The way the 2015 Academy Awards started off seemed to foreshadow a funny and promising evening. The opening song and dance number performed by Neil Patrick Harris was campy and upbeat, but what else have we come to expect from the seven-time awards show host? The addition of Anna Kendrick was smart and added a lighter touch to the opening, and when Jack Black stepped onstage, the whole song took a different form for a moment or two, which left much of the audience laughing hysterically. However, for me at least, after the opening number the rest of the awards show was slow and slightly dull.
One thing that I believe contributed to this year’s Oscars being somewhat drab was the no-suprise-there factor of the acting awards. The first award of the night went to J.K. Simmons for his supporting role in the music-based drama, “Whiplash.” Patricia Arquette nabbed a statue for her role in Richard Linklater’s epic, “Boyhood.” Since both actors won the Golden Globe for their performances, it was really no surprise when they also took home the Oscars. Same goes for Julianne Moore, who won both the Globe and the Oscar for her portrayal of a woman with early onset Alzheimer’s disease in the film “Still Alice.”
The only truly big moment in the acting categories was the race for Best Actor between Michael Keaton and Eddie Redmayne. Many critics and audiences saw Keaton’s performance as a washed-up superhero as a parallel in some ways to his own life, and worthy of the gold. Redmayne’s performance as Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything” blew audiences away and established him as a leading man in Hollywood. Redmayne had smaller roles in well-known films prior to this, such as “My Week with Marilyn” and “Jupiter Ascending,” but his role in “The Theory of Everything” was career-defining. Many critics favored Keaton to take home the statue since he is a well-established actor who’s been snubbed by the Academy occasionally throughout the years. Both actors were first-time nominees which made the stakes even higher. Redmayne ended up taking the big prize, which proved to be the biggest shock of the night.
For the first time since 2011, the winners of Best Director and Best Picture matched up. Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s dark comedy “Birdman” won him the big awards. It was ultimately a fight between Iñárritu’s depiction of an aging has-been trying to make a new go of it and Linklater’s heart-wrenching tale of a family’s journey in life, “Boyhood.” Ultimately, the more “artsy” of the two took home the prizes.
Aside from the winners, losers, and nominees, the 2015 Oscars had seldom shining moments. Lady Gaga’s musical performance was the best of the night and payed a nice tribute to “The Sound of Music.” Other than that, things were, for lack of a better word, boring. The show dragged on for over three hours and Neil Patrick Harris had high and low moments as the host. Some of his jokes resonated with viewers while others fell flat. To be honest, that whole secret briefcase bit was painfully awkward at best.
Perhaps what I took most from this year’s Academy Awards was to not expect too much from the get-go and to relinquish the hope of being shocked by the winners. Only time will tell if next year’s Oscars will show another side of the spectrum.
Rachel Alfiero is a second-year student majoring in communication studies and minoring in Latin American studies. She can be reached at RA806657@wcupa.edu.