The Oscars score a win

    Yes, the Oscar show was better than usual. Much better.

   Some more or less random reactions. * John Cena's nude bit prior to the best costume design award provided a classic Oscar moment. * Host Jimmy Kimmel hit a few out of the park and whiffed on others. * Ryan Gosling's performance of I'm Just Ken played well with the crowd. * The In Memoriam segment might have played better for the audience than it did on TV. * Someone needs to buy Al Pacino reading glasses. He turned the best-picture announcement into a muffled anti-climax. * 20 Days in Mariupol won the Oscar for best documentary, the first ever Ukrainian film to win an Oscar. Director Mstyslav Chernov's acceptance speech was moving, direct, and properly pointed. * Director Jonathan Glazer's Gaza-referencing acceptance speech when The Zone of Interest won best international film was too hurried. I had to go back and read it online. * It was meaningful to see previous Oscar winning actors address nominees in their respective categories. * I was happy American Fiction (best adapted screenplay) won something. * I wasn't upset that Killers of the Flower Moon and Maestro were shut out. * Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse should have won best animated feature. The Boy and the Heron took the prize. It has been billed as director Hayao Miyazaki's last movie and he's a master of Japanese anime, so ..... * I'm puzzled by those who think Oppenheimer -- the night's big winner with seven awards, including best picture -- is too conventional. Does every picture need to follow in the Everything Everywhere All At Once footsteps? *  If I had an Oscar vote, I'd have voted for best-actress winner Emma Stone (Poor Things) over Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon). That doesn't mean I didn't admire Gladstone's work, but Stone's daring performance was in a class of its own. * I look forward to the day when Mark Ruffalo, nominated in the best-supporting actor category for Poor Things, wins an Oscar. Ditto for Paul Giamatti, who didn't receive a best actor Oscar for his work in The Holdovers. And ditto, too, for Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction). * Enough. Time to move on to this year's movies. Good luck to us all.