85th Annual Academy Awards Recap

Last night's Oscars proved once again that the Oscars are exactly what they are: the Oscars. Nothing more, nothing less and likely never will be anything else. Seth MacFarlane as host was neither a success nor failure. He was there to fill space. He was energetic about being on stage and held a great charisma throughout but didn't commit to being a real host. He was a meta-host.

His 17-minute opening montage brought on a Star Trekked William Shatner from the future telling him he would be panned as the worst Oscar host in history in tomorrow's headlines. The self-referential moment to the skepticism around his hosting gig was a cop-out from him taking on his hosting duties 100 percent. Splashed in between, however, were fun dance routines by the inspired pairings of Charlize Theron and Channing Tatum and then Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Daniel Radcliffe. And that "We Saw Your Boobs" number was playful enough.

Throughout the rest of the show, however, introducing presenters and cracking small jokes, MacFarlane fell flat. He tossed out jokes as if he was still testing them, and nothing stuck. And a crack about Rex Reed and Adele was borderline uncalled for, and this was followed by a series of repetitive jokes about how long the telecast was running. We get it. The Oscars are long and boring; stop pointing it out to us.

Meanwhile, the show actually ended right on time. Exactly three hours...plus 30 minutes. And it ended right after Ben Affleck gave a frantic but heartfelt acceptance speech on behalf of the widely expected best picture win for "Argo." This was preceded by Jack Nicholson appearing on stage to present the award, which has a fun side note all its own. The last time Nicholson presented the final award of the night was in 2005 for "Crash" when Ang Lee won best director for "Brokeback Mountain." That was the last time we've seen a best picture/director split as it happened again this year with Lee's director win for "Life of Pi" over Steven Spielberg for "Lincoln."

First lady Michelle Obama was the surprise presenter who appeared above Nicholson's head on a screen in a live stream from the White House. She gave a moving speech about importance of the arts before ripping open the envelope and revealing "Argo" as the winner.

All of this was a fantastic finish to the 85th Annual Academy Awards telecast. But no. Our host teamed up with a screeching Kristen Chenoweth to close out the show with a horrific musical number commending all the night's losers, a wholly unnecessary exercise in bad taste and ignorance after an otherwise very classy end to the evening.

With best picture, "Argo" also took awards for best editing and Chris Terrio's surprise win for best adapted screenplay over close competitors David O. Russell for "Silver Linings Playbook" and Tony Kushner for "Lincoln." With a total of three awards, the film tied with "Les Miserables," which had wins including Anne Hathaway's predicted best supporting actress win along with best makeup/hairstyling and sound mixing.

"Life of Pi," however, walked away with the most awards of the night at four total. Along with Ang Lee's best director win, the film won best cinematography, visual effects and score. "Skyfall," "Django Unchained" and "Lincoln" all tied with two wins each.

"Silver Linings Playbook" got only one award, which went to Jennifer Lawrence for best actress. The humbled Oscar-winner took the stage in a flurry of an acceptance speech just after tripping on her way up the steps. Undeniably precious.

In a tribute to the 50th anniversary of James Bond, a montage was followed by a performance from the 76-year-old Shirley Bassey who belted out "Goldfinger." Adele later appeared to sing her Oscar-winning "Skyfall" for best original song, but unfortunately a sound issue muffled her performance. Her bubbly acceptance speech made up for it later, though.

Best sound editing marked the second award for "Skyfall," which it shared with "Zero Dark Thirty," that film's sole win of the night. The tie in the category marked only the sixth time a tie has ever happened in Oscar history.

Daniel Day-Lewis accepted his best actor win for "Lincoln" with a great speech we would know to come from the three-time Oscar-winning actor. The second win for "Lincoln" was for production design over expected front-runner "Anna Karenina." The latter won for best costume design. Disney's "Brave" took the award for best animated film over "Wreck-It Ralph" while "Amour" won best foreign language film and "Searching for Sugar Man" won best documentary.

Best supporting actor went to Christoph Waltz for "Django Unchained" while Quentin Tarantino took the award for best original screenplay over Mark Boal's "Zero Dark Thirty" who took home the WGA last weekend.

The telecast's theme was the movie musical as the night paid tribute to the past decade's musicals, of which there were apparently only two. Jennifer Hudson performed her show-stopping number from 2006's "Dreamgirls" unleashing her voice which felt even more seasoned than when she originally sang the tune. Catherine Zeta-Jones, on the other hand, lip-synced her way through a rendition of "All that Jazz" from 2002's best picture winner "Chicago."

The live singing redux of "One Day More" from "Les Miserables" was a musical highlight of the night bringing the cast all together again. The academy producers were clearly salivating over the idea of a nominated musical to revolve the night's theme around. The reliance on the returning cast of "Chicago" sure was heavy-handed, and one couldn't help but wonder why Renee Zellweger was acting like that?

Perhaps the most bizarre moment of the night was somebody's apparent decision to make the cut-off music of acceptance speeches to be the "Jaws" theme. Talk about campy and tasteless.

What's really left of last night's telecast is a feeling of deflated hopelessness for the Oscars to never be truly exciting again. Maybe we really do just need Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to host everything from now on. Lord knows that joke was required to be made last night, too -- and so early on, yeesh.

But hey, at least it truly was a great year in film, an unexpected awards race for most of the way and a night that closed on FLOTUS nailing best dressed without even being there and a tearful, choked up Ben Affleck getting the acknowledgement he deserves. I'm going with pretending that last musical number didn't happen. I think it's really for the best.

85th Annual Academy Award Winner Predictions

Sunday's telecast of the 85th Annual Academy Awards is guaranteed going to give us some surprises.

Could Ang Lee top Steven Spielberg for best director considering he took a novel widely considered to be unadaptable and turned it into an Oscar-nominated triumph?

Could best supporting actor go to Robert De Niro for a veteran actor who hasn't seen a good role in years?

The screenplay categories are also very much up in the air. In adapted, either David O. Russell for "Silver Linings Playbook" or Chris Terrio for "Argo" could grab the win away from assumed front-runner Tony Kushner for "Lincoln." And in original, don't be surprised if the love for "Amour" sneaks into a win out from under Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained."

And speaking of "Amour," there's always the possibility of votes for Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence canceling each other out allowing Emmanuelle Riva in for the win.

In spite of all the crazy dark horse possibilities, I've nailed down my final predictions below.

Best Picture: All signs point to "Argo."

Director: With Ben Affleck down for the count, looks like Steven Spielberg is the favorite to take it for "Lincoln."

Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis for "Lincoln"

Actress: Jennifer Lawrence for "Silver Linings Playbook"

Supporting Actor: Tough call between Christoph Waltz for "Django Unchained" (BAFTA win) and Tommy Lee Jones for "Lincoln" (SAG win), but I'm going with Waltz.

Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway for "Les Miserables"

Animated Feature: Kind of open, but recent Annie wins say "Wreck-It Ralph."

Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino for "Django Unchained"

Adapted Screenplay: Tony Kushner for "Lincoln"

Sound Editing: "Skyfall" because respected action movies always take it.

Sound Mixing: "Skyfall" for the same reason.

Film Editing: "Argo" because it'll validate the best picture win.

Documentary Feature: "Searching for Sugar Man"

Foreign Language Film: "Amour"

Cinematography: Claudio Miranda for "Life of Pi"

Makeup & Hairstyling: "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"

Costume Design: "Anna Karenina"

Visual Effects: "Life of Pi"

Original Song: "Skyfall" by Adele

Original Score: Mychael Danna for "Life of Pi"

Production Design: "Anna Karenina"

Documentary Short: "Inocente"

Live Action Short: "Curfew"

Animated Short: "The Paperman"

With only two wins, "Argo" will take the top prize of best picture along with best editing -- funny because it'll tie "Anna Karenina" for two wins. It will be topped by "Lincoln," which I predict will win three awards: best director, supporting actor and adapted screenplay. This also means "Skyfall" and "Life of Pi" will each land at three wins for technical awards.

Tune in to watch the telecast of the 85th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 24 at 8:30 p.m. on ABC.

19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Award Winners

The Golden Globes turned out to be more of a prognosticator for awards season as this weekend reaped more awards for Ben Affleck's "Argo." The Best Picture nominee which, after Oscar nomination morning in the wake of Affleck's Best Director snub looked down for the count, is now the easy front-runner to win. And this comes after the film's win from the Producers Guild of America and Sunday night's Best Ensemble win at the 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.

While a Best Ensemble win at the SAGs doesn't always mean a boost for Best Picture potential (see last year's win for "The Help"), it certainly does mean something when the picture is busy picking up other accolades, as well. And also when it was widely expected that other more actor-oriented films like "Lincoln" or "Silver Linings Playbook" would've nabbed the top SAG prize. "Argo" is giant right now and could likely become the first film in a very long time to win Best Picture without its director not only winning but not even earning a nomination.

Now it's pretty much guaranteed Ben Affleck will also be winning the Directors Guild of America, too. Where does that leave the Oscar director race? David O. Russell? Steven Spielberg? Ang Lee? Hard to say.

Three acting categories are locks after Sunday's ceremony. Anne Hathaway for "Les Miserables" will take Best Supporting Actress, Jennifer Lawrence for "Silver Linings Playbook" will win Best Actress (in a tight race against running-mate Jessica Chastain for "Zero Dark Thirty") and Daniel Day-Lewis for "Lincoln" will win Best Actor.

Tommy Lee Jones winning Best Supporting Actor for "Lincoln" gives him a boost while Christoph Waltz for "Django Unchained" (not nominated for a SAG) won the Golden Globe. It's pretty much a toss-up between the two as I could see the academy going for either.

I'm thrilled about the awards success of "Argo." It's a great movie, Ben Affleck deserves the praise as a young and talented actor-turned-director (especially in light of that impossible-to-ignore Oscar snub) and it makes for a wild comeback story for Oscar history.

Check here for a full list of winners from the 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.

70th Annual Golden Globe Award Winners

Let's start this off by stating the obvious: Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, as expected, proved to be the best awards show hosts in recent memory. They absolutely killed it. Their opening monologue was full of quick one-liners and jabs that still stung but were always in good humor coming from them. This included zings at Kathryn Bigelow when Poehler said she hasn't been following the controversy of "Zero Dark Thirty," but "when it comes to torture, I trust the woman who spent three years married to James Cameron." James Franco was also targeted when Fey said to Anne Hatahway, "You gave a stunning performance in 'Les Miserables.' I have not seen someone so alone and abandoned like that since you were on stage with James Franco at the Oscars." Poehler then began describing the HFPA as HPV, and Fey labeled Quentin Tarantino as "the star of all my sexual nightmares."

As a hosting duo, they were consistently funny, self-deprecating with great timing, just enough bite and really made the biggest Hollywood party of the year feel like exactly that. Case in point, Seth MacFarlane has the toughest of acts to follow with his hosting gig at the Oscars.

As it was at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards on Thursday, Ben Affleck walked away with Best Director while his "Argo" took home Best Drama, which only continues to baffle the mind as to how the academy skipped over him for a director nod.

"Les Miserables" topped the night's wins with Anne Hathaway winning Best Supporting Actress, Hugh Jackman for Best Actor Comedy or Musical and the film taking the top prize of Best Comedy or Musical over "Silver Linings Playbook." Jennifer Lawrence represented the comedy with her Best Actress Comedy or Musical win while Bradley Cooper got beat out by Jackman. Such would be expected, however, as the HFPA is notorious for loving musicals. The love for "Les Miserables" here is no indicator of a push toward Oscar.

"Django Unchained" tied "Argo" for two wins as Quentin Tarantino had the surprise win for Best Screenplay over Tony Kushner for "Lincoln." This marks his lock for Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars while Kushner can still take home Best Adapted. The other "Django" win went to Christoph Waltz for Best Supporting Actor, which gives him a small Oscar boost as he was not nominated for a SAG award.

"Zero Dark Thirty" cashed in on just one win in the category of Best Actress Drama for Jessica Chastain's portrayal of female CIA agent Maya. Likewise, Daniel Day-Lewis represented the singular win for "Lincoln" for Best Actor Drama with his embodiment of Abraham Lincoln.

The night clipped along at a relatively fine pace with plenty of GIF-able moments throughout, which is always the sign of an entertaining awards show. This included Taylor Swift giving what looked like the stink eye to a bubbly and radiant Adele as she accepted her award for Best Original Song for "Skyfall," a win that will thrust her to Oscar gold.

Glenn Close played in on the fun as the hosts reappeared later in the evening announcing how drunk everyone was getting and then cut to the actress doing some sort of weird drunken jig in her seat. The best of the presenters were SNL veterans Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig who, while announcing the nominees for Best Comedy or Musical, hilariously improvised made-up plots for each movie pretending like they'd never heard of them.

Jodie Foster received her Cecil B. DeMille honor and gave a speech both very moving and heartfelt but also mystifying. Apparently it was widely expected, since this was considered a "lifetime achievement award," that she would use this as a coming-out speech. And while she broached the topic and jokingly sidestepped it, she also simultaneously hit it head-on and addressed matters of privacy in the public eye for celebrities. It was a mysterious speech that delicately told young viewers everywhere to be who they are without ever really saying it at all. And then there was teary-eyed Mel Gibson just staring at her intently. It was a very weird moment in the night that also unfortunately got accidentally(?) muted by the network during a crucial line. She then concluded with a beautiful message to her mom who suffers from dimentia and noted a potential turn in her own career. It almost sounded like she was retiring from acting, but later in the press room she corrected that implication.

The pseudo coming-out speech prompted Poehler to close the show with this: "We're going home with Jodie Foster!"

Jessica Chastain gave a tearful acceptance speech while a flu-ridden Jennifer Lawrence was pleasantly humbled as usual, and Anne Hathaway took time in hers to pay tribute to her fellow nominee, Sally Field, in a classy nod to a veteran actress.

What does all of this "Argo" and Ben Affleck winning mean for the Oscar race? Well, things are getting interesting. If Affleck were nominated for an Oscar, we'd be looking at an easy front-runner. Instead, we're left questioning the possibility of a Best Picture winner not having its director nominated. It seems unlikely and puts a lot of weight on the announcement of the Producers Guild winner, the Directors Guild winner and the winners of the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Long shots set aside, the more sensible choice appears to still be between "Lincoln" and "Silver Linings Playbook" for Oscar. And yet, the "Argo" momentum is hard to ignore. Is it really possible to have been stonewalled by the academy?

On the television side, I have to mention the triumphant win of 26-year-old Lena Dunham for not only Best Comedy Actress but also Best Comedy for her HBO comedy "Girls." So well-deserved, and it really marked the evening as one for progressive and funny women in television.

ARGO Review

Ben Affleck's "Argo" is a blend of incredible true story and Hollywood movie magic. This is illustrated perfectly in the movie's opening explanation of the backstory behind the 1979 Iran Revolution. It's a combination of real world footage and classic storyboard drawings, which sets up two things. It not only mirrors the film's true story of creating a fake movie to rescue six American hostages from Iran, but also emphasizes the style in which Affleck tells this true story. There is close attention to facts with just the right amount of flourish and embellishment. It's smart Hollywood, and it's smart filmmaking. After only two directorial features before this (2007's "Gone Baby Gone" and 2010's "The Town"), Affleck's third feature feels like the work of a real veteran, and it's the one that'll give him his due come Oscar night.

A group of about fifty Americans were taken hostage at the Embassy in Iran, but six of them got away and were secretly housed by the Canadian ambassador (Victor Garber). It's been too long keeping them there, and the CIA needs a plan to get them out. Tony Mendez is a professional CIA "extractor" who's the best at getting people out of these situations. Out of the possibilities the CIA hatches up, it ends up being Mendez's seemingly outlandish plan that becomes the most plausible. At the height of sci-fi movie popularity after the huge success of "Star Wars," the idea of filmmakers doing location scouting in an exotic, foreign land is apparently believable.

Ah, the power of Hollywood. Also the absurdity, and poking fun at the industry is where a lot of the film's humor comes from, which is an unexpected addition considering the life-or-death scenarios of Iran it addresses at the same time. The script from Chris Terrio is a triumph in this complex tonal balance as well as its tight, focused precision in executing the rescue of the American hostages. Most thrillers create tension from car chases and fire fights, but here breathless excitement is manufactured through exquisite timing and careful plotting. It's a race to the airport between Mendez with his fake film crew and the Iranian revolutionaries uncovering the identities of the missing hostages -- and it's white-knuckle, nail-biting suspense.

The setup of the rescue mission had to be fabricated down to the details of a real script, producers and even press coverage. Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin), a hardened and snarky film producer, and John Chambers (John Goodman), an accomplished makeup artist, jump on-board and make sure the project -- which, needless to say, never gets made -- is the real deal. This leads to a script reading at the Beverly Hilton with the "real" film crew in a scene that beautifully intercuts with the "fake" film crew preparing their nerves for the inevitable escape. It's an affecting moment and brings to light the real world implications, how this moment in history foreshadowed the political landscape we live in today.

Affleck's high-class popcorn pleaser shares a love for the transcending power of movies while reminding us why we go to the movies. There's a scene where Iran airport security is shown storyboards for the fake "Argo," and they're enchanted. Performances across the board are great: Cranston easily breaks free of any "Breaking Bad" restraints while Goodman and Arkin prove a comic pairing. Affleck as Mendez is nicely understated, and we learn that he's a father, as well. "Argo" paints Mendez as an American hero, just like, yes, something straight out of a movie.