Highlights from the 84th Annual Academy Awards

There may have been no huge underdog that was going to come in and make a clean sweep; and like most years, many people got a taste of who would walk away with an Oscar at this year’s award ceremony when they watched the Golden Globes. Still, from the moment Billy Crystal took the stage, to when Angelina flashed her leg for an awkward amount of time — and all the winners and dresses in between — here are the biggest highlights from the 84th Annual Academy Awards.

Best and Worst Dressed

The Help star Jessica Chastain made it to the top of many people’s Best Dressed list, wearing an Alexander McQueen black and gold, form-fitting gown. Also from The Help, and a soon-to-be Oscar winner, Octavia Spencer’s understated, yet simply perfect Todashi Shoji gown seemed made for her. Whether it was the ruching in all the right places, the cute cap sleeves, or how truly comfortable Octavia seemed in it, this was one to be talked about. Another one that couldn’t be ignored was Michelle Williams’ gorgeous Louis Vuitton gown. Truly a work of art, this dress not only popped among all the whites seen on the carpet this year, but was also sweet and demure, just like Michelle.

Many hoped that when Gwyneth Paltrow took off that all-too shouldered padded cape, there’d be something truly magnificent underneath. They were wrong. The dress was boring under the cape and you wanted her to put it back on just so there was something to talk about. Another actress that the white look did nothing for was Rooney Mara, who wore a Givenchy dress that was part mermaid, part vampire, all wrong. Meryl Streep was bold enough to go with color as well; unfortunately the dress looked like it hung off of her. Combine that with a retro metallic gold, a neckline that’s way too young for her, and droopy shoulders and it’s bad, bad, bad.

Biggest Winners

Best Supporting Actor — Christopher Plummer “Beginners”
Best Supporting Actress — Octavia Spencer “The Help”
Animated Film — “Rango”
Adapted Screenplay — “The Descendants” by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash
Original Screenplay — “Midnight in Paris” by Woody Allen
Original Song — “Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” by Bret McKenzie
Best Actor — Jean Dujardin “The Artist”
Best Actress — Meryl Streep “The Iron Lady”
Best Picture — “The Artist”

Biggest Moments

Angelina Jolie always knows how to steal the show and she waltzed down the red carpet telling media along the way that she “just wanted to feel sexy.” She just wanted to act sexy too, as she struck a sultry pose onstage when it was her time to present for Best Adapted Screenplay. Sticking her leg out — far out — and thrusting her shoulders back, no one talked about Jolie’s dress nearly as much as they talked about that odd leg pose. What might have been an even bigger and better moment came about one minute later when Jim Rash took the stage with Alexnader Payne and Nat Faxon to accept the award. While the other two began their speeches, Rash also took the same pose as Jolie, outwardly mocking her in a moment that was perfectly right.

One of the other most talked about moments happened before the show even began, when Sasha Baron Cohen ran into Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet — literally. Dressed in character as “The Dictator,” Cohen held an urn full of supposed ashes that he dumped all over Seacrest. Clearly, the radio and television host wasn’t in on the joke, as he did not looked a bit pleased as he bid Cohen a good night.

No one really brought it to the show though, quite like Billy Crystal did. Entertaining and funny throughout, and bringing along his beloved singing and dancing acts, Hollywood — and viewers — breathed a sigh of relief as soon as we knew he was coming back.

Categorized in: Theater