Round-Up: The Academy Awards 2013!

The long and winding road to cinematic awards glory finally came to a glitzy and classy close, as the 85th Aacdemy Awards took place at the impressive Dolby Theatre in the heart of Hollywood. Befitting of its celebration of classic music within film, the ceremony’s leftfield choice of host in the form of Family Guy creator Seth Mcfarlane got in on the act. Quirky dance numbers involving Joseph Gordon Levitt and Daniel Radcliffe. An instant classic in the form of ‘We Saw Your Boobs’ inspired predominantly by Kate Winslet’s seemingly endless ‘exposure’ of such assets. However, it wouldn’t be Mcfarlane without some barbed wired jokes. Rihanna and Chris Brown classifying Django Unchained as an ideal ‘date movie’ and his quest to make Tommy Lee Jones laugh proved fruitful.

Sticking with its showstopping theme, we were treated to impressive tributes to the likes of James Bond as the British institution celebrates 50 years upon the big screen, as Dame Shirley Bassey gave old school fans a treat with Goldfinger whilst Adele brought us bang up to date with an exclusive performance of Skyfall. Catherine Zeta Jones and Jennifer Hudson immersed themselves in their Dreamgirl/Chicago personas with ‘All That Jazz’ and ‘And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going’ and the Jaws theme regularly lived up to its terrifying billing as it drove off winners with ‘indulgent’ speeches. Stay classy, Academy!

Shifting our focus to the prestigious golden statuettes, this year’s ceremony had the dubious honour of a tie for the first time since 1968. In a show where predictability predominantly reigned supreme peppered with the occasional shock, no film nominated truly dominated the field. Life Of Pi narrowly was the big winner on the night with an impressive four awards, with its esteemed director Ang Lee taking Best Director in a category that bemused many on its initial reveal.

Here is the list of winners in its entirety:

BEST PICTURE: Argo

BEST DIRECTOR: Ang Lee (Life Of Pi)

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE: Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE: Daniel Day Lewis (Lincoln)

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: Brave (Mark Andrews/Brenda Chapman)

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM: Paperman (John Kahrs)

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: Curfew (Shawn Christensen)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Amour (Michael Haneke)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Argo (Chris Terrio)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Life Of Pi (Claudio Miranda)

VISUAL EFFECTS: Life Of Pi (Bill Westenhofer/Guillaume Rocheron/Erik-Jan De Boer/Donald R. Elliott)

ORIGINAL SONG: Skyfall (Adele)

ORIGINAL SCORE: Life Of Pi (Mychael Danna)

DOCUMENTARY FILM: Searching For Sugar Man (Malik Bendjelloul/Simon Chinn)

DOCUMENTARY SHORT: Inocente (Sean Fine/Andrea Nix Fine)

FILM EDITING: Argo (William Goldenberg)

SOUND EDITING: Zero Dark Thirty (Paul N.J. Ottosson) AND Skyfall (Per Hallberg/Karen Baker Landers)

SOUND MIXING: Les Miserables (Andy Nelson/Mark Paterson/Simon Hayes)

PRODUCTION DESIGN: Lincoln (Rick Carter/Jim Erickson)

COSTUME DESIGN: Anna Karenina (Jacqueline Durran)

MAKE UP AND STYLING: Les Miserables (Lisa Westcott/Julie Dartnell)