5 Times The Oscar’s Got It Right (And 5 Times They Got It Wrong)

5 Times They Got It Right

5. Moonlight Wins Best Picture

Because of the mix up of during the announcement of the category (La La Land mistakenly being announced as the winner) a lot of people look back at this win more fondly than others. Yes, La La Land is a magnificent film, however, the Academy made the right choice by choosing Moonlight as Best Picture. This film is still one of the best A24 films and a great story about a young black man struggling with not only his sexuality but also with maintaining a healthy relationship with the people around him.

4. Michelle Yeoh For Everything Everywhere All At Once

In all honesty Everything Everywhere All At Once should have been Michelle Yeoh's 2nd Academy Award after Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. I remember seeing the promotion of this film and when it blew up on Tiktok with the hotdog/eyeball meme and I thought, “I have to see how what the hell people are referring too.” Everything Everywhere All At Once depicts Michelle Yeoh as a mother/wife who is struggling with maintaining a loving relationship with her husband and daughter because of the emotional damage caused by her father growing up. Not only is Everything Everywhere All At Once hilarious but it is a tragic story about a emotionally damaged mother in Michelle Yeoh whose trying to repair her damaged relationship with her husband and daughter before she loses them both.

3. Cillian Murphy's Hard Work Finally Pays Off

Since Batman Begins Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy have been joined at the hip. Despite Cillian Murphy's raw talent he was never a leading man in any of Nolan's film until Oppenheimer. I don't have a emotionally attachment to this film like other cinephiles do, however, the acting is phenomenal, cinematography is stunning, the score is great, ensemble cast is excellent and Cillian Murphy gives us his greatest performance. I’m surprised it took Nolan this long to cast Cillian as his leading man because I don't think people realized how excellent he was as an actor until we saw his character transformation in this film.

2. Spike Lee Wins His First Academy Award For Best Adapted Screenplay

Why did it take over 30 years for the Academy to give Spike Lee his flowers? Spike Lee's Academy wins should have been for Do The Right Thing (swap out Driving Miss Day) and Malcolm X. I have a feeling that they didn't want to award Spike in one of the main categories but they did want to give him something so they just said, “well, let's give him the Adapted Screenplay award. Let's give Best Picture to ANOTHER white savior film that will live on forever.” I’m just happy that Spike finally got a gold trophy.

1. Viola Davis for Fences

I don't care what anyone says but Viola Davis is one of the greatest actors man or woman. Despite her winning in the wrong category (Supporting instead of Lead when she's the only woman in the film), Viola Davis scene with Denzel about her always being there for him despite the dreams that she wanted to accomplish is just so captivating to watch. This is actually one of the few performances that I’ve seen from Denzel where I think that he got outperformed.

And 5 Times They Got It Wrong…

5. Jamie Lee Curtis Wins For Best Supporting Actress

This one STILL pisses me off to this day. Angela Bassett was up for her 2nd Academy Award for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and once again she is snubbed. Out of all the nominees in this category you would wonder how Jamie ended up in there in the first place. Jamie Lee Curtis wasn't even the best Supporting Actress in her own movie, that was Stephanie Hsu. Stephanie Hsu's audition tape alone clears anything Jamie did in there film.

Even though I wanted Angela Bassett to win I wouldn't have been upset if she lost to Stephanie Hsu. The Academy only gets one chance to award the BEST performance and they miss out every time because they're giving out these awards to actors that they feel that they “owe.”

4. Casey Affleck Wins Over Denzel Washington

Once again here we go with the Academy disrespecting Denzel Washington. Denzel Washington was able to win the SAG Award for his performance in Fences but when it came time to the golden trophy he once again loses. Even Casey knew Denzel should have won because he thanked him during his speech. This tends to happen a lot when black performers (music artist or actors) lose to their white counterparts. Billie Elish thanking Megan Thee Stallion, Macklemore apologizing to Kendrick Lamar and most recently Timothée Chalamet shouting out Michael B Jordan at the Critics Choice.

Casey Affleck had some “personal" problems with two women in the industry and yet somehow still beat Denzel.

3. Zoe Saldana Wins For One Of The Worst Movies Nominated

If you haven't seen Emilia Pérez (which is streaming on Netflix) don't even bother because it's just god awful. The rating for this film and the number of nominations the film received just shows how out of touch old white people are when it comes to Trans issues and Mexico. Everyone involved in this film is a piece of garbage including the director who described Spanish as, “language of the poor.” I got 40 minutes into this film and cut it off when Selena Gomez character calls her husband on the phone and says, “my p-word is hurting thinking of you.” Like who the hell thought of this crap?

The acting is terrible, it's disrespectful to the Mexican/Trans community, the musical numbers are not just bad but aren't even catchy and Zoe Saldana disrespecting the reporter post-Oscar's win when she told Zoe that the movie was disrespectful to herself and her people. Honestly, the only awards that this movie should have received was a Razzie. Worst Screenplay, Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Supporting Actress, give this movie all the awards at the Razzies.

2. Lily Gladstone Is Passed Over For Killers Of The Flower Moon

Can you believe that we have only had 2 woman of color win Oscar’s? I’m so exhausted from watching BIPOC actors and directors get passed up EVERY single year and when we do win it's for playing a stereotype. Not to take anything away from Emma Stone but her losing wouldn't have hurt her in the slightest. Lily Gladstone won the Golden Globe and SAG so a lot of people were banking on her to win but nope. Once again the Academy decides to completely ignore a non-white actors performance.

1. Another White Savior Film Wins Best Picture

Stories like The Green Book are always told through a white lends and with movies such as this you get a very service level understanding of racism. Not only are white savior films outdated but people are sick and tired of them. The Green Book is just another Driving Miss Daisy but with a white driver and a black passenger. BlacKKKlansman or even Black Panther would have been a far superior choice than this hunk of garbage.