The 87th Academy Awards wrapped up late Sunday night with “Birdman” winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. This marked the film’s fourth Oscar of the evening and essentially crowned the “Birdman,” especially its director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the night’s winner. Inarittu accepted the award for not only best picture, but in the best director and best original screenplay categories as well. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki also took home the Academy Award for his work in “Birdman,” his second in two years — he also won last year for “Gravity.”
“Whiplash” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel” tied for second in the award count, taking home three apiece. “The Grand Budapest” took home the majority of the cosmetic awards, winning for production design, costume design and makeup and hairstyling. “Whiplash” won for the more technical awards, such as sound mixing and film editing. J.K. Simmons also took home the award for actor in a supporting role, for his portrayal of a harsh and boisterous jazz instructor.
Many of the winners used their speeches as a platform to speak on important social issues. Winner of the Academy Award for actress in a supporting role, Patricia Arquette, focused her speech on the topic of women’s rights. The audience went wild, specifically Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez on whom the camera was focused, after Arquette emphatically declaring it is, “time to have wage equality once and for all.”
“Selma” has been one of the more controversial films leading up to this year’s award show due to its the lack of nominations. The film was able to win one of its two nominations, grabbing the award for best original song for “Glory” by Common and John Legend. The two took their time on stage to address racial issues that continue to divide our country. “There are more black men incarcerated today than were in slavery in 1850,” said Legend, “we wrote this film for events that happened 50 years ago but we say that Selma is now.”
One of the more surprising winners of the night was Graham Moore who took home the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for his work on “The Imitation Game.” He started his speech light, but soon got into the subject of his fight with depression and attempted suicide, as a “weird” teenager. In hindsight, he cites this weirdness as what made him capable of winning an Oscar and urges kids like him to “stay different.”
There was a good deal of hype surrounding how Neil Patrick Harris would handle the often-criticized role of Oscar host. His experience as a host of both the Tony Awards (2009, 2011, 2012) and Primetime Emmy Awards (2009, 2013) made him a perfect candidate for the job. He opened with a beautifully done musical piece which featured surprise guests Anna Kendrick and Jack Black. He then skillfully addressed the elephant in the room, beginning his monologue with, “Tonight we celebrate Hollywood’s best and whitest, sorry…brightest.”
Along with Harris’s opening number, there were several other musical performances throughout the night. Lady Gaga surprised many when she was brought on stage to sing a tribute to “The Sound of Music” to commemorate the film’s 50th anniversary. This surprise combination left many puzzled, but the performance was undeniably good, despite your opinion of Lady Gaga the musician.
Tim McGraw ushered in one of the more serious moments at this year’s ceremony when he performed Glen Campbell’s “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from the documentary film, “Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me.” The poignant film follows Campbell as he embarks on his farewell tour while fighting the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Campbell was unable to perform the song himself because of the disease, so the family agreed to let McGraw perform in his stead.
The Oscar-nominated song, “Everything Is Awesome” was one of the liveliest performances featuring indie-pop duo Tegan and Sara along with SNL’s The Lonely Island. Everything from construction workers to a giant opossum joined them on stage as they sang the infectious song from what many felt was a snubbed film in the best animated feature category.
Overall, it was a solid year for the Academy Awards with the usual ups and downs. The ceremony dragged toward the middle, but ended with enough interest to make the wait worth it. Though the preliminary numbers show a decline in viewers, Neil Patrick Harris did a formidable job and may very well be asked back.

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