I will be live blogging my reactions to the 86th Academy Awards. Refresh this page for my latest thoughts (and frustrations) on winners, the ceremony, and all things Oscar.
Check out my predictions here to see how I’m doing, and check out Craig Ismali’s predictions here! Check out my twitter more frequent updates (https://twitter.com/karl_delo)
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Update 45: Overall it was a boring year for the Oscars. Almost every single frontrunner ended up winning, which screwed with my predictions. The great thing is that the deserving winner won most of the time, it was a good show and I’m happy for most of the winners. Check out our full thoughts on Indecent Disclosure on 91.3 FM on Wednesday @ 6pm.
Update 44: Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave. From the minute I heard about the movie I know it was going to win. It is pure Oscar bait, but also a phenomenal movie.
Update 43: Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club. I couldn’t buy into the hype. Does anyone ever know what he is talking about?
Update 42: Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine. Gasp, I’m shocked. Great speech. Class act. That’s it.
Update 41: Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity. And the sweep is complete. He is a visionary director. Again, I have to say, I know a lot of people credit the film’s success to the visual effects, but he kept the film grounded (heh) in something human.
Update 40: The legendary Sidney Poitier should have presented Best Picture, but Best Director works too. For a kick I would definitely watch his Oscar win, it’s lovely.
Update 39: Best Original Screenplay: Spike Jonze, Her. Can I be Spike Jonze when I grow up? Literally the perfect balance between awkward and charming. He really deserved this, it was the most ORIGINAL screenplay of the year, it just so happens to be laced with emotion and heartbreak and humanity.
Update 38: Best Adapted Screenplay: John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave. BOOM! 12 Years just sealed the deal with that one I’m pretty sure. Although I would have loved it to have been Before Midnight, it is still a deserved win.
Update 37: Best Original Song: “Let it Go”, Frozen. Get that EGOT Bobby! And that was a freakin’ Oscar speech. Hands down the best of the night, closely followed by Lupita.
Update 36: Best Original Score: Stephen Price, Gravity. I knew he was going to win, but I was still holding on for Her to take it.
Update 35: THAT IS HOW YOU GIVE AN OSCAR PERFORMANCE! Idina Menzel killed it in her performance of “Let it Go” from Frozen. #datbeltdoe
Update 34: We have lost some giants this year. This generation has some enormous shows to fill. Thank you for all the memories.
Side note: That is how you do an In Memoriam segment. For once it was well ended and fascinating to watch.
Update 33: Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby. This is one of those cases where I should have gone with my gut opposed to my head.
Update 32: That was odd. I don’t understand these “tributes”. A song and a clip package don’t seem like that’s the due that these films (The Wizard of Oz this year and James Bond last year) deserve.
Update 31: Best Film Editing: Gravity. I tried to be ballsy with my prediction and it nipped me in the bud.
Update 30: Best Cinematography: Gravity. A well deserved win. I know a lot of people say that this is a CGI film, but there is still no film without the photography. And the Gravity train keeps on rolling.
Also, what a touching and simple tribute to Harold Ramis from Bill Murray.
Update 29: I must also mention that with that loss American Hustle lost what little chance they had left at winning Best Picture.
Update 28: Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave. A well deserved win and standing ovation. For once the Oscars did something right. I don’t care if you never watched the movie, you just can’t help but love the woman. I wish her all the best in her career.
Update 27: Best Sound Editing: Gravity. Shocker x2.
Update 26: Best Sound Mixing: Gravity. Shocker.
Update 25: Most epic selfie ever.
Update 24: I really appreciate what U2 was trying to do with “Ordinary Love”, but I really need “Let it Go” to win. However, with that standing ovation I’m not so confident now.
On a side note, what the hell happened to this Heroes theme. It’s mentioned twice and that’s it.
Update 23: Best Foreign Language Film: The Great Beauty. Eh.
Update 22: Kevin Spacey doing Frank Underwood on the telecast gave me life.
Update 21: Best Documentary Feature: 20 Feet from Stardom. A good documentary, but compared to the crop of nominees this year it feels like a bit of a safe choice.
Also, where the hell did that come from?
Update 20: Best Documentary Short Feature: The Lady in Number 6. Such a great and worthy winner with a great story to tell. I’m just sad that “the lady” couldn’t be there. RIP.
Update 19: Best Live Action Short Film: Helium. Damn it. I wished I called that one. It was such a simple prediction, but everyone was going for The Voorman Problem.
Update 18: That was an absolutely gorgeous performance of “The Moon Song” from Her by Karen O and Ezra Koenig. That was literally every hipsters wet dream. Now, why didn’t they think of letting the song nominees perform before?
Update 17: Best Visual Effects: Gravity. And let the sweep begin.
Update 16: Best Animated Feature: Frozen. Finally happened for Disney. A well deserved win. It was beautifully animated, written, and if you don’t love the song “Let it Go”, we might not be able to be friends.
Update 15: Best Animated Short: Mr. Hublot
Update 14: Harrison Ford wins the award for most disgruntled elderly Oscar presenter.
Update 13: Best Makeup & Hairstlying: Dallas Buyers Club. Looks like they won an Oscar and a pair of Globes.
Update 12: Best Costume Design: Catherine Martin, The Great Gatsby. A well deserved win for a terrible movie.
The craft category winners tend to give cut and dry, and sometime awkward, speeches, but Martin did a great job.
Update 11: Points to Pharrell for wearing his infamous hat during his performance of “Happy”. Extra points to Lupita Nyong’o, Meryl Streep, and Amy Adams for their dances. Bonus points for getting the crowd to actually get up and dance. The Oscars are now not mediocrely dull.
Update 10: I’m liking the fact that they actually are somewhat carrying through with their theme this year, other than having Catherine Zeta-Jones lip synch to a badly choreographed version of “All the Jazz”.
Update 9: Leto gave an absolutely inspiring and emotional speech. That was a damn good speech. He thanked who he needed to thank and delivered it with eloquence.
Update 8: Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club. Shocker.
Update 7: Ellen Degeneres gave a solid, but safe monologue. I did find the line: “Option #1: 12 Years a Slave wins Best Picture, option #2: you’re all racists” absolutely hilarious.
Update 6: Ellen looks like she should jump on a horse and yell “the British are coming! The British are coming!”
Update 5: Watching Kevin Spacey speak without his southern accent is the oddest experience now. I kept on expecting him to turn the camera and say: “What fools. They think they can join the elite group of Oscar winners so easily. I pity them.”
Update 4: In other news, Tyson Beckford called Julia Roberts “Jessica Roberts.”
Update 3: Jennifer Lawrence fell… again. She really needs to learn how to walk.
Update 2: Prayer circle for Leonardo DiCaprio: https://vine.co/v/MAaA6JnqYlH
Update 1: Can we just talk about how Pharrell is wearing shorts to the red carpet?
Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.
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