The Academy Awards ceremony is like the Super Bowl for uncoordinated nerds who hit nails with a wrench.
It’s the best time of year to celebrate the greatest artistic medium in the world with a prestigious, anatomically incorrect golden statue, and thanks to a charming host and a bevy of worthy films it was the best time to a be a fan too.
Now, let me just nib the whole fashion thing in the bud right quick – I don’t care. The men wore suits and the women wore dresses that looked like King Joffery’s bed sheets. I don’t care not only because I don’t know a lick about clothes (my socks are often and sometimes purposely mismatched) but there’s not much point in critiquing people who don’t look as good as me on my worst day anyway (drops the mic and leaves).
Plus, the person who looked the best on-stage anyway was host Ellen DeGeneres. She proved to be one of the best hosts in years, and not just because of the one-liners. Any schmuck can get onstage and read jokes off a teleprompter. But Ellen soared thanks to her ability to work with the audience in a laid-back and quirky way.
My favorite moment was when walking down the aisle, casually asking everyone how they were all before bluntly stating, “OK I’m hungry. Is anyone else hungry? If I order pizza will anyone else have some?” Soon enough, a very nervous looking pizza boy was dragged out and pizza was distributed out. Other hosts jab the crowd, Ellen feeds them.
But what’s important here are the movies, and I’m glad to say I wasn’t terribly disappointed with the results of the awards.
Three of my favorites this year, Nebraska, Captain Phillips and The Wolf of Wall Street all went home alone when all was said and done. Despite exceeding their categories like Best Actor, Adapted, Original Screenplay and some tech awards, they all lost to worthy adversaries.
Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto claimed the two male acting leads for Dallas Buyers Club, defeating Leonardo Dicaprio (Wolf) and Barkhad Abdi (Phillips).
In the female section, Lupita Nyong’o defeated June Squibb (Nebraska), who gave one of the best little performances of the year. But no matter how much I wanted those movies to win at least something, I can’t really complain as long as they lose to such amazing competitors.
However, one of my giddiest delights was that American Hustle (a heavy contender for Best Picture and my least favorite of the nominees) walked home empty-handed, despite being nominated in 10 categories. Even to some it was considered a #1 favorite in, Original Screenplay and Costumes, deservedly went to Her and The Great Gatsby. I know it’s mean to smile at someone else’s failures, but I couldn’t help it.
And even though it didn’t take home the big prize my favorite movie of the year, Gravity, won a whopping seven awards including Best Director which went to Alfonso Cuaron, the first Latin American to win.
No movie has won that many since Slumdog Millionaire won eight (eight more than it deserved). That’s no easy feat, especially given how important Best Director is towards awarding the film. Giving that award is practically like giving it Best Picture because, really, who says a director is great but their movie sucks?
No one says Hitchcock rules but his movies suck. If they do they deserve to be stabbed in a shower while birds pick at them as a man in wheelchair watches from across the way and does nothing. That notion is made truer given the fact that less than 10 movies have gone on to win Best Picture without winning Director (Crash and Argo most recently).
Even though they gave Gravity a top prize (along with 95% of the tech awards) it didn’t win the top prize. That honor went to 12 Years a Slave, which along with Cuaron’s win is truly historic in its own right. No movie predominately about African Americans or directed by a black man has won Best Picture until Sunday. Though some, like myself, think it’s too hard to watch to be entertaining, there’s no doubt of its significance, and the award for Best Picture reflects that.
Some people stomp and shout how their movie didn’t win all the awards. Not only does that go against the point of the Oscars, but it’s also just boring. I love Return of the King, but I almost tuned out after Jackson and Co. walked up there for the tenth time.
This year’s Oscars were so great because they awarded not only the best movies, but ones that would’ve been snubbed years ago. The times are changing and the Oscars are appropriately changing with them. Certain movies can finally be treated with the respect they deserve, and I won my Oscar pool. All in all, a great night.
