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.

Oscar nominations to be voted on

It's almost that time!

The secret ballots for the 2014 Academy Awards have been made available as of today, December 27th. Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are to electronically cast their votes by January 8, 2014 to determine the nominees. The official nominations will be announced on January 16, 2014. Frontrunners are expected to be American Hustle and 12 Years a Slave as they have been already for the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild nominees.

Ellen DeGeneres is set to host the 86th Academy Awards on March 2, 2014.

Ellen DeGeneres returns to host the Oscars

After the seeming failure of Seth MacFarlane's show this year, the Oscars have tapped yet another previous host to return for the 86th Academy Awards on March 2, 2014. That would be Ellen DeGeneres.

She first hosted back in 2007 and was tapped after MacFarlane apparently turned down an offer to return after citing scheduling conflicts. Many are speculating the choice to go with DeGeneres is due to her ability to keep the mood light and fun without rocking the boat toward too raunchy. Not to mention the fact that she earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for her hosting skills back in 2007. She has also earned a total of 45 Daytime Emmy nominations for her talk show Ellen which has aired for 10 seasons. Show producers Craig Zadan and Neal Meron will return for the show as well.
Another project DeGeneres has coming up is voice work to return as Dory for the Disney/Pixar sequel Finding Dory which hits theaters in 2015.