86th Academy Awards: Results and Quick Thoughts

WINNERS:

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: GRAVITY



BEST EDITING: GRAVITY



BEST COSTUME DESIGN: THE GREAT GATSBY

BEST MAKEUP/HAIRSTYLING: DALLAS BUYERS CLUB

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: GRAVITY

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: THE GREAT GATSBY

BEST SOUND MIXING AND BEST SOUND EDITING: GRAVITY

BEST SONG: LET IT GO (‘FROZEN’)

BEST SCORE: STEVEN PRICE (‘GRAVITY’)

BEST ANIMATED SHORT: MR. HUBLOT

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT: HELIUM

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY: THE LADY IN NUMBER 6: MUSIC SAVED MY LIFE

BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY: 20 FEET FROM STARDOM

BEST FOREIGN FILM: THE GREAT BEAUTY

BEST ANIMATED FILM: FROZEN

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: 12 YEARS A SLAVE

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: HER

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: LUPITA NYONG’O

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: JARED LETO

BEST ACTRESS: CATE BLANCHETT

BEST ACTOR: MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY

BEST DIRECTOR: ALFONSO CUARON

BEST PICTURE: 12 YEARS A SLAVE

THOUGHTS ON THE SHOW:

Ellen DeGeneres is one very funny woman, and last night’s Oscars were further proof of that. She did a fantastic job hosting; her opening monologue was great, and I loved a lot of her bits, like when she did that celebrity group picture that briefly broke Twitter or when she actually ordered pizza. I thought that just a joke until that pizza guy actually showed up on stage. Also, on that note, that guy has to be one of the luckiest people on Earth right now considering the night he had on Sunday. I was one of those people who did like Seth MacFarlane’s job as host for last year’s show, but I do think that this year, Ellen was the superior host. Yes, this was obviously a ‘safe choice’ for the Academy after the controversy surrounding MacFarlane’s performance last year but at the same time, Ellen still did an excellent job. I did sort of like that this year’s show felt a little more casual than past years; may not always the best thing when talking about the Oscars, but this year it just worked out really well. Thankfully, the opening monologue wasn’t as long as last year’s but there were times where the show itself sort of dragged a bit, specifically in the middle.

All of the performances during Sunday’s show were very good. Pharrell’s ‘Happy’ is still as catchy as ever and that was one of the most entertaining performances of the night. Pink’s rendition of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ in memory of Judy Garland was also fantastic, as was Idina Menzel’s performance of ‘Let it Go’, despite the strange introduction she got (more on that in a bit). Of course, the ‘In Memoriam’ segment was, as always, well-handled (it was even more sad during this year’s show considering the greats we lost in the past year, like Harold Ramis (by the way, kudos to Bill Murray for the very classy nod to him when he was presenting the award for ‘Best Cinematography) and Phillip Seymour Hoffman). I’m guessing I’m going to be in the minority on this, but I thought Bette Midler’s performance of ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ was really good. I remember seeing everyone reacting very, very negatively towards this on Twitter when she first came out and I don’t really know why.

As for the awards, I have no complaints about any of the winners. However though, there is something about this year’s show that disappointed me. That was the fact that all of the winners… were kind of obvious. For the record, I’m not criticizing any of those who won an award on Sunday. They were all very much deserving of their awards. However, before the show, I think many people (including myself) sort of knew who was going to win each of the awards, specifically the four acting awards. As you could see from my Predictions post a couple of days ago…

(http://rimoviecorner.blogspot.com/2014/02/86th-annual-academy-awards-predictions.html)

…I very much crashed and burned when it came to predicting the winners… and I knew who the frontrunners were, by the way. I just gave my personal picks, mainly because I did not see either ‘Blue Jasmine’ or ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ at the time I posted it. Again, it’s nothing against those who won; in reality, it’s actually sort of my fault for reading all of the ‘Oscar Predictions’ that were everywhere online. I just wish that there was at least ONE upset because as is, it was sort of a predictable outcome.

And now here are my Top 5 Favorite Moments from last night’s show…

5. Ellen Orders Pizza

Was anyone else suddenly in the mood for some pizza when this happened? I most definitely was…

4. When Jennifer Lawrence was presenting Best Actor

(UPDATE: So this mysterious 'laugher' turned out to be Ellen.)

I want to know… just who was it who was apparently laughing when J-Law went onstage to present the nominees for ‘Best Actor’. In fact, that’s a bit of a missed opportunity there for the producers of the Oscars… they didn’t cut to whoever that person was. Also, Jennifer’s response to it was priceless…

3. John Travolta’s strange gaffe

(UPDATE 2: Travolta has recently responded saying that this was just a 'slip-up'. No problem there; happens to all of us. Still this is easily one of the most memorable moments of Sunday's show.)

For the record, not exactly a ‘great’ moment, but boy is it memorable. John Travolta was onstage to introduce Idina Menzel’s performance of ‘Let it Go’ which seemed to go well… until the end, leaving us with one question. Who is ‘Adele Dazeem’? I don’t know what happened here; was it a slipup of the teleprompter or of Travolta himself (from what I’m hearing online, most likely the latter)? Either way, it certainly was… interesting, and now thanks to Slate.com…

(http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/low_concept/2014/03/john_travolta_called_idina_menzel_adele_dazeem_what_s_your_travolta_name.html)

 …you can all have your name ‘Travoltified’.

Sincerely, ‘Struan Suzzivan’.

2. The epic group pic that briefly broke Twitter

Yes, I retweeted it… so I probably had a hand in Twitter’s brief break-down. Sorry, Twitter!

And my number 1 moment didn’t actually happen during the show, but during the Red Carpet.

1. Benedict Cumberbatch Photobombs U2

Best Photobomb Ever!!!

And that’s my recap of the 86^th annual Academy Awards. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you at next year’s Oscars.