Lisa’s
Oscar Commentary
The
87th Annual Academy Awards
The Academy may have snubbed Joan Rivers, but I won’t. So what if she wrote,directed and starred in
one movie – “Rabbit Test” – a critically un-acclaimed flop. She was later redeemed as the subject of the
award-winning documentary “A Piece of Work.”
She also had small roles in several motion pictures, mostly cameos and
voice work (“Muppets Take Manhattan”, “The Smurfs,” “Shrek 2,” etc.). But mostly, the words “Academy Awards” and “Joan
Rivers” are almost inseparable. With
four simple words, “Who are you wearing?” Joan created the Red Carpet
Industry. Every designer fighting to
have Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Emma Stone, and Lupita Nyong’O wear their
dresses and jewels have Joan Rivers to thank.
And if the Academy thinks that the hours of coverage of the quarter-mile
of Red Carpet outside their doors is not “part of the show,” they are sadly
mistaken. Just ask the producers at ABC
who extend the length of the “pre-show” year-after-year (remember when it was
five minutes at the beginning of the show – now it’s 90 minutes, while E!
offers 3 hours. Suffice it to say Joan Rivers
is a legend, a trailblazer, and a voice of four generations. Personally, I miss her immensely. I have my little piece of Joan’s red carpet
outside my front door welcoming me home every night. In my home, and I’m sure in many others, Joan
lives on….
Neil Patrick Harris, or NPH to his fans, showed up
strong. Unfortunately, there just weren’t
enough moments to keep the largely dull middle of the show moving. He opened strong with a creative musical
number as expected. And he incorporated
his love and talent of magic….loved his Oscar prediction box. Octavia Spencer owes Neil a huge Thank You
basket for all the camera time. Time is
always an issue – it’s a long show and it’s hard to keep the pace moving. Sometimes the musical numbers help, but there
needs to be a few moments where the host jumps in with their own memorable
moments – like Ellen did last year with the Selfie and the Pizza delivery. Neil saved his big reveal for the end of the
show when he needed a little magic in the middle.
But we’ll get back to the show. Let’s talk about the important stuff for a
bit – the fashion!
This year we saw some trends in color – the color is one
that has difficulty being described – I will call it pearl, as in all the
various shades of pearlescence. And
heavily beaded and embellished dresses – all kinds of beads, pearls, sequins,
and everything sparkly…Heavy being the operative word. This year’s dresses weighed more than most of
the women in them.
The women who wore the trend well: Naomi Watts in Armani,
light grey pearl and black beaded sheath that hung over what looked like a
black beaded tube top – this shape is something you will see in inspired dresses
in all fabrics and prices on the racks this Spring. Lupito Nyong’O once again will be one of the
most photographed women at the Oscars – draped head-to-toe in pearls by
Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein, that dress definitely weighed more than she
does. Nicole Kidman added a red patent
belt to her white pearl beaded sheath, Jennifer Anniston in a body hugging
beaded sheath in yet another shade of indescribably pearlescence, and Laura
Dern in black pearlescence. And my most
favorite and a tie for the Best Dressed went to the big winner of the night,
Julianne Moore wearing a Chanel white pearl beaded sheath with a strapless
inverted scoop-neck. Her “Still Alice” character might forget last night, but
Julianne won’t, and we won’t forget that she finally won her Oscar and she
looked amazing!
Other women who looked great but pushed different trends
like new necklines – off the shoulder, one shoulder, racer-back fronts, and
that beautiful strapless inverted scoop-neck (like Julianne’s). Felicity Jones stood out in the Alexander
McQueen grey ball gown – loved the racer-back front, but the bottom was a bit
too full – but very bold, Alexander McQueen style drama. Dakota Johnson wore a one-shoulder silver
rope – perhaps she got used to being tied up – this dress will surely be
knocked off by next week at BCBG.
Patricia Arquette wore a one shoulder white and black gown – simple but
totally suited her style. Gwyneth
Paltrow was stunning in a one shoulder/one sleeve/one big rose, pale pink
sheath – loved it. Emma Stone wore a
high neck and long sleeves, all gold – she tried to dress like an Oscar,
unfortunately it didn’t help her win one. Sienna Miller was stunning in a black
Oscar de la Renta apron neckline with a sheer bottom – I would guess that in
person, she was probably the most stunning, but the black fabric detail gets a
little lost on camera. Reese Witherspoon stole the show in that white dress
with the off the shoulder black band coupled with her perfect hair and make-up –
she truly glowed. But the co-winner for
Best Dressed of the night looked like a bookend for Julianne Moore’s Best
Dressed gown – Rosamund Pike. She looked like a beautiful single red rose among
the sea of pearls. Her dress had the
same beautiful strapless inverted scoop-neckline as Julianne’s dress, but the
red lace brought a beautiful scalloped edge that framed her elegant décolletage
and beautiful face. She looked
perfect. I only hope she and Julianne
Moore took a photo together – if so, please send it to me.
And now for the disappointing: The other strong trend of the night was
statement necklaces. Cate Blanchett, the
Goddess of the Red Carpet wore it well – a very simple black sheath sleeveless
dress with a huge turquoise and diamond necklace. She looked beautiful, but it was a little
underwhelming – but she was only a presenter, so a good time for her to take it
down a notch. Margo Robbie also
attempted the statement necklace look but unsuccessfully. She’s a beautiful sexy girl and it was great
to see her hair blonde again, but her body was lost in that long sleeve loose
black chiffon dress, and the Titanic necklace filling the space in her plunging
neckline looked like she stole it off of Kate Winslet. And speaking of stolen,
it looked like Rita Ora stole Naomi Watts snake necklace that she wore a few
weeks ago at the Globes. Two words: Too
Soon! Scarlett Johansson also attempted the statement necklace – a simple green
deep v-neck body-hugging dress with an overly huge green monster necklace. Two words: Too Much. Zoe Saldano – usually cutting edge, and
sometimes disappointing – was that dress made of jersey? Jennifer Lopez looked
beautiful and stunning, as she always does, but how many times have we seen
J-Lo in a nude colored beaded sheer dress with a deep plunging neckline? Time to put the Golden Globes away and give
us an Oscar dress. Marion Cottillard’s
couture Dior looked like a white table cloth, not bad in the front, but that
huge black bustling buckle in the back – unsightly. But winning the Worst
Dressed Award: Lady Gaga wore the most anticipated dress of the night – an Azzedine
Alaia couture gown that took two months to make
- it looked a little like an oversized paper cut-out gown (with the tabs
that fold back over the paper doll) which wasn’t a bad dress at all, but Gaga
drowned the dress in those red rubber gloves.
Did Amal Clooney not teach her anything about bad gloves? (Btw, where
were George and Amal? Off fighting
somewhere? Hmmm….).
The Men mostly looked elegant and classic and thin! Lots of skinny legged boys in tuxes – Jared
Leto, Eddie Redmayne, Neil Patrick Harris, Michael Keaton, John Legend, Adam
Levine, and a lot of young actors whose names I can’t remember. The trend was blue tuxedos with black lapels:
Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, and even The Rock.
I liked the classics like Bradley Cooper and Michael Keaton, and the
white dinner jackets on Eddie Murphy and Benjamin Cumberbatch. NPH switched it
up a few times – rocking it every time – Best Dressed of the night,
particularly in his tighty whities - and
who would have guessed that the most nipple action of the night would have come
from the host?
The worst dressed of the night was not hard to find. Even though Matthew McConoughy is really
starting to bore with the ungroomed hair and the groggy voice, the stand out of
the night was the talented actor in the burgundy Ringmaster costume – David Oyelewo. Yipes.
I guess because he wasn’t nominated, he wanted to be memorable. It worked.
But Joe Pesci wore it better in “My Cousin Vinny” –so he didn’t even win
for that bad tux.
Fortunately, the show had a few great moments. Great performances from John Legend and
Common performing “Glory” from Selma, Lady Gaga’s tribute to The Sound of Music
and Julie Andrews (both brought standing ovations and tears from the audience),
countered by some mediocre performances from Adam Levine and those Lego Movie “singers.”
A comedic redemption between John
Travolta and Idina Menzel (who will be back next year as Neil predicted to
apologize for all the face touching). And there were some inspirational
speeches. Patricia Arquettte kicked it
off with a Girl Power moment that got a “Woot Woot” from Meryl Streep and J-Lo
in the front row leading the pack. Pawel
Pawlikowski, director of Ida (Polish Foreign Film winner), Graham Moore, the
young screenwriter of the Imitation Game, Common and John Legend (wow – compact
and impactful) and Alejandro Inarritu.
Martin Luther King Jr. would have been proud. Everyone representing – can we get an “Amen.”
This Awards commentary would not be complete without
recognizing the achievements in filmmaking – what it’s all really about. There were a lot of great performances and
singular achievements and though it’s difficult to compare apples and oranges,
Birdman was neither. Birdman – including
the brilliant performances of Michael Keaton (the classiest guy there, even
though he chewed gum all night), Ed Norton, and Emma Stone – none of them who
won – and including the brilliant cinematography, screenwriting, and directing –
all who did win – this film will be studied by future filmmakers for years to
come. Birdman is a filmmaker’s film, a
truly brilliant study in the art of film.
Standing ovation to the Academy for getting it right.
See you next year, where NPH will show more than his
nipples…
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