And the snub goes to … Netflix among others
Parasite not the only surprise at the Oscars
Save for the surprising — but totally deserving — win for Parasite director Bong Joon Ho, the 92nd Academy Awards was business as usual.
Eminem confused everyone when he popped out of nowhere to perform his old hit Lose Yourself, Joaquin Phoenix ranted about Hollywood elites’ complacency in the status quo and, well, the Oscars were still very white.
So, instead of listing all the big winners from the self- congratulatory ceremony, here are all the losers who ended up at the bottom Sunday night:
The Irishman
After throwing mountains of cash into its Oscars campaigns, the streaming service ended the night with fruitless results.
In trying to replicate the success of Roma, which won three of its 10 awards at the 2019 Oscars, Netflix fell short with blockbusters like The Irishman, The Two Popes and Marriage Story.
Netflix aimed to insert itself among the big movie companies, throwing at least $20 million into its two biggest contenders, Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman and Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story. However, the company earned only two Oscars: one for documentary American Factory and one for Laura Dern, who won supporting actress for Marriage Story.
The much-hyped Scorsese flick received 10 nominations for the Oscars and film enthusiasts expected it to be a big winner. But the gangster movie came out empty-handed.
With big names including Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci, Netflix was hopeful The Irishman would earn the streaming service credibility among movie companies.
What might have stung even more is that it was the only movie elected in the best picture category to not win a single Oscar.
1917
Film junkies seemed to put their money on 1917 being the big winner Sunday but Bong Joon Ho swept the competition clean with Parasite earning best picture of 2020.
Sam Mendes’ First World War movie took home a Golden Globe for drama and earned top prizes at the Producers Guild and Directors Guild — a recipe that usually results in best picture at the Oscars. However, the movie — which was a box office hit — earned three awards in technical categories: cinematography, sound mixing and visual effects.
Cats
We all know about the weird acid trip that was Cats. The movie version of the beloved Broadway play based on T. S. Eliot’s work received plenty of flak online for a number of reasons, including the weird hands, quasi nudity and the lack of plot.
Actors Rebel Wilson and James Corden, who starred in the film, took to the Oscars stage dressed as their characters.
In a very tongue-in-cheek, self- aware moment, the two introduced the winner for best visual effects.
Expectedly, Cats went home with no awards Sunday Night.
For the second time in a row, the Oscars ran without a host, but this time it was by choice. Where last year Kevin Hart stepped down from hosting, the Academy aimed to show more diversity by having a litany of presenters present other presenters who announced the winners.
Yep, it was muddled, strange, time- consuming and still did not help the #Oscarssowhite problem.