Oscars 2014: Best and Worst Moments and List of Winners

Posted on March 3, 2014 at 12:13 am

Highlights of the Oscar award show:

Ellen DeGeneres was a great host, funny and irreverent but respectful of the event and the fans. The photo that brought down Twitter was a hoot. But the pizza thing was not so great.

The incomparable Darlene Love lifted her voice and our spirits by singing her acceptance speech when 20 Feet from Stardom won Best Documentary.

Pharrell Williams sang “Happy” and got the stars in the front row to do what all of us at home wanted to do — get up and dance with him.

Jared Leto, best supporting actor winner for “Dallas Buyer’s Club,” made up for rambling and clumsy responses to some of the other awards with a heartfelt tribute to his mother, to the people with AIDS whose struggle was portrayed in his film, and to others struggling around the world.

Lupita Nyong’o’s elegance and beauty was exceeded only by her graciousness and eloquence in giving the night’s most moving acceptance speech. “No matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid.”

Two marvelous commercials:

The Muppets appeared for Lipton tea with an improbable tribute to “Midnight Cowboy” — and reminded us that their new movie is opening this month.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_LJVfKN2iI

Pepsi Mini had a better tribute to the magic of movies than the Oscar broadcast’s clip reels.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCXr7ECpGQg

The tribute to the Wizard of Oz on its 75th anniversary included all three of Judy Garland’s children, Pink singing “Over the Rainbow” in a beautiful dress that recalled the ruby slippers, and Ellen appeared in Glinda’s gown.

The youngest ever achiever of that most elusive of goals was Robert Lopez, who shared the Oscar for Best Song with his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, for “Frozen’s” “Let It Go,” and now has the honor of the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony). Their rhyming acceptance speech was charming and touching.

The Academy finally did the right thing with the In Memoriam tribute to those we lost over the past year, silencing the audio so there were no distracting bursts of applause.

Winners got time to say what they wanted to say without being interrupted by the orchestra. Much more civilized.

Low points:

That blanket of roses motif on the stage was distracting.

The “Hero” theme was poorly handled. I am as big a fan of movie clip reels as anyone but these were contextless and not very dynamic.

Did Whoopi borrow the Julia Roberts dress from the Golden Globes that everyone hated?

John Travolta weirdly mangled Idina Menzel’s name — twice.

And the Oscars went to….

(more…)

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Lupita Nyoung’o Made a Beautifully Gracious Statement

Posted on March 1, 2014 at 3:59 pm

I hope Lupita Nyoung’o wins the Best Supporting Actress award tomorrow night. She deserves it. But there’s another reason: I want to hear her acceptance speech. Her speech at the Essence Awards this week was beautifully heartfelt, gracious, and wise. She talked very frankly about the difficulty of feeling beautiful with dark skin, and how she felt when she received a fan letter from a young girl who said she had been about to try a skin-lightening cream before she saw Nyoung’o and realized that it was possible to be dark-skinned and successful. Nyoung’o said:

What is fundamentally beautiful is compassion for yourself and for those around you. That kind of beauty enflames the heart and enchants the soul. It is what got Patsey in so much trouble with her master, but it is also what has kept her story alive to this day. We remember the beauty of her spirit even after the beauty of her body has faded away.

And so I hope that my presence on your screens and in the magazines may lead you, young girl, on a similar journey. That you will feel the validation of your external beauty but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside.

Do the Oscars Overlook Movies About Young People?

Posted on February 26, 2014 at 3:59 pm

My friend John Hanlon has a thoughtful piece on CNN.com about the way the Oscars and other movie awards overlook stories about young people and performances by actors in their teens and twenties.

It’s unfortunate but undeniable that award shows — and the Oscars in particular — have a history of ignoring great movies made for and about young people.

In 2013 alone, several such films received raves from critics, earning spots on “best of” lists. “The Kings of Summer” and “The Way, Way Back” scored approval ratings of 76% and 85% of critics, respectively, on RottenTomatoes.com, while “The Spectacular Now,” written by the duo behind 2009’s underappreciated “(500) Days of Summer,” earned the approval of 92% of critics.

“Short Term 12” received a 99% approval on Rotten Tomatoes, a higher ranking than any of this year’s best picture nominees. “Spring Breakers,” starring James Franco and Selena Gomez, may have divided some moviegoers, but the film was also lauded for its provocative depiction of disaffected youth. And it’s not for nothing that “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” was the top grossing film of 2013.

Yet not one of these movies earned a single Oscar nomination.

And he was nice enough to quote me:

Film critic Nell Minow (the Movie Mom) also observed that “Oscar voters skew older.”

“They are more interested in stories about grown-ups and more likely to have relationships with actors and filmmakers who are 30 and older,” Minow said via e-mail.

Judy Garland’s Children Will Appear on the Oscars’ Tribute to “The Wizard of Oz”

Posted on February 24, 2014 at 6:38 pm

The Oscar broadcast this Sunday will have a special 75th anniversary tribute to “The Wizard of Oz” and all three of Judy Garland’s children will appear together: Liza Minnelli (an Oscar-winner herself for “Cabaret” and the daughter of Oscar winner Vincente Minnelli) and Joey and Lorna Luft.

Liza Minnelli’s second husband also had a parent who starred in “The Wizard of Oz.” Producer Jack Haley, Jr. was the son of Jack Haley, who played the Tin Woodman.

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Grae Drake and Leonard Maltin Talk About the 2014 Oscar Race

Posted on February 23, 2014 at 3:57 pm

Two of my very favorite movie people, Leonard Maltin and Grae Drake, give you all you need to know about what to see and what to skip for this year’s Oscar nominees.

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