The Oscar results yielded a few big surprises and host Seth MacFarlane polarized the audience at last night's award ceremony. Of course, being an Oscar host is almost always a thankless job, but overall I think MacFarlane did an adequate, if uneven job, as master of ceremonies. The show started with an overly long opening act featuring none other than William Shatner as Captain Kirk. The results were mixed, but when MacFarlane kept it classy and old school it worked very well. However, the routine featuring boobs should have also mentioned MacFarlane for going so low brow. Over the course of the evening, MacFarlane's jokes were hit and miss and he seemed too concerned with whether the audience in attendance liked his material. Who cares if they did. MacFarlane should have shown more confidence in his vast abilities and just went for it without feeling insecure. If the Oscar bigwigs liked him, he will be asked back and have a chance to improve on his performance next time.
This year's Oscar telecast felt like a throwback with its inclusion of so many Hollywood legends, including Dustin Hoffman, Michael Douglas, Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep, Christopher Plummer, Sally Field, John Travolta, Liam Neeson, Richard Gere, the return of Jack Nicholson and the amazing performance of "The Way We Were," by Barbra Streisand. There was a good balance between classic and more contemporary stars, including five members of The Avengers cast, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Nicole Kidman, Paul Rudd and Melissa McCarthy. The tribute to musicals was well conceived, with an outstanding performance from the Les Miserables cast and the reunion of four stars from Chicago, the Oscar winner for Best Picture in 2003. In addition, the James Bond tribute was terrific and was highlighted by the performance of "Goldfinger" by Dame Shirley Bassey. However, I was disappointed that the reunion of the six Bond actors did not come to pass.
The awards themselves held a few surprises, including the opening win for Christoph Waltz in the Supporting Actor category for Django Unchained. I was pleased to see Waltz win and in the future when he is nominated for a Quentin Tarantino film, I will surely pick him to win every time (Waltz also won the Supporting Actor Oscar for Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds). On the other hand, I was disappointed that Tommy Lee Jones and Robert De Niro did not win, but they have each won twice before. The other acting winners, Anne Hathaway, Daniel Day Lewis and Jennifer Lawrence were expected and appropriate. Argo's win for Best Picture was not surprising either, but its victory in the Adapted Screenplay category, where it upset Lincoln, was a bit of a shock. Congratulations to screenwriter Chris Terrio and condolences to Tony Kushner, who was the favorite through most of Oscar season. Overall, Lincoln won just two awards; Lead Actor and Production Design, which, of course, is better than nothing. However, I felt bad for Steven Spielberg, who looked genuinely disappointed for not winning Best Director. His efforts on Lincoln should have warranted more recognition from the Academy, but they have had a rather odd relationship over the years. With that being said, Ang Lee is certainly a worthy recipient of this year's Best Director Oscar for his stunning work on Life of Pi. I mentioned in my original review of the film that he should be the Oscar front runner, but his support was generally muted until last night. Life of Pi won more Oscars than any other film this year, with four (Director, Cinematography, Visual Effects and Score).
I was genuinely surprised with Quentin Tarantino's win in the Original Screenplay category. I never thought his sometimes bloody and violent Django Unchained would appeal to the majority of Academy voters. However, I was pleased to see him win, even though I was hoping for Mark Boal's Zero Dark Thirty to pull off a victory. Another category that surprised many was for Animated Film. The support for Wreck-It Ralph was overwhelming, but in the end, Brave picked up the victory. Actually, I would have been pleased to see any of the nominated animated films win this year - they were a worthy bunch. Finally, Amour was victorious, as expected, in the Best Foreign Film category. However, after seeing the film shortly before the Oscar telecast yesterday, I am at a loss as to why it has been hailed as such a great achievement. Yes, the performances were outstanding, but the glacial pace of the film was distracting.
I went 16-8 in my Oscar picks, which is slightly below where I usually perform.
Here is a complete list of winners from The Oscars:
Picture - Argo
Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis Lincoln
Actress - Jennifer Lawrence Silver Linings Playbook
Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz Django Unchained
Supporting Actress - Anne Hathaway Les Miserables
Director - Ang Lee Life of Pi
Original Screenplay - Quentin Tarantino Django Unchained
Adapted Screenplay - Chris Terrio Argo
Cinematography - Claudio Miranda Life of Pi
Costume Design - Jacqueline Durran Anna Karenina
Film Editing - William Goldenberg Argo
Makeup and Hairstyling - Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell Les Miserables
Production Design - Rick Carter and Jim Erickson Lincoln
Visual Effects - Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott Life of Pi
Original Score - Mychael Danna Life of Pi
Original Song - "Skyfall," Skyfall
Sound Editing (tie) - Paul N.J. Ottosson Zero Dark Thirty and Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers Skyfall
Sound Mixing - Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes, Les Misérables
Animated Feature Film - Brave
Foreign Language Film - Austria: Amour
Documentary Feature - Searching for Sugar Man
Documentary Short - Inocente, Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
Animated Short - Paperman, John Kahrs
Live Action Short - Curfew, Shawn Christensen
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