Los 90 Premios de la Academia

Mrs. Shullivan and I watched this year's Academy Awards as we do every year. We have been watching the awards since the 1950's and as such we have seen the AA shows when they were presented in black and white, through wars, and witnessed some of the best and some of the worst acceptance speeches, as well as some of the best hosts (Bob Hope, Hugh Jackman, and Billy Crystal) and some of the worst hosts (Jon Stewart, James Franco and Anne Hathaway).

The 2018 Academy Awards can best be described as playing it very, very safe. Jimmy Kimmel's monologues were tame at best and although he took some light jabs at the current United States President and the Vice-President, I believe the producers had heard enough about the far left wing opinions which has been hurting their past years box office figures, in other words, their personal incomes.

The most outspoken acceptance speech with merit and a standing ovation by her fellow women in theater was in my opinion a class act by this years Best Actress winner Frances McDormand. Ms. McDormand stood at the podium wearing a beautiful yet very conservative dress, wearing little to no makeup on her beautiful and sincere face to mask any deficiencies or highlight any reconstructed body parts. Unlike some of her extremely hypocritical fellow actresses/designers who annually show up with new faces (Jane Fonda, Donatella Versace and/or Renée Zellweger), or with less dress and more skin showing (this years abhorrent winners were Wendi McLendon-Covey, Taraji P. Henson and the near to full nude Albanian singer and actress, Bleona Qereti) Ms. McDormand emphasized that women were deserving to be treated with respect and be granted equal remuneration as the men, including rider clauses in their personal contracts (referring to the disparity between Mark Wahlberg's and Michelle Williams rider clauses for a required re-shoot with replacement actor Christopher Plummer).

The presenters and the winners were cautious in not placing an over emphasis on gun control, sexual misconduct, or partisan politics. That was in my opinion a wise move. Having said that, the entertainment value at this years awards show was lacking. from Kimmel's opening bland monologue, to the quickly shuffling film montagues that did not really provide any value,the saving grace was the awards themselves.

Yes, The Shape of Water was truly deserving of the four Academy Awards it received for Best Director, Best Picture, Production Design, and Original Score. The awards were strategically distributed across several films and countries but yet the viewing audience was apparently one of the smallest dating back to 1974. If Billy Crystal, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and/or Kevin Hart are reading this message is for you. Only you three could return the AA's to their previous lustre and entertainment value. Please consider hosting in 2019.

P.S. Please read my IMDB review of The Shape Of Water dated December 10th, 2017, where three (3) months prior I predicted that The Shape of Water would win for Best Picture. I hate to say "I Told You So"!

I hope that I am wrong, I have seen thousands of movies and shows and have been spoken to many friends who like myself are movie lovers and they also have the same opinion. But still I hope we are all wrong and those people at the Academy are right!

This was officially the worst academy awards so far and will probably keep its shameful place for a long time. Not only in the matter of holding the ceremony but also considering piking up too many worthless movies and unfair nomination process it is a whole new level of disappointment. I constantly ask myself what do they think to themselves when they make this historic decisions so neglectfully and recklessly? I mean just think about it! Some years later people will watch 2017 Oscar nominees and asks themselves was that the best they could do? and maybe one of them watch another movie and as an example see Kate Winslet's brilliant performance in Wonder Wheel and wonders why she has not been even nominated? I know that Woody Allen is not very popular this days but whatever it is, should that affect the performance of a brilliant actress like Winslet? I am not saying that is certainly the reason behind that she has not been nominated but it is actually a desperate effort to find out why! Meryl Streep at the other hand is a pain in the A too. I adore her performance in many movies and shows, specially she was magnificent in Sophie's Choice but for god's sake would you stop this nonsense of piking her up no matter how she has been acting? And was that truly the best picture? Really?

I can't give any specific accusation like political propaganda, race or gender issues but I can certainly say this is not a fare appreciation of art!

Within the first few minutes of the ceremony Jimmy Kimmel, the charming host, reminds us that we're only a few steps away from Hooters. That was the tone and I believe that the Academy must decide if the affair is going to continue lowering its brow or can we recapture what this event should be about. The movies! Film, past, present and future. That's why spending precious time in ambushing unexpected public members at the Chinese Theater was a cringe worthy, Hootters style move. I love when the Academy reminds their multi million audience all around the world about their glorious history. Not surprisingly Eva Marie Saint's presentation was a highlight that everyone spoke about the following day, so was Rita Moreno.

There was a time when user reviews were featured on the front page of each of these entries, but now they are hidden because Hollywood is completely disconnected from reality, and they survive by censorship and propaganda. Critics reviews completely diverge from audience reviews motivated by ever more extreme and shameless politics. Apparently a comic book movie about a black super hero is better than every film ever made, 10/10 by every critic because merit? or could it be something else, so the idea that an awards ceremony run by people this deranged by Trump has simply become a farce. There was a time when Hollywood meant glamour, now, it feels preachy, cheap, tawdry, creepy, and really just a bit sad. These are not the people who can tell stories which delve into the human condition, they actively deny the concept.

Jimmy Kimmel made a knowing joke that hopefully there would be no Waterhouse scandal this year as he once again invited Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway to name the Best Picture winner.

Guillermo del Toro asked Warren Beatty if he could check the envelope, took a peek and then turned to the audience and nodded yes. Wonderful.

The awards were nicely spread around this year. There was sentimentality with James Ivory winning his first Oscar at almost the age of 90. Roger Deakins won an Oscar at his 14th attempt. He rightly got a standing ovation.

Keala Settle gave a barnstorming performance with This is Me from the The Greatest Showman.

After the Harvey Weinstein scandal there were comments made for girl power specifically by Frances McDormand, however the greatest interest was who was going to win the jet ski for the shortest speech!