Notes on The 84th Academy Awards + Complete List of Winners!
Written by Paul Stathakis | February 27, 2012
Some notes on yesterday’s Oscars ceremony (for complete list of winners, please scroll down):
- Ceremony score: A+. It was classy, sharp, and all about Old Hollywood. Billy Crystal made things fun and “The Artist” received all the awards it deserved!
- “The Artist” won 5 Academy Awards last night including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor! I won’t hide it: I was really rooting for “The Artist” this year, especially Jean Dujardin.
- Billy Crystal’s score as host of the Oscars: A+. He was calm, cool, funny, animated, and everyone seemed to enjoy seeing him on stage again. He involved the stars, he sang, and he prepared a nice introduction too.
- Best Oscar moments: there were a few. For starters, Billy Crystal opening the ceremony in classic Broadway fashion. He sang a song which subsequently presented the 9 nominated films. He also brought back the mind-reading skit where he reads the thoughts of certain actors. Pretty funny. Emma Stone and Ben Stiller’s little skit was simply hilarious. Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis showing up on stage with cymbals was a hilarious moment. I was in tears when Galifianakis dropped his cymbals, twice. 82-year-old Christopher Plummer, who is Canadian, winning for Best Supporting Actor for his work in “Beginners” was a touching moment. With this win, Plummer not only won his first Oscar but entered the Oscar’s history book as the oldest actor to win an Academy Award. And then came three of the best wins: Jean Dujardin winning the Oscar for Best Actor, Michel Hazanavicius winning for Best Director, and “The Artist” winning for Best Picture.
- My Oscar predictions score: 8/9. I called Best Actress in Viola Davis’ favor for her performance in “The Help” but Meryl Streep instead won for her performance as former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady.”
Complete list of winners:
BEST PICTURE
““The Artist”
BEST DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
BEST ACTOR
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
BEST ACTRESS
Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Octavia Spencer, “The Help”
ANIMATED FILM
““Rango”
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
““A Separation”, Iran
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash, “The Descendants”
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
““Midnight in Paris” by Woody Allen
DOCUMENTARY
““Undefeated”
ORIGINAL SCORE
Ludovic Bource, “The Artist”
ORIGINAL SONG
““Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets,” music and lyrics by Bret McKenzie
ART DIRECTION
Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo, “Hugo”
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Robert Richardson, “Hugo”
COSTUME DESIGN
Mark Bridges, “The Artist”
FILM EDITING
Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
MAKEUP
Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland, “The Iron Lady”
VISUAL EFFECTS
Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning, “Hugo”
SOUND EDITING
Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty, “Hugo”
SOUND MIXING
Tom Fleischman and John Midgley, “Hugo”
DOCUMENTARY SHORT FEATURE
““Saving Face”