March 29, 2024

MV5BMTc3MjI0MjM0NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMTYxMTQ1OA@@._V1_SY317_CR0,0,214,317_The 85th Annual Academy Awards were held last night to honor the best films of 2012, with awards ranging from the technical categories such as achievements in cinematography, visual effects, and editing to the highly anticipated merits in acting and directing.

The top honor of the night went to Argo, which won the Oscar for Best Picture.  This film also won Best Adapted Screenplay and Editing. Life of Pi went on to take home four awards, the most of the night. Life of Pi’s director Ang Lee claimed the Best Director award, and the film went on to win for Best Visual Effects, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score. This is the second time a film directed by Ang Lee won the Best Director award without winning Best Picture, his other film being Brokeback Mountain in 2005.

Seth MacFarlane, Family Guy creator and director of the summer comedy smash hit, Ted, hosted the ceremony and didn’t fail to forget his crude and pop culture oriented style of humor. With a seventeen opening bit that ranged everywhere from finally making Tommy Lee Jones smile to reenacting the opening crash sequence of Flight with sock puppets, MacFarlane left the audience polarized in response. Some praised his performance as host while others found his style of humor too mean-spirited and offensive for the ceremony.

The show last night was also very heavily oriented on the celebration of music in film, with performances from musicals over the past decade such as Chicago, Dreamgirls, and the 2012 Best Picture nominee Les Miserables. Adele performed her Skyfall theme song “Skyfall,” which went on to win the Oscar for Best Original Song. The James Bond film series also celebrated its 50th anniversary last night with a tribute to the series over the five decades celebrating the more musical aspects of the film.

Christoph Waltz won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in Django Unchained, while Anne Hathaway took the Best Supporting Actress award for her brief yet powerful performance in Les Miserables. Finally, the show concluded with awarding the actors in their leading roles, with Jennifer Lawrence winning for Best Actress in Silver Linings Playbook, while Daniel Day-Lewis took his award for Best Actor in Lincoln without presenter Meryl Streep even opening the envelope.

For a full list of last nights winners, click on this link: http://www.imdb.com/oscars/nominations/?ref_=hm_rto_t5.