Reaction to the 2021 Oscars

Oh boy, last night's show. It was certainly different but not all of twists and turns the producers implemented worked in the end. In fact, a lot of them straight up sucked, especially with the absolutely horrible decision for the final award which blew up in their face and is now hailed by viewers and critics as an even worst finale than the Moonlight/La La Land screwup.

12-11. Now with the sound categories merged, I can no longer get my standard 13-11 but I still didn't improved at all.

We of course kicked everything off with the newly revamped preshow that stunk. The whole environment reeked of a hoity-toity country club.

Lil Rel Howery and Ariana DeBose were fine as the preshow hosts but the casual nature of the site, the open air, and low stakes in the interviews sucked out a lot of their charisma. This is why you have the always-on hyperactive stooges handling the mics. Though given the nominees and guests expected, even Ryan Seacrest didn't care to waste his energy on this whole endeavor.

The "Husavik" performance went all out and absolutely killed it. They really didn't want the other nominees to have a chance with the viewers.

Complete snore to the Diane Warren song. The first of four nominees to be treated less of a performance and more of a product placement for the new Academy museum.

#Bigscreenisback huh? Then how come Mortal Kombat nearly lost to Demon Slayer at this weekend's box office? It should have had a huge lead if your hashtag was really true.

The Chicago 7 song was fine but certainly not best of the year worthy. Sounds like something pulled from the cobwebs.

"Speak Now" has a nice haunting vibe to it but it gets very repetitive and doesn't really stick with you. Still think it will win unfortunately.

Still not many real movie stars being interviewed. No wonder this show is going to bomb in the ratings.

Alright, "Fight For You" put a ton of effort into their performance. Direction, choreography, proper COVID protocols, everything. The open air took away some of H.E.R.'s voice but the whole thing still popped off.

The show officially begins with a long tracking shot of Regina King walking while opening credits are placed on the screen. This was actually pretty good.

Oh wait, they are seriously going to keep the cinematic widescreen going forward? It doesn't actually make the show any more interesting.

Seriously come on, I want film clips for the nominees, not facts about the lives and backstories. That's why you have talk shows and interviews before this event. Facts about a nominee's first movie-related job doesn't make me or anyone in America want to watch their movie. But a great movie clip can, hence why they always get A TON of views on YouTube.

The daylight is killing the whole mystique of the ceremony.

I guess the other screenwriter of The Father was banned from speaking, so he had to just awkwardly stand there. The director rules all.

Oh thank god, we have some clips! Yes, sell these foreign films to the public!

Of course the most happiest foreign film won over all of the depressing stuff. But then that became depressing as well with Thomas Vinterberg's touching yet distressing speech about the loss of his daughter.

I do really appreciate no orchestra walk off music for the nominees but some of these earlier winners need to cut to the chase or just go out on a high note.

Oh no, they're doing that routine where they lavishly praise the actors again. Everybody balked at that the first time around. Just play their award showcase clips!

Very happy with Daniel Kaluuya getting an Oscar. I also really enjoyed his very British rambling acceptance speech, even when he pretty much ruined by bringing up his parents having sex and the cut to his actual mother and her WTF response.

So I guess the Oscars are now the Super Bowl and giving the hard sell to only special Hollywood movies. First one up is Steven Spielberg's West Side Story. Remaking it is still unnecessary but this sucker is going to go, even with persona non grata Ansel Elgort being in it.

Yeah, don't show what the hair and makeup or costume people actually did. America would rather just see them sitting in couches. It's not like you're wasting all of the empty space on the television screen or do a picture in picture.

Look, what the MPTF did is cool and all but this special award is death for TV. It reeked of a corporate awards event.

Wait, what?! Best Director already?!!!

Chloé Zhao making history and having a very nice speech about the goodness of people. All around yes.

Now we have Best Sound and of course no sound or any examples.

Reese Witherspoon did a really great job with her presenting the animated categories.

Yes to If Anything Happens I Love You! Again, it's really hard to happy when saying that.

Yes, yes to Best Animated Film getting clips. Thank god! Wish the shorts got it too to show off their hard work.

Disney wins again with Soul. Come on, give us another Spider-Verse like surprise!

Of course the Holocaust doc won. Stay in your lane, the Academy.

Now the feature docs get clips as well.

My Octopus Teacher?!!! Freaking wow. If it had to be a Netflix doc, couldn't you have given it to a better one?

Look at all of those great visual effects from last year. That low camera shot! That person sitting down in a remote theater!

Youn Yuh-jung with a very endearing speech for Best Support Actress. Probably the best one of the night.

Oh now that want to implement walk off music?

Now for the hard sell for In The Heights. Is F9 being saved for hour three?

I'll admit, I liked the joke about the test reactions to Blade Runner for the intro to Best Editing.

We lost all of the song performances just so Tyler Perry can be praised. Honestly though, it was worth it to hear him with his great speech about meeting in the middle.

Complete dead air silence for Best Score.

Those 12 notes are in fact so dope, Jon Batiste.

Now we are granted to hear the Best Songs of last year, albeit via their music videos.

I love H.E.R. but come on! "Husavik" was robbed in favor of something that will sadly fade away.

We're now playing a music game? The clock is running on the show!

Okay, this segment was worth it in the end. Andra Day swearing, Get Out spoilers, and a set up joke with Glenn Close knowing and dancing to "Da Butt" for School Daze.

So hour three's movie hard sell is Questlove's music doc. I'm certainly down for that.

Using a somber but uplifting song (Stevie Wonder's "As") for In Memoriam was a nice different choice. I both liked and didn't liked the fast editing.

Best Picture?! Now?!!!

"Oh wow!" I wonder what the producers are planning to do, despite causing the show to feel anticlimactic.

At least they showed clips of them, even if they are mostly acting clips.

Loved Joel Coen with his stone face reaction to his wife's wolf calling when Nomadland won Best Picture.

Frances won? NO! I wonder what will come next!

HOPKINS???!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!!!

And we end. Nothing to see here folks besides a total disaster zone.

The Academy: We are not inclusive

Final Award of the Night: Old white guy wins LOL

Seriously, you had a chance where people of color could deservedly win all of or at least the majority of the acting categories for the first time ever. Instead, the Academy chose to have white people for the main two.

Mortal Kombat (2021) - Review

Crappy washed-up MMA fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan) finds out that his dragon-like birthmark actually designates him to be one of Earth's mightiest champions to save their realm from an interdimensional combat tournament called Mortal Kombat. Unfortunately for the pitiful pit fighter, he needs to quickly get up to snuff because the leader of Outrealm Shang Tsung (Chin Han) is dispatching some of his warriors out to kill the competition before the tournament officially begins. Yes, you read that right; MORTAL KOMBAT forgoes the easy layup of a violent martial arts tournament just so it can have a series of tepid fights and confusing warfare all in order to be nothing of substantial worth but to set up a sequel. Though this is far and away better than MORTAL KOMBAT: ANNIHILATION, the reboot does share some of the big problems that sunk that infamous sequel.

The script by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham is woefully poor, riddled with way too many cheeky references and in-jokes to cover up all of its shortcomings. Why complain about the shitty opening text screen or how all the heroes are assholes to each other when I can be a sheep and point and clap at the repetitive leg-sweeps, the usage of the famed uppercut, or cameos such as Shinnok's amulet? Wait, some of the people actually do their fatalities in all of their gloriously gory fashion? And there's also a random guy named Eddy Tobias?! That totally makes up for the absolutely stupid way all of the heroes have to find their hidden magical abilities. Or how a mouthy mercenary who is clearly evil is treated to be a savior of humanity until he "shockingly" might have a chance of allegiance for pathetically limp reasons. Or how the newly generated main protagonist is incredibly ineffectual on his own and utterly devoid of charisma to be the supposed prophetic leader of Earthrealm.

It further doesn't help that the script is filled with plot holes that would outstretch any portal generated by a thunder god or a soul-sucking sorcerer. I don't know what I suffered more from; Was it how a left-for-dead non-designated hero somehow arrived early and with ease to a secluded location than Earth's last remaining defenders of the realm? Or maybe it is how Earth's diety protector Raiden always has willy-nilly teleportation powers, including the ability to transport Earth's heroes into an ultra-safe void environment that Shang Tsung could never ever penetrate, but choses not to. Other written embarrassments include the eye-rolling pop culture laden insults (nearly all of whom just happen to be Warner Bros movies), an arcana power being easily defeated by modern medicine, and the rushed final third of the picture consisting of a big battle, a "major" death, then an immediate final series of brief fights. Then you have the fireworks factory that is Scorpion, one of if not the most popular character of the franchise. After an admittedly good prologue, the legendary hell ninja is goofily teased and teased until surprise, he pops up in time for one last fight. He also pops in to save the wimpy hero but we are supposed to not pay too much attention to that.  All of this would have been a fun shock if not for the sheer fact that he is all over the poster and all of the trailer and commercial media spoils nearly the entire fight.

Eerily similar to MK: ANNIHILATION, Warner Bros gave the film to an unproven director and it clearly shows. Simon McQuoid is adequate enough to make a couple of good scenes but they are all front loaded in the movie. He proceeds to go on auto-pilot for the rest of film when he isn't tanking a scene thanks to bad lighting or laughable editing. All of the actual combat scenes are often executed confusingly, due to bad camera placement or flat choreography or both, and are way too brief to be totally satisfying. The visual effects are a very mixed bag. Though I often hate CGI blood, I didn't really mind it too much here and the gory fatalities were pretty damn good at being gory. The effects crew also did a fine enough job with most of the special moves and a certain midboss character. On the other hand, one notable character is given robotic arms that look so fake and are so pitifully tiny that they immediately break the suspension and will cause you and your audience to burst out laughing every time you see them. And the less said about Raiden's eyes, the better. As for the acting, look: I spent a lot of this review ridiculing Cole Young and how he is written and shown on screen. It's nice that we got another non-white main character for this film franchise and Lewis Tan is probably a nice guy but he doesn't have the ability to shine past his character's bottomless shortcomings. The rest of the cast is serviceable enough but the only two to stand out at all are Joe Taslim and Hiroyuki Sanada as Sub-Zero and Scorpion respectively. Taslim does well as a total menace from beginning to end whenever the story remembers his character exists and Sanada brings some real gravitas as the tragic ninja when he's not distracting you with the fiddling of his mask.

As someone who's been in love with the franchise since its inception, still utterly adores the 1995 movie, warts and all, and continues to listen to its and the sequel's excellent house-and-metal soundtracks, I know that I will more than likely revisit this reboot more than once down the road and give far it more attention compared to better reviewed flicks. But time will not sand off the many harsh edges this disappointing reboot will forever have. To be honest, thanks to this being released via HBO Max, my time with it was actually more enjoyable even with all of the snickers and groans. If I saw this in theaters, I would have been more crestfallen and maybe even harsher against it.

FINAL REVIEW: 2 / 5

2021 Oscars Predictions

As always, these are my predictions to win, not who or what movie I wish would win.

Best Picture: Minari

Best Actor: Chadwick Boseman - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Best Actress: Frances McDormand - Nomadland

Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Kaluuya - Judas and the Black Messiah

Best Supporting Actress: Amanda Seyfried - Mank

Best Director: Chloé Zhao - Nomadland

Best Original Screenplay: Lee Isaac Chung - Minari

Best Adapted Screenplay: Kemp Powers - One Night In Miami...

Best Animated Film: Soul

Best International Feature Film: Another Round

Best Documentary Film: Time

Best Documentary (Short Subject): A Love Song For Latasha

Best Animated Short Film: If Anything Happens I Love You

Best Live Action Short Film: Two Distant Strangers

Best Original Score: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste - Soul

Best Original Song: "Speak Now" - One Night In Miami...

Best Cinematography: Sean Bobbitt - Judas and the Black Messiah

Best Film Editing: Chloé Zhao - Nomadland

Best Production Design: Donald Graham Burt and Jan Pascale - Mank

Best Costume Design: Ann Roth - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Colleen LaBaff, Kimberley Spiteri and Gigi Williams - Mank

Best Sound: Sound of Metal

Best Visual Effects: Tenet

Oh boy, I can't wait the most unanticipated Oscars of all time, which is sure to net its worst television ratings of all time!

Seriously though, I so don't really care for this year's Oscars even as a diehard fan. The rest of America will be more vicious and not even bother to watch or care.

I really believe that the Academy will want something more uplifting for Best Picture after last year's (justifiable) winner and a year of pure misery for the world and for cinema. Chloé Zhao is going to be fine as the second female winner of Best Director and more than likely recipient of the award for Best Film Editing.

Three of the acting slots are essentially easy locks (though again it's odd how a principal actor in a film is considered a supporting role) which leaves Best Supporting Actress just hanging there. There's absolutely no way the Academy is going to give another award to anything Borat, Coleman already has one, and Youn Yuh-jung is there just to be the designated foreign filler. I and many critics really don't want Glenn Close to finally get her Oscar for a much maligned movie so I'm putting my bet down on the good ole "award the ingénue" ploy with Seyfried.

If Chung gets Best Screenplay, Minari winning Best Picture will be an absolute certain.

It would be really cool if Wolfwalkers took the crown but the Disney machine and their loyal followers in the Academy will most likely give Best Animated Feature to Soul.

Considering it got a Best Director nomination and the other four nominees deal with very depressing subjects, Another Round is sure to win Best International Feature Film.

Maybe it's because I'm still reeling from the Derek Chauvin verdict. Maybe it's because of all of the tragedies and hateful rhetoric we Americans have gone through for the past four years (and sadly even beyond that). But I really do believe that the Academy is gonna hand out a lot of its secondary awards to the ones about black lives and gun violence. Both because they want to pat themselves on their back for doing a good job but also justifiable giving attention and praise to some stellar work. I can certainly vouch for If Anything Happens I Love You for Best Animated Short and Time is just too big of a critical darling to fail at winning Best Documentary Film.

Soul just has to win Best Score. Reznor and Ross are going to pull a Holly Hunter, not a Sigourney Weaver. Similarly, Sound of Metal has to win Best Sound. It has it in its name!

I really want "Husavik" to win Best Song, and I'll be cheering for Molly Sandén, but again, the Academy is in a mood and would rather go for Leslie Odom Jr. than some Swede. Though, to be honest, I think a lot of people will say the same thing.

I feel pretty bad about leaving the tech awards to just rot. I usually really like to pick these. I went with Bobbitt for Best Cinematography mainly for my love of his previous work. I could see Mank nabbing all three aesthetic awards but something tells me Ma Rainey's Black Bottom will be a spoiler. And I went with it but I won't lie: I will laugh if Tenet loses out.

See you on Monday with my reaction to the awards and the ceremony itself.