​The "asterisk" Oscars played out nearly exactly as expected from an award standpoint, with only a few exceptions upsetting the apple cart of what critics were saying would happen.

There were well-deserved wins for people of color.

There were ho-hum wins for films that... well, maybe shouldn't have won. (Looking at you, Pixar).

The combination of "Sound Editing" and "Sound Mixing" into "Best Sound" is a welcome change for those of us who fill out ballots.

I get the reasoning, but "International Feature" sounds weird after years of saying "Foreign Film".

There were a few, great, moving speeches by grateful winners.

There were far too many rambling, too-long acceptance speeches from most of the technical community.

The decision to not cut off any of the winners was bold, and something that allowed beautiful things to happen, and added to the rambling from some.

Perhaps some categories should still be clocked?

There were two honorary Oscars handed out, and both were beautiful moments.

I have a newfound respect for Tyler Perry.

My respect for Harrison Ford not having any fucks to give has grown even more.

Was Harrison's nose broken?

I've lamented the earlier start time for years. February is not Oscar season. March or April is Oscar season. And yet this year it felt SOOOO out of place to be doing it this late. I guess you finally got me, Academy. Go back to February.

With the expanded timeline of eligibility this year, the nominations were pulled from a much larger playing field. Were certain films at a disadvantage?

If we return to a normal time frame next year, does that mean films are better positioned to be nominated, coming from a smaller pool of eligibility?

The pacing was rushed, the show felt like it was sprinting through forgone conclusions to the finish line. The lack of musical numbers, hosts, jokes, montages, and celebrations of years past left a sterile, clinical taste to the whole thing.

What the hell was up with the In Memorium editing? Disrespectful.

Obviously, the change-up in category order was done to end the evening with a beautiful tribute to Chadwick Boseman, posthumously winning Best Actor. But he didn't win. Instead, the award went to Anthony Hopkins, who wasn't even there. So the whole evening ended on a whimper.

The train station locale was... weird. It's a beautiful room, and they shot it interestingly from a number of different angles, but not quite enough to make it compelling. Part of the problem was the loss of scale. The Kodak Theater is HUGE. It's imposing. It feeds into the overstuffed night of glamour and excess the Oscars SHOULD be.

This pared-down economic affair lacked all of the glitz and pomp and circumstance that normally comes with Oscar night, and consequently, genuinely felt like it had lost its heart. This was not the self-obsessed pageantry and celebration of FILM, but yet another awards ceremony in a long line of them. It was, with a handful of exceptions, kinda boring.

And yet, as always, I look forward to next year.

Hollywood, and by extension "the movies", is in trouble.

Watching the entertainment industry implode this year as COVID-19 has ravaged the country and made us all shut-ins among all the shut-downs has been a fascinating look at the crisis in a microcosm. We've talked about theatrical windows and theatres being in trouble for years. Hollywood has become an Orobus, eating their own tail. The big, tent pole titles are essential elements to a studio's survival. Studios spend more and more money marketing their big, tent pole titles. Theatres are dependent upon those big, tent pole titles doing well and keeping them afloat, but fight over how large a slice of the pie the studios take and how long they have to make money before that same big, tent pole title goes streaming.

And then the unthinkable happens. One of those tent poles underperforms, sending ripples throughout the entire industry, forcing the studios to spend MORE money marketing the next big, tent pole title to shore things up...

We were all kinda waiting for the next failure. Spielberg himself said the entire film industry is only two back to back bombs away from collapsing, and we all watch, waiting.

And then the truly unthinkable happens. Theatres close. The pandemic shuts it down, everything from filming to distribution. And we wait. And wait. And wait...

And a couple of studios say, "hey, we have an outlet for this, it's just not theatrical. Let's try releasing it that way and recouping some money that we spend marketing it!" To which the theatres cry foul over being cut out of the loop all together. Universal brings Trolls: World Tour to families cooped up in quarantine. Theatres respond with threats to NOT show Universal titles including Jurassic World 3 next year. The House of Mouse decides to create an additional "premium" paywall for the Mulan remake on Disney+, and the theatres... well the theatres say nothing because Disney owns just about everything anyway and they're too big to fight.

The pandemic worsens, studios shuffle release dates like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, theatres close indefinitely, and suddenly all those big, tent pole titles the studios rely on are no longer big tent poles, but big negatives on the studio ledger sheet. They COST money, but didn't MAKE money.

One thing is abundantly clear: the industry was not, and is not equipped to handle a disaster like this. Beyond the fact that even releasing these films on streaming platforms (weather the studios own them, like Pixar's Soul going to Disney+, or selling them Sony/MGM asking for 600 million dollars to bypass theatres with the streaming rights to the Bond flick No Time To Die) is NOT making them the money these films NEED to make, studios are in a bind in that there was a shutdown from the pandemic on things that were currently in production. Which means that even if we got back to normal tomorrow, there would suddenly be ANOTHER hole in the programing schedule once the content that is already produced has run its course but before the new content is available.

Or worse, the fact that studios are continuing to make deals and produce new content. Think about it. They have to proceed with business as usual, buying books to adapt, casting new television series and movies, etc... but may not have anyway to release the content if the theatres are gone, even with their digital distribution hubs. And if theatres do survive, who's to say audiences are ready to return?

The outlook is bleak, and anyway you slice it, the industry is about to change...

Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker will end the "saga" storyline of a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away this December. Like them or not, the X-Men movies wraps up their stay at FOX with Dark Phoenix (or New Mutants) this year. We're getting a third Bad Boys, Bill and Ted, Ghostbusters, and John Wick, and one has to wonder which of these will be the "final" outing, completing the trilogy for those series. Only one more Fantastic Beasts movie is planned, and the Wizarding World is done, two more Godzilla films on the horizon, but one has to wonder how much momentum they can sustain beyond that (or if they should). 
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The abortive "Dark Universe" over at Universal can't seem to catch a break. Tarantino has announced his retirement after only two more movies, and even Kevin Smith returning to the Askewniverse with the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot won't make another beyond that. On television, Star Trek Discovery has wildly divided fans, Game of Thrones is closing down shop as we speak,  Orange is the New Black, Gotham, Vikings, iZombie, Mr. Robot and The Big Bang Theory are all hanging it up this season.
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My point is, that geeks are losing a LOT of content in the immediate future.
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And yes, I know Marvel isn't done making movies. Star Wars will endure. There probably will be another John Wick. J.K. Rowling will find a way to squeeze another Wizarding World movie into ours. We'll get the occasional 4th film in a trilogy, some will be Crystal Skull, some will be Fury Road. New TV shows will crop up to fill the void left by the old. (Personally looking very much forward to both The Dark Tower and Lord of the Rings).
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But still, it's hard to say goodbye to all these friends so closely to one another, especially given how so many of these are bound to end.
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Looking at you, Thanos.

Well, another Academy Awards broadcast in the books, and 2019 was nothing if not... interesting. Here's my thoughts on the positives and negatives:

Ah well, there's always next year...

Sure, we've had the usual how can so-and-so not be nominated for such-and-such for years. We've had the political commentary, we've had the stuck in a rut same kind of film winners for decades. Lately, the controversies have gotten more varied, ranging from super serious and topical to ultra ridiculous and back again. It started with #OscarsSoWhite when in 2016, for the second year in a row, all 20 actors nominated in the lead and supporting acting categories were white despite a slew of popular and powerful performances given by minority actors. This lead to complaints, boycotts and calls for change. Then we had Time's Up and #MeToo movements dealing with sexism and harassment against women, which Hollywood is rife with. We've all heard of the casting couch, and it wouldn't be a trope if it wasn't a thing. And Oscars addressed it. Kind of. A few more jokes were made, a few montages were shown, but in general it was light on content and impact, and it took Frances McDormand in her acceptance speech for Three Billboards to declare, “I have two words to leave with you tonight ... inclusion rider.” She had wound up the audience to expect Time's Up. Instead, she gave them instead was something concrete — a practical suggestion that could lead to real money for people of color, women of all races, and other underrepresented groups in Hollywood.

What... the actual... FUCK?!? Are you guys shitting me? Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film? What is this? The goddamn MTV Movie Awards? Evidently, cooler heads prevailed, as the Academy has shelved that particular award, at least for this year, and Black Panther has gone on to actually be nominated for Best Picture, along with five other Oscars.

And then, there's the running length. The broadcast has been running long since even before it was a broadcast. Hell, Bob Hope made jokes about the running length when he was host. And yet, Oscar seems to think it needs to cut corners by shortening speeches, cutting off presenters, eliminating segments, or the newest outcry: giving out awards during commercial breaks.