The Oscars: Ergo, "Argo"

English: Ben Affleck at the premiere for He's Just Not That Into You. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At the 85th Academy Awards, Ben Affleck more than made up for getting shut out of a nomination for Best Director.  The film he directed about a CIA attempt to get Americans out of 1979 Iran under the guise of a Canadian movie production, "Argo", won Best Picture.  The film itself had been gaining momentum during Hollywood's awards season pretty much as a reaction to Affleck's Oscar snub.

The Academy spread the wealth in passing out their awards, resulting in winners that were expected and not-so-expected.  Daniel Day-Lewis won Best Actor for "Lincoln".  Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress for her role in "Silver Linings Playbook".  Anne Hathaway got a Best Supporting Actress nod by singing her way through "Les Miserables".  Best Supporting Actor went to Christoph Waltz for "Django Unchained".  And Ang Lee won in the category Affleck wasn't even nominated in, for directing "Life of Pi".

Other notable awards went to Adele, who added to her warehouse full of trophies with the Best Original Song for "Skyfall", from the James Bond movie of the same name.  And Quentin Tarantino won for Best Original Screenplay for "Django Unchained".

Seth McFarlane, best known these days for voicing a foulmouthed teddy bear in "Ted", hosted the Academy Awards.  His opening skit with William Shatner reprising his Captain Kirk role certainly nailed it about his ability to host such a high-profile show--it was mediocre.  Most of his jokes fell flat, and some were patently offensive to the point where he was booed.  Still, there have been worse Oscar hosts.

A couple more Oscar moments:

• There was a salute to the 50th anniversary of the James Bond films, which resulted in Dame Shirley Bassey belting out "Goldfinger".  She's still got it.
• Barbra Striesand sang "The Way We Were" as a tribute to songwriter Marvin Hamlisch at the end of the "In Memoriam" segment.  She came on without an introduction--maybe it was in her contract, which would have made sense way back when.  But not now.
• First Lady Michelle Obama announced the winner for Best Picture, and not Jack Nicholson.  Won't this add more fuel to the fire for those who think Hollywood is in the tank for her husband, the President?