Oscars Recap: Biggest Night of the Year for Movie Fanatics

With 2013’s full house of extraordinary films, the 86th Academy Awards were nothing short of brilliant.

Ellen DeGeneres hosted this year’s Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and did a fantastic job, bringing big laughs to the show by knocking out jokes, handing out pizza to the actors and, of course, taking selfies with them. The Oscars also did a tribute to the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz. Pink sang Over the Rainbow and her sensational performance blew audiences away. Bette Midler also sang a memorial song for all of the people in Hollywood who have passed away in the past year, like James Gandolfini, Harold Ramis, Shirley Temple Black and Philip Seymour Hoffman. 

Gravity won the most awards of the night, taking home seven Oscars, including Best Director. 12 Years a Slave won three (including Best Picture), Dallas Buyers Club won three (including Best Actor and Supporting Actor), Frozen won two, The Great Gatsby won two, Blue Jasmine won one, Her won one and The Great Beauty won one. Now, where there are winners at the Oscars, sadly, there must also be losers: American Hustle (nominated for 10 Oscars), Captain Phillips (nominated six), Nebraska (nominated six), The Wolf of Wall Street (nominated five) and Philomena (nominated four) did not take home a single Oscar. 

While Gravity took home the most awards, the big winner of the night was 12 Years a Slave, taking home Best Picture. 12 Years a Slave is a true story based on Solomon Northup’s personal experience as a slave. At first, Northup is a free man but ends up being tricked and sold into slavery. Here we take the journey with Northup through all of his pain, suffering, hope and faith. If you have not seen this film I recommend that you see it at once. “Everyone deserves not just to survive, but to live,” said director Steve McQueen, who dedicated his film to the people who were or still are in the bondage of slavery. Win or lose, all of the films nominated for an Oscar this year were great productions that have and will impact the way we look at cinema from now on.
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Here is the list of all the Oscar winners:

Best Motion Picture of the Year

Winner: 12 Years a Slave (2013)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Winner: Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Winner: Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine (2013)

Best Achievement in Directing

Winner: Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity (2013)

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Winner: Her (2013) – Spike Jonze

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

Winner: 12 Years a Slave (2013) – John Ridley

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Winner: Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Winner: Lupita Nyong’o for 12 Years a Slave (2013)

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

Winner: Frozen (2013)

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Winner: The Great Beauty (2013) – Paolo Sorrentino (Italy)

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

Winner: Gravity (2013) – Steven Price

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

Winner: Frozen (2013) – Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez (“Let It Go”)

Best Achievement in Cinematography

Winner: Gravity (2013) – Emmanuel Lubezki

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

Winner: Gravity (2013) – Timothy Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, Neil Corbould

Best Achievement in Production Design

Winner: The Great Gatsby (2013) – Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

Winner: Dallas Buyers Club (2013) – Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews

Best Achievement in Costume Design

Winner: The Great Gatsby (2013) – Catherine Martin

Best Achievement in Editing

Winner: Gravity (2013) – Alfonso Cuaron, Mark Sanger

Best Achievement in Sound Editing

Winner: Gravity (2013) – Glenn Freemantle

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing

Winner: Gravity (2013) – Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro

Best Short Film, Live Action

Winner: Helium (2014) – Anders Walter

Best Short Film, Animated

Winner: Mr Hublot (2013) – Laurent Witz, Alexandre Espigares

Best Documentary, Short Subject

Winner: The Lady In Number 6 (2013) – Malcolm Clarke, Carl Freed

Best Documentary, Feature

Winner: Twenty Feet from Stardom (2013) – Morgan Neville