The 94th Oscars are in the books and for this writer, the right movie won Best Picture, CODA. It won all three categories it was nominated for—Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Even though it didn’t win the top 6 awards, the big winner of the night was Dune—which took home Academy Awards.
Although the big news out of the Oscars this year was not that a deaf actor won an Oscar for only the second time in history. An LGBTQ Afro-Latina actress won Best Supporting Actress and an African American man won Best Actor. The problem was that the latter launched the “slap heard around the world.”
Will Smith didn’t appreciate a joke from Chris Rock about his wife’s bald head (Alopecia) and the King Richard actor didn’t take too kindly to it. After initially laughing, he sauntered up to the stage and promptly struck Rock with an open-hand slap.
Moments later, Smith would apologize to everyone but the man he slapped in his acceptance speech for Best Actor. I’m sure this subject will be covered ad nauseum in the coming days and weeks.
Until then…, here’s what it’s all about. The 2022 Academy Awards Winners. Also, for those keeping track, The Movie Mensch had his best year yet, predicting 21 out of 23 of the categories, aka 91-percent correct—a personal record!
BEST PICTURE
CODA
BEST DIRECTOR
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
BEST ACTOR
Will Smith, King Richard
BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Troy Kotsur, CODA
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
CODA
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Belfast, Kenneth Branagh
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Dune
BEST FILM EDITING
Dune
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Dune
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Cruella
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Dune
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
No Time To Die, No Time to Die
BEST SOUND
Dune
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Dune
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Drive My Car
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Encanto
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Summer of Soul…or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Queen of Basketball
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
The Windshield Wiper
BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
The Long Goodbye