February 24, 2013 marked the 85th annual Academy Awards, the night where the best in film is celebrated. The Academy Awards was drawing interest before the stars were dawning the red carpet. It started when it was announced that Seth MacFarlane would be the host of the award show. MacFarlane, for those of you how don't know, is the creator of such brow raising shows as "Family Guy", "American Dad", and the hit movie of the summer "Ted". The announcement of MacFarlane as the host drew in viewers to see who the funny man could piss off on the most elegant night in Hollywood. As it turns out it became the most watched Academy Awards since 2004.
The nominations and snubs also brought a lot of attention to the award show. The most notable snubs were in the directing category. Ben Affleck, star and director of "Argo", failing to receive a best director nomination while his film was nominated for 7 awards and won 3 including best picture. The other glaring omission was Kathryn Bigelow for her directorial work on "Zero Dark Thirty." This film was nominated for 5 awards winning 1.
"Lincoln" came into the ceremony lead the field with 12 nominations winning two, including lead actor for Daniel Day-Lewis, who also made Oscar history for winning his third best actor statue. Quvenzhane Wallis also made Oscar history for being the youngest person, age 9, to be nominated for best lead actress. "Life Of Pi" received 11 nominations winning 4, including a surprising win for Ang Lee for best director. The 4 wins would make "Life Of Pi" the most wins for any of the nominated films.
"Silver Linings Playbook" came into the night with 8 nominations, including 1 nomination in all four acting categories, along with best director for David O. Russell and best picture. Jennifer Lawrence picked up the best lead actress Oscar for the film and while on her way to receive her Oscar she tripped and hit the deck. she was able to laugh about it and poke fun at it to the press back stage. It was the films only Oscar.
While accepting an Oscar for best picture, Ben Affleck gave one of the best Oscars speech in the history on the ceremony where he urges people to get up and keep trying after you get knocked down.
Christoph Waltz won best supporting actor for "Django Unchained", Quentin Tarantino won an Oscar for best original screenplay for "Django Unchained" which was the films only two Oscar wins. Anne Hathaway won best supporting actress for "Les Miserables", one of the films 3 Oscars.
The ceremony had two special guest appearances. The first was William Shatner posing as Captain Kirk from "Star Trek". He appeared on a big screen and told MacFarlane that he came back in time to help him not mess up as the host, the opening bit between these two was hilarious. MacFarlane definitely look like he belonged on the stage as host, he had plenty of highlights for his nights work. The second guest appearance was a little more surprising. The First Lady Michelle Obama announced the best picture winner, probably because Jack Nicholson was getting a little to distracted by the possibilities of the after parties.
With MacFarlane at the helm the Oscars saw its best rating in years according to the, according to the Nielsen rating system. Most notably the ratings were up in the 18 to 49 demographic, which is what was targeted with MacFarlane as host. All in all the show went well, with only one winner being cut off by the orchestra. Now the time has come where the films of substance are over until next fall, and ushered in are the expensive blockbusters with explosions galore.
At A Glance:
Most Nominations: Wins:
12- "Lincoln" 4- "Life Of Pi"
11- "Life Of Pi" 3- "Argo" and "Les Miserables"
8- "Les Miserables" and "Silver Linings Playbook" 2- "Django Unchained" "Lincoln" "Skyfall"
7- "Argo" Nine films won 1 Oscar
5- "Armour" "Django Unchained" "Skyfall"
and "Zero Dark Thirty"
4- "Anna Karenina" "Beats of The Southern Wild"
3- "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" "The Master"
2- "Flight" "Snow White and The Huntsman"
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