Every Spring brings the story of Jesus Christ's rebirth, a clearer picture of who will probably win the Premier League and THE awards ceremony which empowers famous yanks to throw their winning accolades around like a dog by the ears to warrant bigger pay-checks; the OSCARS. Filmed each year from that big homeless playground, Hollywood Boulevard, 2014's big night was no different.
Fans and correspondents went expectedly bonkers for the outfits, their favourite stars and the prospect of Jennifer Lawrence falling arse over tit again (which she nailed) but most of all, the mystery behind this year's winning nominations. It's been years since it was so tight with such a strong selection of brilliant films gracing our screens these last 12 months. Best Picture alone was a tougher call than Flash Gordon had when trying to comfortably pet the Wooded Beast of Arboria.
"12 Years A Slave" triumphed throughout the night winning the all-important Best Picture award, as well as Lupita Nyong’o taking home Best Supporting Actress and John Ridley (of "Undercover Brother" fame) winning for Best Adapted Screenplay. Kudos must also go where it's due to Steve McQueen who flew the flag spectacularly high for British filmmakers in 2013.
"Gravity" did equally as well particularly in post, winning Best Cinematography, Visual Effects, Sound and Film Editing, Score and most significantly, Best Director for Alfonso Cuaron. Go Mexico.
"Cate Blanchett" who has gripped every role like a passive aggressive lover ever since botch job, "Irina Spalko" in Indiana Jones and the Ludicrously Long Title, deservedly won Best Actress. But the stand out stars of the show last night were the two carefree Lothario's no respected film critic ever saw coming; "Jared Leto" as Best Supporting Actor and "Matthew McConaughey" as Best Actor, for their brilliant performances in Dallas Buyers Club. With the obvious physical transformations they took to play their roles, their ability to say lines and make faces shone equally as brightly with the Academy.
We mustn't forget the great movies which were inevitably caught short too though. "Captain Phillips" was a captivating tale of Somalian Piracy and "The Wolf of Wall Street" with its laddish tone and A-List ensemble, not to mention that infamous Di Caprio Quaalude scene which was a moment of comedic genius nobody ever saw coming from Arnie Grape.
"Her" rightly nabbed Best Original Screenplay by Spike Jonze of Being John Malkovich fame, but "Philomena" and "American Hustle" were simply surpassed by too strong an opposition in their categories.
The latter was nominated a bugger load and having seen the star studded con-caper myself, I'm not that surprised. It ticks all the right boxes; set in the fashionable late 70s with a fun mafioso storyline and an electric rivalry between Bale and Cooper who had the most delicious jerry curl, but I didn't feel it was much more than a crowd pleaser. Better films in similar vain such as Catch Me If You Can and Snatch never came close to the same amount of hysteria.
What were the most memorable bits of the night though? Probably some of the ridiculous bits in between. That infamous "selfie" which was an awkward attempt by Ellen DeGeneres at squeezing in as many must-have celebrity guests for her chat shows coming season, the hilarious memes that circulated about stars who missed out on gold and people falling over which, well, yeah that'll always be funny. But I think it stands to say that without someone sobbing like a right melt or a host who can generate a giggle without the help of her celebrity mates; The Oscars 2014 was a bit of a fart in the wind.
The Oscars: 86th Academy Awards gets 2/5 Macho Man Randy Savages because they've been way less dull.
No comments:
Post a Comment