Todd Wawrychuk / ©A.M.P.A.S.
I kept reaching for the fast-forward button—but then I remembered this was live television! Once again, the Academy Awards were gaudy, glitzy, drawn-out and dull. In other words: an expensive platform for TV ads. Host Neil Patrick Harris was a chipper fellow but not very funny. The best moments in the production came early—Jack Black’s choreographed intrusion, where he voiced the opposing view to all the self-congratulatory self-importance of contemporary Hollywood. Black’s critique may have been an admission that all is not well in the fantasy factory, but his words were duly noted and the show went on.
Now, to the winners: For me, there were some pleasant surprises. The Boyhood-Richard Linklater juggernaut stopped short and gave the field to my favorite of 2014, Birdman and Alejandro Inarritu, winning for Best Picture and Best Director. I was pushing for Michael Keaton for Best Actor, but seeing The Theory of Everything, I understand—Eddie Redmayne did a Daniel Day-Lewis My Left Foot in a painful-looking transition from spry to bent and immobile. As expected, Patricia Arquette (Boyhood) and J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) earned their Best Supporting trophies.
And who could be surprised by Best Actress going to Julianne Moore, whose magnificently nuanced performance elevated Still Alice from Hallmark Channel special to memorable movie. All in all, the 87th Academy Awards was not a bad night—unless you actually had to sit and watch the thing live without the opportunity of fast-forwarding.
