And the Oscar goes to...

The Facts

The Oscars were Sunday, March 2nd. Red carpet coverage started at 5:00 pm EST. The ceremony concluded around midnight.

Cozying up for the show

His Side 

The Oscars are all about movies, right? Wrong. It’s half about fashion and half about movies. Even though the fashion is more talked about for longer than the winners and losers of the actual awards. From the red carpet coverage you can tell the fashion is more important because the first question out of Ryan Seacrest’s lips is always “let’s talk about the dress.” I do have to say, however, that it is a better question than what used to be the standard “Who are you wearing.” Even though it should be WHOM are you wearing, it's still just a creepy question that seems more fit for Ed Gein than a celebrity. If you don’t know Ed Gein, you probably weren’t a Criminal Justice major. 

The red carpet stuff obviously doesn’t excite me much but I have to wonder who made Kelly Osbourne and Ross Matthews the definitive voices on red carpet fashion? She has purple hair and he was wearing the most ridiculous jacket I’ve ever seen. And these are the two that are criticizing what these famous celebrities are wearing? Only on E! I guess. My favorite part about the red carpet coverage was when we found out that Barkhad Abdi (the pirate captain from Captain Phillips) strengthened his English speaking skills by listening to Jay-Z’s rap and watching “Seinfeld.” 

Enough about the boring red carpet. The awards are why I watch, but the host can make or break the viewing experience. I think Ellen is pretty funny but she was a very safe choice. I know they chose her because Seth McFarlane offended people last year; however, he made the show so much more entertaining. All Ellen did throughout the show is walk amongst the celebrities and buy pizza. Let’s be honest, it was boring but I still had to share my witty commentary with the masses on social media.

The worst part about it was that it lasted three and a half hours. The Grammys went long, too, but at least there were good musical performances to fill the time, not performances of songs from movies that work very well with the visuals and mood of the movies they are in but don’t hold up well performed on stage. They all got obligatory standing ovations from the crowd, though (probably because standing up helped them stay awake).

By the end, I just wanted to see who won the big categories but wasn't convinced that they would ever show them. Once they finally did, there weren’t a lot of surprises. I would have liked to see Leo take home his first ever Oscar because he was electric in The Wolf Of Wall Street and I think Sandra Bullock deserved Best Actress because she captivated me and everyone else in Gravity. I did not see 12 Years A Slave but I got tired of everyone talking about how "important" this story is. It’s just as "important" as any other movie. It’s entertainment. The only way it might be more "important" than other films is in the career of Lupita Nyong’o (first time nominee and winner of Best Supporting Actress). I also would have liked to see Captain Phillips take home a few awards because that is one of the best films of last year. You don’t always get what you want, though.

Overall, it was one of the least entertaining Oscar ceremonies I’ve seen in a while (and I watch them every year). I believe this is mostly due to Ellen and her safe approach to hosting the biggest night in film. Hero-inspired montages of movies are fine but they didn’t entertain me like Seth McFarlane’s irreverent songs and other bits did last year. I just want to laugh! I was more entertained by making fun of the awkward speeches and weird outfits with Kristi than I was by the ceremony. I wasn't on my phone as much as Kristi may say I was since there wasn't as much to tweet about as usual. It’s just sad because this was such a great year for film, so a sub-par ceremony was disappointing. 

Her Side  

The Oscars were this past Sunday, and it's a must watch program in our household because of my film crazy husband. Being the awesome wife that I am, I agreed to give up my Sunday evening to indulge in a night of critiquing outfits, listening to long drawn out acceptance speeches, and enduring broken promises of a reasonable end time on the TV Guide Channel.

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Let me start out by saying that I'm not a movie buff and, when it comes to movies, if it isn't within an hour and thirty minute time frame, I'm not watching it. Well, that's not entirely true. My husband tricked me into watching Captain Phillips which crushes those time constraints, and I LOVED it to the point that I have watched it twice. My point here is that in order for me to watch a long movie, I must be fooled.

Given my tolerance level of all sorts of movies, you might find it surprising that I watched the Oscars primarily for the fashion (or lack thereof) and the occasional awkward moment. While you may think that the highlight of the show for me was Jennifer Lawrence's fall on the red carpet or Jared Leto's ridiculously long and atrocious acceptance speech, neither of those made the list. The highlight was without a doubt the sweet potato chips that my husband and I made to snack on during the show, although they didn't last us very long.   

Through watching award shows with my husband, I have discovered a huge pet peeve of mine. He tweets, checks Twitter, and checks Facebook during the entire program. Here I am, just wanting to talk about what the heck Whoopi Goldberg is wearing (I mean, did you see her?!) and he's sitting there engulfed in the social media world. Despite the obvious differences of our focus during the Oscars, we spent quality time together and that's what it's really all about.

Yum!