We expect the Academy Awards ceremony to feature a string of jokes, and "The 87th Annual Academy Awards" were no different. But the most important productions to get awarded at any ceremony are the documentaries. Laura Poitras's "Citizenfour" was the winner this year, and so Poitras - accompanied by Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden's girlfriend Lindsay Mills - warned everyone about the dangers of an out of control surveillance state. I wasn't sure if Neil Patrick Harris said "Edward Snowden couldn't be here for some treason" as a joke or was actually implying that it was treason.
Other people who said what needed to get said were Patricia Arquette (who noted the wage gap), John Legend (who noted that the US leads the world in incarceration), Graham Moore (who noted the large number of suicide attempts among gay teens) and Alejandro González Iñárritu (who reminded everyone that the US is a nation of immigrants, and proclaimed that Mexico deserves a better government than it has).
As for the wins. Out of all the nominees in all categories, I've seen only "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (which deserved its wins), "Citizenfour" (which deserved its win), "Into the Woods", "Boyhood" (which deserved its win) and "Gone Girl". I hope to see the rest of the nominees, although I've heard bad things about "American Sniper".
Overall, I enjoyed the ceremony. Julianne Moore has deserved an Oscar for a long time. Idina Menzel needs to REALLY stick it to John Travolta next time.
