McSTREAMY.COM (02/23/2015) – The Academy Award Oscars Show, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris this year, had a smaller audience than last year when hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The good news: A Polish movie won an Oscar for the first time in the foreign language film category.
Eddie Redmayne – Best Actor in The Theory Of Everything.
To be fair, it is said that the host isn’t really that important, because people in the audience at the show itself, only care about whether they win or lose. On the other hand, it might pull viewers in at home and in bars and other gathering places. Of course, there are so many other things viewers can watch these days, and every year, it seems there are more other shows, events, movies and channels to watch on the TV screen.
Still, the show last year, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, had a 10-year best 43.74 million viewers, according to Nielsen, the third time in five years the Oscars had been above the 40-million viewer mark.
Neil Patrick Harris is a highly regarded talent who most recently co-starred in the very successful How I Met Your Mother TV situation comedy. He is also a song and dance man, an occasional serious role actor, and, apparently, doesn’t mind traveling from show to show on the Talk Show circuit. Many a laugh and a smile has been the result of his, “Wait for it….” delivery, and much more.
Julianne Moore – Best Actress in Still Alice.
According to Nielsen overnight estimates measuring 56 of the nation’s biggest markets, last night’s “87th Annual Academy Awards” telecast on ABC had the lowest rating since 2011. There were huge declines in New York and Chicago viewership. Again, to be fair, there are tons of people in the nation’s smaller markets, sometimes referred to as “rural areas”, who watch the show to see their favorite actors and actresses receive their awards for outstanding work. The “rural areas” are not counted in the overnight figures.
The last few months, there have been an over abundance of award shows on television. Perhaps some viewers reached a saturation point and opted to seek their entertainment elsewhere.
Switching to Academy Award winners:
Polish Film Institute chief Agnieszka Odorowicz has lauded the Oscar win for Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Ida” as recognition of the “strength and originality of Polish cinema.” The film, which was co-financed by the PFI, is the first Polish movie to win an Academy Award in the foreign-language film category. It’s about a woman who, about to become a nun, finds out she is Jewish.
“Birdman” (shown above in a scene from the movie) with Michael Keaton was the big winner of the night, winning the top prize as well as others including best original screenplay and best director for Alejandro González Iñárritu. Other big winners were “Grand Budapest Hotel” and “Whiplash”.
A scene from Ida – Polish Foreign Movie Oscar Winner
Actor: Eddie Redmayne in “The Theory of Everything”.
Actress: Julianne Moore in “Still Alice”.
Director: “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Alejandro G. Iñárritu.
Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons in “Whiplash”.
Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette in “Boyhood”.
Adapted Screenplay: “The Imitation Game” Written by Graham Moore.
Original Screenplay: “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo.
Animated Feature: “Big Hero 6” Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli.
Documentary Feature: “CitizenFour” Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky.
Original Song: “Glory” from “Selma”. Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn.
Original Score: “The Grand Budapest Hotel” Alexandre Desplat.
There were many other winners by the wonderful people behind the scenes who make the motion picture possible, in other categories, too numerous to list. Your efforts are appreciated and held in high regard, indeed, by anybody who is a serious movie buff. The average movie watcher would not experience such a delight, if it wasn’t for the people behind the scenes.
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