Movies: Academy Awards Provide Satisfying Evening

On Sunday, February 22, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held its 87th annual ceremony to award the legendary Oscar to those they think are worthy.  Like any cinephile, I watched it.  

To me the Oscars are my Super Bowl.  I’m not saying I’ve always agreed with the Academy and their selections.  They have selected a few winners that I thought were more than underwhelming, shall we say. 

But this past awards ceremony was very satisfying in both the presentation and the selections.  Neil Patrick Harris proved once again why he is considered legen—wait for it—dary.  

His opening musical number with Anna Kendrick and Jack Black was mostly a lovely tribute to why we love movies, but it threw a couple punches at the way things are amongst the mainstream cinema.  Even though I enjoyed Harris as the host, I thought the briefcase gag was lackluster.  It didn’t have that grand of a payoff.

One of the biggest surprises was not from any of the winners, but from the performance by Lady Gaga.  When I heard she was going to do a tribute performance to a movie musical, I was thinking it would be something like “Cabaret” or “The Wizard of Oz,” but it turned out to be “The Sound of Music.” 

But the really shocking thing about it was that she was simply amazing.  I’m so used to seeing her in her stage persona that I forget that she is a trained singer who is capable of serious vocalizing.  Bravo to you, Lady Gaga. 

As for the winners, while I didn’t make the right predictions for all the categories, I was satisfied with all the winners.  The best example of this is with Best Leading Actor.  

I was personally rooting for Michael Keaton to win for his stellar performance in “Birdman,” but I am not surprised, nor disappointed, by Eddie Redmayne winning.  Redmayne was completely lost in his portrayal of the noted scientist Stephen Hawkings in “The Theory of Everything.” 

Also, if I ever in some way win an Oscar, I’d probably have the same reaction Eddie had.  At the very least, who wouldn’t hug Cate Blanchett when receiving an award from her?

One of the other big highlights goes to the rapper Common and singer John Legend, who won Best Original Song, “Glory,” from “Selma.”  During this awards season Common fully displayed his fantastic wordplay, and he didn’t disappoint with his Oscar speech.  Legend’s words were also very powerful—so powerful that it made actors David Oyelowo and Chris Pine shed tears. 

2014 was an overall good year for films, and the Oscar ceremony helped display it by highlighting some terrific work.