The ceremony
The Oscars ceremony is known for being long, but last year it didn’t feel that long for me. This year, however, it did. There are a lot of commercial interruptions, of course, but the main reason, in my opinion, was the lack of interesting jokes to move things along.
I was really looking forward to Neil Patrick Harris hosting it, since he’s already done a great job hosting the Tony Awards and the Emmy Awards in the past. But last night was not his night. I don’t blame him, because I could he that he was trying (unlike James Franco a few years ago, who looked bored the entire time). The problem was the jokes written for him. They simply didn’t work and left me feeling sorry for him listening to an awkward silence rather than laughter. And I laugh relatively easy (and really loudly). So to say that I didn’t laugh that often last night means something.
His best parts were the opening number (written by the same songwriters of Frozen), with the appearances of Jack Black and Anna Kendrick, and when he went on stage only in his underwear, clearly making a reference to Birdman. However, since Birdman only grossed US$ 37 million in the U.S. and US$ 38 million worldwide, I wonder if everybody understood the joke.
The funnier moment was John Travolta and Idina Menzel together on stage, making reference to his mispronunciation of her name at last year’s ceremony. Another interesting moment was Meryl Streep’s unexpected reaction to Patricia Arquette’s speech about equal wages for women. Meryl was so engaged and really screaming, which was a gift for all the creative people on Twitter and Facebook, who already created hundreds of jokes. The social media also didn’t spare Sean Penn for his joke when announcing the best picture. Before saying the name of the movie, he asked “Who gave this son of a bitch a green card?,” because the director Alejandro González Iñárritu is Mexican. I didn’t see it as something so offensive as people on Twitter were saying. It was only a joke!
There were also a lot of emotional moments, especially during the speeches. Producer Dana Perry, while accepting the award for Best Documentary Short Subject for “Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press,” talked about her son’s suicide (and Neil Patrick Harris made a joke about her outfit right when she left the stage, which was not good timing…). Moreover, screenwriter Graham Moore told how the thought about committing suicide when he was 16 while accepting his award for best Adapted Screenplay for “The Imitation Game.”
The musical numbers were the best part and the presentation of “Everything is awesome,” from the Lego Movie, made me think about Robin Williams’ performance in 2000 with “Blame Canada,” from South Park, with all the dancing and the colorful costumes. The audience was really moved during John Legend and Common’s performance of “Glory,” from Selma.
The best part for me, however, was the tribute to “The Sound of Music,” celebrating its 50th anniversary. I’m completely biased because it is my favorite movie, but I really think it was an extraordinary moment. I was a really concerned about Lady Gaga ruining the songs with some kind of crazy performance, but she proved me wrong. And I realized she can actually sing! She hit all the high notes, especially in “Climb every mountain”. And, on top of that great number, Dame Julie Andrews enters the stage looking wonderful, as always, and I got emotional.
The awards
The final balance of this year’s Oscars shows that there’s nothing like “the” movie of the year, as we used to have. There’s no “Titanic” or “Lord of the Rings” wining 11 awards. Instead, they are distributed among all the eight nominees for best picture. Each movie won at least 1 award, with Birdman winning 4 (best picture, best director, best original screenplay and best cinematography) and The Grand Budapest Hotel also winning 4, in technical categories. Whiplash comes right after with 3 awards.
I was glad to see Eddie Redmayne winning for “The theory of everything”! He looked genuinely happy and surprised during his acceptance speech. I was also really glad “Boyhood” only won 1 award! I guess the Academy voters had time to watch all the movies again and realized that there’s nothing so extraordinary about this movie, aside from the fact that it was shot in 12 years. Finally, I was extremely satisfied that “Birdman” won! I hope more people will be interested in this movie now.
