We can close the book on 2013 now. The Oscars are over, and the winners have been announced. I won’t waste time talking about how many I got right (22), but rather am just gonna spend my time going through all the categories and talking about the decisions and everything that happened. (I already live-blogged the ceremony. So there’s no need to go back over that.)
I was very pleased with how the ceremony turned out, even though it was pretty much as-expected, with no surprises whatsoever (the only surprises being that certain things we hoped would happen actually did happen and weren’t spoiled). The show clocked in the same time as last year, 3 hours and 35 minutes. And that’s even with all the added fat they put onto it (Pink, Bette Midler). And they didn’t play anyone off. Good for them.
Oh, and one more thing before I get into the recap — now’s a good time for me to remind everyone of my Oscar Trivia article that I posted two years ago. It’s a giant article with a bunch of facts and trivia and such, the likes of which probably don’t exist in a single place anywhere else. (Probably. Not that I’m bragging or anything.) I keep updating it before and after each ceremony, and keep adding things every time I find them out or think of them. If you like the Oscars and you like trivia, you’ll like that article.
So anyway, let’s get into the recap of the Oscars:
Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave
I think they made the right choice. I was pulling for Gravity, as that was my personal favorite film of the year, but I think they made the right choice historically. Gravity won 7 Oscars, and, frankly, it didn’t need the Best Picture win to validate itself. This was a much better choice historically, and after watching all the nominees again, I can honestly say that, in my rush to get my Top Ten list up, I probably made the wrong decision of excluding 12 Years a Slave from that list. Something that will be remedied whenever I post the Remixed version of it later in the year, where I rethink what I posted and update it for when my feelings have truly settled.
I’m glad they didn’t go with American Hustle, since I felt that would have reflected very badly on them. Though I am disappointed that the film got shut out. I mean, I’m happy, since I really wouldn’t have voted for it in any particular category, but the film isn’t that bad to have gotten shut out.
And, also — with its amount of nominations (you can see it up there in that trivia article), it actually becomes one of the only films with 10+ nominations to have gotten completely shut out of the Oscars. (Pretty sure True Grit was the last one. But I’m not 100% on that.)
Otherwise — I think they made the right choice. They continue the trend of Best Picture winners winning four or less Oscars, which has actually been the norm a lot in the past ten years. Million Dollar Baby won four, The Departed won four, Crash I think only won three. No Country won four. (This is all off the top of my head, by the way. If I’m wrong, don’t correct me. The point is that they didn’t win that many overall.) The King’s Speech won four. Argo won three. The Artist actually managed five, which was as big a consensus film as we’ve had since Slumdog Millionaire and The Hurt Locker. I guess it’s better, since if a film sweeps then the other categories aren’t as interesting and there’s no suspense, and it allows them to spread the wealth. But, in the case of 12 Years a Slave, it almost gives the perception that they didn’t want to vote for it. Though I don’t really subscribe to that notion, since you take each category on its own. And the film still has the label of “Best Picture,” which is really all that matters in the long run anyhow.
So, I think they made the right choice. It’s the classy choice, the film is really good, and it’s one of the films nearly everyone can agree on as a choice. Sure, I preferred Gravity, but it’s not like I really hate 12 Years. I just preferred something else. So, good job, Academy.
Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
I feel really bad for Steve McQueen. In any other year, he wins this too. But Alfonso Cuaron’s work was just too good to ignore. Which is a shame for Steve McQueen, but also a really terrific decision by the Academy. Cuaron has put in amazing work throughout the years (Children of Men speaks for itself. And then you factor in that he basically changed the entire scope of the Harry Potter series with Prisoner of Azkaban and how he shot it), and made a technological marvel of a film, one that will stand the test of time as an amazing achievement. It was a good choice, and while it’s a shame that it prevented McQueen from winning, will be looked at fondly over the years.
Instead of the first black director winning, we got the first Mexican director winning. Not a bad consolation prize. Especially considering we all loved Cuaron’s effort anyhow.
Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Here’s another instance where I think we can all say resoundingly — they got it right. McConaughey was tremendous, and he’s in the middle of a (what did they call it? McConaughssance?) real resurgence, where all of his choices are outstanding. And at the moment, he’s putting in Emmy-winning work on TV on top of it. And the performance absolutely speaks for itself as one of the single best of the year. So I think this was wholly deserved.
Sure, it came at the expenses of Leonardo DiCaprio and Bruce Dern, but those losses aren’t the worst things in the world. Dern is a veteran who put out a great performance, and will still be remembered as a tremendous actor regardless. And Leo — he’ll likely get his Oscar one day. And I think it’ll really take a transformative performance for it to happen. Too many of his performances seem like Leo acting and not him really doing something that wows them. Best Actor actually works against the movie star, since you see the star and not the performance, and it takes a hell of a lot to overcome that.
Either way, McConaughey deserved it, and it’ll go down as a really great choice in the history books.
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
It was really the only choice. They’d almost all won before. Meryl didn’t need one. Bullock already had one, and the film had won enough. Amy Adams hadn’t won, but wouldn’t have held up particularly well historically. And Judi Dench just don’t give a fuck. And everyone respected Cate’s performance, and she’s terrific. So it makes sense, and it’s the winner that would hold up just fine historically. I feel like her and Dench would have held up best, and Bullock would have held up for outside reasons. So, ultimately, in a category that wasn’t particularly tremendous, they made a fine choice, and it’s nice to see Blanchett have two Oscars now. She always puts in great work.
Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Personal feelings aside (everyone seems to hate Jared Leto), everyone pretty much agrees he earned it. I honestly would have been okay with any of the five winning this, so I’m totally cool with it. And, historically, this jumps right to the top half of the list of best winning supporting actor performances of all time. So that’s good. There’s really nothing bad to be said about it winning. So, that’s another right decision.
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
This is by far the right decision. Jennifer Lawrence would have been a terrible choice. Julia Roberts wasn’t gonna win and wouldn’t have held up due to category fraud. Sally Hawkins was lucky to be there and had no shot. And June Squibb would have mostly been forgotten historically. Nyong’o was the right choice and is the one that will hold up the best over time. This was by far the right decision and is just a great story all around. Good for her.
Best Original Screenplay: Her
Oh, you have no idea how happy this makes me. This was the right choice and will look just fine over time. American Hustle wouldn’t have been a bad choice, but man, did they get this right. This award will truly show just how much love and support this film had and just how ahead of its time it is. Really terrific decision, and I’m glad they made it.
Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave
This was the right call. I didn’t think they were gonna mess it up no matter how Best Picture went, and they didn’t. It was the only choice. Captain Phillip, Philomena and Wolf of Wall Street were well-written, but this was the choice, and it was the only one they should have made. Terrific winner.
Best Original Score: Gravity
It towered over the rest of the category. It had to win. Shame for Thomas Newman and Alexandre Desplat, who remain winless. But Price’s score stood out as one of the crowning achievements of the year and is a deserving winner. And kudos to them for even nominating Her here.
Best Original Song: “Let It Go,” from Frozen
I was so worried about this category that I didn’t even feel elation when it won. Mostly relief that it didn’t lose. This was by far the best choice in the category and I’m glad they didn’t mess it up by choosing the Pharrell song. The U2 song wouldn’t have been a good winner either. This was the choice, and they made the right one. The four songs are all really good, too, so that’ll look good in the future.
Best Editing: Gravity
It or Captain Phillips would have been good choices, but this represents the technological superiority of this film to all others. This was a swing category. If either 12 Years or American Hustle won, it would have tipped Best Picture early. But instead, they went with what the best effort in the category was. Either way they went, it would have been fine. So I think they made a good call.
Best Cinematography: Gravity
It wasn’t losing, and was a fine decision. It won’t be looked at as a bad call at all, but will be part of that trend of rewarding mostly computer enhanced cinematography as opposed to actual lighting. Which took away from other efforts like Inside Llewyn Davis and Prisoners off the same list. So that part is regrettable, but on its own, it was a good choice.
Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby
It was the showiest choice, and, in my mind, the right one. It’s a miracle Her was nominated, 12 Years was actually a really solid nominee. American Hustle was all right. And Gravity wasn’t going to win owing to all the CG and open space in the film. I feel like either Gatsby or 12 Years was the right choice, and they made the best one. When you watch Gatsby in the future, you’re gonna go, “Damn, those sets look good.” And you’ll see it won, and it’ll make sense. So that makes it a good winner.
Best Costume Design: The Great Gatsby
Again, I feel they made the right choice. The costumes were showy as hell. American Hustle would have been an okay choice. 12 Years would have been fine, but not particularly inspired. The Grandmaster and The Invisible Woman had no shot and wouldn’t have been forgettable choices, historically. So I think they made the right choice. That or American Hustle would have made the most sense. This was the category American Hustle had its best shot at winning (outside of Supporting Actress and Original Screenplay). This could have been the award that kept it from being shut out. Oh well. Still, a good choice.
Best Makeup & Hairstyling: Dallas Buyers Club
It was the choice. It was a way to honor the film some more, and was really the only thing they were voting for here. Any of the three would have been fine choices, and, maybe this looks weak historically in the Makeup category, among other winners and against the other nominees, but it’s one of those “It was nominated for Best Picture. Of course it won” deals. The only real downside here is that we don’t get to say “Academy Award winner Bad Grandpa” or ”Academy Award winner The Lone Ranger.” I guess they’ll have to stay alongside Academy Award nominee Norbit as losers of the Best Makeup category.
Best Visual Effects: Gravity
Well fucking really.
The only bad thing about the category is who wasn’t nominated. Outside of that, this was the only choice.
Best Sound Editing: Gravity
And again, it was the only choice. It’s a good decision by virtue of being the only decision.
Best Sound Mixing: Gravity
No matter what happened, Gravity was walking away with three Oscars no problem. It just was the best in all of these technical categories.
Best Animated Feature: Frozen
It had no competition. It was the best film in the category (sorry The Wind Rises, I loved you too), and was an easy winner. It almost makes me forget about that dumb Pixar win last year.
The real interesting thing is gonna be what happens next year, when Pixar doesn’t have a film coming out, and Disney is making a superhero film that I’m sure won’t particularly register with many people. (Does anyone actually see that being incredible?) Does that mean The Lego Movie wins? Just something to keep an eye on throughout the year.
Best Foreign Language Film: The Great Beauty
It was the high profile nominee, and the Globe win propelled it to the win here. Critically, no one particularly loved it. It was just pretty good. The Broken Circle Breakdown and The Hunt were probably the better films to pick, narrative-wise. But it’s an okay choice. It looked good. And people generally forget about this category when there isn’t a surefire winner like there has been the past two years. So the decision was fine. This is back to being a category we don’t care about.
Best Documentary Feature: 20 Feet from Stardom
It was the populist choice. I certainly enjoyed it the most. I still say The Act of Killing was way more affecting and would have been a better choice, but you can’t really argue with this one. It shows that the category is starting to lighten up, as opposed to dark theme after dark theme. Since 2008, the category’s mostly been uplifting stories. (Mostly.) So that’s something to look out for. Otherwise, it was a decent choice, and I’ll go back to not caring about the category at all for another eleven months.
Best Documentary Short: The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
It was the obvious choice, and I’m glad I got it right. That’s about it. Nothing ever to say here since I never watch these nominees. So I’m just glad when I can pick this correctly. And when they continue to go with the obvious choice in the category. It certainly helps my numbers.
Best Live-Action Short: Helium
I can’t believe I got this right. I heard this was the obvious winner, but also not of much substance. So I was worried the high-minded voters would go elsewhere, since it seemed like there were other choices that were of more dramatic and emotional resonance. But I got it right. So I’m happy. This is the category I dread most each year. At least with Documentary Short I can narrow it down to two choices and be 50/50. This one, I just guess and hope I get it right. So I’m happy I got it right.
Best Animated Short: Mr. Hublot
No joke, I’d have had this in last year’s voting system. This is the thing they always vote for. But I stuck with Disney because I felt the open vote would get people to go that way because they saw it before Frozen. But I forgot two things — no one actually goes to the movies in the business, and they don’t vote for these categories anyway, because no one sees them. Now, I didn’t see Mr. Hublot, so I can’t say for sure whether or not it was the best, but I imagine it was perfectly fine as a winner, and the only bad thing I can say about this category is that I’m upset I didn’t have it. (Because then I’d have actually been right there at having all 24 correct.)
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Here’s a list of films that won Oscars:
Gravity – 7 Oscars (Director, Editing, Cinematography, Score, Visual Effects, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing)
Dallas Buyers Club – 3 Oscars (Actor, Supporting Actor, Makeup & Hairstyling)
12 Years a Slave – 3 Oscars (Picture, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay)
The Great Gatsby – 2 Oscars (Production Design, Costume Design)
Frozen – 2 Oscars (Song, Animated Feature)
Blue Jasmine – 1 Oscar (Actress)
Her – 1 Oscar (Original Screenplay)
The other winners were: The Great Beauty, 20 Feet from Stardom, The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life, Helium and Mr. Hublot.
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And that’s 2013.
