87th Annual Oscars Review

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The 87th Academy Awards was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. It took place on Feb. 22

Tristan Baez, Writer

On Sunday Feb. 22, the 87th annual Oscars aired to announce the best movies and achievements of 2014.

‘How I Met Your Mother’ star, Neil Patrick Harris hosted, and while a few jokes hit, many did not. NPH also lacked the “moment” that everyone talks about like Ellen’s “selfie heard ‘round the world.” Although lacking a talked about moment from the host, Lady Gaga’s ‘The Sound of Music’ tribute was the nights most popular moment on social media.

Though certain movies were snubbed from nominations, such as ‘Lego Movie’ and ‘Gone Girl,’ and actors like David Oyelowo and Jake Gyllenhaal, the Academy was able to make fun of themselves as per usual, which lead to a fun and glamorous evening. With upsets and emotional speeches, the most important night in film, was a success.

Below are the winners in each category:

*Winners are bolded

Best Picture

“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole, Producers

“American Sniper” Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Bradley Cooper and Peter Morgan, Producers

“Boyhood” Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland, Producers

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson, Producers

“The Imitation Game” Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky and Teddy Schwarzman, Producers

“Selma” Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers

“The Theory of Everything” Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce and Anthony McCarten, Producers

“Whiplash” Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook and David Lancaster, Producers

In probably the closest race, Birdman pulls out the win after picking up momentum since the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Boyhood, the other favorite to win, had lost steam from a great start to their Oscar campaign.

 

Best Actor

Eddie Redmayne in “The Theory of Everything”

Michael Keaton in “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”

Steve Carell in “Foxcatcher”

Bradley Cooper in “American Sniper”

Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Imitation Game”

A surprised Eddie Redmayne accepted the award and was more giddy than a kid in a candy shop. Many thought Keaton would squeeze out with the statue, but as time continues to prove, the winner of the SAG award has the best chance to win the Oscar.

 

Best Actress

Julianne Moore in “Still Alice”

Marion Cotillard in “Two Days, One Night”

Felicity Jones in “The Theory of Everything”

Rosamund Pike in “Gone Girl”

Reese Witherspoon in “Wild”

Moore closed out her sweep of the award season with her performance in ‘Still Alice.’ Congrats to her for gaining an extra five years of life…

 

Best Director

“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Alejandro G. Iñárritu

“Boyhood” Richard Linklater

“Foxcatcher” Bennett Miller

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Wes Anderson

“The Imitation Game” Morten Tyldum

For the second year in a row, a Mexican director wins the best achievement in directing. Both emotional and hilarious, the acclaimed director praised his cast and crew, and confessed what his lucky charm was… and it didn’t smell too good.

 

Supporting Actor

J.K. Simmons in “Whiplash”

Robert Duvall in “The Judge”

Ethan Hawke in “Boyhood”

Edward Norton in “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”

Mark Ruffalo in “Foxcatcher”

Simmons’ perfect tempo continued into the final stretch of the award season as he wins his award for the fast paced role in ‘Whiplash.’

 

Supporting Actress

Patricia Arquette in “Boyhood”

Laura Dern in “Wild”

Keira Knightley in “The Imitation Game”

Emma Stone in “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”

Meryl Streep in “Into the Woods”

Arquette’s speech delivered a heartfelt message regarding female equality with wages, a speech that had Meryl Streep looking like she was at a Van Halen concert.

 

Adapted Screenplay

“The Imitation Game” Written by Graham Moore

“American Sniper” Written by Jason Hall

“Inherent Vice” Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson

“The Theory of Everything” Screenplay by Anthony McCarten

“Whiplash” Written by Damien Chazelle

Against all expectations, the British WW2 drama claimed the Oscar, giving it its first and final academy award. Moore gave a very emotional speech about self-worth, and in his words: “Stay weird. Stay different.”

 

Original Screenplay

“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo

“Boyhood” Written by Richard Linklater

“Foxcatcher” Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness

“Nightcrawler” Written by Dan Gilroy

‘Birdman’ was the big winner of the major categories, and continued that trend with a win for best original screenplay.

 

Animated Feature

“Big Hero 6” Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli

“The Boxtrolls” Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable and Travis Knight

“How to Train Your Dragon 2” Dean DeBlois and Bonnie Arnold

“Song of the Sea” Tomm Moore and Paul Young

“The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” Isao Takahata and Yoshiaki Nishimura

Unexpectedly, ‘Big Hero 6’ launched off with the best animated feature award, leaving behind the beloved sequel ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2,’ but the un-nominated ‘Lego Movie’ was the fan and critic favorite.

 

Documentary Feature

“CitizenFour” Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky

“Finding Vivian Maier” John Maloof and Charlie Siskel

“Last Days in Vietnam” Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester

“The Salt of the Earth” Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and David Rosier

“Virunga” Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara

“Unfortunately Edward Snowden couldn’t attend the Oscars.”

 

Original Song

“Glory” from “Selma”

Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn

“Everything Is Awesome” from “The Lego Movie”

Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson

“Grateful” from “Beyond the Lights”

Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from “Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me”

Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond

“Lost Stars” from “Begin Again”

Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois

Leaving ‘Selma’ star David Oyelowo and Chris Pine in tears, ‘Glory’ performed by John Legend and Common, played with the heartstrings of all viewers. Common destroyed hate in his heartfelt speech after the performance.

 

Foreign Language Film

“Ida” Poland

“Leviathan” Russia

“Tangerines” Estonia

“Timbuktu” Mauritania

“Wild Tales” Argentina

Upsetting the heavy favorite ‘Leviathan,’ ‘Ida’ took home the award, the first Oscar in Poland’s history.

 

Original Score

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Alexandre Desplat

“The Imitation Game” Alexandre Desplat

“Interstellar” Hans Zimmer

“Mr. Turner” Gary Yershon

“The Theory of Everything” Jóhann Jóhannsson

SNUB ALERT: Desplat’s score took home the golden statue, but not without snubbing both Hans Zimmer for ‘Interstellar’ or Johann Johannson for ‘Theory of Everything.’

 

Film Editing

“Whiplash” Tom Cross

“American Sniper” Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach

“Boyhood” Sandra Adair

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Barney Pilling

“The Imitation Game” William Goldenberg

Quick editing and fast shots, make for Oscar quality editing as ‘Whiplash’ won another award. While another category missing the best film in that area, ‘Birdman,’ which filmed to look like one shot, obviously went unnoticed.

 

Visual Effects

“Interstellar” Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick

“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist

“Guardians of the Galaxy” Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould

“X-Men: Days of Future Past” Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer

Another surprise here as ‘Interstellar’ takes home the Oscar. While predictions split with ‘Apes,’ although the loss for the ‘Apes’ proves that the Academy still doesn’t appreciate or understand the technical achievement of performance capture.

 

Cinematography

“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Emmanuel Lubezki

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Robert Yeoman

“Ida” Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski

“Mr. Turner” Dick Pope

“Unbroken” Roger Deakins

No surprise here as the one-shot looking film takes home the gold. The best cinematography in years, Inarritu continues to prove his masterful and articulate filmmaking.

 

Other winners include:

Costume Design

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Milena Canonero

“Inherent Vice” Mark Bridges

“Into the Woods” Colleen Atwood

“Maleficent” Anna B. Sheppard and Jane Clive

“Mr. Turner” Jacqueline Durran

 

Makeup and Hairstyling

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier

“Foxcatcher” Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard

“Guardians of the Galaxy” Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White

 

Production Design

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock

“The Imitation Game” Production Design: Maria Djurkovic; Set Decoration: Tatiana Macdonald

“Interstellar” Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Gary Fettis

“Into the Woods” Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock

“Mr. Turner” Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Charlotte Watts

 

Animated Short Film

“Feast” Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed

“The Bigger Picture” Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees

“The Dam Keeper” Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi

“Me and My Moulton” Torill Kove

“A Single Life” Joris Oprins

 

Live Action Short Film

“The Phone Call” Mat Kirkby and James Lucas

“Aya” Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis

“Boogaloo and Graham” Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney

“Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak)” Hu Wei and Julien Féret

“Parvaneh” Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger

 

Documentary Short Subject

“Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1” Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry

“Joanna” Aneta Kopacz

“Our Curse” Tomasz Sliwinski and Maciej Slesicki

“The Reaper (La Parka)” Gabriel Serra Arguello

“White Earth” J. Christian Jensen

 

Sound Mixing

“Whiplash” Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley

“American Sniper” John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin

“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga

“Interstellar” Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten

“Unbroken” Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and David Lee

 

Sound Editing

“American Sniper” Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman

“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Martín Hernández and Aaron Glascock

“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” Brent Burge and Jason Canovas

“Interstellar” Richard King

“Unbroken” Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro

 

And because you all know that I’m the ultimate fashion expert:

Best Dressed: Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Anna Kendrick, Jared Leto, Jessica Chastain, Kevin Hart and Rosemund Pike

Worst Dressed: Lady Gaga, Marion Cotillard, Gwenyth Paltrow, Chloe Moretz, Michael Strahan and Nicole Kidman