That’s a wrap: Best and worst of Hollywood’s biggest night

Team Birdman, led by director Alejandro González Iñárritu, accepts the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Well, that’s it. Months of movie-going, campaigning, and precursor awards, and now, it is all over. Birdman, a film that most predicted would win last night, did win, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Whiplash enjoyed good nights, as well, and Boyhood went home almost empty-handed. The show ended a few minutes after midnight here on the East Coast, something the producers always strive to avoid, but if you read on, I have a few suggestions on how to cut some time from the show – as I am sure you all might.

Click here to go to a full list of winners, and read on for Last Cinema Standing’s best and worst things about the 87th Academy Awards.

Best

The winners – People like to grouse about the nominees list every year for what missed out or sometimes for what got in, and those complaints are often valid. However, on the whole, when it comes to picking winners, the Academy does a marvelous job. Birdman is an unimpeachable Best Picture winner, Alejandro González Iñárritu is among the most deserving Best Director winners, and the film’s screenplay win delighted me to no end.

As much as I may have been pulling for other films and performances, it would be hard to argue with a winners list that includes Eddie Redmayne’s magnificent work as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, the great shorts Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, The Phone Call, and Feast, and three well deserved citations for Whiplash.

Neil Patrick Harris – I try not to read any reviews of the show for a while after it ends because I like to decide what I think first. For whatever reason, I am rarely in the consensus, in that I tend to like the show. I do not know if that makes me really unhip or just less of a grouch than most people when it comes to the Oscars. Probably a little of both. I thought Harris was fun, funny, and swift, and he killed it with Anna Kendrick and Jack Black during the opening musical number written by last year’s Best Song winners Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. I have a hard time believing Common and John Legend will be back to write next year’s opening number, though I would definitely tune in for that.

I liked the magic trick-style payoff to the predictions in the box, and it was fun watching a mostly befuddled Octavia Spencer play along. The seat-fillers bit was good, and really, once you know where to look, you cannot un-see those people. It was particularly jarring when after watching Redmayne and his wife together all night, Redmayne was on stage accepting his award for Best Actor, and someone else was sitting next to her. I thought Harris got in some good jokes, kept the show moving, and was a generally fun presence I would love to see come back.

The speeches – From Patricia Arquette winning Supporting Actress to John Legend and Common with Best Song and all the way up to Iñárritu when Birdman won Best Picture, the calls for equality rang loud and clear from the Dolby Theater last night. Arquette called for equal pay for women in the U.S. – something Meryl Streep clearly was on board with – while Common reminded us that what Martin Luther King Jr. fought for is still being fought for, and Iñárritu called for better treatment of immigrants in this nation. They were brave and important messages spoken by Hollywood’s brightest stars on its biggest stage. Good on them for using their platform to try to make a difference.

Beyond that, I loved watching Best Foreign Language Film winner Pawel Pawlikowsi talk straight through the crescendo of the play-off music and then just keep going. A couple winners did that last night, and why not? No one knows if they will ever be back, so let them soak up every last minute of it. Thankfully, no one’s microphone was cut off. If the night truly is about the winners, they should be allowed to speak, and the director and producers did a good job of letting that happen.

John Legend and Common perform “Glory” – Speaking of John Legend and Common, how about that performance of their original song “Glory” from Selma? It was a weighty moment, filled with meaning for millions across the world and many in the audience. It brought the audience in the Dolby Theater to its feet and had stars such as David Oyelowo and Chris Pine in tears. The performance will live on in Oscar history. To cap it with an Oscar win, well, how could you not vote for that song?

Worst

The Sound of Music tribute – What was that? A 50-year-old movie that most of the world has seen does not need a montage of non-descript clips and a lackluster musical performance. It would be one thing if the tribute performance had been memorable in any way, but Lady Gaga’s sedate medley of numbers from a fairly dusty musical just added to the inanity of it all.

They did this last year with the 75-year anniversary tribute to The Wizard of Oz, and it did not work then, either. A few years back, there was a tribute to movie musicals in general, which made no sense. Enough. We get it. Musical performances seem like they would make for a good show. They do not. This is neither the Grammys nor the Tony Awards. This is the Oscars. The opening musical number and the Best Song performances (see above) are plenty.

Post-In Memoriam performance – On that note, this is the second year in a row they have had the In Memoriam segment followed by a musical performance tribute. Last year was Bette Midler. This year was Jennifer Hudson. Neither year worked. As soon as the show ends, people complain about its length – and often, they do not wait that long. Doubling the running time of the In Memoriam segment does nothing to help that cause, particularly when an extra song actually distracts from the memory of those lost. Either sing under the montage or get rid of the song.

My predictions – Mea culpa. Every year, I go about predicting these things in completely the wrong way. I am always trying to beat everyone else by going with outside-the-box predictions for things that might happen. Well, that is not the way to do it. The consensus usually knows what is going to happen, and I either willfully ignore it or think I know better. No more. Next year, I’m going 24 for 24, guaranteed.

That’s a wrap

Thanks to those of you who have checked in these past few weeks and months to talk about films and indulge my hobby. I love this stuff. There is not a night I enjoy more than the Oscars, and I am glad you folks hung around these parts to share that with me. I am going to take a little time off here to recover, but I will be back soon with more reviews, more columns, and more talk about films I love that I hope you will love, too.

Countdown to the Oscars: Best Supporting Actress

Patricia Arquette is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Boyhood.

Each day as we make our way to the Academy Awards ceremony Feb. 22, Last Cinema Standing will take an in-depth look at each of the categories, sorting out the highs, the lows, and everything in between. Check back right here for analysis, predictions, and gripes as we inch toward the Dolby Theater and that world-famous red carpet.

Best Supporting Actress

The nominees are:

Patricia Arquette for Boyhood

Emma Stone for Birdman

Keira Knightley for The Imitation Game

Meryl Streep for Into the Woods

Laura Dern for Wild

Three mothers, a daughter, and a colleague – those are the characters portrayed by the five women nominated for Best Supporting Actress, not exactly a full range of human experiences, but look closer. Among those you have an all-powerful witch, a strong, resilient teacher, and a brilliant mathematician. Now things are starting to look a little better.

With good reason, the topic of quality roles for women comes up constantly in the Oscar season and beyond. Undoubtedly, there are too few female-led films, too few stories told about the great women throughout history – or even the not-so-great women. More roles, however, do not necessarily mean better roles. What we need are more parts for women that are as deep, complex, and emotionally rich as their male counterparts. That will be progress.

Not all of the nominees for Best Supporting Actress this year fit that mold, which is a shame, considering how many great performances were left on the sidelines in favor of these. However, the two roles here that do require depth and soul are two of the best characters of the year and feature two of the best performances. These are all great actresses, and with the right material, each is capable of delivering stunning work, as proven by the two actresses here who were given some of the best material of the year. Hopefully, the best material keeps coming to all of them.

Patricia Arquette for Boyhood – There is a way of reading Boyhood wherein Arquette is the film’s lead, and I do not think anyone would have blinked had she been nominated in the Best Actress category. While the film ostensibly concerns the coming of age of a young Texas boy, Arquette plays the woman who raises that boy while at the same time figuring out the person she wants to be. Most parents who see the film instantly identify with Arquette’s struggle as she bounces around from being a single mother to an abused wife to a single mother again, all while striving to do what is best for her children.

Arquette comes from an acting family, and she has been in the Hollywood game almost 30 years. She spent 12 of those years making Boyhood. The dedication alone is enough to impress, but the awards success she has already seen for the film goes deeper than that. Reflecting back on Boyhood, it is her character and her journey that stand out as pivotal to the film.

Writer-director Richard Linklater and Arquette collaborate to make the character more than a mom. She is a wife, a lover, a student, and a teacher. She is a real person with real regrets and real fears about where her choices in life are taking her and where they have brought her. When she wonders aloud toward the end of the film what dedicating her life to her children has brought her, we cannot shame her for feeling that. We can only empathize with a woman who has given so much in life and received so little.

Emma Stone for Birdman – Sam, as played by Stone, is the voice of her generation, but it is not meant to be a flattering portrayal. As washed-up actor Riggan Thompson’s (Michael Keaton) daughter, Sam is all self-absorption and self-importance. She has an answer for questions she has not yet been asked and opinions on topics about which she knows nothing. She is the social media culture incarnate and a dire warning for where a generation raised on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube may be headed.

Stone is perfect in the role, bringing the energy and anger of youth with a hint of deeply buried vulnerability. About midway through the film, Stone delivers a monologue so brutal and so cutting that it threatens to take the character beyond the point of redemption, but with the subtlest change in her facial expression, Stone brings us back around, if not to her side, then to the middle. Wordlessly, she expresses regret about her tirade but resolutely refuses to admit she may have been wrong. It is a moment that relies entirely on the actress’ face, and Stone nails it.

Meryl Streep for Into the Woods – You all know Meryl Streep. You know what she has accomplished – three Academy Awards and 19 nominations, more than any other actor in history. She has tried everything and been everybody – a factory worker, a prime minister, a singer, a druggie, an adventurer, and a nun, among countless other roles. She is a legend who could show up to work and earn a nomination for her safe driving, if such an organization existed to hand out awards. Ultimately, that is part of the problem.

Streep is good in the part of the witch. There is no denying it, but the kneejerk reaction to Streep piling on the makeup or putting on an accent is to nominate her for an award. I am saying that should probably stop. If Academy members really think this performance, this year, is one of the five best performances by an actress in a supporting role, they need to see more movies. Royalty is royalty. The prize is being such. We do not need to weigh her down with more accolades just for showing up, donning a wig, and belting out a few songs, however ably. Let’s think outside the box once in a while.

Keira Knightley for The Imitation Game – Not yet 30 years old, Knightley is a two-time nominee who has shown a facility for transitioning from epic blockbusters to period dramas to low-budget indies. In 2014 alone, she appeared in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, The Imitation Game, and Begin Again. She is an immensely talented actresses with many years of strong characters and great performances ahead of her. The Imitation Game, however, will hopefully be just a footnote to her career.

As capable as Knightley is, she is given little to do as Joan Clarke, Alan Turing’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) colleague, wife, and confidante. Though we are briefly shown Clark’s talent for mathematics and code breaking, the film serves as an ode to the greatness of Turing. As such, Clark is written merely as another character to stand in awe of Turing and bear witness to his greatness. Knightley does her best, but she is hamstrung by a part that as written, lacks complexity or emotional depth.

Laura Dern for Wild – Speaking of good actresses with minimal characters to play, Dern makes little more than a couple cameo appearances in Wild, despite being the whole reason for the story. Dern plays Bobbi, Cheryl Strayed’s (Reese Witherspoon) mother. We see her only in flashbacks as Strayed hikes up the Pacific Crest Trail. We learn more about Bobbi from Strayed’s voiceovers and conversations with other people than we do in the precious little screen time Dern actually has.

Some of this is due to the script and some is due to director Jean-Marc Vallée’s impressionistic style, which requires that actors in small roles have a big impact. Vallée has cast the right actress for the task in Dern, but her passivity only serves to undercut any strength Dern would have brought to the part. The character mostly serves as a sounding board for Witherspoon’s more assertive Strayed. None of this is to say Dern’s performance is bad, but awards worthy it is not.

The final analysis

When it comes to the win, there is Arquette and no one else. She has won every conceivable precursor award, including from the Screen Actors Guild, the Golden Globes, and the British Academy of Film and Television. She will win the Oscar in a walk, and it will be as much for her performance in Boyhood as for a lifetime of turning in strong work in film and on television. She is a deserving actress, and I look forward to her acceptance speech.

Will win: Patricia Arquette for Boyhood

Should win: Emma Stone for Birdman

Wish she had been here: Katherine Waterston for Inherent Vice