Oscars recap: “Argo” wins top prize as Daniel Day-Lewis wins a record third best actor trophy

Okay, we all knew that Argo was going to win the Oscar tonight for best picture – but we sure didn’t know that First Lady Michelle Obama was going to announce it as the winner!

THAT was cool.

Ben Affleck being ridiculously robbed of a best director nomination was the best thing that could have happened because it made the movie an underdog. And I have no problem with that because I saw a lot of movies last year – including Lincoln, Les Miserables and Silver Linings Playbook – and Argo was firmly my favorite.

Affleck was sweet in his speech as he reflected on all that had happened since his first Oscar win back in 1998 for screenwriting. He and pal Matt Damon wrote Good Will Hunting and went on to become huge movie stars.

Affleck starred in commercial hits like Pearl Harbor, Daredevil and The Sum of All Fears but then had a string of critically-panned flops like Surviving Christmas and especially Gigli.

“I was here 15 years ago. I had no idea what I was doing,” he said in his Oscar speech.”I never thought I would be back here, but I am, because of so many of you.”

He spoke of his falling down but added: “All that matters is that you gotta get up.”

It seemed fitting that Daniel Day-Lewis would be presented with a record third best actor Oscar from Meryl Streep who became a three-time winner herself last year.

When I saw him in Lincoln, I knew he’d win because he was just that good. I don’t think there’s ever been such a heavy favorite in the category before. What he accomplished was extraordinary.

‘I do know that I have received so much more than my fair share of good fortune,’ he said in his speech.

Day-Lewis, who previously won for My Left Foot and There Will Be Blood, joins Streep, Jack Nicholson, Ingrid Bergman and Walter Brennan as a three-time winner but each of the others have supporting actor wins in their total.

But I wouldn’t be surprised if either Day-Lewis or Streep were to one day match the record four Oscars won by Katherine Hepburn.

Speaking of best actress, 22-year-old Jennifer Lawrence became the second-youngest winner in Oscar history when she took home the Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook.

It was a well-deserved win against tough competition.

I don’t remember much of what she said in her speech because I was still recovering from the fact that she fell down on the steps leading up to the stage. But it was amazing at how fast and how well she recovered as the audience gave her a standing ovation.

“Thank you, you guys are just standing up because you feel bad that I fell. And that’s really embarrassing,” she said.

It was nice to see Ang Lee win his second directing Oscar. The first was in 2007 for Brokeback Mountain and tonight’s win was for Life of Pi. He benefited by Affleck’s absence in the category but there were many, including me, who thought Steven Spielberg would win for Lincoln.

Christoph Waltz won his second supporting actor Oscar over a stellar field of past Oscar winners. I thought Tommy Lee Jones would take it for Lincoln which was shut out in the major categories.

And rounding up the acting winners was the heavy favorite Anne Hathaway who has won so many awards that people were getting a little sick of her acting so astonished each time. She toned that down this time by just saying, ‘It came true.’

It was also sweet when she said: “My husband, by far and away the greatest moment of my life is the one when you walked into it. I love you so much. Here’s hoping someday in the not-too-distant future the misfortunes of Fantine will be only found in fiction and not in real life.”

It was great to see Adele become an Oscar winner when she took home the Oscar for best original song for Skyfall from the James Bond movie of the same name.

Here is a full list of the winners:

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Best Animated Short Film: Paperman

Best Animated Feature Film: Brave

Achievement in Cinematography: Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda

Achievement in Visual Effects: Life of Pi

Achievement in Costume Design: Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran

Achievement in Makeup & Hairstyling: Les Misérables

Best Live-Action Short Film: Curfew

Best Documentary Short Subject: Inocente

Best Documentary Feature: Searching for a Sugar Man

Best Foreign-Language Film: Amour (Austria)

Achievement in Sound Mixing: Les Misérables

Achievement in Sound Editing: Zero Dark Thirty & Skyfall

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

Achievement in Film Editing: Argo

Achievement in Production Direction: Lincoln

Original Score: Life of Pi, Mychael Danna

Original Song: “Skyfall,” Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth; Skyfall

Adapted Screenplay: Argo, Chris Terrio

Original Screenplay: Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino

Achievement in Directing: Ang Lee, Life of Pi

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Motion Picture: Argo