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…

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.