Oscar moments: A minute-by-minute breakdown of the 90th Academy Awards - Los Angeles Times
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Oscar moments: A minute-by-minute breakdown of the 90th Academy Awards

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Film Critic

Sunday’s Oscars telecast clocked in at just under four hours. For this critic, here’s how the show broke down, minute by minute.

5:03 p.m.

Kimmel takes the stage

Jimmy Kimmel onstage during the 90th Academy Awards.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Jimmy Kimmel kicks things off with an acknowledgment of last year’s epic envelope snafu: “This year, when you hear your name called, do not get up right away.”

5:12 p.m.

In a “Price Is Right”-style giveaway, Kimmel offers a free jet ski to the winner who gives the shortest speech. A not-so-subtle way of saying “Hurry up, ski-daddle.”

5:16 p.m.

Supporting actor: Sam Rockwell

Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson embrace after Rockwell wins the supporting actor Oscar at the 90th Academy Awards.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Sam Rockwell wins supporting actor for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” I love it when the winners acknowledge the other nominees by name, as Rockwell did with so much class. (Yes, he had the names written down, but still.)

5:33 p.m.

By a ‘Phantom Thread’

Mark Bridges after his win for costume design with Eva Marie Saint backstage at the 90th Academy Awards.
(Mark Petit / A.M.P.A.S. / via Getty Images)

Costume designer Mark Bridges wins for “Phantom Thread.” I don’t think there will be a more deserved win this evening, but I’m hoping to be proven wrong.

5:40 p.m.

When Russian rigging yields an Oscar

"Icarus" director Bryan Fogel accepts the Oscar for feature documentary at the 90th Academy Awards.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Netflix is officially on the board with a documentary feature win for the doping doc “Icarus.” I was hoping to see this go to Agnès Varda for “Faces Places” or Steve James for “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail,” but could the scalding anti-Russian sentiment expressed in “Icarus” possibly bode well for my favorite entry in the foreign-language film race, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Loveless”?

6:01 p.m.

The sound of Dunkirk

"Dunkirk" sound mixer Gregg Landaker, right, accepts the Oscar for sound mixing from actors Eiza Gonzalez, left, and Ansel Elgort at the 90th Academy Awards.
“Dunkirk” sound mixer Gregg Landaker, right, accepts the Oscar for sound mixing from actors Eiza Gonzalez, left, and Ansel Elgort at the 90th Academy Awards.
(Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

“Dunkirk” scores a double win for sound editing and sound mixing, suggesting a possible surge in the technical categories, similar to what Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” pulled off seven years ago.

6:10 p.m.

‘Shape’ of the night

Jeff Melvin, after accepting the Oscar for production design for 'The Shape of Water' at the 90th Academy Awards.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

And here come the nominees for production design, which means another garish visual reminder of that live-action “Beauty and the Beast” thing from last year. Fortunately, a much better beauty-and-the-beast movie wins: “The Shape of Water.”

6:23 p.m.

A ‘Fantastic’ win

"A Fantastic Woman" director Sebastian Lelio, foreground center, with, from back left, Nicolas Saavedra, Daniela Vega, Alejandro Goic, and Pablo Larrain, accepting the Oscar for foreign language film at the 90th Academy Awards.
(Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP)

No luck for “Loveless” in the foreign-language film category, but happily, it goes to my next favorite of the bunch, “A Fantastic Woman.” The gifted Chilean director Sebastián Lelio takes the stage with Daniela Vega, who plays the movie’s title role about a transgender woman whose way of life is threatened when she loses her partner, and her co-star Francisco Reyes.

6:30 p.m.

Allison Janney’s crowded mantle

Allison Janney backstage with her Oscar at the 90th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 4.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Allison Janney wins supporting actress for “I, Tonya.” If and when she wins an eighth Emmy, she can have them flank her Oscar on her mantle, four on each side.

6:41 p.m.

An animated moment

Team 'Coco': From left, Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt and Darla K. Anderson backstage at the 90th Academy Awards.
Team ‘Coco’: From left, Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt and Darla K. Anderson backstage at the 90th Academy Awards.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Disney/Pixar’s “Coco” wins the animated feature Oscar, and it takes nothing away from it to say that I wish more voters had seen “The Breadwinner.”

6:52 p.m.

Getting a visual on ‘Blade Runner 2049’

"Blade Runner 2049's" Richard R. Hoover, Paul Lambert, Gerd Nefzer and John Nelson, winners of the Oscar for visual effects in the photo room at the 90th Academy Awards,
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

And the visual effects award goes to “Blade Runner 2049.” Does this bode well for the film’s cinematographer, perpetual Oscars bridesmaid Roger Deakins?

6:57 p.m.

Getting a visual on ‘Blade Runner 2049’

Matthew McConaughey, left, gestures to the audience as Lee Smith holds up his Oscar for film editing on "Dunkirk" at the 90th Academy Awards.
(Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP)

Lee Smith nabs the editing prize for finessing the time-hopping World War II thriller “Dunkirk” into a lean, mean 106 minutes. Imagine the wonders he could work with this broadcast.

7:05 p.m.

When the Oscars come to you

Jimmy Kimmel persuaded A-list Oscar attendees to briefly leave the Dolby Theatre and surprise moviegoers watching a preview of "A Wrinkle in Time." Among the game celebs: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lupita Nyong'o, Armie Hammer, Gal Gadot and Margot Robbie.
Jimmy Kimmel persuaded A-list Oscar attendees to briefly leave the Dolby Theatre and surprise moviegoers watching a preview of “A Wrinkle in Time.” Among the game celebs: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lupita Nyong’o, Armie Hammer, Gal Gadot and Margot Robbie.
(Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP)

Kimmel, Gal Gadot, Lupita Nyong’o, Margot Robbie, Mark Hamill, Guillermo del Toro and others head to the multiplex next door — and interrupt a preview screening of “A Wrinkle in Time” — to surprise an audience of moviegoers. Must we really have one of these smarmy, faux-populist mingling-with-the-masses stunts every year? As others have pointed out, if these folks gave a hoot about the Oscars, they’d probably be at home watching.

7:35 p.m.

The Time’s Up moment

Activist and #MeToo pioneer Tarana Burke greets Salma Hayek, Ashley Judd, and Annabella Sciorra backstage at the 90th Academy Awards.
Activist and #MeToo pioneer Tarana Burke greets Salma Hayek, Ashley Judd, and Annabella Sciorra backstage at the 90th Academy Awards.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Deep respect to Ashley Judd, Annabella Sciorra and Salma Hayek, all of whom came forward to share their brutal stories of sexual harassment and/or abuse by Harvey Weinstein in recent months, and who now take the stage to highlight the #TimesUp movement.

7:32 p.m.

The Ivory toast

James Ivory, center, after winning his adapted screenplay Oscar, with presenters Chadwick Boseman and Margot Robbie to his right at the 90th Academy Awards.
James Ivory, center, after winning his adapted screenplay Oscar, with presenters Chadwick Boseman and Margot Robbie to his right at the 90th Academy Awards.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

A standing ovation for 89-year-old James Ivory, a three-time director nominee, who wins his first Oscar, for adapting the “Call Me by Your Name” screenplay. He pays moving tribute to his late, great longtime partners, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Ismail Merchant.

7:36 p.m.

Jordan Peele’s historic Oscar win

Jordan Peele after winning the original screenplay Oscar, and presenter Nicole Kidman.
Jordan Peele after winning the original screenplay Oscar, and presenter Nicole Kidman.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Another standing ovation, this time for the original screenplay winner, “Get Out” writer-director Jordan Peele, who became the first black writer to win in the category. It’s glorious to see this year’s winning screenwriters get such raucous applause, and for entirely different reasons: one for a truly grand career, another for a startling new voice.

7:44 p.m.

Oscar’s military parade

It’s military-montage time as the telecast pays tribute to such seminal war movies as “Saving Private Ryan,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Hurt Locker,” “The Thin Red Line” and “The Deer Hunter.” A stealth dig at President Trump’s proposed military parade?

7:49 p.m.

Deakins’ lucky 13

Roger Deakins, after winning the cinematography for “Blade Runner 2049” with presenter Sandra Bullock backstage at the 90th Academy Awards.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

As we all expected but almost didn’t dare to hope, legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins wins his first Oscar in 13 nominations, for “Blade Runner 2049.”

8:04 p.m.

In Memoriam

Two recent untimely losses during the “In Memoriam” segment feel like a particular punch in the gut: producer Jill Messick and composer Jóhann Jóhannsson.

8:14 p.m.

Del Toro on art and erasing the lines

Guillermo del Toro accepting his Oscar for directing "The Shape of Water."
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Nobody would expect a speaker as boisterous and effusive as Guillermo del Toro to compete for the jet ski, but he gives a relatively terse speech, albeit one filled with emotion. Acknowledging his friends and fellow winners Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro G. Iñárritu, he pays tribute to his immigrant experience and the boundary-shattering power of the medium: “The greatest thing art does, and our industry does, is erase the lines in the sand.”

8:24 p.m.

Oldman on the home front

Gary Oldman, after winning the lead actor Oscar for "The Darkest Hour," backstage with Helen Mirren, left, and Jane Fonda at the 90th Academy Awards.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

To absolutely no one’s surprise (sensing a pattern?), Gary Oldman wins lead actor for “Darkest Hour.” He takes the advice that J.K. Simmons gave a few years ago and thanks his mother.

8:25 p.m.

Just to clarify: Gary Oldman thanked his mother, not J.K. Simmons’ mother.

8:30 p.m.

JoFo and JLaw present

In place of last year's lead actor winner Casey Affleck, Jodie Foster and Jennifer Lawrence presented the lead actress Oscar at the 90th Academy Awards.
In place of last year’s lead actor winner Casey Affleck, Jodie Foster and Jennifer Lawrence presented the lead actress Oscar at the 90th Academy Awards.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Jodie Foster and Jennifer Lawrence — or, as I like to think of them, “Silver Lambings Playbook” — arrive to present the award for lead actress. Foster’s on crutches, setting up a Meryl Streep/Tonya Harding joke that gets a somewhat guilty-looking laugh from “I, Tonya” nominee Margot Robbie.

8:34 p.m.

All the ladies in the house

Frances McDormand implores all the women nominated for Oscars in all categories to stand after she wins the Academy Award for lead actress.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Frances McDormand wins lead actress for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” And in a moment that will surely go down in the Oscars history books, she quite literally brings every female nominee in the room to her feet.

8:47 p.m.

Back to form: A no-flub Oscars ending

The two Guillermos: Director and best picture winner Guillermo Del Toro, with "Jimmy Kimmel Live's" Guillermo Rodriguez. Del Toro, leaving nothing to chance, shows the best picture envelope.
The two Guillermos: Director and best picture winner Guillermo Del Toro, with “Jimmy Kimmel Live’s” Guillermo Rodriguez. Del Toro, leaving nothing to chance, shows the best picture envelope.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Del Toro retakes the stage, this time with his cast and crew in tow, as “The Shape of Water” wins best picture. After last year’s shocking surprises and a series of splits between picture and director, a lot of industry observers were predicting an upset by “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” “Get Out,” “Lady Bird” or “Dunkirk.”

But it didn’t happen this year. “The Shape of Water,” the nomination leader with 13 and the favorite of the producers and directors guild, was the obvious choice all along. While it wasn’t my favorite of the nominees, there’s something about this outcome that feels curiously right.

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