A Recap of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards

In all it was a fairly uneventful Academy Awards this year. Uneventful in so much as everything seemed to go to script. The big six awards all went to the favourites. In fact, there weren't really any major upsets. I managed to correctly tip 14 out of the 24 awards presented, again I was let down by my lack of knowledge about short animated films, short live action films, short documentaries, foreign films and a few of the technical categories. That being said, while it was uneventful in terms of upsets, the show still had it's moments. First Oscars after long waits for Bridges, Bullock and Bigelow, debut Oscars for Mo'Nique and Waltz, the David and Goliath story of The Hurt Locker, a nice tribute to John Hughes (Even if some of the 80s icons they pulled out looked a bit worse for wear. Judd Nelson, sheesh!) and even a tribute to horror films, though I thought they took some license with the films they included in their horror montage (Edward Scissorhands, Twilight).

I was a bit disappointed in Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. I was quite excited when they were announced as hosts, and they were quite funny, but they just didn't do much. They slung the opening musical number to Niel Patrick Harris for some reason, came on and did 5mins of one liners about each of the nominated films and actors and then for the rest of the evening their involvement was no more significant than any of the presenters.

On the subject of presenters, what was going on with the calibre of people they are getting up on stage at this years ceremony? Miley Cyrus, Taylor Lautner, Ryan Reynolds, Jennifer Lopez, Jason Bateman? What are these people doing on stage at the Academy Awards? It wasn't until the last few awards of the evening that we got a bit of class with the last four presenters being Kate Winslett, Sean Penn, Barbara Streisand and Tom Hanks. Though I must say, Tom Hanks doesn't appear to be one for suspense. I know they were running a bit over time but he didn't read the nominees or anything, just got up there and while opening the envelope said, "Now it's time to see who won Best Picture. It's The Hurt Locker." Not even a dramatic pause.

To recap the award winners:

Best Picture

The Hurt Locker

Kathryn Bigelow's intense war drama about an elite bomb disposal unit was the big winner of the night, taking out six awards to Avatar's three. This was pegged as David vs Goliath, and fair enough too. On the one hand you have the highest grossing film ever made, Avatar, and on the other hand you have the small budget drama, The Hurt Locker, which after it's win now holds the ignominy of being the lowest grossing Best Picture winner in history. I dare say though, that interest in this film will peak a little after its win and its box office numbers will start to rise. I think the right decision was made here. As visually amazing as Avatar was, it's visuals glossed over areas where the film was definitely lacking (story, dialogue, some performances). The Hurt Locker, on the other hand, was beautifully written, shot and performed, an all round brilliant picture.

Best Director

Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)

Kathryn Bigelow made history, becoming the first woman to ever win the Best Director Oscar, much to the excitement of Barbara Streisand who presented the award. I do feel, however, that the decision by the orchestra to play Helen Reddy's I Am Woman as Bigelow left the stage wasn't the classiest way to mark the historical significance of the moment.

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)

This was one of those wins, much like Martin Scorsese's for The Departed, which seemed to be as much about recognising his entire career as it was about this one single performance. It was Bridges' fifth Oscar nomination, with his first coming way back in 1972 for The Last Picture Show. That being said, Bridges' performance as Bad Blake in Crazy Heart is being talked about as the performance of his career. I found it funny though, that despite being a pretty red-hot favourite, he didn't appear to have put any thought into what he was going to say if he won. He had a good old ramble when he got up there, and they gave him a surprising amount of time given how early the band was struck up for earlier acceptance speeches.

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)

Sandra Bullock had a historical moment of her own, becoming the first person to win the Razzie for Worst Actress for her role in All About Steve and the Oscar for Best Actress for The Blind Side in the same year. In fact, she won them on consecutive days. I was pleased to see Bullock pip Streep for this gong. Merryl Streep is a living legend, but Julie & Julia wasn't the best work she's ever done. The Blind Side, however, was the performance of Bullock's career and it was good to see the Academy reward her for it. She also made one of the better acceptance speeches of the evening, though I did have her tipped as a crier as soon as started making her way to the stage. At least it wasn't Halle Berry style wailing.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)

The first award of the night went to the first of the big favourites and kind of set the tone for what was to come. Waltz burst onto our radars as "The Jew Hunter" Col. Hans Landa in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, but if you look him up on IMDb, you'll see he's been around the European cinema for a while (Inglourious Basterds was his 90th screen credit). So he's another one of those 'overnight' sensations that is anything but overnight. In his speech he thanked his agent and Tarantino for helping him make the transition into Hollywood, and with this award and his next film being the comic book adaptation The Green Hornet he looks to be well and truly established.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Mo'Nique (Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire)

"Academy Award winning actress Mo'Nique" is not a phrase I ever thought would be spoken. As much as it was a shock for Sandra Bullock to win an Oscar, this is the real out of nowhere winner. I am yet to see Precious, but by all reports she is astounding, and was one of the shorter priced favourites of the evening. She made some comment in her speech thanking the Academy for realising that it should be about the role rather than about the politics, which I didn't quite understand given I'd have thought in this instance the politics were on her side. She also thanked her husband for showing her that sometimes you have to do what is right rather than what it popular. I'm hoping she wasn't suggesting her previous comedic roles were popular.

Best Animated Feature

Up

No surprises here. In fact this was up there for biggest lock of the night with Avatar for Best Visual Effects. There were some other very good films in the Best Animated Feature catagory, in particular Fantastic Mr. Fox and Coraline, but Up was just a cut above. It was simply one of the best films made last year.

The Other Winners:

Best Original Screenplay: Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire)
Best Cinematography: Mauro Fiore (Avatar)
Best Editing: Bob Murawski, Chris Innes (The Hurt Locker)
Best Art Direction: Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, Kim Sinclair (Avatar)
Best Costume Design: Sandy Powell (The Young Victoria)
Best Makeup: Barney Burman, Mindy Hall, Joel Harlow (Star Trek)
Best Sound Mixing: Paul N.J. Ottosson, Ray Beckett (The Hurt Locker)
Best Sound Editing: Paul N.J. Ottosson (The Hurt Locker)
Best Visual Effects: Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andy Jones (Avatar)
Best Original Score: Michael Giacchino (Up)
Best Original Song: T-Bone Burnett, Ryan Bingham ("The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart)
Best Foreign Language Film: El secreto de sus ojos
Best Documentary (Feature): The Cove
Best Documentary (Short): Music by Prudence
Best Short Film (Live Action): The New Tenants
Best Short Film (Animated): Logorama