Team Experience: Oscar's Best & Worst Moments
Monday, February 23, 2015 at 10:02PM 
Neil Patrick Harris' big musical opening had fun shadow effectsAre most of you over your Oscar party hangovers now?
I polled Team Experience (and myself) on their very favorite moment and their "Agony!" bit alike from last night's show of shows and here's what they had to say about the 87th Academy Awards. Please do share your single Best & Worst moment in the comments, too as we work our way through putting this film year behind us.
BEST MOMENTS
Timothy: Pawel Pawlikowski muscling right on through the play-off music in order to pay due tribute to his late wife.
Julien: That opening song was really some... Oh who am I kidding ? Watching Julianne finally clutch that Oscar was a dream I thought would never come true.
Nathaniel: Once you get past Julianne I'd go with 1) Emma Stone reaction shots 2) "Glory" 3) Jessica Chastain saying "Chivooooo" 4) the insanity of "Everything is Awesome" - particularly the fake Oscars and the Batman interruption 5) Patricia Arquette's infectious righteousness (sub-shoutout to Meryl & JLo). I understand that people are up in arms the day after but that's called 'missing the point because people love to be outraged' which is an epidemic online that distracts the world from progressive goals like eradicating inequality and sexism. 6) "because you're rich"
More heartfelt applause (and then some jeers) after the jump...
Anne Marie: We lost so many vital, incredible artists this year. A painful, reflective hush fell over the party I attended during the In Memoriam section. It may not have been the "best" moment, but watching images of Williams, Bacall, Nichols, & others was the most poignant moment of the Oscars for me this year.
Adam: Any cynicism people vaulted towards The Imitation Game winning Adapted Screenplay (admittedly, I was one such person) was quickly, and deservedly, wiped away once Graham Moore, aka Jonathan Groff, delivered his powerful and inspiring speech on life truly getting better. Also, Big Hero 6 winning Animated Feature. #Baymax4Life
But mostly the Team loved "Glory"...
Andrew: That emotional performance of "Glory" that made grown men weep openly. (It's okay, Chris Pine and David Oyelowo, just let it all out...)
Margaret: The one-two punch of the Glory performance and the Glory win. The Edmud Pettus Bridge set they built, and that glorious (on the nose I know but there's no better word for it!) choir took things from potent to devastating. David Oyelowo wasn't the only one in tears at that point in the telecast.
Deborah: The extraordinary performance of Glory, followed by the killer acceptance speeches of Common and John Legend. Selma is now. Yes, I just strung two moments into one. SELMA IS NOW!
Manuel: Common & John Legend performing Glory was transcendent; it was also the only moment in the entire telecast where everyone at my party was hushed by the proceedings.
AGONY!
Timothy: Every time NPH went back to that stupid lock-box, but especially the time where Robert Duvall was just like "nope, I can't hear you, la la la".
Manuel: That final bit felt like excruciating torture (and not just because it was a blander version of NPH's recap hijinks at the Tonys). His opening number was fun (if a bit too reverent) and his tighty whities skit was a welcome moment of gay male objectification, but he soon wore off his welcome, punning his way into every other segment ("for some treason"?) needlessly extending the show's running time.
Andrew: Surprisingly, host NPH who was painfully unfunny and kinda smug the whole night or maybe I've just reached my tolerance for him. Emmys, Tonys, Oscars- is he going for an EGOT of hosting?
Nathaniel: I'm going to chalk NPH's disastrous performance up to overconfidence because he's been such a fine host elsewhere. But the only way that lock-box thing could have been funny is if he predicted his terrible reviews today. And, as ever, I don't understand why we can't get the Honorary people on stage at the big event. I mean if you dump that lock-box segment you totally have time for Maureen O'Hara.
Anne Marie: Michael Keaton was robbed by Eddie Redmaybe and you cannot convince me otherwise.
Deborah: Agony! Well, not really. Annoyance? Let's go with that. I'm going with Joan Rivers' ommission from the In Memorium Tribute. Disgraceful.
Margaret: Sean Penn. What a gross, ugly thing to insert into the biggest moment of the night. Really soured things for me. (To those insisting he was joking: so?)
Amir: Neil Patrick Harris's flat, drab and overly punny ('With her spoon'? Really?) hosting job seemed to remain the most irritating aspect of the show until Sean Penn casually put down his friend for being Mexican. It was indecorous, and funnily enough, Innaritu retorted by asking for dignity and respect for his fellow countrymen.
Adam: American Sniper won as many Oscars as Boyhood, Selma, and Interstellar. With that said, it was only 1 award, so things could certainly have been worse.
Julien: All of Wes Anderson's brilliant collaborators (deservedly) picking up the gold, while the genius himself stood out in the cold.
YOUR TURN, READERS Final "best" and "worsts" from you. And we'll do fashion tomorrow and maybe something else and be done.
Reader Comments (61)
BEST:
Julie Andrews and Lady Gaga
Crowd reactions to Julie's appearance and Glory performance
Jessica Chastain's "Chivo" cry
All reactions by Wes Anderson to GBH wins
Opening Number
Jennifer Hudson's performance
Milena Canonero
ALL the Best Song nominees being performed
Birdman winning Best Picture
WORST
NPH--what happened?
Keaton losing
John Travolta being creepy yet again
Sean Penn's comment and all-around surliness
NO Doctor Zhivago tribute
Have to say, I thought this Oscars was pretty good compared to other recents. Lots of good speeches, winners and music. The big problem was the host. Ugh.
Best:
- Julianne finally winning, of course. The only thing that truly mattered.
- Desplat finally winning, and for a great score, not something conventional like The Imitation Game.
- Pawlikowski refusing to be played off.
Mixed emotions: I like both Birdman and Boyhood very much and either was going to be an unusual and above-average Best Picture winner, but it was sad to see Inarritu winning three and Linklater nothing.
Worst:
- Terrence Howard. Incredibly excruciating.
- Having someone sing after the In Memoriam montage is tasteless and makes it all about the performer instead. At least Jennifer Hudson didn't seem smug about it, unlike Bette Midler last year.
- The lockbox skit was tiresome from the start, and yet it went on and on and on. Poor Octavia.
Best: Meryl's reaction to Patricia's speech.
Worst: The whole Glory affair. I really can't believe people (watchers) actually bought that fake over the top emotionalism. Barf.
Graham Moore's speech should be applauded, I don't care what his orientation is, it's a powerful message. I also am very uncomfortable with the discussion surrounding the 'gayness' of Imitation Game. The filmmakers were not hiding Alan Turing's sexuality, they just chose to tell the story in a certain way. It didn't lessen the impact of the film for me.
Why do people feel entitled to be offended in someone else's place?
It was absolutely OBVIOUS Penn was just joking. It's not about people knowing they're friends, it's about being able to perceive the context, the tone, the expression.
Jesus, this self-entitlement of Professional Offended Internet Activists is insane.
Best: Julianne winning. The speeches. Glory and Everything is awesome performances.
Worst: Everthing else. I guess this is the second worst Oscar show I've ever seen, just behind Anne trying too hard and James trying too little.
Ps: Penn was joking, but it still was rude and offensive.
I don't think we're going to see anytime soon a moment like Julie Andrews showing up on the stage after somebody ( anybody ) just sang 'The Hills Are Alive" . Maybe if they do a "Gone With The Wind" anniversary and Olivia de Havilland shows up at the end. Whatever else happened during the show doesn't matter. That os the ultimate Oscar moment.
Can somebody please tell me why Kerry Washington, Zoe Saldana and JLo are on every freaking awards show?
Best:
1) Julianne finally won! & for a great performance no less! (I hate it when sum pple said it was a Lifetime Achievement Award... Its not a make-up Oscar! She totally deserves it! :)
2) Who knows Gaga can pull off such a marvellous tribute to Julie/Sound o Music?? & the appearance o Julie at the end: PRICELESS!
3) Meryl's heartfelt In Memorium intro & her applaudin o Arquette's call for gender equality
4) Graham Morton's speech
5) Pawlikowski's outwitting the ochestra
Not-so-good:
1) Lockbox
2) J Hudson's singin after In Memorium (its really unneccessary)
3) NPH's unfunny sniper joke at Oprah (Wat's thr really abt???)
4) In Memorium snub of Lizabeth Scott & Joan Rivers
Worst:
1) No win for Linklater or Anderson when they were each up for 3 awards, Inarritu took them all!
2) only 1 win for Boyhood (going in as a front-runner for BP & BD...Its sad tt its momentum peaked juz b4 the Oscar)
Overall. IMO, all the awards were fairly distributed except:
1) Anderson shld've won Best Original Screenplay (He did win WGA & BAFTA for that)
2) Boyhood shld've won Best Editing (Imagine editing 12 years o random footages into one BP of the yr)
I guess I'm the only one who didn't like Chiiiivo. I really like Jessica Chastain, and I'm sure it was just spontaneous, but when you're announcing a winner I think you should just play it straight, even if the winner is someone you know and like.
I have no idea why everyone loved the "Everything Is Awesome" performance and the Lady Gaga performance. I thought they were both pretty mediocre. And honestly, I never mind hearing Jennifer Hudson sing, but not that terrible song, whose lyrics had nothing at all to do with what was happening, just a vague "people who are gone" theme. Best of the night? Anything and everything to do with Common. And I don't even really like rap. But he was amazing in his performance, in his speech, and in his extreme attractiveness! More Common! Less Oprah!