In no necessary order, below are tonight’s 2015 Oscar Winners.
Three Oscar highlights: It was nice to see Lady Gaga perform a classy tribute to Julie Andrews and The Sound of Music. Gaga continued to demonstrate her diverse chops. I also enjoyed Neil Patrick Harris’s tighty whities in a skit reminiscent of the scene in Birdman. Finally, I couldn’t help but find Chris Pine’s single, unwiped tear after John Legend and Common’s performance of Selma’s “Glory” strangely and humorously touching.
I will not comment too much on the winners except to say that Birdman definitely deserved Best Cinematography for its smooth “appearance” of long takes, though the magic in making the movie look like one long scene was actually in matching action to action cuts in post production. It was the editing that helped dissolve one scene into the next, bringing the cinematography to life. Although I was wrong with a few guesses, I predicted that Eddie Redmayne would win Best Actor. Redmayne was phenomenal in Theory of Everything, but all the nominees this year were equally deserving in their own right. Finally, I am proud of Birdman’s Alejandro González Iñárritu, another Latino to take Best Director for the second year following last year’s Alfonso Cuarón for his space epic Gravity.
2015 Oscar Winners
Best Make Up
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Supporting Actor
J.K. Simmons- Whiplash
Best Foreign Film
IDA
Live Action Short
The Phone Call
Sound Mixing
Whiplash
Sound Editing
American Sniper
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Patricia Arquette- Boyhood
Best Visual Effects
Interstellar
Animated Short Film
Feast
Best Documentary Short
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Best Animated Feature Film
Big Hero 6
Production Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Cinematography
Birdman
Editing
Whiplash
Best Documentary
Citizenfour
Best Song
Glory- Selma
Best Original Score
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Original Screenplay
Birdman
Best Adapted Screenplay
Imitation Game
Best Director
Alejandro González Iñárritu- Birdman
Best Actor
Eddie Redmayne- Theory of Everything
Best Actress
Julianne Moore- Still Alice
Best Picture
Birdman