The 87th Academy Awards offered a de-robed Neil Patrick Harris, a trove of inspired acceptance speeches and many an award for “Birdman” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”

There were few upsets in the most anticipated awards of the evening. “Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” captured Best Picture. In his acceptance speech, director Alejandro González Iñárritu dedicated his award to his home country of Mexico and gave actor Michael Keaton a much deserved shout-out for his role as the protagonist.

Best Cinematography went to Emmanuel Lubezki for “Birdman,” who took home the same title last year for “Gravity.” Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo collaborated on winning Original Screenplay for the film.

Not surprisingly, “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” directed by Wes Anderson, won big in visual artistic categories, with victories in Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Production Design. Composer Alexandre Desplat also won Best Original Score for the film, in an upset over Hans Zimmer, who was nominated for “Interstellar.”

Best Actor in a Leading a Role, a tight race between frontrunners Benedict Cumberbatch for “The Imitation Game” and Keaton for “Birdman,” went to a very excited Eddie Redmayne for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything.” Julianne Moore received the award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance as an Alzheimer’s patient in “Still Alice.” She used her acceptance speech to advocate for finding a cure for the disease, which drew praise from the audience.

J.K. Simmons took home one of the night’s first awards, Best Supporting Actor, for “Whiplash.”

“If you’re lucky enough to have a parent on this planet, call them,” Simmons implored viewers.

“Whiplash,” a Best Picture nominee, also won Best Sound Mixing.

“Boyhood,” directed by Richard Linklater and filmed over a period of 12 years, lost Best Director to Iñárritu for “Birdman.” “Boyhood” also lost in Film Editing to “Whiplash.”

Surprisingly, “Boyhood’s” only victory of the night was Patricia Arquette, who took home Best Supporting Actress for her role as the single mother of two children in “Boyhood.” Arquette used her speech as a platform to push for wage equality and equal rights for women and received a very enthusiastic response from J.Lo and Meryl Streep from the front row.

Best Adapted Screenplay went to Graham Moore for “The Imitation Game.” Moore accepted his statue from Oprah and received a standing ovation for his poignant speech, in which he recalled being suicidal as a teen for feeling like he didn’t fit in. But after finding his place in film, he told young viewers to “stay weird, stay different.”

“Selma” managed to win one of its whopping two nominations. After a performance of “Glory,” the film’s theme, from John Legend and Common that had Oscar-goers in tears and sparked a standing ovation, the song won Best Original Song.

Although “The Lego Movie” was snubbed in a nomination for Best Animated Feature, artists Tegan and Sara and The Lonely Island performed a lively rendition of “Everything is Awesome” from the film.

Rita Ora and Jennifer Hudson also performed, and Lady Gaga surprised audiences with a beautifully executed, elegant medley of songs from “The Sound of Music.” She was surprised on stage by Julie Andrews herself and reacted as any sensible person would: equal parts shock, awe and reverence.

Polish film “Ida” won Best Foreign Language Film, and the entire world watched as director Pawel Pawlikowski shouted down the music in his acceptance speech. (“Ida” is available on Netflix).

Best Live Action Short Film went to “The Phone Call,” and the Best Documentary Short Subject was “Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press.” Filmmaker Dana Perry used her speech to advocate for abolishing the stigma that surrounds mental illness, dedicating her award to her son, Evan, who died of suicide at the age of 15 in 2005.

“We need to talk about suicide out loud to try to work against the stigma and silence around suicide, because the best prevention for suicide is awareness and discussion and not trying (to) sweep it under the rug,” she said.

“Citizenfour,” which chronicled Edward Snowden’s series of leaked information, won Best Documentary Feature. Journalist Laura Poitras directed the film, and Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky produced it.

“American Sniper,” with nominations in Best Actor for Bradley Cooper and Best Picture, took home a single award for Sound Editing. “Foxcatcher” had several nominations but no wins. “Insterstellar” won Best Visual Effects for its intense spacescapes.

“Feast” took Best Animated Short Film, and Disney’s “Big Hero 6” won Best Animated Feature, but not before host NPH could make a joke about “The Lego Movie” not even being nominated.

All said and done, the 87th Annual Academy Awards delivered a fair amount of well-dressed and well-deserved artists celebrating their craft.

(But we’re still bitter about “Boyhood.”)