The Oscars

Okay but got boring pretty quickly.

The big issue these award shows now face is that their audience watches film on multiple platforms, in theatres, streaming, cable, free to air TV. The days of everyone going off to the cinema to watch a popular movie are gone, never to return. The impact the awards have is greatly diluted by this fact, the quality of the output is as good as ever but award shows that concentrate on one medium seem missing a lot, it's because they no longer reflect the audience. Also through Netflix it a lot less American centric, again diluting the award.

It started off with a blast. Queen!

The hostless Oscars ceremony because some comedians have not realised the dangers of social media.

However the lack of jokes was noticeable and maybe we should have had more Queen songs.

The awards were nicely spread out this year. Bohemian Rhapsody, Black Panther, Roma, Green Book all got a slice of the pie. I did think Green Book was undeserving of the top prize, especially as one of the writer's Nick Vallelonga supported one of Trump's lies about Muslims in New Jersey and was caught with his metaphorical pants down. It also undermined the message the film was making.

The downside of the Oscars were those excruciating awful speeches. Here is a hint, the television audience does not want to know the names of everyone associated in your life. If you win the best special effects Oscar, there can be 750 people who worked on the special effects in some capacity. So when you thank and read out the names of 30 people. What about the other 730 who you have ignored?

The worse offender was Spike Lee who ironically won an Oscar for his words. I had to put my hands on my face in horror as he droned on and on. I would not be surprised if BlacKkKlansman was meant to be the Best Picture Oscar winner and someone swapped it for Green Book to save the world from another Spike Lee speech. Spike, there were three other writers of that film and they did not even manage to get a word in.

At least Lady Gaga showed how it should be done. A powerful performance of Shallow with Bradley Cooper followed by an inspiring speech.

"The Oscars" the 91st annual one was much improved and better as with no host for the first time since 1989 things ran smoother, quicker, and each presenter and new stage face was fresh with their own set of jokes and laughs! The music was in top notch form as the opening was music from "Queen", and the highlight and touching intimate moment with love and chemistry was the duet performance of "Shallow"(best original song) from the great Bradley Cooper and stunning Lady Gaga.

Plus this year the awards were not predictable as upsets and surprises were found most shocking was Rami Malek's win for best actor over favorite Christian Bale who was to believable as Dick Cheney, and it was not meant to be for Glenn Close as Olivia Colman upset her for best actress. Yet class acts and category front runners Regina King and Mahershala Ali won both supporting actress and supporting actor for their blunt and outspoken roles of race films.

Social and race films were dominate as the family drama "Roma" won best foreign language film and Alfonso Cuaron won best director, and "Green Book" was the pick for best picture as the true story on friendship and race relations rose to the top. Overall well done "Oscars" an improvement in laughs, and the music was touching and the awards were more spread out with upsets and surprises! Hope this trend continues for "Hollywood's" big shining golden night.

To me, most of these films were a bit weak in regards of quality. Roma is a great film, Blackkklansman is a great film, and even Vice is pretty top notch...but the rest? Forgettable. Probably one of the weaker Oscar ceremonies and the only Oscar ceremonies I watched that stopped watching.

Best Picture W : Green Book M : Green Book

Best Leading Actor W : Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) M : Viggo Mortensen (Green Book)

Best Leading Actress W : Olivia Colman (The Favourite) M : Olivia Colman (The Favourite)

Best Supporting Actor W : Mahershala Ali (Green Book) M : Mahershala Ali (Green Book)

Best Supporting Actress W : Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk) M : Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)

Best Director W : Alfonso Quaron (Roma) M : Alfonso Quaron (Roma)

Best Original Screenplay W : Green Book M : Green Book

Best Adapted Screenplay W : Blackkklansman M : A Star is Born

Best Cinematography W : Roma W : Roma