“Birdman” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel” stole most of the spotlight at the Oscars this year, with each film coming away with four awards. While they had their time to shine, especially with “Birdman” taking home Best Motion Picture of the Year, each of the eight nominees in this category managed to win at least one award.
Between Patricia Arquette’s feminist-driven speech as she accepted the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Boyhood,” to host Neil Patrick Harris opening with a one-liner about how the academy was here to honor “Hollywood’s best and whitest,” political aspects dominated the show’s atmosphere, more so than in previous years.
Upon winning Best Adapted Screenplay for penning “The Imitation Game” script, Graham Moore said in his acceptance speech how he contemplated suicide as a teenager and encouraged people to “stay different.” This made for one of the most emotional moments of the evening, along with John Legend and Common performing the Best Original Song winner “Glory” from the “Selma” soundtrack. This brought the movie’s star David Oyelowo to tears.
In addition to winning the big one, “Birdman” also received Best Achievement in Directing, Best Writing and Original Screenplay and Best Achievement in Cinematography. Director Alejandro González Inárritu said in his speech, “Two Mexicans in a row. That’s suspicious, I guess,” noting Alfonso Cuarón’s winning Best Director for “Gravity” last year.
Eddie Redmayne appeared breathless when he won Best Actor for his portrayal of the renowned physicist Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything”; while Best Actress winner Julianne Moore also gave a heartfelt speech as she accepted the award for her role in “Still Alice.”
J.K. Simmons won the first Oscar of the night, receiving Best Supporting Actor for his role as a brutal music instructor in “Whiplash.” The film also received Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing.
Despite being the most financially successful of its contenders, “American Sniper” only came away with one technical award, receiving Best Sound Editing. This also marks star Bradley Cooper’s third year in a row he’s been nominated for Best Actor.
A major highlight of the evening featured Lady GaGa performing “The Hills are Alive” with Dame Julie Andrews coming onstage at the end, resulting in a wave of audience applause.
And while “The Lego Movie” didn’t even receive a nomination for Best Animated Feature, much to the dismay of its fans, the show nevertheless included a live performance from Tegan and Sara of its hit song “Everything is Awesome” from Andy Samberg’s Lonely Island. Though the fact that the lesser acclaimed “Big Hero 6” took home the award brought disappointment as well.
Harris’ spoof of a scene from “Birdman” as he came onstage in his underwear garnered a lot of laughs, while he also delivered a decent amount of one-liners. However, Jack Black’s attack on superhero movies at the beginning received little reaction from the audience.
While less entertaining than last year’s show, the 87th Academy Awards highlighted three of the more original films from 2014, while also displaying a call for social justice.
