However then once more, Anora’s largest competitors makes Baker’s slow-boiling screwball comedy appear to be a fairytale compared. The opposite main winner of the evening was Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, an enormous three and a half hour epic that deconstructs the American dream and the predatory nature of blending commerce with artwork. Whereas Corbet was shut out of Image and Director, his grandiose imaginative and prescient nonetheless picked up a Finest Actor Oscar for Adrien Brody (his second little gold man from the Academy), in addition to prizes for Finest Cinematography, and Finest Unique Rating.
In some ways, this falls into place with Academy tendencies during the last decade, which has seen one different Neon acquisition win Finest Image—Bong Joon-ho’s Korean movie, Parasite—and two A24 releases, Moonlight and Every thing In all places All at As soon as. But it appeared to talk maybe to this second within the business writ-large.
As aforementioned, tonight felt like a honest celebration for the love of the flicks. Grande opened issues by reprising one of many best songs ever written for a movement image, courtesy of Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg’s Hollywood songbook in The Wizard of Oz. Nevertheless it continued by means of maestro Quincy Jones getting his personal prime spot within the telecast the place Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg eulogized the composer after which launched a propulsive rendition of “Ease on Down the Street” from The Wiz. (This ‘90s child additionally appreciated the Academy orchestra taking part in Jones’ iconic Austin Powers suite earlier within the night.)
However maybe most presciently was the Oscar telecast merely stopped for practically 10 minutes because the Academy gave a rousing tribute to the James Bond franchise, full with musical performances of “Stay and Let Die” and “Skyfall.” There was even a mini-ballet led by The Substance’s Margaret Qualley.
For the file, it’s not a serious birthday within the James Bond franchise’s historical past, nor was it in honor of any explicit artist or filmmaker. It was, nonetheless, a tribute and maybe a memorial service for the Broccoli household’s legacy. After shepherding the Bond motion pictures for greater than six many years, the Broccolis (led now by Barbara and her stepbrother Michael G. Wilson) have reluctantly surrendered the rights for 007 to a reportedly aggressive Amazon MGM, which has large desires of a “shared universe” orbiting round Bond.
So there will probably be extra Bond to return, after all. A lot extra. However as with Star Wars or Lord of the Rings earlier than it, the content material to return by way of streaming exhibits and spinoff motion pictures will doubtless by no means recapture that basic cinema magic which the Broccoli household jealously guarded for the higher a part of a century. And the Academy selected to have fun (and mourn?) this turning of the tide.
