The much-talked-about surprise at Sunday's Academy Awards show, hosted by Seth MacFarlane, was First Lady Michelle Obama, via cameras from Washington D.C., announcing that "Argo" won the Best Picture Oscar. Daniel Day Lewis' performance as "Lincoln" earned him the best actor award. Jennifer Lawrence took home the Academy Award for best actress. Ang Lee won best director. Quentin Tarantino got the best original screenplay Oscar. Anne Hathaway won supporting actress for "Les Miserables" and Christoph Waltz got supporting actor for "Django Unchained." Only care about red-carpet fashion commentary? Skip to the end for highlights.
"Life of Pi" won visual effects and cinematography awards. Period pieces got recognition with "Les Miserables" winning for makeup and hairstyling and "Anna Karenina" for costume design. "Brave" won the animated film category. Another surprise of the evening was the tie in sound editing. There have only been two previous ties in Oscar history. In 1932, the best actor went to Wallace Beery for "The Champ" and Frederic March for "Dr. Jeckell and Mr. Hyde." In 1968, the best actress Oscars went to Katherine Hepburn for "A Lion in Winter" and Barbara Streisand for "Funny Girl".
MacFarlane kicked off the Oscars with a goal. "The quest to make Tommy Lee Jones laugh starts now," he said. Cameras showed him smiling. Mission accomplished! The show celebrated music in film. An intro with the flying nun, sock puppets flying planes and Captain Kirk giving advice was a funny start to the show. The night's big musical number featured tunes and dancing from "Chicago," "Dreamgirls" and "Les Miserables." Overall impression: Entertaining and enjoyable but too long. Some of the best stuff -- Michelle Obama's video appearance and the MacFarlane/Kristin Chenoweth "loser" dance -- may have happened after most folks were in bed.
Here's a recap:
WINNERS
First Lady Michelle Obama, via camera from Washington DC, helps Jack Nicholson announce the Oscar for BEST PICTURE: Argo "I know what you're thinking... Three sexist producers alive," says Grant Heslov about himself, Ben Affleck and George Clooney. "It's hard but you can't hold grudges," Ben Affleck says. "It doesn't matter how you get knocked down in life because that's going to happen. All that matters is that you gotta get back up," he says. He calls out his kids and says the Oscar is for them. The first lady says movies are important because they "lift our spirits." Nominees: "Silver Linings Playbook," "Lincoln," "Les Miserables," "DJango Unchained," "Argo," "Zero Dark Thirty" "Beasts of the Southern Wild" "Life of Pi" and "Amour."
Fun fact: "Lincoln" received the most Oscar noms with 12, "Life of Pi" got 11 and "Les Miserables" and "Silver Linings Playbook" earned 8 each.
BEST ACTOR Daniel Day Lewis for "Lincoln." He's won three best actor Oscars. "I really don't know how any of this happened," he says. He joked that he'd been committed to play Margaret Thatcher and that Meryl Streep, who presented his award, was the first choice for Lincoln but they decided to swap. He joked that he had to convince Steven Spielberg not to make "Lincoln" a musical. He also joked that his wife had to sleep with a lot of different characters over the years. Nominees: Daniel Day Lewis for "Lincoln," Denzel Washington for "Flight," Hugh Jackman for "Les Miserables," Bradley Cooper for "Silver Livings Playbook" and Joaquin Phoenix for "The Master."
