Neil Patrick Harris started us off in song dance and in the end lost his pants (in an homage to Birdman) so, it’d be hard to say he DIDN’T give it his all. A running gag had Harris asking Oscar winner Octavia Spencer, who was seated front row, to keep an eye on a box containing his show predictions –this went on way too long. By the end of a VERY long show, when he opened the case and envelope, essentially to reveal the show run-down, the joke fell kinda flat. Hosting the Oscars is a pretty thankless job, but compared to Ellen, he didn’t seem to have the same ease at keeping the show going. But anybody who goes out in front of a billion people (& Oprah) their underwear, in my book, you gotta hand it to ‘em.
Hey, it was a pretty big night for independent film. Besides the 4 big wins for Best Screenplay, Director, Cinematography and Picture for Birdman, Indy’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, Whiplash took home three awards in the categories for Film Editing, Sound mixing and Best Supporting Actor. J.K. Simmons winning for Best Supporting Actor, urged everyone to call their parents, which was sweet. The big upset in the major categories was the tight race between Birman‘s Michael Keaton and the winner of Best Actor Eddie Redmayne. (But Michael gets the $160,000 “losers” gift bag, so there’s that…) Julianne Moore, who seemed to be the one sure thing, in accepting her award for Best Actress said:
“I read that winning an Oscar can lead to living 5 years longer… if that’s true, I’d really like to thank the academy because my husband is younger than me.”
A well-deserved win after 5 nominations.
The classically trained Lady Gaga shocked and surprised some doing a killer Sound of Music medley, got a standing ovation and a BIG hug of approval from Julie Andrews herself. Tim McGraw sang the very sad Glenn Campbell song, I’m Not Gonna Miss You and in contrast Tegan and Sara, along with The Lonely Island, did an upbeat –to say the least– “Everything Is Awesome” crazy musical number and even got Oprah in on the act. John Legend and Common performed Glory to a standing ovation and right after picked up the Best Song award and gave great speeches, that moved many, including Chris Pine and David Oyelowo, to tears:
“There are more black men under correctional control than there were under slavery in 1850. When people are marching with our song, we want to tell you we see you, we love you and march on.”
Jennifer Hudson sang the Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman song, I Can’t Let Go after the “In Memoriam” montage but it was disappointing to many to not to see our Joan Rivers in the mix. But we did get Maya Angelou. (Huh?) As Billy Eichner Tweeted in response:
“I loved ALL of Maya Angelou’s movies.”
One of the best lines of NPH’s all night, was:
“Benedict Cumberbatch is one of the most awesome names in showbiz and it’s also the sound you get when you ask John Travolta to introduce Ben Affleck.”
…which was followed by Idina Menzel introducing John Travolta as “Glom Gazingo.” Followed by awkward face-touching by Glom… it was funny, but truly strange doing damage-control one year later. (Travolta explained later on Jimmy Kimmel‘s After The Oscars special what lead to the bizarre pronunciation of Idina’s name. It was spelled out phonetically for him plus he got distracted by Goldie Hawn backstage. Oh, well THAT explains it…?) I kind of zoned out during the middle of the show and, I think I missed Best Craft Service. (Who won?) But I perked up toward the end. The night was bookended by great speeches, one when Patricia Arquette won Best Supporting Actress for Boyhood…
“To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America!”
That got seatmates Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lopez and the rest of the audience, jazzed shouting “Yes!” Graham Moore‘s speech accepting Best Adapted Screenplay for The Imitation Game was very moving, as well…
“I tried to commit suicide at 16 and now I’m standing here. I would like for this moment to be for that kid out there who feels like she doesn’t fit in anywhere. You do. Stay weird. Stay different, and then when it’s your turn and you are standing on this stage, please pass the same message along.”
Wow, how do you top that?! Who says the Oscars are vapid and self-serving; you got civil rights, gay pride, ALS, Alzheimer’s, suicide prevention… what am I leaving out? I always love the Oscars, myself, and the rest of the world seems to love to hate everything about it. So easy to criticize, but imagine YOURSELF in just underwear and socks in front of a billion people, and see how that feels?
Best Picture
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”- Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole, Producers
Best Actor
Eddie Redmayne- “The Theory of Everything”
Best Supporting Actor
J.K. Simmons- “Whiplash”
Best Actress
Julianne Moore- “Still Alice”
Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette- “Boyhood”
Best Animated Feature
“Big Hero 6”- Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli
Best Adapted Screenplay
“The Imitation Game”- Graham Moore
Best Original Screenplay
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”- Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo
Best Cinematography
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”- Emmanuel Lubezki
Best Costume Design
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”- Milena Canonero
Best Director
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”- Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Best Documentary Feature
“CitizenFour”- Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky
Best Documentary Short Subject
“Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1”- Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry
Best Film Editing
“Whiplash”- Tom Cross
Best Foreign Language Film
“Ida”- Poland
Best Makeup & Hairstyling
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”- Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier
Best Original Score
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”- Alexandre Desplat
Best Original Song
“Glory”- “Selma”
Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn
Best Production Design
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”- Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Best Animated Short Film
“Feast”- Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
Best Live Action Short Film
“The Phone Call”- Mat Kirkby and James Lucas
Best Sound Editing
“American Sniper”- Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
Best Sound Mixing
“Whiplash”- Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley
Best Visual Effects
“Interstellar”- Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher
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