Let’s take a look at how I did. Not bad. I’ve done better in the past (Sorry, I have no photographic evidence to support my claim,, you’re just going to have to believe me).

I made predictions in 21 of the 23 categories. I left out Live Action and Animated shorts because I had seen none of them and really didn’t know enough to make an educated guess.
I missed four categories. I was hoping West Side Story would win, but I knew in the back of my head that Cruella was going to take the trophy..
As I stated in my predictions, I thought Mitchells v the Machines would have a late surge, but Encanto was strong enough to hold on.
I completely whiffed on the screenwriting categories. I thought The Worst Person in the World deserved the Oscar, but figured I was alone on Joachim Trier island. My guess was Licorice Pizza. Belfast surprised me. At lease Don’t Look Up didn’t win. For adapted screenplay, I thought Maggie Gyllenhaal would get some kind of recognition for her film, but it was CODA’s night. It’s not a bad screenplay. I just liked The Lost Daughter better.

The rest went as I thought it would. I’m not some predicting genius. A lot of these were obvious if you did a little research. So yay me. I can research. 5 years of college didn’t go to waste. Thanks CSUN.

The show was a complete mess. Nearly 3 hours and 45 minutes of mostly crap. They pushed the below the line categories to the pre show and replaced those awards with some absolutely terrible bits. If the Wanda Sykes tour of the Academy Museum was supposed to motivate me to visit, it had the opposite effect. Regina Hall’s bit about the testing hot guys was cringeworthy. As was the Hall and Sykes bit about giveaways. Not funny. Not even close to funny. Not even in the neighborhood.

The reunions were nice, yet completely pointless. The “hey look who we got together” gawking was just dumb and did nothing to celebrate those films. The Godfather tribute did nothing for me other than make me concerned for Al Pacino’s health. Why didn’t he and Robert De Niro talk?

The In Memoriam segment was a complete disaster. A little TV 101 from someone who’s been in the business 35 years. Don’t make it harder for the audience to watch. I could barely read some of the names when they were placed on the giant screen at the back of the stage. Why were there dancers in the first place? The little speech interludes were nice, but Betty White? Yes, she’s a legend. But she made her mark in TV. Felt out of place at the Oscars. And Spirit in the Sky was a bizarre choice. One of the lines is “put your trust in Jesus”. Wonder how the Jews, Muslims or Atheists in that part of the “number” felt about invoking Christian iconography.

You’re waiting for me to talk about Will Smith and Chris Rock. I’m not going there. The one thing I will say is I felt terrible for Questlove. It stole his moment. That sucks.

I’m glad CODA won. It was the feel good movie we all needed. Will it go down in the pantheon of great Oscar winners? Probably not. Drive My Car, Dune and The Power of the Dog are probably better movies. But what’s wrong with making everyone smile after 2 years of panic and anxiety. Nothing at all.