I am not mad enough to sit up through the night watching the Oscars though I am sad enough to record it and watch it back later. That does mean that I am able to fast forward through Jonathan Ross chatting to his no-mark guests and the performance of Golden – I have managed to avoid hearing that so far and was not about to do so this morning!
As far as the rest of the show goes, it was typically hit and miss. Host Conan O’Brien cracked some good gags including one about Trump and his use of a leaf blower in response to a rather odd set made me laugh. He also good naturedly poked fun at Netflix, You Tube and Timothée Chalamet, but a number of other bits fell flat. Most of the scripted banter between the stars presenting awards was painful, especially an excruciating exchange between Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans, paired together to celebrate the 14th (yes 14th) anniversary of The Avengers. The extended in memoriam section worked well and the ambitious performance of I Lied to You from Sinners was a success.
Of the awards, although I only correctly predicted three of the acting wins, the only real surprise was the first ever woman winning Best Cinematography – Autumn Durald Arkapaw for Sinners. Sean Penn will no doubt get some stick for not turning up to accept his award, but none of the speeches were particularly memorable.
Predictably, One Battle After Another took home the most statuettes with six and Sinners, which would have run it close in a lot of categories, was next up with four. It feels strange to me that the very ordinary Frankenstein was the other big winner, with its expected three awards, but I had long resigned myself to it.
Here are a full list of winners
Best picture
One Battle After Another
Best actress
Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
Best actor
Michael B Jordan – Sinners
Best supporting actress
Amy Madigan – Weapons
Best supporting actor
Sean Penn – One Battle After Another
Best director
Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
Best animated feature
KPop Demon Hunters
Best international feature
Sentimental Value
Best documentary feature
Mr Nobody Against Putin
Best original screenplay
Sinners – Ryan Coogler
Best adapted screenplay
One Battle After Another – Paul Thomas Anderson
Best original song
Golden – KPop Demon Hunters (by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo and Teddy Park)
Best original score
Sinners – Ludwig Goransson
Best cinematography
Sinners – Autumn Durald Arkapaw
Best film editing
One Battle After Another – Andy Jurgensen
Best sound
F1 – Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A Rizzo and Juan Peralta
Best visual effects
Avatar: Fire and Ash – Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
Best production design
Frankenstein – Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau
Best casting
One Battle After Another – Cassandra Kulukundis
Best make-up and hairstyling
Frankenstein – Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey
Best costume design
Frankenstein – Kate Hawley
Best animated short
The Girl Who Cried Pearls
Best live action short
(TIED): The Singers
(TIED): Two People Exchanging Saliva
Best documentary short
All the Empty Rooms