Cinephiles Rejoice, The Oscars are Here

There is a magical day near the beginning of February when all of America comes together to sit in front of the TV and eat chicken wings and bean dip until their guts burst. It is a day for greasy fingers, team sweatshirts, and high adrenaline. Most families gear up for this; they throw parties, check stats, and dedicate a Pinterest board to cakes shaped like footballs. But for some reason this was never a “thing” in my family. While the rest of the country hummed to the tune of (hopefully) witty commercials we largely took this as a day to run numbers, read reviews, watch the main completion, and prepare for our main event: The Academy Awards.

Ah, the Academy Awards. The event that fuels the two dreary months after Christmas. It is just an awards show, of course. It is flawed and any real critic will roll their eyes at you if your only citation as to why a film is great is “it won an Oscar.” But behind all the bureaucracy, the politics, and the movie money machine, the Oscars remain the only place where real Hollywood glamour still exists.

The Academy Awards made their debut in 1929 at a closed, invitation-only event costing those present $5 a head. Their intention was simple: to recognize and award those in the film industry who were exceptional at their craft. It began with directors, writers, producers, and the cast and as its popularity grew so did the award list. By the time it was aired on television in 1953 the Academy Awards had achieved the pinnacle status for any person in the American film industry to achieve. To win an Academy Award was beyond words. As Audrey Hepburn stated in her win for Roman Holiday that first televised year, “I am just so… terribly happy.”

Now, at the 86th Academy Awards, despite cynicism and an over-abundance of hipster film buffs, the Oscars are still the crowning night for American film. There will be no half naked Miley Cyrus, there will be no Madonna in white spandex (there will be a fabulous Ellen DeGeneres with all her wit and blue eyes rockin’ the MC however). No, instead there will tuxes and gowns as far as the eye can see. And America will get to wallow in some beautiful people that are honestly really just damn good at what they do.

This year the star of Hollywood is undeniably Cate Blanchet and heavens is it her time for a leading lady Oscar. The Australian actress was robbed in 1998 by Gwyneth Paltrow, and although she has one truly earned Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for playing the legend Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator, she should rightly have a few more alongside it (she played BOB DYLAN in I’m Not There for pete’s sake!). Her (fingers crossed!) award this year would be for her lead in Woody Allen’s somewhat mediocre film Blue Jasmine for her stunning performance of a woman on the edge of a post-marital mental breakdown.

The 86th Academy Awards,  hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, will air on Sunday March 2nd, live on ABC.