The 87th Annual Academy Awards

Lisa’s Oscar Commentary

The 87^th 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…