The 92nd Academy Awards are in the books - Parasite was the big winner

The 92nd Academy Awards start in just a couple of minutes. It will be hostless this year, and I'm okay with it. It was still long last year, but slightly less annoying.

Janelle Monae is opening as Mister Rogers, singing "It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood", and now into an opening number celebrating the Oscars. Steve Martin and Chris Rock are presenting something, right now they're kind of doing the intro schtick  that I thought not having a host avoids. I guess not. Although Chris Rock got in a little dig about the lack of women and black nominees. It's going on a little long though. Oh I guess they're not presenting. Regina King is presenting for Best Supporting Actor, I think Joe Pesci should get it for his role in The Irishman. Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers, Anthony Hopkins as Pope Benedict in Two Popes, Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffman in The Irishman, Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Brad Pitt won. It is his first acting Oscar. I'm okay with that, he did a good job as Cliff Booth. That was a good speech.

First commercial break.

Mindy Kaling is presenting Best Animated Feature Film. I really hope Klaus wins. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, boring; I Lost My Body, no, I lost my mind; Missing Link which I liked; Toy Story 4, meh and Toy Story 4 won. Seriously? I guess I'm not shocked, just disappointed. Go see Klaus online. The nominees for Best Animated Short: Dcera, Hair Love, Kitbull, Memorable and Sister. My favorite is Hair Love. Which just one. Awesome.

Josh Gad presenting Idina Menzel and Aurora for Frozen 2's song "Into the Unknown". Wow. Pretty cool, they have Elsa's from around the world singing different lines in their language.

Diane Keaton and Keanu Reeves are presenting the Best Original Screenplay: Knives Out, Marriage Story, 1917, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Parasite. The winner is Parasite. That or Knives Out was my choice. South Korea's first Oscar. Timothy Challemet and Natalie Portman are presenting Best Adapted Screenplay: The Irishman, Little Women (ugh), Joker (another ugh), Jojo Rabbit (my favorite), The Two Popes. YES! Jojo Rabbit won, Taika Waititi. Shia LeBeouf and Zack Gottsagen  (from The Peanut Butter Falcon) are presenting the Live Action Short Film nominees. Brotherhood, Nefta Football Club, The Neighbors' Window, Saria (probable winner), A Sister (my favorite). The Neighbors' Window. Eh.

Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig are presenting Best Production Design: The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, 1917 (probable winner), Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Parasite. The winner is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Ok. Hard to quibble with any of the nominees, because the sets were terrific. Nominees for Best Costume Design (they are singing right now): The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, Joker, Little Women, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. No clue who will win. Little Women. Ok. It was the costumes I had a problem with. The song from Breakthrough, "I'm Standing with You" sung by Chrissy Metz.

Mark Ruffalo is presenting Best Documentary with a pwoerful introduction from previous documentaries and documentary creators. This is a tough call for me. I've seen about half of the feature films. My favorite I think is American Factory (on Netflix); The Cave (haven't seen it yet); The Edge of Democracy; For Sama; Honeyland (haven't seen it yet). The winner is American Factory! It is very powerful (they all are really), check it out. I've seen all of the documentary shorts except for St. Louis Superman. They are all so good and you should check them out. Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone if you're a Girl, Life Overtakes Me, In the Absence, St. Louis Superman, Walk Run Cha Cha. The Oscar goes to Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone if you're a Girl. SUPER!!! It is so good. It will make you smile and cry.

Mahershala Ali is presenting Best Supporting Actress. Laura Dern in Marriage Story (not my favorite), Scarlett Johanssen in Jojo Rabbit; Kathy Bates in Richard Jewell, Florence Pugh in Little Women; Margot Robbie in Bombshell. The Oscar goes to Laura Dern. I guess it was a forgone conclusion, but that was not my favorite role or performance. The best thing is that her mom, Diane Ladd is sitting with her, and I love her.

So, I probably missed it, but why was Eminem on? It was a great performance, a lot of people were singing along, but was it from a movie I missed on my list? I mean, the show is long enough, and they have plenty of music from current films, so why? It really wasn't clear from Lin-Manuel Miranda's introduction. I don't know. Whatever.

Oscar Isaac and Selma Hayek Pinault present the Best Sound Editing nominees: 1917, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Ford v Ferrari, Joker. The Oscar goes to Ford v Ferrari which I think I called when I wrote my original review. It was like being on one of the cars with that sound. Sound mixing nominees: Ad Astra, Ford v Ferrari, Joker, 1917, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The Oscar goes to 1917. I think this is the first award of the night for 1917.

Randy Newman is performing "I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away" from Toy Story 4 (this cannot be the winner, it just can't).

Will Farrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus are presenting Best Cinematographer: The Irishman, Lawrence Sher, The Lighthouse, Jarin Blaschke, 1917 Roger Deakins, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Robert Richardson. Roger Deakins wins for 1917. Well deserved. It was a beautifully filmed movie with some amazing camera work. Film editing: Ford v Ferrari, The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, Joker, Parasite. Ford v Ferrari won, which totally makes sense; the editing, both film and sound.

If my counting is right, which is doubtful, there are eight more categories to go. Can they do it in an hour? I don't think so. Cynthia Erivo is going to be singing the song, "Stand Up" from Harriet. I just got chills. Rebel Wilson and James Corden are presenting Best Visual Effects as their characters from Cats. Nominees are Avengers: Endgame, The Irishman, The Lion King, 1917, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The Oscar goes to 1917. Ray Romano and Sandra Oh are presenting for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, nominees are: Bombshell, Joker, Judy, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, 1917. The Oscar goes to Bombshell, maybe because they had to makeover so many more people, but the work done on Judy was really incredible, Renee Zellweger was transformed.

Penelope Cruz is presenting Best International Feature Film: Corpus Christi (Poland), Honeyland (North Macedonia), Les Miserables (France), Pain and Glory (Spain), Parasite (S. Korea). Parasite wins, but I have heard wonderful things about Honeyland, which was also nominated for Best Documentary. If you haven't seen Parasite, you should check it out. The director, Bong Joon ho has just asked the crew and cast to stand.

Elton John is performing "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again" from Rocketman. It's good, but I really don't think it's the best song. He looks like he's having a great time. Randy Newman didn't look thrilled, but I think that's just how he looks.

Gal Gadot, Sigourney Weaver and Brie Larson are presenting Best Original Scores: Little Women, 1917, Marriage Story, Joker, Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker. The winner is Hildur Gudnadottir for Joker (is she the first female composer to win an Oscar for an original score?). And now the Best Original Song: "I Can't Let you Throw Yourself Away", "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again", "I'm Standing with You", "Into the Unknown" and "Stand Up". Elton John and Bernie Taupin won. I don't think it really was the best song for a film. That's kind of disappointing.

Spike Lee presenting Best Director: Martin Scorsese - The Irishman, Todd Phillips - Joker, Sam Mendes - 1917, Quentin Tarantino - Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Bong Joon ho - Parasite. The Oscar goes to Bong Joon ho for Parasite. That was cool. Bong Joon ho names Martin Scorsese as an inspiration. Steven Spielberg is introducing the In Memoriam section, there were a lot of losses last year. Billie Eilish is singing "Yesterday".

Olivia Colman is presenting Best Actor (she is very funny) Jonathan Pryce - Two Popes, Joaquin Phoenix - Joker (probable winner), Adam Driver - Marriage Story, Leonardo DiCaprio - Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Antonio Banderas - Pain and Glory. The winner is Joaquin Phoenix for Joker. I think it would have been a bigger surprise had he not won. He just gave a very emotional speech, I don't think I can fairly capture it here.

Rami Malek is presenting for the Best Actress: Cynthia Erivo - Harriet, Scarlet Johansson - Marriage Story, Charlize Theron - Bombshell, Saorise Ronan - Little Women, Renee Zellweger - Judy (my favorite). The winner is Renee Zellweger; she made quite a comeback in Judy. Her performance was amazing.

The final award is coming up, Best Picture (not too bad, it's only 10:20 central time). I'm guessing Parasite is going to win. Jane Fonda is presenting for Best Picture and gets a standing ovation. Nominees are: Ford v Ferrari, 1917, The Irishman, Little Women, Jojo Rabbit, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Parasite, Marriage Story, Joker. The Oscar goes to Parasite! What a night for Bong Joon ho.