An Oscar With Everything On It

Best Actress Academy Awards (Photo credit: cliff1066™)

After sitting through three hours of the 86th Academy Awards, you'd be forgiven for thinking that (A) it was a pretty dull show, enlivened only by host Ellen DeGeneres hobnobbing with the stars and even ordering pizza for them, or (B) "Gravity" is having a big night, based on all the craft awards they've won.  But then the final half hour came, and everyone who was predicted to take home the golden statue, did.  Unless your name was Jennifer Lawrence.  The only upset among the major nominees came when Lupita Nyong'o, not Lawrence, won for best supporting actress for her work in "12 Years a Slave".

Otherwise, it went like this:  Jared Leto for Best Supporting Actor in "Dallas Buyers Club", Cate Blanchett for Best Actress in "Blue Jasmine", Matthew McConaughey for Best Actor in "DBC", and Alfonso Cuaron for Best Director in "Gravity".  "American Hustle" got nada.

"Twelve Years a Slave", this century's version of "Roots", won best picture.  This, too, was fairly predictable given the fact that the movie's subject was slavery in the 19th century, and that the reason the film won can be summed up in two words:  white guilt.  It also continues Oscar's longstanding tradition of awarding films with a message, even if few care to hear what that message is amid the blockbusters and sequels.

"Twelve Years a Slave", or even "Dallas Buyers Club", may not be the type of films that goes down well with sausage and pepperoni.  But everything else on the Oscar telecast may have made viewers wish they had ordered pizza too.  It would have made the time pass much quicker.