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Well, we finally made it. Considering the Academy seems to love movies about show business even more than period biopics, it wasn’t a total shock when
Birdman took flight, snagging four Oscars. On the actual show itself, although there wasn’t a group selfie that broke Twitter or a Billy Crystal worthy opening, there were plenty of moments last night that were memorable.
(SSN)
Alejandro Gonzalez Irárittu wins for Best Director as the Academy pretty much snubs
Boyhood which only went home with one Oscar, for Patricia Arquette’s performance. Deadline has the complete list, in case you slept through it or were stuck on a plane, or something.
(DH)
Birdman won Best Picture and a Best Actor award for Michael Keaton, while Richard Linklater took Best Director and Patricia Arquette snagged Best Supporting Actress. One of the biggest winners was Dan Gilroy, who won Best Screenplay and Best First Feature for
Nightcrawler.
(IW)
Fox’s
Kingsman: The Secret Service took in an estimated $17.53 million to remain in second place. The Matthew Vaughn directed graphic novel adaptation starring Colin Firth was down 52 percent from last weekend, while
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water held steady in third with an estimated $15.5 million. Disney's
McFarland, USA led this weekend's openers with an estimated fourth place debut of $11.32M.
(BO)
Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas “won” four awards at the ceremony, which also recognized Cameron Diaz, Megan Fox and Kelsey Grammer for their work in films like
Sex Tape,
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and
The Expendables 3. Ben Affleck won the Redeemer Award for reclaiming his career after winning a 2003 Razzie for
Gigli.
(TP)
Last night, a number of movies, filmmakers, performers and craftspeople of all different kinds saw their dreams realized in the form of an Oscar win. About five times that many saw their nominations turn into a loss. Even more were at home, not even invited to the party, despite the overwhelming worthiness of their work. Welcome to the Oscar Snubs.
(FSR)
The technical feat of
Birdman most viewers rave about is that the entire film occurs in what appears to be one continuous shot. This device would not be possible, however, if the film's action weren't restricted to a single location. Michael Keaton's character seems trapped within a prison of his own making throughout, and the new floorplan shows exactly why.
(FCC)
Delivering an acceptance speech at the Academy Awards is a thankless task. It’s always good to thank the Hollywood elite so that they will employ you in the future. But who has been name-dropped the most during Academy Award acceptance speeches? Thanks to an analysis of all 1,396 Oscar acceptance speeches, we now have the results.
(CB)
Writer Michael Wolff takes a look at the rumors, the logic, the promise of money from China, and how little actual money there is from China in Hollywood. There are, with a cold eye, probably only two meaningful deals involving Chinese investment in the U.S. industry — and both are exceptions. It’s a pretty fascinating read.
(THR)
What’s your goal? It’s one of the most important questions a writer can ask. Not just of their protagonist, antagonist and every single one of their supporting characters, but of themselves. A character without a defined goal has nothing to fight for, no aim and no meaning in the plot, no connection to the hook. A writer who doesn’t know what they want to achieve, what their next steps are to reaching that goal, and what they want their script to accomplish for them, is no different.
(SM)
