Academy awards wrap-up

It was a night filled with ugly dresses, pretty dresses, tears, jealousy, ashes and overall entertainment. The 84th Annual Academy Awards aired on Feb. 27.
The evening began with the illustrious red carpet. Several stars came trying to put their best foot forward when it came to their fashion sense. Apparently, not many did. All the female stars must have gotten a memo from the Academy Awards committee that this was the season of fugly dresses, because it seemed as if each and every one of them was in a competition to see which designer/actress could pull of the ugliest look of the night.
Mellissa McCarthy, nominated for best supporting actress for her role in Bridesmaids, showed up in something you would expect to see in the old time show, Little House on the Praire. In a mauve colored dress fancied up with some glitter and sparkles, she did not do herself any favors when it came to her appearance.
Meryl Streep may have taken home the award for best actress, but some critics  named her worst dressed as well. She showed up wearing a shocking sparkling golden gown resembling Christmas paper. Obviously, Meryl was expecting a gift because some people think that her Best Actress win was exactly that.
With the red carpet events winding down, the stars made their way inside for the show. The really old Billy Crystal made his way onto the stage, with an interesting but entertaining opening monologue as well as a montage super imposing himself into the most highly recognized movies of the year, including an extremely controversial bit where Crystal puts on black face. Then the show begins.
Hugo took home the first two awards of the night. Winning for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography. The Artist takes home its first award for costume design, while The Iron Ladywas awarded Best Makeup.
What’s a good awards show or celebrity event without a wardrobe malfunction? Yes, there was a nip-slip, and who else better to grace the world with her nipples than Jennifer Lopez herself. It was obvious the tape meant to hold J-Lo’s breast in place was not doing its job as a portion of her nipple was exposed for the entire acting community and home viewers to see.
Best Foreign Language film went to the Iranians. The film A Seperation took home that coveted award, and many were in tears, obviously not expecting the win.
The first large award of the night went to The Help star Octavia Spencer. She took home the coveted prize for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal as Minnie. In a tear filled speech she gracefully accepted the award.
The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo wasn’t completely snubbed, as it picked up the award for Best Film Editing. Hugo added Sound Mixing to its ever-increasing list.
Next up was an amazing but strange performance by Cirque Du Soleil. The tribute to past films was entertaining, but it seemed out of place.
The lackluster and unentertaining category for Best Animated Film went to the less than impressive Rango. Pixar obviously did not put out anything of quality as they usually are a shoe in for this award.
Best Original Song was now up for grabs. Only two songs were nominated this year….. did no one write a song for a movie at all? In the past, this category has been filled with beautiful songs giving the Academy a tough choice in picking the best one. This year, the award went to “Man or Muppet,” from the latest Muppet movie. Sounds like anyone needs to just write a song for a movie and you’ll have a chance at winning an Oscar.
Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay went to The Descendants and Midnight in Paris, respectively.
Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy becomes the first Pakistani to win an Oscar. She wins for her documentary Saving Face, which followed two victims with disfiguring acid injuries as they attempt to reclaim their identities.
Michel Hazanavicius wins for best direction, for The Artist. Not entirely surprising, but when Martin Scorsese is in the category, you never know.
It was nearing two and a half hours into the show, and the stars were either getting drunk, or restless. This is when the Academy gave out the award for Best Actor. And the French have it. With only two spoken words in the entire film, Jean Dujardin from The Artist still had the chops to impress the Academy. He jumps on stage to begin his speech with a hearty: “I love your country.”
The next award to be given out was for Best Actress. There were only ever two nominees really in this category: Meryl Streep and Viola Davis. I must say I personally thought Viola gave a beyond riveting performance in The Help, but the Academy chose to award Meryl. So I guess you can’t call it an upset because it’s Meryl, but if it were anyone else it definitely would have been.
And then it was time for the biggest award of the night: Best Picture. The two most valiant choices were The Help and The Artist, but with Hugo picking up several wins no one was really sure. In the end, The Artist took home film’s top prize, and the entire cast, and production team celebrated on stage.
So there you have it, if you missed the 84th Annual Academy Awards, you are now caught up. Go see as many of these movies as you can because I can assure you, they are fantastic!