The Oscars started off with positivity and laughs but ended with the biggest faux pas in Academy Awards history. Lets recap!

Instead of starting off with the usual “host pretends to be in all the nominated movies schtick”, we were treated to a Justin Timberlake concert. Justin performed his nominated song Can’t Stop The Feeling  from the movie Trolls. It was a welcome change and set the tone for a fun filled evening.

Then we went to the classic monologue with Jimmy Kimmel. He covered the nominated movies, some light politics & said we should stand together as a nation. Here are some highlights:

• “Attempting” to bury the hatchet with Matt Damon
• “Black people saved NASA & white people saved jazz!” (referencing Hidden Figures & La La Land)
• A lot of sad movies this year….
• “In Hollywood, we don’t discriminate on what country you’re from, just your age & weight.”
• Made an “Overrated Meryl”joke & had everyone give her a standing ovation.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

• WINNER: Mahershala Ali-Moonlight
• Jeff Bridges-Hell or High Water
• Lucas Hedges-Manchester By The Sea
• Dev Patel-Lion
• Michael Shannon-Nocturnal Animals

Mahershala Ali became the 1st Muslim to win in the Best Supporting Actor category. He had a very heartfelt speech where he thanked his family & colleagues. He has been having a great year with success in Moonlight, Hidden Figures, and as the villain “Cottonmouth” in the Netflix hit, Luke Cage.

Next there was a Casey Neistat commercial for Samsung showcasing the content YouTube creators make. Maybe some day in the future, online content creators will have a platform as high as the Oscars to celebrate their achievements.

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING:

• WINNER: Suicide Squad
• A Man Called Ove
• Star Trek Beyond

In a surprising twist, the much maligned Suicide Squad took home the Oscar for best makeup. So let that be a lesson kids, even if you fail in some areas, you can succeed in others.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN:

• WINNER: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them-Colleen Atwood
• Allied-Joanna Johnston
• Florence Foster Jenkins-Consolata Boyle
• Jackie-Madeline Fontaine
• La La Land-Mary Zophres

Colleen Atwood was truly shocked that she won & didn’t have a speech prepared but made something up on the fly. Fantastic Beasts had beautiful 20s inspired costumes that fit right in with the rest of the Harry Potter imagery.

The stars of Hidden Figures: Taraji P. Hensen, Octavia Spencer, & Janelle Monae (or as Jimmy called them “Algebra’s Angels”), presented the award for best documentary feature but not before honoring the real Katherine Johnson, who came out on stage in a wheelchair.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:

• WINNER: O.J.: Made in America
• Fire at Sea
• I Am Not Your Negro
• Life, Animated
• 13th 

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson introduced How Far I’ll Go, the nominated song from Moana sung by Auli’i Cravalho with an original rap prologue from Lin Manuel Miranda. It was an amazing performance with beautiful ribbon dancers emulating the ocean in the background. There was a slight mishap where a “wave” hit the back of Auli’s head but she carried on like a pro & no one was the wiser. Bravo to this amazing girl who is only 16 years old. I hope she has a long career ahead of her.

The President of the Academy, Cheryl Boone Isaccs, came out & said a nice speech with one quote that stood out to me: “Tonight is proof that art has no borders… no single language… or belong to a single faith.”

Then in the tradition of giving food to the audience, Jimmy Kimmel had candy drop from the ceiling much to the delight of all. (Now I’m craving some Junior Mints….)

BEST SOUND EDITING:

• WINNER: Arrival
• Deepwater Horizon
• Hacksaw Ridge
• La La Land
• Sully

BEST SOUND MIXING:

• WINNER: Hacksaw Ridge
• Arrival
• La La Land
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
• 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Revlon had a nice commercial involving Lady Gaga, Pharrell & Ellen supporting The Love Project. #AllYouNeedIsLove #Lovein3words

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

• WINNER: Viola Davis-Fences
• Naomie Harris-Moonlight
• Nicole Kidman-Lion
• Octavia Spencer-Hidden Figures
• Michelle Williams-Manchester by the Sea

Viola Davis became the most nominated black actress ever with three nominations. She should get an Oscar just for her speeches. In traditional Viola fashion she made us cry, laugh & contemplate our lives all in one speech. A favorite quote of mine from her speech was, “We are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life.”

The next segment,which was a repeating segment throughout the show, highlighted actors talking about their favorite actors/performances. Charlize Theron talked about Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment and then they presented Best Foreign Language Film. The hilarious Shirley received a standing ovation and made several quips before announcing the winner.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:

• WINNER: The Salesman
• Land of Mine
• A Man Called Ove
• Tanna
• Toni Erdmann

Even though Asghar Farhadi won, he decided not to attend to show solidarity for the immigrants affected by the travel ban. He had a representative read his thank you speech to crowd.

The next nominated song was The Empty Chair from the documentary film Jim: The James Foley Story, performed by the legendary Sting.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM:

• WINNER: Piper
• Blind Vaysha
• Borrowed Time
• Pear Cider and Cigarettes
• Pearl

One of my favorite short films Pixar has ever done. Piper is so beautiful & that little bird is so cute.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:

• WINNER: Zootopia
• Kubo and the Two Strings
• Moana
• My Life as a Zucchini
• The Red Turtle

Zootopia definitely deserved this win for its themes of inclusion and portrayal of prejudice & racism. However, I also loved the stop motion look of Kubo & the songs in Moana were very catchy.

PRODUCTION DESIGN:

• WINNER: La La Land (1st win for La La Land)
• Arrival
• Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them
• Hail, Casear!
• Passengers

Between awards, Jimmy brought in a tour bus of people to enjoy the Oscars with everyone. I for one would have been way more excited than these people.

VISUAL EFFECTS:

• WINNER: Jungle Book
• Deepwater Horizon
• Doctor Strange
• Kubo and the Two Strings
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

I think everyone can agree that a movie that was shot entirely on green screen should definitely win the visual effects award.

Seth Rogan talked about Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future. He then came out in the DeLorean with Michael J. Fox to present best editing. Fox received a standing ovation much to the chagrin of Rogan.

 

BEST EDITING:

• WINNER: Hacksaw Ridge
• Arrival
• Hell or High Water
• La La Land
• Moonlight

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT:

• WINNER: The White Helmets
• Extremis
• 4.1 Miles
• Joe’s Violin
• Watani: My Homeland

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM:

• WINNER: Sing
• Ennemis Interieurs
• La Femme et le TGV
• Silent Nights
• Timecode

Jimmy had some fun with the President when he tweeted him during the show: Hey Trump u up? #Merylsayshi

Javier Bardem talked about Meryl Streep in Bridges of Madison County and then they presented Best Cinematography together.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:

• WINNER: Linus Sandgren- La La Land

Jimmy had a special edition of Celebrities Read Mean Tweets: Oscar Edition with several funny segments. My favorite was Tilda Swinton.

John Legend performed La La Land’s two nominated songs, City of Stars & Audition, on the piano with dancers twirling in the background. I liked his renditions of the songs and the dancers added a great depth to the performance.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:

• WINNER: Justin Hurwitz- La La Land
• Jackie
• Lion
• Moonlight
• Passengers

BEST ORIGINAL SONG:

• WINNER: City of Stars- La La Land
• Audition (The Fools Who Dream)
• Can’t Stop The Feeling
• The Empty Chair
• How Far I’ll Go

IN MEMORIUM:

Performed by the very talented Sara Barellies.

So many legends have been lost this year that this segment could have gone on for the whole length of the show. It was a very nice tribute.

Continuing the actors talking about actors who inspire them, Jimmy Kimmel talked about Matt Damon’s performance in We Bought a Zoo. It was probably one of my fav Jimmy/Matt moments of the night.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

• WINNER: Manchester By The Sea

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

• WINNER: Moonlight

BEST DIRECTING:

• WINNER: La La Land
• Arrival
• Hacksaw Ridge
• Manchester By The Sea
• Moonlight

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:

• WINNER: Casey Affleck-Manchester By The Sea
• Andrew Garfield-Hacksaw Ridge
• Ryan Gosling- La La Land
• Viggo Mortensen- Captain Fantastic
• Denzel Washington- Fences

There were a lot of good performances in this category but I think Denzel got robbed. Casey is a good actor but Denzel is just on another level in my opinion. Also what Casey does in his personal life is not something I support.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:

• WINNER: Emma Stone- La La Land
• Isabelle Huppert-Elle
• Ruth Negga-Loving
• Natalie Portman-Jackie
• Meryl Streep-Florence Foster Jenkins

It’s been such a privilege to follow Emma’s career from Superbad to La La Land and everywhere in between. She gave such a genuine speech & I can’t wait to see where else her career takes her.

BEST PICTURE:

• WINNER: Moonlight
• Arrival
• Fences
• Hacksaw Ridge
• Hell or High Water
• Hidden Figures
• La La Land
• Lion
• Manchester by the Sea

Ok here is where all the chaos happened…..Faye Dunaway & Warren Beatty came out to present the last award of the night. Two classic actors presenting the biggest honor a film can receive. What could go wrong?

Apparently Warren received the wrong envelope. His envelope was for Best Actress and it read “Emma Stone-La La Land“. So instead of maybe double checking, he passed the envelope on to Faye Dunaway who said the winner was La La Land. Cast & producers of La La Land came up to say their speeches & people with headsets started to appear on stage.

After much discussing, one of La La Land’s producers is given the correct envelope revealing Moonlight to be the actual winner. Warren tried to explain the blunder but the damage was done. Jimmy Kimmel tried to calm things over & make light of the situation by blaming Steve Harvey. La La Land graciously exited the stage while Moonlight came up, bewildered & shocked, to accept their award for Best Picture.

This has never happened before in the history of the Oscars. It was a horrible situation that you never want to happen but everyone involved handled it with class and humility.

Overall the Oscars was a fun filled evening with many predictable but deserving wins none the less. Although one mess up will be the headline for this event for years to come, I hope we don’t forget the many amazing moments that made this one of the most enjoyable Academy Awards to date.