Happy Oscar night!
I wait all year for this. This is my Super Bowl.
As I do ever year, tonight I hosted a group of my very best girls for an Oscar viewing party. Since this is the first year I am hosting in my new house, I wanted to go all out. I spent Saturday afternoon picking up the best treats from around my neighborhood (hello, Armenian bakeries), baking cupcakes and decorating with Hollywood themed flair.
In addition to the food and decor, I also created a gold themed prize package for the person who predicted the most winners.
To really take the event to the next level, one of my friends came over early to cook risotto for all of us! She made a tomato and fontina risotto that was to die for!
The rest of the ladies arrived at 6:30pm to commence the red carpet judging.
The Red Carpet - Best Dressed
When we turned on the TV the first person to grace the carpet was nine year old Quvenzhane Wallis. I thought she looked totally age appropriate and I loved that she was carrying her signature puppy purse.
Reese Witherspoon, draped in Louis Vuitton, looked beautiful in this fitted blue gown. High five on your insanely gorgeous, post-baby body, Reese! I also loved the big, wavy hair.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt looked handsome, per usual. I loved the slicked back hair.
I am going to go ahead and say Jessica Chastain wins my vote for Best Dressed. This nude colored Armani Prive gown fit her like a glove and sparkled with every step she took. The color was a perfect fit for her red hair and matching red lipstick.
My girl Adele was back in her signature black, this time a Jenny Packham dress. I absolutely loved her hair.
Another one of my favorites, Jennifer Garner chose a plum colored Gucci with surprise ruffles down the back. I thought her charcoal colored necklace was a superb compliment to the gown.
Looking as statuesque as ever, Charlize Theron absolutely killed it an all white, peplum, Dior Couture dress. When complimented on her new, short hair cut, she proudly remarked, "I donated it!"
Charlize is simply magnificent.
The Red Carpet - Worst Dressed
I was waiting for Anne Hathaway to take the red carpet as I knew she'd be winning tonight. I was completely turned off by her Prada gown which gave her ridiculously pointy and distracting nipples. She is 100% going to regret this dress choice tomorrow.
When the E! glam cam spotted Naomi Watts, I was ecstatic because from the back, her one shoulder dress looked amazing. However, when she turned around, the front of the dress was awkwardly cut. No no no.
Amanda Seyfried told Ryan Seacrest that the team at Alexander McQueen worked with her to design this dress. While it's lovely they showered her in attention, the dress color was too muted, the neckline was ill fitting, her make up was too subtle and her hair was too messy. Epic fail.
Melissa McCarthy, bless her hilarious heart, picked the most unflattering dress imaginable (for the second year in a row) and to make matters worse, her hair looked like she'd been electrocuted.
Kerry Washington, star of ABC's "Scandal", came as part of the "Django Unchained" cast and looked starving in her Miu Miu dress. I think I could have liked this outfit if she'd had glam hair and make up, but it was all just too simple for Hollywood's most glamorous night.
Zoe Saldana, who is naturally gorgeous, overdid it in this Alexis Mabille Couture gown. Though I really loved the neckline, there was too much going on with the belt and the black and gray embellished skirt.
Now I know I am going to get a lot of flack for this, but I really didn't like Jennifer Lawrence's dress choice. The skirt was too large for the bodice and the color was underwhelming.
So many of my favorite girls missed the mark tonight!
On to the show!
I have to say, I was very curious how Seth McFarlane would open the show. Known for his crass sense of humor, I had a feeling his jokes might be rather edgy.
I was definitely right, McFarlane's opening monologue poked fun at several people in the audience and included one terrible Rihanna and Chris Brown joke.
His intro was redeemed by three musical numbers. First a song called "We saw your boobs" which included a particularly funny verse about Kate Winslet that was accompanied by some suggestive choreography. Second, Charlize Theron and Channing Tatum dancing to "The Way You Look Tonight" which was total perfection.
Lastly, Seth danced alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt to "High Hopes."
The first award, for Best Supporting Actor, went to Christoph Waltz, who beat two of my favorites, Robert DeNiro and Tommy Lee Jones. Christoph is to Quentin Tarantino as Leo DiCaprio is to Martin Scorcese.
Melissa McCarthy and Paul Rudd gave a terrible intro to the two animated categories, which went to "Paperman" and "Brave." I loved that Mark Andrews was wearing a kilt!
The award for Best Cinematography went to Claudio Miranda of "Life of Pi" who was very flustered beneath his long white hair. He stuttered, "Oh my god, I can't even speak. . . Oh boy . . . wrap up." Ha!
"Life of Pi" also won for Best Visual Effects and as the music began to cut them off, the camera cut to Nicole Kidman whispering to her husband, "Awww, poor thing."
Channing Tatum took the stage again, this time with Jennifer Aniston to present Jacqueline Durran the award for Best Costume Design in "Anna Karenina." Durran was previously nominated for "Atonement" and "Pride & Prejudice."
One of the women who won for Best Make Up was dressed in the most atrocious outfit! A black sequin top, a silver scarf, a black blazer, hot pink leggings and she had butterfly clips and chopsticks in her hair! This women won a style award! How did she get past security?
Halle Berry took the stage next to introduce the 50th anniversary celebration for James Bond, which was led by a powerful vocal from Shirley Bassey singing "Gold Finger." Can we talk about the way she kept clutching her chest? I think she must have fake boobs because if I was clutching my chest like that it would look a lot less casual.
Two of my best dressed women, Jennifer Garner and Jessica Chastain, took the stage together to present the Best Foreign Language Film to "Amour." I still really want to see that!
Then John Travolta came out and he look incredibly strange. Something was off about his forehead and his hair line. It was very upsetting. He then proceeded to mispronounce the name of every person he was introducing, he even mispronounced "Les Miserables." I want sexy Danny Zuko back!
The movie musical tribute came next which included Catherine Zeta Jones singing "All that Jazz" and Jennifer Hudson reprising "I am Telling You" which is the song that made her famous. I have to say, I liked her silver performance dress much more than her mermaid red carpet dress.
When she closed the song she received a standing ovation from the audience. Yup, she's still got it!
Next the cast of "Les Miserables" took the stage for a massive group number, including flags coming down from the ceiling. Again, Anne Hathaway's dress here on stage was better than her red carpet dress.
Mark Wahlberg then took the stage with Ted the teddy bear and presented the two sound awards. The award for Best Sound Editing was a tie. I didn't know the Academy allowed that.
Seth McFarlane then did a hilarious bit about the Von Trapp family as he introduced Christopher Plummer. I actually laughed out loud. Plummer then presented the Best Supporting Actress statue to Anne Hathaway, no surprise there. Anne gave another uninspiring, overly saccharine speech.
After the Best Film Editing award went to "Argo," Adele took the stage to perform her original song "Skyfall." Again, a third performance dress I liked better than the red carpet dress! I love this black and gold sequin number and I really love the change in her hair style!
After "Lincoln" wins for Best Production Design, Adele is back on stage to accept the award for Best Original Song. She actually got really choked up, started crying and had to step away from the mic.
Next up was the "In memory" video package which closes with a picture of composer Marvin Hamlisch. Then, much to our surprise, Barbara Streisand took the stage and sang "Memory." You can't top Babs.
Smoking Charlize Theron took the stage for a second time, this time with Dustin Hoffman, to present the two screenplay awards. The first went to Chris Terrio of "Argo" and the second went to Quentin Tarantino for "Django Unchained."
Best Director went not to Steven Spielberg, but to Ang Lee for "Life of Pi." When he reached the microphone he leaned forward and said, "Thank you movie god!" Cute.
Then, in a very tough, competitive category, 22 year old Jennifer Lawrence took home the prize for Best Actress. As much as I hate her in press interviews, she really gave a tremendous performance in that movie and deserves to be recognized.
A vision in silver, Meryl Streep floated to the front of the stage to present Daniel Day Lewis with the award for Best Actor, making him the first person to win the Lead Actor trophy three times. History in the making!
In his speech he turned to Meryl and said, "Three years ago I had actually been committed to play Margaret Thatcher and Meryl was Steven's first choice for Lincoln. Steven didn't have to persuade me to play Lincoln, but I did have to persuade him that it shouldn't be a musical." Ha!
To close the show, Hollywood mega star Jack Nicholson took the stage. His hipster glasses looked a bit too big for his face. Instead of presenting the award himself, he kicked it to First Lady Michelle Obama, who was standing by live from the White House.
How gorgeous was her silver gown? Silver was a popular color tonight.
Live from D.C. the First Lady announces "Argo" as the winner of Best Picture! Woo hoo! Go Ben! Go Boston!
Ben Affleck takes the stage with fellow producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov. Grant takes the mic and says, "I know what you're all thinking, the three sexiest producers alive." Ha!
Grant goes out of his way to acknowledge Ben as not only a producer but their incredible director. When Ben finally gets to the microphone he speaks rapid fire and says, "I want to acknowledge Steven Spielberg, who I feel is a genius . . . I want to thank my wife, who I don't normally associate with Iran . . . I never thought that I would be back here, and I am . . . You are going to get knocked down in life and all that matters is, you get back up. You have to get back up."
And that's a wrap folks!
You've heard about all of my favorite moments, what was your favorite part of Oscar night?
*Images courtesy of Just Jared.
