Feb

A Review of the Oscars

Author // Mike Crissman

The 85th annual Academy Awards was both surprising and predictable. While I didn’t go too far out on a limb with any of my Oscar predictions last week, I’m proud to say I went a perfect five-for-five in the main categories Sunday night.

Top honors at the award show went to “Argo,” the film based on the true story of a CIA operation to rescue six U.S. diplomats during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. Leading up to this year’s Oscars, many people thought Ben Affleck was unfairly snubbed. While he might be married to actress Jennifer Garner, Affleck surprisingly did not garner a nomination for Best Director. He was vindicated Sunday when “Argo” beat out eight other movies to win Best Picture of the Year.

Another story, perhaps even bigger, was Daniel Day-Lewis. The 55-year-old actor solidified himself as one of the best of all time, becoming the only man to win the Best Actor award three times. In 2010, when Steven Spielberg announced that the legendary Day-Lewis would play the title role in his upcoming film “Lincoln,” everyone immediately predicted he would win Best Actor for the high-profile character. Sunday night he did.

Jennifer Lawrence, just entering superstardom, took home the Oscar for Best Actress. Best known for the blockbuster movie “The Hunger Games,” Lawrence won the award for her portrayal of a troubled young widow in “Silver Linings Playbook.” As she walked to the stage to accept her award Sunday night, the 22-year-old actress tripped over the long dress she was wearing. A surprise to no one, she handled it like a champ!

In addition to those three awards, I also correctly predicted Christoph Waltz would win Best Supporting Actor, and Anne Hathaway would win Best Supporting Actress. Their films, “Django Unchained” and “Les Miserables” respectively, both had other moments in the spotlight.

Writer-director Quentin Tarantino won Best Original Screenplay for the controversial “Django.” They should re-name it the “Tarantino Award” – because no one writes dialogue as originally as he does. Tarantino also won Best Original Screenplay in 1995 for “Pulp Fiction.”

The highlight for “Les Miserables” came in the form of an ensemble musical performance by the cast. Hathaway was joined by Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Helena Bonham Carter and even Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen), in a moving display of unselfish Hollywood camaraderie.

I thought Seth McFarlane struck a good balance between classic entertainment and edgy lighthearted humor as host of the Oscars. Throughout the show, he parceled out some traditional song-and-dance in between crude “Family Guy”-inspired jokes. He seems like a guy who’s really comfortable with show business. That made the audience fairly comfortable with him.

One of the most unexpected moments of the night came when First Lady Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance. Looking as lovely as ever, she announced the award for Best Picture via streaming video from the White House. This probably attributed to Ben Affleck’s stirred-up nerves that came pouring out onstage shortly after.

Like every other year, these Oscars highlighted some of the best films to come out recently. While comedies are still underrepresented in the show, the Academy Awards are still a great representation of the best work Hollywood has to offer.

I hope there were at least a couple nominated movies this year that piqued your interest enough to go out and watch them. It’s never too late to see the films that everyone’s been talking about! What did you think of the Oscars?