Oscars 2015: The good, the bad & the ugly

Good

Host Neil Patrick Harris was off to a flyer. Saying the show honoured “Hollywood’s best and whitest”, winking at how the Academy had shunted out the vital Selma, he burst into a song-and-dance about the glory of ‘Moving Pictures,’ doffing his hat to everything from Fargo to Back To The Future — rhyming “Brando” with “when Sharon Stone went commando” — and pointing to a grumpy Clint Eastwood as his pick for the role of show disruptor.



Bad

Yet Harris seemed uncharacteristically shy and ill-at-ease. His jokes never landing. Save one super line about Edward Snowden (“...couldn’t be here for some treason”), Harris flatlined, smiling at himself a lot, looking oddly starstruck. Perhaps the Oscars, stuffier than happy-drunk parties like the Golden Globes, can’t compete with those quip-a-minute hosts, and need a revamp to stay relevant at a time when judgement is tweeted before the joke is through.



Ugly

John Travolta played Hollywood’s creepiest uncle, trying to kiss a visibly discomfited Scarlett Johansson on the red carpet, and later pawing at the face of co-presenter Idina Menzel. Yup, after mangling her name last year, this time Travolta incessantly stroked her cheeks.






Good

Despite concern about Eastwood’s right-wing propaganda piece American Sniper spoiling the party, it was Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman — a film of boundless imagination and visual ingenuity — that reigned supreme, winning for Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture. Iñárritu, picking up his Best Director trophy, singled out a lucky charm: the white briefs Michael Keaton wore in the film’s opening shot.



Bad

Much as Birdman deserved the win, the Academy showed barely any love or Richard Linklater’s heartening Boyhood, a film far more accessible than the Iñárritu satire. Linklater’s film, shot over 12 years with the same cast, is special indeed. A Birdman/Boyhood toss-up with the films splitting Best Picture and Best Director would’ve been perfect.



Ugly

The ‘In Memoriam’ segment had Meryl Streep introducing the montage. Anita Ekberg and Lauren Bacall both left us this year. But in a disgraceful oversight, iconic comedienne Joan Rivers didn’t merit a mention. Italian director Francesco Rosi, an influence on the likes of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, was also left out.



Good

The most iconic visual of the night has to be Emma Stone, magically earnest eyes open wide, sportingly clutching a yellow-brick Lego Oscar while her name was read out among the Best Supporting Actress nominees. (She deserved to win.)



Bad

Whiplash director Damien Chazelle lost out on a Best Adapted Screenplay award, which went instead to The Imitation Game, an insipid film about the great Alan Turing.



Ugly

Sean Penn gave Birdman the Best Picture award by asking “Who gave this son of a bitch a green card?” before congratulating Mexican auteur Iñárritu. It was an off-colour joke, but Penn is an old chum, and El Directoro smoothened it over in his speech. It still jarred.