Host This

Wait, could the Oscars be…good this year? Yesterday news broke that the award ceremony will have three female hosts: Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall. And, honestly, that’s kind of exciting. All these ladies are great. The broadcast will have each host host an hour of the show — just another reminder that this thing is long and you should just get comfortable and lean into the useless production numbers.

Now, granted, the Oscars (which are only slightly less So White this year) have a lot to make up for. But hiring three women and diverse hosts to lead the show is a good step. Also, in case you’ve somehow forgotten, Wanda is an out queer woman. Representation matters, especially at the Oscars.

I’m behind in my Oscar viewing this year and have only seen a handful of the best picture nominees so far. I used some of my Covid down time to watch “The Power of the Dog,” which I was on the fence about until the very, very end and then loved because — wow, that ending. Truly, it’s the sort of movie that has more impact the less you know. But, yeah, it’s pretty gay.

Also, Jane Campion is definitely due her golden statuette. She’s perhaps the most acclaimed female director working today and the only female director to be nominated twice for an Academy Award. (Yes, I know, Kathryn Bigelow exists — but her credits read like a gender flip of Campion’s. Campion “The Power of the Dog” is her only film that doesn’t explicitly center a female lead, whereas Bigelow has made almost exclusively male-driven films except for “Zero Dark Thirty” because it had Jessica Chastain.)

But how gay are this year’s Oscars? Well, right off the bat we’ve got Wanda shepherding us through at least a third of the show. So that’s pretty fruity. And two out queer female actors also earned nods this year: Kristen Stewart for Best Actress in “Spencer” and Ariana DeBose for Best Supporting Actress for “West Side Story.” So, yay gay to that.

So, what were your favorite movies this past year — gay or otherwise.