Skip to main content

BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE Featurette

Birdman Soars at Oscars

Offbeat showbiz satire bests Boyhood.

By Brandon Wolfe

The 87th Annual Academy Awards initially seemed like a horse race, but it wound up being strictly for the birds, as Birdman took home the prizes for Best Picture, Best Director for Alejandro González Iñárritu and Best Original Screenplay. Up until recently, Richard Linklater’s sublime Boyhood seemed like it had the Best Picture and Best Director categories all sewn up, but Birdman experienced a major resurgence in recent weeks, collecting several other major film awards in the lead-up to the Oscars. It would seem that the more insular showbiz milieu of Iñárritu’s surrealistic film struck a stronger chord with those in the film industry than did Linklater’s more universal film.

The one prize that Birdman didn’t take home was the one that it initially seemed to have in the bag: Best Actor for Michael Keaton. The former Batman went home empty-handed as Eddie Redmayne won for his striking performance as Stephen Hawking in the otherwise unremarkable The Theory of Everything. While Keaton turned in fine work as embattled actor Riggan Thompson, the Academy loves nothing more than when an actor portrays a real-life figure with some physical impairment, so Redmayne walked away with the prize predictably, though not undeservedly.

Patricia Arquette garnered Boyhood’s sole win, for Best Actress, and used her acceptance speech as a stirring call to arms for female equality. Julianne Moore finally took home a long-overdue Oscar, winning Best Supporting Actress for the little-seen Still Alice. And rounding out the major acting categories was J.K. Simmons, who won Best Supporting Actor for his powerhouse performance in Whiplash.

The biggest winner of the night outside of the top categories was Wes Anderson’s delightful The Grand Budapest Hotel, which took home four awards (tying it with Birdman) for Best Production Design, Best Original Score, Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Costume Design.

Neil Patrick Harris was a sprightly host, even if the material he was given was creaky in the traditional Oscar-writer fashion (the less said about his “prediction box” bit, the better).

The full list of winners are as follows:

BEST PICTURE: Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance 

BEST ACTOR: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything 

BEST ACTRESS: Julianne Moore, Still Alice 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood 

BEST DIRECTOR: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Graham Moore, The Imitation Game 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, Birdman 

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Citizenfour 

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FEATURE: Ida 

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Big Hero 6 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Milena Canonero 

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING: Whiplash, Tom Cross 

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Alexandre Desplat 

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: “Glory” from Selma, music and lyrics by Common and John Legend 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Adam Stockhausen (production design), Anna Pinnock (set decoration) 

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING: American Sniper, Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman 

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING: Whiplash, Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley 

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS: Interstellar, Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher 

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM: Feast 

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM: The Phone Call

Discuss this story with fellow SJF fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @SandwichJohnFilms, and follow author Brandon Wolfe at @BrandonTheWolfe.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New Clip & Release Date For Chaos Walking Starring Tom Holland & Daisy Ridley

In the not too distant future, Todd Hewitt ( Tom Holland ) discovers Viola ( Daisy Ridley ), a mysterious girl who crash lands on his planet, where all the women have disappeared and the men are afflicted by “the Noise” – a force that puts all their thoughts on display. In this dangerous landscape, Viola’s life is threatened – and as Todd vows to protect her, he will have to discover his own inner power and unlock the planet’s dark secrets. .   In theater & IMAX March 5th.   Discuss this with fellow SJF fans on Facebook . On Twitter, follow us at @SandwichJohnFilms Please Leave A Comment-

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania Trailer

In the film, which officially kicks off phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Super-Hero partners Scott Lang ( Paul Rudd ) and Hope Van Dyne ( Evangeline Lilly ) return to continue their adventures as Ant-Man and the Wasp. Together, with Hope’s parents Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne ( Michelle Pfeiffer ), the family finds themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought was possible. Jonathan Majors joins the adventure as Kang. Director Peyton Reed returns to direct the film; Kevin Feige and Stephen Broussard produce.     Discuss this with fellow SJF fans on Facebook . On Twitter, follow us at @SandwichJohnFilms Please Leave A Comment-

Sex Tape Review: Overly Sexual, Rude, Vulgar, and Absolutely Hilarious

The raunchy Sex Tape will divide audiences and critics, but who cares? Sex Tape suggests a growing practice among loving partners: that of making a raunchy testament of their escapades for posterity. But what happens when that evidence gets seen by friends, neighbors, and even the mailman? This is the plot that pits Jay (Jason Segel) and Annie (Cameron Diaz) in an effort to secure every iPad gift Jay has given, his record company playlists being the envy of the recipients, but which has also inadvertently spread the video to every device. The reason for the act - termed in the movie as pulling "the full Lincoln " for its three-hour length - stems from the couple's non-existent social life, brought on by the constant demands of their children. The couple has a lot to lose: a burgeoning business relationship between Annie and Hank (Rob Lowe) could end if the iPad she's given to Hank exposes the video, and so the couple sets out to reclaim and wipe the incrim