85th Academy Awards Winners + Quick Thoughts on the Show

WINNERS

BEST PICTURE: ARGO

BEST DIRECTOR: ANG LEE (LIFE OF PI)

 

BEST ACTOR: DANIEL DAY LEWIS (LINCOLN)

 

BEST ACTRESS: JENNIFER LAWRENCE (SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: CHRISTOPH WALTZ (DJANGO UNCHAINED)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: ANNE HATHAWAY (LES MISERABLES)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: DJANGO UNCHAINED

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: ARGO

BEST ANIMATED FILM: BRAVE

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: AMOUR

 

BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY: SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN

 

BEST SHORT SUBJECT DOCUMENTARY: INOCENTE

 

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT: CURFEW

BEST ANIMATED SHORT: PAPERMAN

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: LIFE OF PI

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: SKYFALL

 

BEST SOUND EDITING: SKYFALL and ZERO DARK THIRTY (TIE)







BEST SOUND MIXING: LES MISERABLES

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: LINCOLN

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: LIFE OF PI

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING: LES MISERABLES

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: ANNA KARENINA

BEST FILM EDITING: ARGO

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: LIFE OF PI

THOUGHTS ON THE SHOW



First off, let's talk about Seth MacFarlane's performance as the host. He did a fantastic job, evident from the opening monologue alone. Contrary to popular belief, he wasn't as raunchy as some were expecting, although there were some moments (like the musical number 'We Saw Your Boobs', which for the record, I actually did find kind of funny when I re-watched it. It's actually not in bad taste as some might think it is). I thought the next sketch he did where he reenacted Flight using sock puppets was quite hilarious. If I had one gripe with the whole opening monologue, it was that it went on for way too long. It was probably 20 minutes before they even started to present the awards. If you're wondering why the Oscars went on longer than expected last night, this is one of the reasons why.

Next, let's talk about the tributes and performances, headlined by a 50-year anniversary tribute to the James Bond franchise. As someone who is a huge Bond fan, I thought the tribute to Bond was pretty good and shows that, even at 76 years old, Shirley Bassey can still belt out that classic tune of hers from 'Goldfinger' like no one else. I just have one problem though; Where were the Bonds? Where was Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig? That would have made it even more awesome to see all six Bonds on stage together. Still, you can't go wrong with not just Bassey performing 'Goldfinger', but also Adele with her first live performance of 'Skyfall'. As for the other tributes/performances, they were solid all around and Barbara Streisand's tribute to the late composer Marvin Hamlisch was very touching.

Finally, I have to say that I had little to no problems with the winners for each award. The reason why I bring this up is because if I did something like this for last year's event (yes, I'm aware my blog wasn't even up at that time), I wouldn't be able to say much about it because I didn't see many of the films that were nominated for Best Picture. This year was different and even when a film I did not see received one of the awards, that just gave me a bigger reason to see the film (like 'Life of Pi', which ended with the most awards for the night at 4). Also, the tie for Best Sound Editing was a genuine surprise because I'll admit I never thought that would actually happen. But believe it or not, it has occurred before (a couple times, in fact). However, there were one award that I disagreed with and that was for Best Animated Feature, which went to Brave. I'm sorry, but Brave was not the best animated film of the year. No, I don't think it was a bad movie, but it wasn't Pixar's best effort.

And those are my thoughts on the Oscars, as well as the list of winners for anyone who didn't watch the show last night. Overall, it was a solid show and Seth MacFarlane did a great job hosting. Thanks for reading and I'll be back with another 'Post-Oscar' entry next year.