Sunday night, ABC premiered the 85th Annual Academy Awards hosted by “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane.
This year debuted movie music as the first “theme” of the Oscars and included an opening musical number by MacFarlane and powerful performances of past and present Oscar winners from “Chicago”, “Dreamgirls”, and “Les Misérables”, James Bond celebrated his 50th birthday with performances of the 1964 Goldfinger theme by Shirley Bassey and Adele’s “Skyfall”, which took home the Oscar for Best Original Song.
Despite not being nominated for Best Director, Ben Affleck’s “Argo” was presented the Oscar for Best Picture. Daniel Day Lewis won Best Actor and Jennifer Lawrence was so stunned by her win for Best Actress that she fell on her way up the stage.
Seth MacFarlane’s comedy has raised some questions. Apparently the Academy expected maturity when they hired the Family Guy to host, but they were disappointed with a few seemingly inappropriate jokes. MacFarlane slighted Chris Brown and Rihanna when introducing “Django Unchained” as, “…the story of a man fighting to get back his woman, who’s been subjected to unthinkable violence. Or as they call it, a date movie.” MacFarlane also made the comment to Daniel Day Lewis, “I always thought the actor who got most inside Lincoln’s head was John Wilkes Booth.” Both jokes were met with audible gasps from the crowd. In response to Lincoln, MacFarlane responded, “Too soon?”
Jennifer Lawrence is my pick for Best Dressed in a beautiful white Dior ball gown, but an honorable mention goes to Sally Field who looked absolutely classic in a long sleeved red Valentino gown. While we can excuse Kristen Stewart’s injury, she still managed to look like she hasn’t showered in three days while wearing a pretty, shimmery Reem Acra gown.
Besides the obvious blunders and the envelopes appearing to be difficult to open (I’m looking at you, Sandra Bullock), the show even got Tommy Lee Jones to smile. As usual, the Academy Awards paid beautiful tribute to some very deserving talent.
