Now that the rain clouds over Los Angeles have cleared, and the red carpet has been rolled up the 2013 movie season has officially come to an end. With the producers and stars of “12 Years a Slave” taking home the Best Picture glory and first-time nominees Jared Leto, Matthew McConaughey and Lupita N’yongo taking home their first statues (Best Actress winner Cate Blanchett took home her second Oscar), Oscars night brought plenty of entertainment to viewers everywhere.
However, at the same time, this year’s Oscars ceremony seemed to be missing something. Even though seeing John Travolta become his own Internet phenomenon and Jennifer Lawrence trip again added moments of unexpected laughter, the show just didn’t seem to feel as energetic as last year. That’s no fault of the host, Ellen DeGeneres did a pretty good job in her second time hosting and managed to crash Twitter with her picture alongside Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep and other stars. But with a “heroes” theme that didn’t work and somewhat predictable winners, the element of surprise that made previous Oscars ceremonies entertaining wasn’t all there for this year.
That’s not to say this year was a complete letdown, because it wasn’t. The return of the Best Original Song performances was a welcomed touch. U2 got a standing ovation when it performed “Ordinary Love” from “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” Pharrell Williams brought the mainstream radio crossover “Happy” from “Despicable Me 2” to life, and the duet between two popular alternative singers – Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend – gave the ceremony a magical, somewhat serene moment with “The Moon Song” from “Her.” Unsurprisingly, Idina Menzel – despite Travolta’s unintentionally hilarious introduction – brought down the house with the “Frozen” power ballad “Let It Go,” which handily and deservedly took home the Oscar. Despite the Golden Globe win for U2, “Frozen” never really left the driver’s seat in this category.
The same went for the swell of goodwill in the technical categories for “Gravity” and the acting winners. In the technical categories, “Gravity” was essentially a lock. There was no real doubt that it wouldn’t take home all of the techs – sound, visual effects, score and cinematography – but an out-of-left-field choice, such as Roger Deakins’ artful cinematography in “Prisoners” or Arcade Fire’s hypnotizing score for “Her,” wouldn’t have been a bad thing.
When it comes to the acting categories, the winners were pretty much set in stone. Many critics predicted wins for Blanchett, Leto and N’yongo, and they did without much real challenge (despite Lawrence’s occasional victories for “American Hustle” over N’yongo in “12 Years a Slave”). In Best Actor – a category that was initially wide open – a Matthew McConaughey-win became inevitable coming in. He’d essentially swept every major awards group, and an Oscar seemed like the perfect way to cap off his career turnaround. Chiwetel Ejiofor, who took home several awards – including the BAFTA – for Best Actor for “12 Years a Slave,” was really the only one who could realistically give McConaughey a run for his money. Had another nominee who hadn’t taken home several precursors – such as Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Wolf of Wall Street” or Bruce Dern in “Nebraska” – been given the Oscar, it would have been a welcome surprise. That’s not to say McConaughey didn’t deserve it. It just would have been nice to see the Academy throw a curveball to keep things interesting.
In the end, it was a pretty solid year for the Oscars. While there was room for improvement, it was a good ceremony with plenty of deserving, if predictable, winners. But if next year the Academy threw in a surprise or two with who wins or how the ceremony is run, that would be alright.
