The 86th Annual Academy Awards, known commonly as the Oscars, were hosted by Ellen Degeneres at the Dolby Theatre Sunday evening. Big winners included “Gravity”, which garnered 7 of its 10 nominations, and “Frozen”, which won both Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song. Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the writers of “Let It Go” from “Frozen,” accepted their award in a short, song-style speech, saying they “have a lot of people to thank, so it’s lucky that all their names rhyme”. This award made Robert Lopez the youngest person ever to win an EGOT, a rare achievement of one person receiving awards from each the Emmy’s (Television), Grammy’s (Music), Oscars (Film), and Tony’s (Theatre).
Best Supporting Actor went to Jared Leto for his role in “Dallas Buyer’s Club” and Lupita Nyong’o won Best Supporting Actress for her role in “12 Years a Slave”. Both gave moving acceptance speeches, with Leto thanking his mother for raising him to dream and Nyong’o inspiring the audience by saying, “No matter where you are from, your dreams are valid.”
Matthew McConaughey won Best Actor in a Leading Role for “Dallas Buyer’s Club” and Cate Blanchett won her second Oscar with Best Actress for “Blue Jasmine”. McConaughey thanked his family, his father and his mother, and told the audience that he was constantly chasing his hero: himself, 10 years from now. Blanchett recognized her fellow nominees in a very eloquent speech, praising their performances, and thanked Woody Allen for casting her. She commented on the criticisms of women-centered films being “niche”, refuting this by saying “they’re not. People want to see them. And they make money” which was met by roaring applause.
“12 Years a Slave” won Best Picture in a close race amongst 8 other stellar films, including “Gravity”, “Dallas Buyer’s Club”, “Her”, “Philomena”, and “The Wolf of Wall Street”. Alfonso Cuaron won Best Direction for “Gravity”.
All in all, the speeches at the ceremony were unusually articulate and all around enjoyable to listen to, unlike previous years, where incoherent mumbling and pure shock have ruined acceptances.
On the more important side of things, Ellen DeGeneres was a fantastic hostess, ordering pizza for the audience in the middle of the show, taking selfies with the stars, and wearing iconic costume pieces (was anyone else positive the Galinda costume was meant to introduce Idina Menzel?) Her humor was biting and sarcastic, a little deprecating, but miles better than recent years (Anne Hathaway and James Franco, anyone?)
John Travolta absolutely butchered Idina Menzel’s name when he introduced her hyped up performance of the Oscar-winning song “Let It Go”. Unfortunately, her performance was not totally on point, but she still received a standing ovation from the enthusiastic audience. Pharrell William’s performance of “Happy” at the beginning of the night was the highlight of musical performances, followed by Karen O’s performance of “The Moon Song”. P!nk sang a pop version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” in honor of the 75th anniversary of “The Wizard of Oz” and Bette Midler performed “The Wind Beneath my Wings” to conclude the in memoriam tribute. U2 performed their piece from the Mandela documentary, “Ordinary Love”, and received a standing ovation as well.
Leonardo DiCaprio did not win. Again.