The 86th Annual Academy Awards

Well, it's that time of year again as we watch with intense anticipation of who is going to win those infamous Oscar statuettes. The competition was incredibly stiff in that the talent this year was awe-inspiring. From "Gravity" to "Dallas Buyers Club" to "12 Years a Slave" to "Her" to "American Hustle" to "Nebraska" and on down the line.
This years host was the incredibly funny Ellen DeGeneres, who seven years ago was the then host. She was just as fresh this year as she was then. Mind you, she's no Billy Crystal, who has to go down in Academy history as one of the best hosts for the awards ceremony, she still held her own in spades. The way she interacted with the different stars in the audience interspersed during the awards was simply hilarious. She can return as host any time in my opinion.
This is great for the different stars, because it's like Kevin Spacey stated, "this is a chance for all to come together for a time for celebrate each other's work. Usually we are at different locations and don't even wear these [tuxes], so it's great to see us here". "Gravity" certainly was the big winner grabbing seven Oscars total including direction. The other larger awards were dispersed fairly evenly. The one surprise omission of wins was that of "American Hustle", however Jennifer Lawrence did win the Golden Globe for supporting actress.
All in all, with the different production numbers for the nominated songs and the comedy lightness of DeGeneres, the 3 hour and 35 minute running time actually went fairly quick. There were a few surprise wins, but most wins were fairly predictable, but this is nothing new for the awards since there are always a few favorites.

Anyway, here is the recap of the winners in full:
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 Foreign Language Film: "The Great Beauty"

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki-- "Gravity"

Best Editing: Alfonso Cuaron, Mark Sanger-- "Gravity"

Best Production Design: Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn-- "The Great Gatsby"

Best Costume Design: Catherine Martin-- "The Great Gatsby"

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews-- "Dallas Buyers Club"

Best Original Score: Steven Price-- "Gravity"

Best Original Song: "Let it Go" by Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez-- "Frozen"

Best Sound Mixing: Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro-- "Gravity"

Best Sound Editing: Glenn Freemantle-- "Gravity"

Best Visual Effects: Timothy Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, Neil Corbould-- "Gravity"

Best Documentary, Feature: Morgan Neville-- "20 Feet from Stardom"

Best Documentary, Short Subject: Malcolm Clarke, Carl Freed-- "The Lady in Number 6"

Best Short Film, Animated: Laurent Witz, Alexandre Espigares-- "Mr. Hublot"

Best Short Film, Live Action: Anders Walter-- "Helium"

This was definitely a worthy viewing of the awards with something for everyone: musical numbers, especially a nice 75th anniversary tribute to "The Wizard of Oz", some very passionate and compassionate acceptance speeches and some funny dialogue from DeGeneres. I'd still like to see Billy Crystal come back; hey I'm spoiled, but this was still one memorable show for the books.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                       Rated: NR                        3Hr.35mins.