The Oscars!

[Hammer]

So, who watched the Oscars last night? I really enjoyed the telecast this year, much more than in years past. I'm sure that is in part due to Neil Patrick Harris, who I like as a host for award shows.

Some random thoughts-

• While I am not that surprised that Bradley Cooper did not win Best Actor for American Sniper (I thought it was a toss up between him and Redmayne, as he was equally impressive playing Hawking, at least to me), I am surprised at the lack of awards for the film overall.
• I enjoyed many of the speeches this year. While many of them shined a light on important topics, I found Brandon Moore's speech had the most impact, as it very well may have saved a life.
• Lady Gaga did a spectacular performance for Sound of Music and you can tell Julie Andrews thought it was wonderful as well!
  [*} Did not notice any glaring fashion misses this year. Did anyone else?

[Disney4us2]

Don't know much about the movies that were nominated. Didn't see any except for How to Train Your Dragon 2.

Loved Lady Gaga! She was Amazing!

Didn't care for when Neil Patrick Harris did that skit in his undies. Yeah, it was funny but not necessary. Especially since my daughter was watching. I'm not a prude, just getting older.. Otherwise I think he did a great job. Loved the opening number.

[Tink1]

I love NPH and thought the writers really failed him.

Loved Gaga.

No real fashion misses this year, but E!'s coverage was lacking. I did miss Joan Rivers. (never thought I would say that) It seemed like a lot of the A list people weren't there or just weren't shown.

Nanc

[Sylvia]

For the first time in a very long time, I watched the entire show and really enjoyed it. I was impressed by the acceptances speeches.

I thought Neil Patrick Harris did a fantastic job as host. The opening number was outstanding, and the musical numbers throughout the show were terrific.

The biggest surprise was Lady Gaga. I'm not a fan, but I was totally shocked. I wasn't expecting such a classic performance from her. She has a beautiful voice and certainly did justice to the Sound of Music (one of my all-time favorite movies); she should leave the wacky outfits behind and concentrate on moving on.

Julie Andrews obviously approved of the Academy's choice to perform the tribute to the Sound of Music. She certainly didn't hold back on showing her emotions and her appreciation for Lady Gaga's performance.

There were a couple of dresses that I thought were a little strange, but most seemed to be very tasteful. Even the "fashion police" on the aftershows didn't have much criticism.

[SBETigg]

I didn't see any gowns that really looked awful, so that was a plus. Mostly everyone was styled beautifully and looking impressive. My favorite was Rosamund Pike in red, but I also loved Felicity Jones (who apparently made some worst dressed lists, so go figure ). Oh and Lupita Nyongo in all those pearls, wow.

I think all of the winners and nominees were deserving, so it's always hard to say who should have won or was maybe robbed of a nomination because there is so much talent to recognize, and it's hard to be objective. I did not see many of the nominated films this year, so I didn't have much of an opinion on wins/losses. I enjoyed the show, though I do think writers could have given NPH a bit more material to work with. He's outstanding. Oh, and I lost the family Oscar pool, so bummer!

[Melanie]

I admittedly only watched about the last hour, and saw Lady Gaga and was very impressed, but I'm confused about NPH. He's getting slammed on social media.

Very happy to see Julianne Moore win and bring attention to Alzheimer's. Maybe because it's very personal to me, but I do feel it's a 'forgotten' disease, while in reality the stats are very scary! I haven't gotten up the courage to watch the film yet, but will when it's not so raw for me. Plus I've got to get over the fact that my least favorite actor is in it.

[The Hitchhiking Ghost]

Sadly I saw very little of the Oscars. Part of it was simply now that I have three kids that unless the film is animated, I generally don't get to see it. I did really want to see the Imitation Game with Cumberbatch but ended up with Paddington instead.

I actually saw more of the BAFTA's (British version) than I did of the Oscars, and Stephen Fry is the host of that show and is hands down the best. I had never even heard of the Grand Hotel Budapest until I watched the BAFTA's, now both the wife and I want to see it.

I do have to say, that most of the reviews that I've read of the Oscars were that it was fairly Milktoast even the reviews of NPH were good, but just not great, which seems to be the consensus view of the so called "experts" of the show in its entirety.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet, is that there was a big snub in that Joan Rivers (who admittedly I found annoying) was omitted from the "In Memorium" segment, even though based on her credentials she should have been included.

I honestly didn't know the Oscars were on until a friend that morning at church said he was going to get on Twitter so he could follow live Oscar feeds. I actually enjoyed more of this CNN special the day before on the history of the Oscars, seeing Bogie or Gable hand out an award etc. was much more interesting than what was on Sunday.

Used to love the Oscars, but have fallen away from it.

This may be sacrilege, but the other "controversy" was Big Hero 6 beating How To Train Your Dragon 2 for best animated film. According to critics, it should have been Dragon hands down.

[SBETigg]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet, is that there was a big snub in that Joan Rivers (who admittedly I found annoying) was omitted from the "In Memorium" segment, even though based on her credentials she should have been included.

Ever year, there are people left out, and it's always an issue. They simply can't include everyone in the time that they have. And I know there's a lot of love for Joan Rivers, but the Academy Awards is about the movies. It was not really her medium. Yes, she worked the red carpet for so many years, but that really falls under Emmy recognition. So I can totally understand the omission and it doesn't bother me at all. Her medium was more television than film.

[TheDuckRocks]

I'm glad I watched the whole show this year.
My thoughts:
NPH - love him to pieces, best host ever for the Tony's. But was disappointed overall with him at the Oscars.
Lady Gaga - wowie, I've always felt she had a voice that could do that!
The gowns - so many great ones this year and only a couple of real duds.
The speeches - worth listening to them this year, 5 of brought me to tears.
To Mel - with least favorite, I have to separate the work he does in films from his total crummy behavior as a human being. I will see the movie someday, it is too soon for me yet as recently I went though testing for Alzheimers along with a number of other brain/nerve type illnesses. Everything came out on the biggies and the other things can be treated with meds and lifestyle changes.

[Tink1]

she should leave the wacky outfits behind and concentrate on moving on.

Lately her stuff is not as "wacky".

But it was that "wacky" stuff that drove the PR.

Now, unless you live under a rock, you know who Lady Gaga is.

She is far from wacky LOL


Nanc

[MouseHouser]

Gaga caught me off guard. Her rendition was fab, and did that stirring soundtrack justice.

My favorite part was once again the NPH opening, but agree the writers didn't quite get there this year the way they have in the past. Plus, imo the Oscars have gotten a bit shameless in practically stealing the Tonys opening. They jumped right into a Broadway-type number.

Lastly, couldn't NPH have done that bit in boxers instead of whitey-tighties? With today's big screen TVs, that was kind of gross. TMI.

[SBETigg]

Isn't it wrong when we're all surprised that a pop star can actually sing. Shouldn't that be the main job requirement? Not in this decade, but at least we know she can (Gaga).

[BrerGnat]

Lady Gaga is incredibly talented, and she was smart for the way she used shock value to become famous. I have been a fan of hers from the beginning because I appreciate real talent and it has been obvious to me for a long time that she possesses it. I thought her performance on the Oscars was excellent and am happy to see her talent being appreciated by the mainstream.

And I thought NPH did a fine job hosting, and thought his jokes were very clever. I was surprised to read some articles bashing him for being racist, among other things. People really need to loosen up.

[PirateLover]

The only thing that really fell flat for me was the predictions lock box bit. It had a decently funny pay off but they spent way too much time on the set up. Otherwise I liked NPH. Some of his off the cuff jokes were quite funny for me. The underwear skit was a parody of a scene from Birdman. If I had not seen Birdman, I don't know if I would've found it as funny.
Lady Gaga has a wonderful, jazzy voice. Her Cheek to Cheek album with Tony Bennett is pretty good. I'm with Sherri, though. I said the exact same thing to my DH- what does it say about our current crop of Pop stars that everyone was so surprised at her level of talent. I can't think of another POp star who could really handle that performance the way she did. She also trained with a vocal coach for months to ensure she gave a worthy performance. As for best picture, We didn't think Birdman was all that great, but I knew it would win. It's an industry type film if you know what I mean. The only other movie I saw was American Sniper, which was very powerful.

[TinkerbellT421]

So, who watched the Oscars last night? I really enjoyed the telecast this year, much more than in years past. I'm sure that is in part due to Neil Patrick Harris, who I like as a host for award shows.

Some random thoughts-

• While I am not that surprised that Bradley Cooper did not win Best Actor for American Sniper (I thought it was a toss up between him and Redmayne, as he was equally impressive playing Hawking, at least to me), I am surprised at the lack of awards for the film overall.
• I enjoyed many of the speeches this year. While many of them shined a light on important topics, I found Brandon Moore's speech had the most impact, as it very well may have saved a life.
• Lady Gaga did a spectacular performance for Sound of Music and you can tell Julie Andrews thought it was wonderful as well!
  [*} Did not notice any glaring fashion misses this year. Did anyone else?

The only movie I saw out of the ones that were most prevently during the awards was American sniper. It's the first year in a long time I have actually watched the Oscars...normally I hate award shows in general due to the politics of it all. I knew American Sniper wouldn't win many awards, and was more surprised that it won one, for the simple fact that most of these award shows have a hint of politics involved and Clint Eastwood does not fit into the academy's politics.

Lady Gaga is phenomenal, and honestly I always enjoyed her "whacky" side. Her outfits have always awed and amazed me no matter how crazy they were. And let's be honest, it worked, her outfits always were more of an advertisement for herself because it got people talking about her for days if not weeks on end getting more people to be interested in her in one way or another....Her voice is fantastic; I always love when she is on the Howard stern show. Her interview where she talks about the song she wrote for her grandfather while he was dying literally had me in tears and then hearing her sing the song live in his studio after hearing the story behind it had me blubbering crying. If you want, look it up on youtube they have the clip of that part of the interview and singing the song, it really is amazing. It's her song "Edge of Glory". While your there, check out the studio recordings of her songs with Tony Bennett. Unbelievable how good they are as a duo.

The biggest outfit snaffu I saw was the crazy black dress with some sort of weird ball scarf thing going on. That was a weird ugly outfit...Neil Patrick Harris's comment afterwards was hilarious. "I love that dress, took a lot of balls to wear it" I was laughing so hard at that point.

[NJDad]

Clint Eastwood has won 5 Oscars, 2 for Best Picture, 2 for Best Director and one Thalberg Award. Maybe the voters just didn't think his movie this time was the one they liked best?

Never hurts to have your movie portray actors acting or filmmakers making films if you like winning Oscars.

[Kenny1113]

Lady Gaga has a wonderful, jazzy voice. Her Cheek to Cheek album with Tony Bennett is pretty good. I'm with Sherri, though. I said the exact same thing to my DH- what does it say about our current crop of Pop stars that everyone was so surprised at her level of talent. I can't think of another POp star who could really handle that performance the way she did. She also trained with a vocal coach for months to ensure she gave a worthy performance.

One could tell she put a lot of work and effort into it. I love that she worked hard for this and it paid off. She sung beautifully.
I have always thought she was very talented, unfortunate that she had to do the wacky outfits to make it. Her talent should be enough. But I guess it is what it is and you do what you have to. Love to see some one who loves the art of music as much as she does

[2Epcot]

I always watch the Oscars. I used to live in walking distance of the Dolby Theater. This year I was working on the red carpet the night before, but was somewhere else the night of the Oscars. I just finished watching the show on DVR.

I enjoyed the show. I had heard a lot of criticism of NPH, but I thought he did a good job as host. Nothing really stood out as bad. I'd rate him as a middle of the road host.

I really enjoyed the opening number. I like performances that include multimedia like his did. The briefcase at the end was funny. NPH does magic, and that was a classic magic trick where answers appear in something that has been in view of the audience.

Lady Gaga is incredibly talented, and she was smart for the way she used shock value to become famous.

I heard a lot of people surprised that Lady Gaga could sing that well, but many don't realize she is a classically trained musician. As Natalie said, her crazy outfits and appearance is just an act that has made her famous.

I have always thought she was very talented, unfortunate that she had to do the wacky outfits to make it. Her talent should be enough. But I guess it is what it is and you do what you have to.

Christina Aguilera did something similar. She always had a much better voice than Britney Spears, but thought she needed to go to extremes to separate herself. Eventually she realized she didn't have to do that. For Lady Gaga I think it worked for her. I don't think she would have been noticed otherwise.

[PirateLover]

Never hurts to have your movie portray actors acting or filmmakers making films if you like winning Oscars.

yes! This is what I meant about Birdman being an "industry" film. Its a movie about an actor trying to stage a comeback by directing and starring in a play. The academy eats that up.

By the way, can we talk about John Travolta?? I need someone to create a timeline so we can pinpoint exactly when he got so CREEPY