2015 Academy Award Winners

The night was full of some pretty big surprises! The big winners of the night turned out to be Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel, although only one of them walked away with the Oscar for Best Picture. Birdman took home a total of four statues including Best Picture and Best Director. Boyhood was a huge favorite to win, but the only statue it managed to bring home was for Best Supporting Actress. Eddie Redmayne shocked audiences by taking home Best Actor and Julianne Moore took home a well deserved Best Actress statue.

Here is a list of the winners:

Best Picture: Birdman

Best Actress: Julianne Moore - Still Alice

Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything

Best Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Birdman

Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette - Boyhood

Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons - Whiplash

Best Adapted Screenplay: Graham Moore - The Imitation Game

Best Original Screenplay: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo - Birdman

Best Animated Feature: Big Hero 6

Best Film Editing: Whiplash

Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Original Song: "Glory" - Selma

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki - Birdman

Best Foreign Film: Ida (Poland)

Best Documentary Feature: CITIZENFOUR

Best Production Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Costume Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Visual Effects: Interstellar

Best Sound Editing: American Sniper

Best Sound Mixing: Whiplash

Best Animated Short: Feast

Best Live-Action Short: The Phone Call

Best Documentary Short: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1



Aside from the winners, the show just ran really long. There was no reason for Jennifer Hudson to perform after the In Memoriam segment because it simply took too long and although Lady Gaga was surprisingly excellent, why did they feel the need to pay tribute to The Sound of Music? Like seriously, there was no reason. Not to mention Joan Rivers was not included in the In Memoriam which is a real shame.
Neil Patrick Harris did what he could with the rather lousy dialogue and jokes he was given, but the opening to the show was fantastic. They tried to capitalize on jokes that have been done to death since last year's show (aka, Adele Dazeem) and NPH seemed to be exhausted about halfway through the show and tried to rush it. I think Ellen Degeneres edged him out by a little bit and was a better host overall. Sorry, NPH.

2014 Academy Award winners & review

Last night we celebrated the 2014 Academy Awards hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. Gravity was the big winner of the night taking home a total of seven statues including Best Director while 12 Years a Slave took home Best Picture. There weren't really any big surprises in terms of where the awards went this year, but overall I think the night went well.
As far as the total production and the host, I thought everything looked nice and flowed very well. Ellen was fun to watch and she didn't go over the top with anything. It was a night full of selfies, Tweeting, and pizza. I have seen people already complaining about the inevitable drag in the middle of the show and I know how it could have been avoided; they should have put Pharrell in the middle of the show instead of at the beginning. "Happy" is such a fun song in general and it would have definitely given the energy a needed boost.
Speaking of the musical performances, I feel a bit sorry for Idina Menzel because on top of John Travolta butchering her name and introduction she was obviously very nervous. As a result she rushed the hell out of the song. Pink was very nice and sounded great as did Karen O. The questionable one was Bette Midler mainly because she couldn't even sing her own song. She kept taking the pitch all over the place and lost track of the song. It was a bit gross.

Anyway, here are the winners!

Best Picture - 12 Years a Slave
Best Actor - Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress - Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Best Director - Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)
Best Supporting Actor - Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Supporting Actress - Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Best Original Screenplay - Spike Jonze (Her)
Best Adapted Screenplay - John Ridley (12 Years a Slave)
Best Animated Feature - Frozen
Best Original Score - Steven Price (Gravity)
Best Original Song - Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez ("Let It Go" from Frozen)
Best Foreign Film - The Great Beauty
Best Documentary Feature - 20 Feet from Stardom
Best Documentary Short - The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Best Animated Short - Mr. Hublot
Best Live Action Short - Helium
Best Production Design - The Great Gatsby
Best Costume Design - The Great Gatsby
Best Cinematography - Gravity
Best Editing - Gravity
Best Visual Effects - Gravity
Best Hair & Makeup - Dallas Buyers Club
Best Sound Editing - Gravity
Best Sound Mixing - Gravity


In other fun news, Robert Lopez is now the youngest person to "EGOT." That meaning he has now won a Golden Globe, Oscar, Tony, and Emmy award. He also has won Grammys for The Book of Mormon. He joins the short list including Mel Brooks, Whoopi Goldberg, Mike Nichols, Scott Rudin, and Audrey Hepburn.