Oscars offers little surprises, showcases strong performances

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Stars hit the stage on Sunday as the 85th annual Academy Awards and gave audiences best musical moments while offering no surprise winners of the night.

Seth MacFarlane hosted this year’s Oscars and gave a performance that was a huge improvement over last year’s dismal job by James Franco and Anne Hathaway. MacFarlane was bold in his jokes, poking fun at Christ Brown and Rihanna, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and he sang a full musical number about boobs, among other acts. Although his humor was raunchy and offensive at times, that’s what is expected of MacFarlane in his performances (recall "Ted" and "Family Guy") .

Several movie musical stars took the stage to pay tribute to their genre with performances from "Chicago," "Dreamgirls" and "Les Miserables". Catherine Zeta Jones and Jennifer Hudson made show-stopping performances that solidified them as top musical moments.

Adele added another trophy to her shelf as she took home the Oscar for Best Original Song in "Skyfall". Her performance was classic Adele: chilling, jazzy and smooth. Add in a full choir and large projections and audiences witnessed Oscar perfection.

However all the musical moments of the show made the Oscars appear more like the Tonys rather than an award show for film.

There were no major surprises in who took home top honors this year. Most of the favorites such as Christoph Waltz, Anne Hathaway and Daniel Day-Lewis won trophies for their on-screen performances.

However, there were a few unexpected moments that were memorable, and some that everyone should forget.

Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress in a Leading Role for her role in "Silver Linings Playbook" and nearly killed herself as she toppled on stage to accept her award. Despite her momentum this award season, Lawrence’s win over Jessica Chastain in "Zero Dark Thirty" was a bit of a shock.

Kristen Stewart made another awkward appearance yet again as she limped on stage to present an award, which left many questioning why she was in a room with such high-caliber actors in the first place.

Michelle Obama appeared on screen to help present the award for Best Picture. Although she looked absolutely stunning, her speech was random and interrupted the flow of the show. She did not add anything special to the presentation other than her name.

The underdog for Best Picture, "Life of Pi" won several awards for technical aspects of filmmaking such visual effects, cinematography and directing while "Argo" took the coveted "Best Picture", a nice consolation after being snubbed for directing.