The 2022 Oscars are now history and feel free to check out my review on those if you want, but now let us focus on this half hour we got here: the nominations announcement. They got Tracee Ellis Ross and Leslie Jordan to present. The first question that comes to mind is: Why? TER has pretty much no big screen career, even if she is among the most successful (definitely not most talented) comedy actresses from recent years, but only on the small screen. And Jordan, as he states himself, has never been nominated for an Oscar. Also not been remotely close to. I still think he did alright. When he discovered parallels between his size and the categories he was instructed to present, it was mildly funny, even if he kept the joke going for too long. He was definitely not as horrible as Ross who really messed up every single time she said something. She is simply not funny. Not one bit. I think it was pretty much self-explanatory how poorly her comedic deliverance here was and now we all know for sure the real reason why she has a huge small screen career. If there is anything she stays remembered for here, then it was how she in the most exaggerated fashion was constantly laughing at Jordan's mediocre jokes since minute one. The grin face at the very start, what was up with that? Or another joke like how he never had more fun during such an early time of day. Okay. That was still better than the rest and that says a lot.
The duo got some support from nurses, firefighters and film students when reading out the nominations. And even a famous wrestler. This was maybe the most surprising inclusion here. But to be honest, I could have done without all those. Or maybe not. I could have done without them if the actual hosts had been better. Let's say it like that. The hospital folks were especially cringeworthy. Later on, the girl who loved Twilight was probably happy about Kristen Stewart's nomination. I think Stewart was even a front-runner at some point in her category. The firefighters were cool, also the one reading the nominees and Goodfellas is a classic of course. This was a bit of a nice idea to mention their favorite films. What was not a nice idea was the "professional film enthusiast". What oh what was up with that? This is about the Oscars and they get in a random guy that absolutely nobody knows and let him elaborate on the nominations? Are you kidding me? Honestly, without this inclusion, I maybe would have given two stars more, but this way I just can't. I don't even blame the guy. Of course, he would take the opportunity, but it just made no sense to feature him. His hair was fine, he was also not totally unlikable, but what he had to say was as random and uninspired as it gets. Zero insight. Clearly he just let it all out, the exact lines he practiced before. Zero guts too. He was happy about everything and did not dare to mention even one single snub. And no, Tracee Ellis Ross, we all are not waiting for his insightful elaborations.
As for the nominations, I don't want to go too much into detail. Of course there were surprises. I think Hamaguchi getting in for Best Director was nothing too many expected, even if this category, in terms of the winner, was probably already decided when the nominations were announced. Two other surprises happened with the actress categories. Penélope Cruz got in over Lady Gaga, which was good. Don't like Gaga and she looked so gimmicky in that Gucci film. Judi Dench got in over Caitriona Balfe which was not so good. I mean how can you not like Dench, but Balfe gave maybe the best supporting performance I have seen all year and I am positive it's gonna stay that way, even when I watch some more films from 2021 like West Side Story. Extra spice of course that Balfe and Dench were in the same movie. Balfe and Lady Gaga were nominated for pretty much every big precursor before, so these were the two biggest acting nomination surprises I suppose. Overall, that is it then. The nominations presentation was just really poor, most of all because of the impact it was going for in terms of social issues. Even there, they could not simply stick to the movies. Seeing Phylicia Rashad was okay though. At least she was not ousted too because of her loyalty to Bill Cosby. Worst moment was probably Ross' question if Jordan already got his booster shot, even if I liked the little man's answer there. They must get politic agendas in 100%. This is why the Oscars have lost so much dignity in recent years. This is why they get what they deserve from me. Highly not recommended. More style and class please, after all we are approaching the 100th edition and it is sad to see that the nominations announcement as well as the show itself are really hitting rock bottom these days. So much to improve. Not even the technical side worked from beginning to end. At least they showed all the categories in contrast to the Oscars, but why did they not read out the names of the nominees? Except for Best Picture. Another horrible decision. What a mess. Absolutely don't watch.
The duo got some support from nurses, firefighters and film students when reading out the nominations. And even a famous wrestler. This was maybe the most surprising inclusion here. But to be honest, I could have done without all those. Or maybe not. I could have done without them if the actual hosts had been better. Let's say it like that. The hospital folks were especially cringeworthy. Later on, the girl who loved Twilight was probably happy about Kristen Stewart's nomination. I think Stewart was even a front-runner at some point in her category. The firefighters were cool, also the one reading the nominees and Goodfellas is a classic of course. This was a bit of a nice idea to mention their favorite films. What was not a nice idea was the "professional film enthusiast". What oh what was up with that? This is about the Oscars and they get in a random guy that absolutely nobody knows and let him elaborate on the nominations? Are you kidding me? Honestly, without this inclusion, I maybe would have given two stars more, but this way I just can't. I don't even blame the guy. Of course, he would take the opportunity, but it just made no sense to feature him. His hair was fine, he was also not totally unlikable, but what he had to say was as random and uninspired as it gets. Zero insight. Clearly he just let it all out, the exact lines he practiced before. Zero guts too. He was happy about everything and did not dare to mention even one single snub. And no, Tracee Ellis Ross, we all are not waiting for his insightful elaborations.
As for the nominations, I don't want to go too much into detail. Of course there were surprises. I think Hamaguchi getting in for Best Director was nothing too many expected, even if this category, in terms of the winner, was probably already decided when the nominations were announced. Two other surprises happened with the actress categories. Penélope Cruz got in over Lady Gaga, which was good. Don't like Gaga and she looked so gimmicky in that Gucci film. Judi Dench got in over Caitriona Balfe which was not so good. I mean how can you not like Dench, but Balfe gave maybe the best supporting performance I have seen all year and I am positive it's gonna stay that way, even when I watch some more films from 2021 like West Side Story. Extra spice of course that Balfe and Dench were in the same movie. Balfe and Lady Gaga were nominated for pretty much every big precursor before, so these were the two biggest acting nomination surprises I suppose. Overall, that is it then. The nominations presentation was just really poor, most of all because of the impact it was going for in terms of social issues. Even there, they could not simply stick to the movies. Seeing Phylicia Rashad was okay though. At least she was not ousted too because of her loyalty to Bill Cosby. Worst moment was probably Ross' question if Jordan already got his booster shot, even if I liked the little man's answer there. They must get politic agendas in 100%. This is why the Oscars have lost so much dignity in recent years. This is why they get what they deserve from me. Highly not recommended. More style and class please, after all we are approaching the 100th edition and it is sad to see that the nominations announcement as well as the show itself are really hitting rock bottom these days. So much to improve. Not even the technical side worked from beginning to end. At least they showed all the categories in contrast to the Oscars, but why did they not read out the names of the nominees? Except for Best Picture. Another horrible decision. What a mess. Absolutely don't watch.