The 86th Academy Award Oscar Winners….
The 86th Academy Awards telecast is over and I’m glad. Although the program hosted by Ellen DeGeneres was one of the more entertaining in recent years, I’ve grown tired of all the predictions, pools and debates. Due to all the talk and prognosticating, there were hardly any surprises, in fact, I can’t think of a one. All the winners just kind of fell into place, most of them deservedly so. And for the first time in a long time, the film that won Best Picture is one that won’t receive backlash in years to come and will certainly hold the test of time as a film that undeniably deserved its award.
As with many live ceremonies, there were some gaffes, like John Travolta who introduced Idina Menzel. Anyone know who Adele Dazeem is? Sheesh, the guy had one thing to do. Matthew McConaughey had to understandably help out Kim Novak. Presenter Jamie Fox fell flat trying out some comedy and Bette Midler slowed the evening down with her unwelcome warbling of “The Wind Beneath My Wings, which unfortunately followed the ‘In Memorium’ sequence introduced by Glenn Close. The show can’t be perfect, right?
There were some first-time winners, like McConaughey, Jared Leto (his co-star in “Dallas Buyer’s Club” and Lupita Nyong’o that gave some wonderful speeches. I really liked the acceptance speech from married songwriters, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, who won for “Let It Go” from Disney’s “Frozen”, which won Best Animated Feature. Idina Menzel performed the song, delivering the best musical performance of the evening.
I look forward to some kind of improvised each year and the best one was seeing Bill Murray bit give a shout out to the late Harold Ramis. And although it was a bit prolonged, the pizza delivery and consumption bit was still funny.
As expected, Alfonso Cuaron’s “Gravity” won seven awards, including Best Director, all technical awards and Original Score. The best part of the evening was when Ellen took what wound up being the most famous selfie ever (see above), a photo that broke Twitter. I would easily enjoy seeing Ellen return next year, but then I saw Kevin Spacey telling Jimmy Kimmel that he wouldn’t mind giving it a shot. I wouldn’t mind seeing that as well.
Below are the list of highlighted Oscar winners…..
BEST PICTURE
- 12 Years a Slave
- Gravity
- American Hustle
- The Wolf of Wall Street
- Nebraska
- Her
- Captain Phillips
- Dallas Buyers Club
- Philomena
DIRECTING
- David O. Russell – American Hustle
- Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity
- Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave
- Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street
- Alexander Payne – Nebraska
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
- Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
- Bruce Dern – Nebraska
- Christian Bale – American Hustle
- Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
- Matthew McConuaghey – Dallas Buyers Club
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
- Amy Adams – American Hustle
- Judi Dench – Philomena
- Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
- Sandra Bullock – Gravity
- Meryl Streep – August: Osage County
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
- Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club
- Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave
- Bradley Cooper – American Hustle
- Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips
- Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
- Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle
- June Squib – Nebraska
- Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave
- Julia Roberts – August: Osage County
- Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine
Writing (Original Screenplay)
- Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack – Dallas Buyers Club
- Eric Singer & David O. Russell – American Hustle
- Spike Jonze – Her
- Woody Allen – Blue Jasmine
- Bob Nelson – Nebraska
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
- John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave
- Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy – Before Midnight
- Terence Winter – The Wolf of Wall Street
- Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope – Philomena
- Billy Ray – Captain Phillips
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
- The Croods
- Despicable Me 2
- Frozen
- Ernest and Celestine
- The Wind Rises
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
- The Broken Circle Breakdown – Belgium
- The Hunt – Denmark
- The Great Beauty – Italy
- The Missing Picture – Cambodia
- Omar – Palestine
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
- The Act of Killing
- Cutie and the Boxer
- Dirty Wars
- The Square
- 20 Feet from Stardom
DOCUMENTARY (Short Subject)
- CaveDigger – Jeffrey Karoff
- Facing Fear – Jason Cohen
- Karama Has No Walls – Sara Ishaq
- The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life – Malcolm Clarke and Nicholas Reed
- Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall – Edgar Barens
ART DIRECTION (Production Design)
- Judy Becker (Production Design); Heather Loeffler (Set Decoration) – American Hustle
- Andy Nicholson (Production Design); Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard (Set Decoration) – Gravity
- Catherine Martin (Production Design); Beverley Dunn (Set Decoration) – The Great Gatsby
- K.K. Barrett (Production Design); Gene Serdena (Set Decoration) – Her
- Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Alice Baker (Set Decoration) – 12 Years a Slave
CINEMATOGRAPHY
- Philippe Le Sourd – The Grandmaster
- Emmanuel Lubezki – Gravity
- Bruno Delbonnel – Inside Llewyn Davis
- Phedon Papamichael – Nebraska
- Roger A. Deakins – Prisoners
COSTUME DESIGN
- Michael Wilkinson – American Hustle
- William Chang Suk Ping – The Grandmaster
- Catherine Martin – The Great Gatsby
- Michael O’Connor – The Invisible Woman
- Patricia Norris – 12 Years a Slave
FILM EDITING
- Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten – American Hustle
- Christopher Rouse – Captain Phillips
- John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa – Dallas Buyers Club
- Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger – Gravity
- Joe Walker – 12 Years a Slave
MAKEUP
- Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews – Dallas Buyers Club
- Stephen Prouty – Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
- Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny – The Lone Ranger
MUSIC (Original Score)
- John Williams – The Book Thief
- Steven Price – Gravity
- William Butler and Owen Pallett – Her
- Alexandre Desplat – Philomena
- Thomas Newman – Saving Mr. Banks
MUSIC (Original Song)
- “Alone Yet Not Alone,” Alone Yet Not Alone; music by Bruce Broughton, lyrics by Dennis Spiegel
- “Happy,” Despicable Me 2; music and lyrics by Pharrell Williams
- “Let It Go,” Frozen; music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
- “The Moon Song,” Her; music by Karen O., lyrics by Karen O. and Spike Jonze
- “Ordinary Love,” Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom; music by Paul Hewson, Dan Evans, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen, a.k.a. U2; lyrics by Paul Hewson, a.k.a. Bono
SHORT FILM (Animated)
- Feral – Daniel Sousa and Dan Golden
- Get a Horse! – Lauren MacMullan and Dorothy McKim
- Mr. Hublot – Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares
- Possessions – Shuhei Morita
- Room on the Broom – Max Lang and Jan Lachauer
SHORT FILM (Live Action)
- Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?) – Selma Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari
- Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me) – Esteban Crespo
- Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything) – Xavier Legrand and Alexandre Gavras
- Helium – Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson
- The Voorman Problem -Mark Gill and Baldwin Li
SOUND EDITING
- Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns – All Is Lost
- Oliver Tarney – Captain Phillips
- Glenn Freemantle – Gravity
- Brent Burge – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
- Wylie Stateman –Lone Survivor
SOUND MIXING
- Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith and Chris Munro – Captain Phillips
- Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro – Gravity
- Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
- Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland, Inside Llewyn Davis
Andy Koyama, Beau Borders and David Brownlow – Lone Survivor
VISUAL EFFECTS
- Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould – Gravity
- Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
- Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick – Iron Man 3
- Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier – The Lone Ranger
- Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Dalton – Star Trek Into Darkness
The slavery drama 12 Years a Slave won the Academy Award for best picture, making history as the first movie from a black director to win the film industry’s highest honour in 86 years of the Oscars.
I am so tired to Hollywood trying to make me feel bad about slavery that happened over 150 years ago, but guess what I don’t as the great great great grandson of slave owners that was their decision. Hollywood is always trying to rewrite history, slavery right or wrong at that time was a way of life. Its over get over it Hollywood.