2014 Oscars: Final Thoughts

So, the 86th annual Academy Awards are over. My obsession and overly-thorough analysis of the race is now officially useless information, although, I'm pretty proud of predicting 19/24 categories correctly. And now, all that's left for me is to provide my final thoughts on the ceremony.

And, I have to say, this ceremony was really fantastic. And they were fantastic for one major reason: Ellen DeGeneres. Everyone expected her to be a great host, but she exceeded my already high expectations. There was just a general tone of joviality to the whole evening. And, especially when compared to last year's atrocity of a host, her jokes were never mean-spirited. She was having fun, so were the people in the audience, and so were those of us watching at home. And that's what an awards show should be.

The selfie on twitter idea was genius (and I loved when she pointed out that the fact that it broke a record truly made everyone a winner), and the fact that they ordered pizza was one of the greatest awards moments in history. Seriously, how amazing was that? I will see few things in my life greater than Meryl Streep looking really, really excited about getting a slice of pizza. This summed up, for me, why Ellen is such a great host: she does things just because they're funny.

Nothing will top the pizza for me, but here are some of my thoughts-- both good and bad-- on the night.

Although there were no real upsets in the major awards, there were some upsets in the categories of Best Animated Short Film and Best Live Action Short Film. The frontrunners in these categories did not win, but the best films of the nominees did. Which is a rather beautiful and reaffirming thing. I cheered when Mr. Hublot was announced instead of Get a Horse!. They're great films and see them for yourself-- I think you'll agree that the right films won.

Despite my thoughts on "Let It Go," it's exciting that Bobby Lopez won because he is now an official member of the coveted EGOT club, for those who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. And the speech he and his wife gave accepting the award was pure delight.

The fact that The Great Beauty won Best Foreign Language film means that Italy is now tied with France for the most number of wins in that category.

It's very rare for the director of the Best Picture winner to not win Best Director, which happened again this year. Not only that, but this is the second year in a row that this happened. The last time that these awards were split in two consecutive years was in 1952.

American Hustle, which I really loved but which seems to be getting a lot of criticism lately which I think is rather undeserved, failed to win a single award despite 11 nominations. It is now tied with The Turning Point and The Color Purple for the most nominations a without a win.

The speeches were, for the most part, rather spot on. But I found the speeches by the men of Dallas Buyers Club to be some of the lower points of the night. Jared Leto tried to bring up some important issues-- which I'd always wished he'd done when accepting awards-- but was mentioning issues that had nothing to do with Dallas Buyers Club. At the very end of his rambling speech, he finally mentioned "those out there who have ever felt injustice for who you are," yet still refused to say the word "transgender" when discussing his transgender character. Unbelievable. And then there's Matthew McConaughey who gave a completely meandering and rather incoherent speech. I get that his point was that people should strive to keep being the best version of themselves, but I find it a little odd that he spent the speech not thanking anyone-- and that he views himself as his own hero (even if it is a future version of himself).

Speaking of low points of the evening...John Travolta messing up Idina Menzel's name. What even was that? Did he say "Adela Manzeem?" It was one of the strangest things I've ever seen. It was even worse than the guy on the pre-show red carpet coverage who referred to Julia Roberts as "Jessica."

Interesting note about Best Documentary Feature Film. In my predictions for that category, I dismissed the ultimate winner 20 Feet From Stardom due to its more upbeat nature. But, I found out tonight, there has actually been a change in how this category is voted upon. It used to simply be documentarians voting, but now it's open to more people in the academy, which means it's likely that this category will feature more and more crowd-pleasers as the year goes on. Although, I can't help but feel that The Act of Killing got robbed because of this change.

Back to positives-- I loved the choice to cut the live audio feed while the In Memoriam section was running. I always love that section-- and the opportunity it gives to reflect on the work of so many great artists. But I've always found the applause during that kiiiiiiiiiiinda baffling. I know it's to honor the late, great talent...but it still always feels like "YAY! I'M GLAD THEY'RE DEAD!" So I appreciated that we didn't have to listen to the audience applause over it.

Can we talk about Lupita Nyong'o? She has won multiple awards already for her performance in 12 Years a Slave and has impressed me by giving such incredible speeches every time. Seriously, look them up. In every acceptance speech, she is not only very eloquent and gracious, but she brings up important issues and takes the time she has been given to really make a statement (take note, Leto). And it's always something different. Tonight, however, was the first time we really got to see her get emotional. She was still as poised as always, but she really gave herself time to take in the fact that she won an Oscar, and it was a beautiful and touching thing to see. Similarly, when Steve McQueen spoke after 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture, I love that he gave a really composed and important speech...and then once the serious stuff was out of the way began jumping up and down.

I really want to hear the full speech that Geoffrey Rush gave to honor Angela Lansbury at the Governor's Ball. If the little snippet we heard is any indication, it was incredible.

And, of course, one of my favorite parts of the evening was that The Wolf of Wall Street walked away with nothing. When they were announcing the award for Best Film Editing, they said something like "Without a good editor, a film would be four hours long and not as good as it could have been." That statement reeeeeeeeeeeally made me think of The Wolf of Wall Street. Although, to be fair, it's not the worst film I've seen recently.

So, there we are. A great Oscar ceremony to cap off a really incredible year for film. Sure, the ceremony ran long, but I don't care. It's the Oscars-- it's supposed to run long! And while not all of the video montages (which most likely padded the ceremony and were responsible for its long duration) were all that necessary, they were all quite well done. I don't have much to say because I really enjoyed it-- and it's easier to say things about something that you are ripping to shreds. So, my comments might not be as expansive as they have been in past years, but that's a good thing. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners, and here's to another great year for film in 2014!

2014 Oscar Predictions: Best Supporting Actor

So, I promise this blog will focus on other subjects come March when the Oscars are over, but for now, it's still Oscar time and I am in an Oscar frenzy, which means it's time to start with the predictions of who will win the coveted Academy Award. It's almost a month before the Oscars, so things are still subject to change, but despite the wide array of great films this year, things are starting to settle in and the frontrunners in the major awards have already become fairly clear.

To kick off the performance categories, here are my predictions for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Nominees:

Barkhad Abdi as Abduwali Muse—Captain Phillips

Bradley Cooper as Richie DiMaso—American Hustle

Michael Fassbender as Edwin Epps—12 Years a Slave

Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff—The Wolf of Wall Street

Jared Leto as Rayon—Dallas Buyers Club

Will Win: Jared Leto—Dallas Buyers Club

This award is probably the least contested of the acting awards. At this point, it's fairly inconceivable that anyone except Leto will win. He's won every other award, after all, for his portrayal of Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club. This isn't much in the way of a prediction, but it's a sure point for anyone filling out an Oscar ballot.

Should Win: Barkhad Abdi—Captain Phillips

I have to say that I find this list of nominees disappointing. Jonah Hill is a good actor but really doesn't do anything that extraordinary in The Wolf of Wall Street. Bradley Cooper's nomination here is a surprise-- and has more to do with recognition for American Hustle as a whole than his particular performance. He's a great actor but, in my opinion, he's outshone by his co-stars in this film. Then there's Michael Fassbender-- he's a really talented actor who I have no doubt could win an Oscar some day. But his work in 12 Years a Slave is really nothing special. He just kind of shouts a lot and give a one-note, angry performance. And that's okay-- the film calls for that role to possess a uniform brutality. He does what the film needs him to do, but this leaves his performance without any nuance or complexity. It's just not a role or a performance that should be receiving an Oscar nomination and I honestly don't know why there was so much support for him, and why he was nominated for pretty much every major award. Perhaps someone can explain it to me? Anger is, frankly, an easy emotion to play on screen. What sets this performance apart? Or makes it at all nomination-worthy? The thing is, none of these are bad performances-- they're all good. But if this award is to celebrate true excellence in film, then I don't think any of these three performances should have made the cut this time around.

This leaves us with two really strong performances-- and one of them is presumed-winner Jared Leto. Now, Leto is very good and I understand why he will win this award. But, I have a lot of problems with his role in the film. Despite Dallas Buyers Club being inspired by a true story, the character of Rayon is completely made up. Which is fine, except that she plays a rather important role in the film. Now, to give the filmmakers the benefit of the doubt, they probably wanted to have a transgender character in the film to increase awareness of transgender issues, and I'm obviously all for that. But...couldn't this actor have been played by a transgender actress rather than a cis man? The Oscars have a rich history of honoring portrayals of queer characters-- winners from the past ten years include Tom Hanks for Philadelphia, Nicole Kidman for The Hours, Charlize Theron for Monster, the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote, Sean Penn for Milk, and Christopher Plummer for Beginners who all play gay characters. It's a great track record, but it's worth noting that all of these roles were portrayed by straight actors. In fact, in 86 years, only one openly gay actor has ever been nominated for portraying a queer role (Ian McKellen for Gods and Monsters, who lost to Roberto Benigni for Life is Beautiful). There is a similar record for transgender characters. Hilary Swank won the Oscar for Boys Don't Cry, Felicity Huffman was nominated for Transamerica, and Janet McTeer was nominated for Albert Nobbs-- all three played transgender roles. All are excellent films and have been (I believe) generally well-received by the transgender community. But there has been a justifiable increase in the resentment towards cisgender actors taking these roles and being told that they're "taking a risk." 

Leto's nomination is especially suspect as he has come under attack for what many perceive to be offensive comments made on the talk show circuit and during acceptance speeches. In fact, he was just heckled when receiving the award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. A woman called out "Trans-misogyny does not deserve an award." Leto responded:

 "Because I'm a man, I don't deserve to play that part? So you would hold a role against someone who happened to be gay or lesbian-- they can't play a straight part? Then you've made sure people that are gay, people that aren't straight, people like the Rayons of the world would never have the opportunity to turn the tables and explore parts of that art." 

Most articles I've read of this incident have applauded his response, but I find it problematic, and a textbook example of someone not recognizing their own privilege. The truth is that there is no shortage of straight, cisgender roles out there. But there are, at the moment, a limited number of transgender characters in high-profile projects. This isn't to say that Leto can't play the part-- he can, and he does so well. But was he the best choice? No. And, yes, this award should go to the best performance regardless of the actor's background, but many of Leto's comments since the film's release have left a bad taste in my mouth and I find it hard to separate my feelings about his recent insensitivity from the performance that he gives. Which is partly why I just wouldn't feel comfortable ever saying that he "should" win this award.

Luckily for me, Barkhad Abdi exists, and is my clear choice for who should win this award. Abdi, a former limousine driver, makes his film debut in Captain Phillips and delivers a captivating performance and matches Tom Hanks note for note (which is especially impressive considering that this is Hanks at his best). He's definitely the villain here, but his portrayal of a Somalian pirate captain is not one-dimensional (I'm looking at you, Fassbender) and gives his character charisma, intelligence, and even some sympathy. Despite knowing how the story ends, Abdi grants the character the necessary menace needed to keep the film thrilling. The volatility of the portrayal allows Tom Hanks to remain reserved and stoic-- Hanks does not have to spell out to the audience that the Captain is afraid, because Abdi manages to be intimidating enough to make the tension palpable.

  

Should Have Been Nominated: Daniel Bruhl—Rush 

In one of the ceremony's biggest snubs, Daniel Bruhl was not nominated for the underrated Rush (which failed to score any nominations). Bruhl (who gives a leading performance and the fact that he was entered in the supporting category is ludicrous) was nominated for almost every other major award, and his absence here is notable. As portrayed by Bruhl, Austrian Formula One racing driver Niki Lauda is calculating, ratlike, and mathematic-- viewing his dangerous profession as a game of science rather than thrills. Bruhl takes command of every scene he's in, and brings humanity to a character who is written as uptight and distant. Not only is he my choice for who should have been nominated, if he were nominated, then I would have listed him as the performer who should have won.

What are your thoughts? Which actor will/should win? And which performance should have been recognized? Do you agree with me? Do you think I'm way off the mark? Let me know in the comments!

I'd be especially curious to know peoples' thoughts on Leto. His performance and the controversy surrounding it is a difficult situation and I have not gone into nearly enough detail above, as that's not what this post is really about. But it's undoubtedly an important issue, and I'd love to hear the thoughts of someone who is more qualified to speak on the subject. Or, if I'm completely wrong, feel free to call me out on that as well. Thanks!