By Mitch Huttema (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 4, 2015
Though it was a moderate flop on the entertainment side, the 87th Academy Awards provided relatively fair recognition for the nominated films and a healthy dose of politics.
To open the night, host Neil Patrick Harris stuck with what he’s known for: song and dance. Anna Kendrick and Jack Black joined him in a musical number that gave homage to 87 years of movie history. Everything from Hitchcock to Back to the Future was remembered in a series of montages and collages. Black’s presence alongside Kendrick and Harris brought a touch of that Tenacious D “angst” to the performance.
Unfortunately for Harris, his song and dance was the only truly great part about his hosting. His best bit was a locked box he had with his Oscars predictions inside. He promised to open it at the end and stun the audience with his accuracy. His constant references to it seemed like a crutch, and the end result seemed too accurate to be true. Harris said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly, however, that it was all real, no tricks, but that it was incredibly hard to set up.
Opening the night with the first win was J.K. Simmons. In his speech he declared his children “above average” and called to action everybody everywhere to call their parents and tell them they love them. Not text, not email, but call.
On the more political side, Patricia Arquette called for wage equality between men and women. Possibly the greatest part of the Oscars this year was Meryl Streep’s reaction to her speech: a “say it, sister!” expression while shouting “YES!” and waving her arms in the air. Since then it has gone viral as a gif.
John Legend shed light on surprising statistics about racism in the US, stating that there are more black men incarcerated now than there were black slaves in 1850. Screenwriter Graham Moore piped up about social problems as well, revealing that he attempted suicide as a teen because he felt weird and different. His punch line was a call to “stay weird” and to be different and never give up— an inspiration to anyone, whether or not they are considering suicide.
Once again, John Travolta appeared onstage and made a mess. While apologizing to Idina Menzel for bungling her name last year, he touched her face far beyond a casual amount. Maybe it’s because after all his Botox he’s forgotten what a real face feels like, or maybe he just has a weird thing for Menzel. Either way, he’ll be back next year to apologize about it.
The most enthusiastic guest of the night was Eddie Redmayne, whose pure joy was as contagious as Ebola. He seemed to float onto the stage with excitement, but it could just be because he jumped onto it.
Most surprising was Lady Gaga’s astounding tribute to The Sound of Music, demonstrating a set of vocal chords that her normal music doesn’t usually showcase. Her voice enraptured the audience, and the performance received a large amount of buzz on social media.
As a tribute to Birdman, the winner of Best Picture, Harris did his own rendition of Michael Keaton’s underwear scene. Hairless — pardon, Harris — showed up onstage wearing only his briefs. Luckily for Harris, his days at the gym served him well and he didn’t completely embarrass himself.
Though nowhere near as entertaining as last year’s Oscars hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, the 87th Academy Awards were nonetheless enjoyable to watch.
