although I did like having a trio of live-action Disney princesses (Cinderella's Lily James, Aladdin's Naomi Scott, and The Little Mermaid's Halle Bailey) to announce Best Animated Feature.  

But the big talking point of the night is going to be what happened when Chris Rock presented the Best Documentary Feature award. Will Smith stormed the stage and smacked Rock in the face after Rock made a "GI Jane 2" crack about Jada Pinkett Smith (Pinkett Smith has alopecia and has been very honest and open about her struggles with the condition, and looked ever-so-slightly pissed off at Rock's remark). On Sky Cinema, the censors weren't quick enough to catch either of Smith's f-bombs, or Rock's dazed "Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me". Initially, I wasn't sure whether it was a bit, but it soon became clear that it wasn't. Smith's tearful speech as he returned to the stage to claim the Best Actor Oscar featured an apology, but to the Academy and fellow nominees. 

Onto the awards themselves.

Six out of six for the first time in a long time. Ariana DeBose, Troy Kotsur, and Jessica Chastain all gave very emotional acceptance speeches, all touching on themes of acceptance and finding your place in the world. I was also pleased that "No Time To Die" won Best Original Song, and I was chuffed that Kenneth Branagh- who has been nominated in seven different categories- won his first Oscar, for the screenplay of Belfast. I was also over the moon that CODA won Best Picture. It was a real feel-good end to a rocky show.  

This Oscars featured a number of firsts: we saw the first openly queer woman of colour (Ariana DeBose) win an acting award; the first Deaf actor (Troy Kotsur) win an acting award; this is the first time consecutive Best Director Oscars have been won by female directors (Chloé Zhao and Jane Campion), and it's the first time a film distributed on a streaming platform (CODA, via Apple TV+) has won Best Picture.

Unsurprisingly, Dune was the biggest winner of the evening, taking home six awards (four of which were won before the telecast started). CODA won three Oscars, winning each category it was nominated in, as did The Eyes Of Tammy Faye which won in both its categories. 

Despite multiple nominations, Don't Look Up, Nightmare Alley, Being The Ricardos, Flee, Licorice Pizza, The Lost Daughter and The Tragedy Of Macbeth all went away empty-handed. 

Below is the full list of winners at the 94th Academy Awards (the eight categories marked with the asterisks were given out ahead of time):

Best Motion Picture of the Year: CODA

Best Actor: Will Smith (King Richard)

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain (The Eyes Of Tammy Faye)

Best Supporting Actor: Troy Kotsur (CODA)

Best Supporting Actress: Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)

Best Director: Jane Campion (The Power Of The Dog)

Best Original Screenplay: Kenneth Branagh (Belfast)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Siân Heder (CODA)

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: Encanto

Best International Feature Film of the Year: Drive My Car

Best Cinematography: Dune

* Best Film Editing: Dune

* Best Production Design: Dune

Best Costume Design: Cruella

* Best Makeup and Hairstyling: The Eyes Of Tammy Faye

* Best Original Score: Dune

Best Original Song: "No Time To Die" (No Time To Die)

* Best Sound: Dune

Best Visual Effects: Dune

Best Documentary (Feature): Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

* Best Documentary (Short Subject): The Queen Of Basketball

* Best Animated Short Film: The Windshield Wiper

* Best Live Action Short Film: The Long Goodbye

Congratulations to all winners!

Well, that is awards season done and dusted for another year. Thank you for coming with me on this journey. Tonight certainly hasn't been boring, that's for sure.

Until next time.