Jennifer Lawrence arrives at the 86th annual Academy Awards March 2 in Los Angeles.
Credit: Courtesy of MCT
“12 Years a Slave,” “Dallas Buyers Club,” and “Gravity” stole the show on Sunday night’s Oscars. There were tears, laughs and selfies throughout the ceremony, with host Ellen DeGeneres, providing pizza to the stars.
The Oscars wouldn’t be the Oscars without Jennifer Lawrence taking a tumble and Leonardo DiCaprio going home empty-handed.
Lawrence fell on the red carpet this year after famously tripping on her way to accept an award at last year’s Oscars.
Ellen DeGeneres, second-time host of the Oscars, delighted both TV viewers and her audience with her sarcastic jokes, a pizza delivery and a Twitter-crashing selfie.
I was not shocked by the wins, but I was surprised that two of the biggest box offices hits this year, “American Hustle” and “The Wolf of Wall Street,” went home completely empty-handed.
Winner of this year’s Best Picture honor was “12 Years a Slave,” the true story of a free black man being sold into slavery in the South. Brad Pitt accepted the award saying, “I know I speak for everyone standing behind me that it has been an absolute privilege to work on Solomon’s story.”
The other nominees in this category were “American Hustle,” “Captain Phillips,” “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Gravity,” “Her,” “Nebraska,” “Philomena” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
John Ridley won Best Adapted Screenplay for “12 Years a Slave.” This was his first Oscar.
Lupita Nyong’o of “12 Years a Slave” took home Best Supporting Actress. During her speech, she said, “Thank you so much for putting me in this position. It has been the joy of my life.” This was her first Oscar.
Nyong’o’s speech was a tear-jerker, as she not only talked of the joys she had while making this film, but also how every person’s dream is valid. Sorry, Jennifer Lawrence, but Nyong’o might be my new celebrity fake best friend.
“Dallas Buyers Club” won three awards: Matthew McConaughey for Best Actor, Jared Leto for Best Supporting Actor, and Robin Mathews and Adruitha Lee for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. All four winners experienced their first Oscar wins with these awards.
The awards presented to McConaughey and Leto were well deserved after their dramatic depiction of the life of a man and a transgender with AIDS. Both men completely committed to the role, truly putting the audience of “Dallas Buyers Club” in the shoes of people with AIDS in the 1980s.
Best Actress went to Cate Blanchett for her performance in “Blue Jasmine.” This was her first Oscar win in the category, but she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for “The Aviator” in 2005. Blanchett might have had my favorite speech of the night, telling fellow nominee in this category, Julia Roberts, to “Hashtag suck it.”
“Gravity” went home with the most wins of the evening, totaling seven Oscars. Director Alfonso Cuarón won his first Oscar for Best Film Editing along with Mark Sanger and also won the Oscar for Best Director.
Though “Gravity” had great reviews and acting, I was surprised that it took the most awards home on Sunday compared to “Dallas Buyers Club” and “12 Years a Slave.”
“The Great Gatsby” and “Frozen” both won two Oscars.
“The Great Gatsby” won Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. Out of the two DiCaprio movies up for awards, “Gatsby” was not the film I expected to have the majority of wins.
“Frozen” won Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song for “Let It Go.”
After Idini Menzel’s performance of “Let It Go,” it was clear why this song won in this category.
Winners in the other categories included “Mr. Hublot” for Best Animated Short Film, “Helium” for Best Live Action Short Film, “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” for Best Documentary Short, “20 Feet from Stardom” for Best Documentary Feature, “The Great Beauty” for Best Foreign Language Film and “Her” for Best Original Screenplay.
