The 89th Annual Academy Awards

The 89th Annual Academy Awards

The 89^th Annual Academy Awards

Lisa’s Oscar Commentary

La La Landslide?  Oops.  Nope.  In case you fell asleep early expecting La La Land to continue racking up awards and win the final award of the night, Best Picture, you would have been right….at least for a couple of minutes.  And then, you would have been, um, mistaken.  In a historic Oscar moment, a blunder happened at the end of the show that would leave the live audience and viewing audience completely stunned.  You may have thought Warren Beatty is getting old and acting a little odd, but his odd behavior was for good reason.  As he explained, when he opened the envelope for Best Picture, he had the card for Best Actress that said “Emma Stone, La La Land.”  He didn’t know what to do and showed the card to Faye Dunaway who only glanced at the card and saw “La La Land” so that’s what she announced.  After several acceptance speeches by the producers of La La Land, the real envelope was delivered and the winner was not “La La Land,” but the surprise winner “Moonlight.”  Everyone seemed to handle it graciously.  Host Jimmy Kimmel blamed himself, and Steve Harvey, but the producers of “Moonlight” got to enjoy their moment even more stunned than if they had been announced as the winner in a normal fashion.  A lot of people seemed thrilled.  Although there were a lot of great achievements in La La Land, many believed it was not the best picture of 2016.  The year was one of the best years in film the industry has seen in several years.  Several films could have taken home the Oscar and all would have seemed worthy.  Hidden Figures, Lion, Manchester by the Sea all had outstanding performances, writing and direction…all contenders.  But “Moonlight,” a poignant story from boyhood to manhood that insightfully touches on race, culture, sexual identity, and criminal justice.  The film is a powerful portrayal of issues that resonate strongly in the current social and political climate.  Hopefully, more people will see “Moonlight” as a result.

With the exception of the Best Picture award, no other award was a surprise for anyone following the award season.  Viola Davis gave a more impassioned version of the acceptance speech she’s been giving all season, as did Emma Stone.  Casey Affleck seemed genuinely surprised to win the Best Actor award even though Denzel Washington seemed confident that Casey would win.  Mahershala Ali was a favorite all awards season for Best Supporting Actor, and like many previous supporting actress winners seems to be the darling of the awards season – we’ll be seeing a lot more of him in the next few years.

JustinTimberlake opened the show with a fabulous song and dance of his nominated song “Can’t Stop the Feeling” from “Trolls” – such a perfect way to start the show, why haven’t they done that before?  The host doesn’t need to sing and dance.  The host doesn’t even need to open the show.  The host just has to be funny, stay engaging, and poke fun at himself, Hollywood, and the easiest target of all, our country’s 45^th president.  And that’s exactly what Jimmy Kimmel did.  As he said, he received a “sitting ovation” and the audience laughed and kept on laughing.  He hit some easy targets – like the president’s insane twitter rants, particularly about the legendary “undeserving and overrated” Meryl Streep.  Jimmy also took a play right out of Ellen Degeneres’ playbook – get down off the stage and interact with the audience.  Where Ellen’s ordering pizza and taking a group selfie broke the Internet, Jimmy dropped candy and donuts from the rafters (the most some of those actresses have eaten in a month) and brought in a tour bus of unsuspecting tourists who may have thought they were at Madame Tussauds.

Highlights of the show included the musical performances of Sting, John Legend and the 16 year old actress from Moana, Auli’I Cravalho, the mean tweets about the nominees, and 8 year old Sunny Pawar, the star of Lion who should have won Best Actor.

Oddly, this year, people seemed to be looking forward to the In Memoriam portion of the show.  So many exceptional artists died in 2016 that people wanted to make sure they were not forgotten at this year’s awards.  Mary Tyler Moor, Gene Wilder, Patty Duke, Michael Cimino, Ken Howard, John Hurt, Garry Marshall, Prince, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Nancy Reagan, and more.  A rough year.

The red carpet was somewhat less surprising than the Best Picture, but more captivating than many of the speeches.  The trends on the carpet were velvet, long sleeves, asymmetrical and shorter lengths, sheer fabrics, beads and appliques, and tousled bobs. 

Ruth Negga, Isabelle Hubert, Chrissy Tiegen, Jessica Biel, Dakota Johnson, Amy Adams, and Meryl Streep all wore long sleeves.  For most, the look worked.  Isabelle, Amy and Chrissy all looked draped in flowing silk shimmering in delicate beading from head to toe.  Jessica Biel chose a body hugging gold Kaufmanfranco long dress with a train and a gold-feathered statement necklace from Tiffany.  Jessica’s body could rock any dress, but with long sleeves and high neck, the necklace and train were overkill.  Ruth Negga also missed the target in a long Valentino lace gown with sheer accents, high neck and Victorian sleeves.  Though the dress was a great color and captured a lot of the fashion trends, the overall look was too costumey and overpowering on her slight frame.  But she was not the worst….

Felicity Jones wore a chiffon and tulle ballerina dress that was on trend in the shorter length, the lack of color completely washed her out.  Kirsten Dunst looked stunning in a black, asymmetrical length dress, shorter in the front that beautifully accentuated her tiny waist and ample bosom.  Alicia Vikander was also a vision in romantic black lace with an asymmetrical hemline – the dress was just a tad too short in the front and tapered into a long train in the back.  Her criss-cross strappy shoes pulled the whole look together perfectly.  Naomi Harris, on the other hand, didn’t quite get it right.  Her white sequined dress appeared sporty from a distance with a swimsuit styled bodice and the short, mid-calf length in the front. 

Hayley Steinfeld and Scarlett Johansson embraced the sheer trend.  Hayley’s was romantic and tasteful with appliques in sufficient places, while ScarJo looked more like Rainbow Bright.  The dress was just too much – too many colors, too sheer, the sides seemed to not connect and revealed a short slip under a long dress that always looks strange.  Her funky short hair looked chic and her makeup was beautiful but she would have looked better in a tuxedo like Evan Rachel Wood wore all award season.

Taraji P. Henson rocked an Alberta Ferretti black velvet off the shoulder gown with a high slit.  This dress might appear simple, but when Taraji wears it to perfection, and it’s styled with a diamond statement necklace, emerald cocktail ring, and tousled bobbed hair, she’s tough to beat.  Her look will probably produce the most knock-off dresses of the night.  Other Best Dressed nominees were Michelle Williams in Louis Vuitton – the plunge halter in black with the eggshell beaded long skirt suited her pixie hair to perfection.  This dress will also be one we will see on the knock-off racks (in fact, Emma Roberts wore something similar, but not quite as on trend).  Nicole Kidman rarely disappoints; this year was no exception.  She wore Armani Prive nude, Indian inspired sheath with beaded appliques, styled to perfection with drop earrings and red lipstick.

Two other red carpet stunners who never disappoint – Charlize Theron and Halle Berry.  Charlize slayed in a pewter Dior gown with a plunge neckline and full skirt while Halle stunned in a body hugging one-shoulder Versace.  But no fashion commentary would be complete without a comment about Halle’s hair.  We are all used to seeing her in short haircuts (like ScarJo and Charlize) so the departure itself was shocking.  Halle could look amazing in curls and big hair but this hair looked like a wig she picked it up in the Halloween store.  It sat so high on her head, it looked like you could pull it off her head with two fingers.  The color was terribly unnatural and wrong for her gorgeous skin tone.  It’s hard for anyone as beautiful as Halle to look bad, so I can’t say she looked bad because the dress was stunning and her skin glowed…but there are a thousand hairstyles that would all look better on her than that one.

Viola Davis stunned in a shocking red gown and stylish bob, and Emma Stone followed the golden rule – if you want to win an Oscar, dress like one.  Emma stole the show in a Givenchy Haute Couture beaded, fringed, gown that captured old Hollywood and current fashion.  Emma not only took home the Oscar, she was the best dressed of the night – head to toe.

So, who was the worst dressed?  Even though Scarlett Johanssen missed the boat, as did Ruth Negga, they were not Worst Dressed.  Janelle Monae was a contender.  She is so adorable it’s upsetting to see her in dresses that are trying too hard.  Points for not playing it safe, but she’s like the little girl playing dress up that puts on all of the costumes in her closet at once.  Too much.  And yet, she was not the worst.  The great honor of Worst Dressed goes to Dakota Johnson.  She tried to be on trend in long sleeves, but the dress looked old fashioned and not retro chic.  One might think she found her grandmother’s dress in the attic, but her grandmother was Tippy Hedron, and she would never have worn that dowdy dress.  Sometimes really stunning young women can wear dowdy dresses or stringy hair and still look beautiful but Dakota is not one of those girls.  That Marcia Brady hairstyle is for weekends at Starbucks only, and that dress needs to be returned to the Salvation Army.  Miss Fifty Shades of Grey was more like Fifty Shades of Beige.  Blah.

The men really stepped it up this year.  Blue tuxedos still trending this year, and white dinner jackets, but the newest trend for the men was blue velvet.  Samuel Jackson, Dwayne ”The Rock” Johnson, and even Michael Strahan rocked the blue velvet tuxedos.  But the Best Dressed of all the men was the one who took the risk that paid – Ryan Gossling.  His blue shawl collared tuxedo fit him perfectly with a tapered leg and slim fit, but he kicked it all up a notch with the blue tipped ruffled shirt.  It could have been 1970’s prom tux awful, but it wasn’t.  Just enough ruffle and just enough blue.  Elegant and cool, just like him.  Ryan may not have beaten Casey Affleck for the Oscar, but he sure out-dressed him.

The red carpet commentary this year would not be complete without a nod to the all the stunning couples who walked together – Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel, John Legend and Chrissy Tiegen, Lin Manuel Miranda and his Mom, Emma Stone and her brother, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, Denzel and Pauletta, Michelle Williams and her “bestie” Busy Phillips, Mel Gibson and his Babysitter, um, wife?.

Jimmy Kimmel said this is the last (and first) year he’s hosting the Oscars, but let’s hope not.  We need more laughs.  We need to feed those starving actresses more junior mints.  And we need more big blunders. 

The 86th Annual Academy Awards

Lisa’s Oscar Commentary

The 86^th Annual Academy Awards

Ellen’s back!  And boy was she missed.  Didn’t know how much we missed her until she showed up.  Ellen spent more time in the audience then on stage – an unusual choice for a host, but that’s where she’s at her best.  Ellen has a way of putting everyone at ease, humanizing the celebrities and inviting the TV audience into their lives.  From the moment the show started, the audience lights were up and Ellen was gazing into the celebrity faces in the audience and making them part of the show...to Liza, whom she referred to as the best Liza Minelli impersonator she’d ever seen, “Good job, sir.”  To Jennifer Lawrence who tripped picking up her Oscar last year and tripped getting onto the red carpet this year, “if you win this time, I think we should bring you the Oscar.”  The stage had been set; this year’s Oscar’s would live not on the stage, but in the celebrity-studded audience.

The highlight of Ellen’s audience moments was the pizza episodes.  First, a show of hands “who’s hungry?”  “Who want’s pizza?”  And then the follow up, “Pizza’s here.”  The passing out of the pizza, the paper plates and napkins….a great reveal of the celebrities “in real life.”  Brad Pitt jumped in to help pass out the pizza.  Julia Roberts was the first to speak up, “I’ll have a piece.”  Ellen kept trying to get pizza to skinny girls Lupita Nyong’O and Angelina Jolie….looked like they passed on the pizza, as did infamous non-eater, Calista Flockhart.  But after starving through three Hunger Games shoots, Jennifer Lawrence was eager for a piece, as was Harrison Ford who wasn’t shy about interrupting Ellen to get a napkin.  And later on, when Ellen passed Ferrell’s hat to collect for payment, it looked like Harvey Weinstein dropped in $200 and Brad Pitt kept reaching into his wallet until it was empty.  Let’s face it, as much as we want to watch glamorous dresses and shiny gold statues being awarded, what we all really want is to hang out and eat pizza with Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep while Brad Pitt passes us a napkin and Harvey Weinstein picks up the check.

And as great as the pizza trilogy was, the group selfie that broke Twitter was even better.  Again, isn’t what we all really want is to squish into a group selfie between Jared Leto and Bradley Cooper with our BFFs Sandy Bullock and JLaw?  Duh.  Of course it is.  And Ellen knows it.  Brilliant.

The show was also a success because it wasn’t riddled with a lot of unnecessary production numbers.  The song nominations brought great performances from Pink, Idina Menzel and U2.  In their 5^th decade together, U2 is still artful and relevant and Bono is still one of the coolest people on the planet.  The In Memoriam was special and classy – uninterrupted by uneven applause which has always left me uncomfortable in previous years.  Bette Midler’s ease with which she performs is much like Ellen in that she makes us, the audience, feel included.  We mourned the loss of Jim Gandolfini, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Harold Ramis, et al, just as Bill Murray, Kevin Spacey and Mary Scorcese did, quietly, in our seats.

This year’s show also served up more gracious, articulate and entertaining acceptances speeches than in most years past.  Perhaps Jared Leto and Lupito Nyong’O set the tone for honoring the era of their films, the people they portrayed, and their loved ones whose support guided them to this moment.  Perhaps they had all award season to hone their acceptance speeches, but Cate Blanchett and Matthew McConaughey delivered too…..as MM would say, “alright, alright, alright.” 

The Red Carpet delivered this year too.  Trends for the women of halter necklines, encrusted jeweled body-conscious gowns, structured jeweled-toned sheaths, lazar cut lace, sheer flowing femininity, and short chic textured hair.

So many women wore it well.  Portia de Rossi opened the red carpet parade on trend with short sleek blonde hair and a stunning sheer white lazar cut lace halter dress by Naeem Khan.  Naomi Watts wore a stunning white Francisco Costa with a high neck and encrusted beads and an art deco diamond necklace and sleek hair that struck a perfect balance.  Kristin Bell took a page out of that book as well – a beautiful strapless white gown – ornate and a lot going on but elegant and balanced.  Jessica Biel looked gorgeous as ever in a sparkled Chanel strapless gown reminiscent of the brilliant Armani Prive gown Anne Hathaway wore a few years ago that will live in Oscar history.  Speaking of Anne Hathaway, she rocked the short chic hair with a halter top form-fitting black and white gown with a mirror-crusted bodice.  Also rocking the short hair, Charlize Theron was stunning as always in timeless black Dior.  And rounding out the women daring short and chic hair, Jennifer Lawrence wore a gorgeous Dior red strapless architectural sheath.  Her cast mate Amy Adams followed the same trend but in jeweled toned sapphire blue – Amy’s strapless simple sculpted sheath was matched by her tightly rolled up bun which could have used a little more height, but she looked elegant and chic.  Sandra Bullock wore jeweled toned navy blue too, but went with the draped flowing feminine look from Alexander McQueen. Anna Kendrick took a risk in a black chiffon dress with a sheer midriff with wine floral beads – this dress had a lot going on with an asymmetrical top and an asymmetrical slit, and sheer cutouts, and beading, and many will probably hate it because it had so much going on, but I loved it. 

Olivia Wilde and Kerry Washington made pregnancy look glamorous.  And Meryl Streep and Bette Midler made aging look easy.  All four women dressed tastefully and perfectly for their current bodies.  Some women didn’t rock any trends, but still looked fabulous – Jennifer Garner and Kate Hudson showed up in true Hollywood glamour.

My favorites of the night were the ones who got it all right.  Camilla Alves (aka wife of Matthew McConaughey) in a pink long sleeve one-sided cape dress – not sure who made it, but I loved it.  Penelope Cruz is always one of my favorites and she did not disappoint in a blush colored draped one-shoulder Versace…I’m sure some will hate it because it was a lot of dress and not form-fitting like Penelope usually wears, but I loved it.  I didn’t know who Bradley Cooper’s date was, so I had to look her up, and I still don’t know who she is, but I loved her sheer nude beaded tulle one shoulder princess gown.  Giuliana Ransic also wore a gorgeous nude beaded tulle princess gown – loved it. 

And speaking of sheer nude beaded and princess dresses, my two Best Dressed of the night wore these trends the best.  The runway ready new Princess of the red carpet chose the perfect princess dress from Prada – Lupita Nyong’O was radiant in yards of soft chiffon in a color she coined Nairobi blue with a diamond headband, coral lips and the perfect diamond semi-wreath earrings.  But the red carpet has a Princess and also a Queen - Cate Blanchett.  Queen Cate, also in Giorgio Armani, personified perfection in a nude sheer beaded gown with gold pallettes.  After a winter season of so many hideous skating costumes at the Sochi Olympics where none of the nude or sheer costumes were either nude or sheer, I hope those costume designers were watching the Oscars to see how it’s done.  Cate Blanchett, as usual, was a winner in every way, taking home a well-deserved Best Actress Oscar, and yet again making her mark as the timeless Queen of the Red Carpet.

Unfortunately, there were some women who were kicked out of the Red Carpet royal court.  Julia Roberts attempted the lace gown trend but chose a black, ill-fitted, old-fashioned gown that didn’t match her spunky blonde hair or her youthful personality.  Sally Hawkins was brilliant in Blue Jasmine, and perhaps if she dressed as well as Lupito Nyong’O, she could have one.  Unfortunately, Sally’s dress appeared to be made from lamp shades found in a 1920’s bordello while her hair was styled in the 1980’s.  Julie Delpy wore a dress that was ill-fitting, long sleeved and too old for her – if Meryl Streep wore it, I may have loved it, but on Julie, it just looked matronly.  Sarah Paulson also chose long sleeves and it was too much dress and also looked old.  And here’s the shocker as some will love it, I did not – Angelina Jolie.  Let’s face it, she’s gorgeous and always looks amazing.  And she even looks healthier like she gained a few pounds.  But the dress, although sparkly and glamorous, is not a silhouette I like on Angie…again, too old for her.  If Sophia Loren had worn that dress, I would have loved it.  Here’s the tip, ladies, if you’re going to wear long sleeves, don’t be covered head to toe in heavy beaded fabric….it’s too much…you need a lighter fabric or you need to show some skin somewhere.  Take a tip from the red carpet hall of fame playbook – the backless long sleeve blue wonder that Hilary Swank wore to win one of her Oscars.  That’s how to wear long sleeves when you’re young.

Angie may have been one of the worst dressed women, but standing next to Brad Pitt, she was part of one of the best dressed couples.  Will Smith and Jada Pinkett brought the glam too, dressed perfectly for presenters and not nominees.  Matthew McConaughey and Camilla Alves were stunning.  Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth presented as a couple – definitely the best looking presenter couple.  But my favorite couple of the night was Jared Leto and his mother – no couple was prettier or more loving then them.  Loved them.  But the best dressed couple can only be trumped by the best dressed family and that has to go to the Dern family (Bruce, his wife, and daughter actress Laura Dern).

Some of the men were truly sharp dressed men.  The trends of the night were shawl collared tuxedos and white or crème dinner jackets.  Hard to say if Chris Hemsworth and Channing Tatum were incredibly well-dressed in their sharp tuxedos or if they’re just so good looking they would look stunningly handsome no matter what.  But for big guys, I thought their tuxedos fit perfectly and they chose looks with a little more style.  Some brought the Vegas look to the red carpet and I liked it – Joseph Gordon Levitt and Jim Carey brought the sparkles.  Ellen brought a little Vegas to the mix too - she broke out a velvet tux, a white tux and a sparkle tux – loved them all – she looked beautiful.  Kevin Spacey offered a modern take on a fifties style – a look he seems to have mastered since he played Bobby Darin.  My Best Dressed man of the night goes to the always elegant, always perfectly tailored, always dashing, Leonardo DiCaprio.

After a long wait since the fabulous Golden Globes in January, the Academy Awards truly delivered.  This year brought a particularly great group of films and performances.  When Christian Bale can deliver such a brilliant performance and he ranks fourth in the odds for winning, that’s a tough year.  When Bruce Dern gives the performance of his life after a lifetime of outstanding performances and he’s a longshot, that’s a tough year. When Amy Adams gives the performance of her life and can’t win an Oscar after five years of being nominated, that’s a tough year.  And when Gravity blows everyone away in the filmmaking world and wins for editing, cinematography, direction, and almost every technical award and can’t win Best Picture, that’s a tough year.  The good competition kept us eager to see who the winner would be, and the winner brought grace and style to winning, but the winner of the night was Ellen, and the producers for bringing her back after a long eight years.  Welcome back, Ellen.  We missed you.  We didn’t know we missed you, but we did.