FOXThe Screen Actors Guild Awards are like the Gettysburg Address of award shows—they're a show of the actors, by the actors, for the actors.
So unless Jennifer Lawrence's dress looks like it's ripping, that often doesn't make for the most scintillating of entertainments for the non-voters watching at home.
But there were a handful of moments surrounding the 21st Annual SAG Awards last night that got our engines revved, for varying reasons. Here's what stood out among yet more wins for Downton Abbey and Julianne Moore:
1. Birdman Out-Soars Boyhood: We have ourselves a real, honest-to-good Best Picture Oscar race now. Boyhood won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture, Drama, often a clue of things to come on Oscar night; but combined with Saturday's big win at the Producers Guild of America Awards, Birdman's upset win for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Motion Picture at the SAGs gives the Alejandro González Iñárritu film all the momentum heading into the Academy Awards on Feb. 22. Minus, of course, the outcome of the DGA Awards on Feb. 7, though last year's winner (Alfonso Cuarón) didn't direct the ultimate Best Picture Oscar winner (12 Years a Slave). Hey, with Patricia Arquette, J.K. Simmons and Julianne Moore pretty much all locks, we'll take the suspense where we can get it.
2. Emma Stone's Face Says It All: If Naomi Watts hadn't almost face-planted by tripping over Emma's skirt during the Birdman cast's group acceptance speech, the show would not have ended on such a literal high note.
3. An Even More Modern Family: The Modern Family reign is over. First-time ensemble nominee Orange Is the New Black toppled the previously unbeatable ABC sitcom in the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a TV Comedy, ending the Fam's four-year winning streak. Uzo Aduba added to the evening's Netflix tallyy (House of Cards star Kevin Spacey was also a winner, but surprisingly was not there to chew his share of the scenery), topping the likes of Edie Falco and Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series, er, Actor. The statues are called Actors, remember?
4. Postcard From the Edge: Oh, these two. Even for those too young to really know about the history of animosity, rivalry, begrudging admiration and presumably fiercely protective love between Debbie Reynolds and daughter Carrie Fisher, the history of...something...was palpable. "Actually, she has been more than a mother to me," Fisher started the roast, er, tribute. "Not much, but definitely more." And the 82-year-old Reynolds zinged right back. Referencing the "big ugly bun" she wore in Singin' in the Rain, she recalled an anecdote in which she told her daughter, who had just been cast in Star Wars at the time, to "'be careful of any weird hairdos.' So luckily George [Lucas] gave her two buns."
5. She Said Shoes!: Sorry, other outlets who immediately speculated that Keira Knightley let slip the sex of her unborn child by telling E!'s Maria Menounos on Live From the Red Carpet that "she's sitting high." As in the stereotype that female babies ride higher on a woman's body while in the womb. Alas, that's not what Keira said. What the expectant Imitation Game star actually told Maria was "The shoes are quite high, they might come off later," in reference to her footwear.