Hey folks, Harry here... It's OSCAR time... I'm enjoying the night with my family, but wanted to make sure you had a spot to discuss all the anxiety, mania and pure insanity that is the Oscars. Quint will be updating with winners over the night. I'm pulling for Richard Linklater, Guardians of the Galaxy, EVERYTHING IS AWESOME, Michael Keaton, Julianne Moore, WHIPLASH, BIRDMAN, GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, LEVIATHAN, THE IMITATION GAME, NIGHTCRAWLER, THE DAM KEEPER, THE SALT OF THE EARTH, J. Jonah Jameson and... Emma Stone! Now - I hand this over to Quint!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I'm an unabashed fan of the Oscars... not so much the campaign season bullshit, but as a kid growing up pre-Internet the Oscars was always the time every man, woman and child in my world cared about movies as much as I did.
For better or worse the Oscars is a snapshot of an era, even if that snapshot is taken by a bunch of out of touch old white Oscar voters. No matter how much I disagree with the picks I can never get fully cynical about something that brings attention and respect to the artform I obsess over.
I'll be watching and throwing down some thoughts as well as listing the winners as they are announced. You ready for this?
Don't know about you guys, but that Neil Patrick Harris musical number was awesome. Funny, respectful of cinema history, but just self-depricating enough to not be cloying. Long live Doogie Howser!
First award of the night is:
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Winner: JK Simmons. I typed that before Lupita announced it. The only real choice this year, right? Simmons calling his childred "above average" is so damn perfect.
Begin Again musical number is up. Cue bathroom break, but first I predict Selma will get the award, but I'd happily take the hit on my Oscar pool if Everything Is Awesome wins. Now time for the next category!
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Winner: Milena Canonero for The Grand Budapest Hotel. That was my pick as well. I'm on fire, y'all!
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Winner: The Grand Budapest Hotel. I thought for sure Steve Carell's fake nose was gonna win it, but I forget the Academy only really pays attention to the hairstyling part of the Makeup and Hairstyling category. But I love the flick and Dick Smith got a shout out for the old age inspiration, so I like these guys.
Before commercial we get the heads up that the Oscar Poll killer categories are coming up. Documentary, Live Action and Animated Shorts are on the way.
I was wrong, next up is:
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Winner: Ida! Surprising nobody, but it's a good arty-farty foreign black and white movie, not a bad arty-farty foreign black and white movie, so I don't mind.
Haha, and the first person to get played off is the Polish director. And he talked so long he outlasted the orchestra!!! Oscar history!
If they could have run the Everything Is Awesome musical number for all the Academy voters before they voted it would have been a lock for the win. And probably written in for Best Picture, too. I don't mean Animated, I mean Best Picture. And not just of 2014. Of all time.
BEST SHORT FILM - LIVE ACTION
Winner: The Phone Call. I'm a bad movie fan. I didn't watch any of the short films this year. I hear this one is incredible, though.
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Winner: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1! It's a good year for short movies about crisis center phone operators, apparently.
The non-Awards show awards. These are always my favorite because they are essentially a non-project specific recognition of the artists we all worship. Maureen O'Hara, Hayao Miyazaki, Harry Belefonte and Jean-Claude Carriere are all masters and I kind of wish this was a bigger part of the regular show.
BEST SOUND MIXING
Winner: Whiplash! Second Whiplash award tonight. It'd be incredible if it snuck the Best Picture award (it's one of my personal favorites of the year).
BEST SOUND EDITING
Winner: American Sniper! I don't remember if I picked this one in the Oscar pool. Traditionally, when I was a youngin', the sound categories were the only places the movies I loved were nominated. All the big geeky stuff, like T2, would get these awards, so it doesn't surprise me too much that the big movie of the year took this prize.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Winner: Patricia Arquette for Boyhood! Another non-surprise, but a welcome one. Patricia Arquette was my favorite part of the film and it makes me happy that a Dream Warrior just took home an Oscar.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Winner: Interstellar! I gotta admit, I thought this was in the bag for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, but Interstellar is a flat out gorgeous movie with some amazing visuals in it, so I get why this won.
BEST SHORT FILM - ANIMATED
Winner: Feast! The only animated short most people have seen! It's a great one, though. I've seen it a few times on Big Hero 6 and each time the audience broke out in applause multiple times throughout. It's a crowd-pleaser!
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Winner: Big Hero 6! This makes me very happy, even though I pegged them going for Song of the Sea because that's what the Oscar people usually do: go for the obscure stuff over the popular stuff. But this is such a fun and touching flick.
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Winner: The Grand Budapest Hotel! Well deserved. That's all I have to say about that.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner: Emmanuel Lubezki for Birdman! This was a tough category this year and while I might have leaned more in Grand Budapest's direction, it's pretty amazing what he achieved in such long takes.
Oh, no. It's time for the In Memoriam segment. Let me grab some tissues... This segment always makes me feel like it was a particularly brutal year. I won't run down the full list, but I will say I misted up when I saw Robin Williams' face appear next to his name. The artist perfectly captured the mischievous twinkle in his eye. Very happy to see Dick Smith honored as well. Okay, I better stop or I'm going to go back on my word and make this a running list.
BEST FILM EDITING
Winner: Whiplash! Great call. I don't think there was a better cut sequence than the rushing/dragging scene in any movie this year. Really glad to see Whiplash doing so well at the ceremony.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Winner: Citizenfour! This film was a great example of being in the right place at the right time to capture an incredibly important moment as it unfolded. It was my favorite doc this year and it seems a bunch of Oscar folks agree with me.
Idina Menzel and Travolta on stage together to announce the Best Song is amazing. Seeing Travolta take his fuckup from last year on the chin is the exact right thing to do. One of my favorite moments from the telecast so far.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Winner: Glory from Selma. I knew it was coming and it's a beautiful song, so I won't nerd-pout about Everything Is Awesome losing. Plus the speech by John Legend and Common made my rowdy Oscar Party group grow silent all at once for the first time tonight. Showstopper.
Lady Gaga doing a tribute to Sound of Music is weird... but I like it. The Sound of Music is one of my happy place movies. Sue me.
Julie Andrews coming out and saying "Lady Gaga" was worth every moment of that musical number that caused an eye-roll avalanche on my twitter stream. She's out to introduce the Best Original Score Nominees.
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Winner: Alexandre Desplat for The Grand Budapest Hotel! My favorite of the nominated scores, so that means the Academy got it right. That's how it works, isn't it?
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner: Birdman wins! Was hoping for a surprise Nightcrawler win, but what can ya' do? Birdman was high on my favorites list for 2014, so I'm not gonna complain.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Winner: Graham Moore, The Imitation Game! I was surprised, but you could tell during the list of nominees that the audience did. Moore's speech to all the weird kids out there to stay weird is a great one. It's a message that needs to be spread and heard by a seemingly growing number of young people out there these days. Don't know if it takes out John Legend and Common's speech, but it's up there for tonight. For me, anyway.
BEST DIRECTOR
Winner: Alejandro Inarritu for Birdman! He claims the fact he's wearing Michael Keaton's tighty-whities is why he won tonight. I think I love this man.
BEST ACTOR
Winner: Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything. That one blind-sided me. I thought Keaton had it in the bag. Wow, I gotta process this for a second, but I know I don't like it.
BEST ACTRESS
Winner: Julianne Moore, Still Alice. Love her and she deserves any award anyone wants to give her for anything.
The big one is still to come. Not the earthquake that's gonna dump all those famous people into the sea one day, I mean the Best Picture... You guys ready? I'm ready!
BEST PICTURE
Winner: Birdman! And I think Sean Penn said something a little racist, but I don't know because I'm happy for Inarritu! Sorry, Michael Keaton! You got robbed!
I dig the film, but I never would have pegged it as Best Picture. Happy that something crazy weird took the big prize, though. What about you guys? What'd you think? How did your Oscar pools go?
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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