MaroonMondays Awards Reviews: The Oscars 2014

Hi everyone and welcome to MaroonMondays Awards Reviews, where I, Andrew, bring you my thoughts on the big awards ceremonies...and and tries to be funny with it.

Ahhhhhhh...The Oscars, the film industry's biggest night. The day everyone comes in their Sunday Best, and drink like they're in their Friday worst. The Day where the best films are celebrated, yet they're only dramas. And theyday where I have to make a review for a televised ceremony on Sunday, But I have to do most of it on Monday. CRAP. But it was worth it.

So here we go anyway.

I didn't watch as much this year as I got really bored really fast, and the stupid montages tuned me out, so here's a review of what I saw.

The show usually begin with the usual pre-taped open which superimposes that year's hos into scenes of that year's nominated films. And it tries to be funny. This year...none. Thank God.

Ellen's monolouge had some hilarious moments including telling everyone Jennifer Lawrence fell on the red carpet (after saying she wouldn't; although she already blurted it out) and they give the Oscar to her. That gave the second biggest laugh from me that night.

After the first few awards have been given out, just as the show began, Ellen did something no Oscars host ever did before...she gave the stars pizza. Yup, she ordered pizza from a mom and pop shop, Big Mamas and Papas Pizza, just almost a mile away from the Dolby Theatre. As soon as the pizza came to them, they went at it. I thought it did feel it was forced and planned a little, but it was really funny nonetheless.

Pharrell performed one of the nominated songs "Happy" from Despicable Me 2, and already set the stage ablaze. He got Lupita Nyong'o go shake, Meryl Streep to shimmy, and Amy Adams to shake her groove thang all during the second verse. He also actually made most in the audience to get up and dance with him. It was a fantastic performance.

P!nk also had a gracious performance She gave a perfect rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz. I nearly cried. Bette Midler also performed a song from Beaches, during the In Memorium segment. While I liked it, everyone else hated it because it wasn't a song good enough to perform during the segment, which usually calls for really sad or moody songs. It's understandable, I thought she did really well.

This.

As the show continued, Degeneres asked some celebs to join her in a selfie. She got as many people in the show and got Bradley Cooper to hold the phone. Joining her were Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyong'o, her brother Peter, Angelina Jolie, Jared Leto, Kevin Spacey, Julia Roberts and Cooper, who has very long arms.
This picture blew up Twitter as soon as it hit the web. Immediately, retweets came left and right. And before the show even continued, it beat the record set by a pic of President Obama hugging his daughter Malia three years ago. And because of this, Twitter broke for a few minutes. I didn't really notice because I was doing less exciting things like--well, i did things. Is there anything Ellen did not do that night that didn't go viral?

John Travolta became a trending topic within seconds, not for showing up or saying something funny (which is rare in itself), but for mispronouncing the name of one of the performers. Seriously, everyone on my timeline called him out on it and made joke about it, praising "Abu Nazir" or "Idella Dazeem" or "Adel Dalzeihm" for her performance of "Let it Go" from Frozen. Speaking of, that was wonderful, performance and song. This Adimna Manzal person is really talented and should go in pictures. She'll be fantastic.

Basically, almost everything on this show went viral in minutes. So while last years' show was the classiest I've ever seen, this year's show was the humblest and funniest. I really enjoyed it. Well, except the joke DeGeneres made about Liza Minelli. That wasn't nice.
I wouldn't be surprised if Liza gets back at her someday.

Okay, speeches I loved:
Well, I loved Lupita Nyong'o's speech mentioning her brother, her family and how her Oscar reminds her of little children who's dreams can come true. That was a very sweet moment for her and the show.
Cate Blanchett's speech, which films with female leads can earn actresses a lot of money.
Jared Leto's passionate speech about a single mother/high school dropout who worked hard to give her kids a great future...who is his mother, June; that was very heartwarming and fantastic.

WINNERS (in order of broadcast):
-Supporting Actor: Jesus--Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers' Club)
-Achievement in Costume Design: The Great Gatsby (Cathrine Martin)
-Achievement in Hairstyle/Makeup: “Dallas Buyers Club” (Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews)
-Animated Short Film: Mr. Hublot
-Achievement in Visual Effects: “Gravity” (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould)
-Animated Feature Film: Frozen (DUH.)
-Live-Action Short Film: "Helium" (Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson)
-BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT: “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” (Malcolm Clarke and Nicholas Reed)
-Documentary: "20 Feet from Stardom"
-Foreign Language Film: "Great Beauty"
-Achievement in Sound Mixing: Gravity
-Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
-Achievement in Cinematography: Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)
-Achievement in Film Editing: Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger)
-Achievement in Production Design: "The Great Gatsby"
-Original Score: “Gravity” (Steven Price)
-Original Song: Let It Go (Frozen) [Like we didn't know]
-Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)
-Original Screenplay: Her (Spike Jonze)
-Director: Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity)
-Actress: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
-Actor: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers' Club)
-Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave

Well, that's the end. I hope you all enjoyed the review as half as much as you have the show. This show was way better than last years. And like the half of America who watched last night, I hope Ellen hosts again next year.
See you next time.