Just a quick post about my thoughts on the winners of the 82nd Academy Awards yesterday;
Best Picture - The Hurt Locker
Not having seen the film it is hard to comment, but I will say it was far more deserving than Avatar. Many seemed to think that Avatar was deserving of a clean sweep of the Awards but I disagree - the film was groundbreaking, yes. But in terms of story it was not like it was something unlike many we have seen before (hate to say it), thus when compared to those like The Hurt Locker (based off what I know of the story) it did not carry the comparison well enough to win.
Best Director - Kathryn Bigelow
Once again, not having seen the film it is hard to comment but I feel as though it was really only between James Cameron and Bigelow - I don't think the others had too much of a chance. Cameron himself said that his ideal outcome for the nomination would be for Bigelow to take it home - he already has one; share the wealth.
Best Actor - Jeff Bridges
One nomination and win that I was very pleased to see. Bridges is a fantastic actor and his devotion to the job is obvious. His heartfelt speech revealed that the award was more for his parents than himself because they 'loved show business' and it obviously meant the world to him to win.
Best Actress - Sandra Bullock
I don't know what to say about this one. It comes down to personal prejudice - I don't like Sandra Bullock. I think she has done some truly rubbish films, but obviously this one must be spectacular.
Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz
Waltz stood out in what was an otherwise dull film for the most part. The thing that irritated me about Inglorious Basterds was it started on a weak point, Waltz's perfomance nearly pulled it through but overall the film was poorly paced and took a good 20 minutes to really start - by which point I was already over it.
Best Supporting Actress - Mo'Nique
Not sure about shortening your name to fit in with the likes of J'Lo, but from what I can tell it was a deserved award. I will investigate this Precious movie at a later date and write something a little more detailed than I can now (not having seen the film).
Best Animated Feature - Up
It was an easy pick really; it was the first Pixar film for me that film more like a film than an animation - which is obvious by its nomination in the Best Picture Category as well. The thing I worry about with Pixar (after winning the Oscar 2 years running) is that Toy Story 3 is going to take them backwards. Wall-e leapt forward for emotional response and Up leapt even more so with its human characters - but is Toy Story 3 going to take Pixar 2 steps back? Possibly.
Best Animated Short - Logorama
I wasn't really a fan of Logorama because of the nature of its topic. Commenting about mass media, monolithic corporations etc is something that has never struck an emotional response from me - it's obvious to everyone, why bother plastering a message all over something that would otherwise been enjoyable (or simply not existed). I would have preferred to see The Lady and the Reaper win.
Best Live Action Short - The New Tenants
Haven't seen any in the category.... Can't really pass judgement at all.
Best Documentary Short - Music by Prudence
The lady who pulled a Kanye West and ruined the acceptance speech was actually the producer on the film and has had a falling out with the director, including a lawsuit! She has not not been invited to any events involving the film apparently and decided that this was the moment to make a statement. I understand there are two sides to every story, but an event like that is absolutely no place to make a petty statement like that. I was absolutely disgusted - though Roger Ross Williams took it well and kept smiling, despite the shock and outrage he must be feeling.
Best Visual Effects - Avatar
An absolute no-brainer, one which I don't need to speak about much. Though I do think that the other 2 films nominated were also very deserving. District 9's achievement was not too disimilar to Avatar's, just on a far smaller scale. Star Trek unfortunately never stood a chance; being a product of ILM and spaceships - it was nice to get an empty nomination. Star Trek out did itself in this respect because compared to Star Wars Episode 3 (4 years prior) it excelled in both quality and animation of all space related nonsense - which people thought ILM had peaked with Ep3.
Best Art Direction - Avatar
I had hoped that someone other than Avatar would win, but that was a fool's dream that even I did not believe in.
Best Cinematography - Avatar
Obvious.
Best Film Editing - The Hurt Locker
I honestly thought that District had a real look in for this category.
Best Costume Design - Young Victoria
It is a terribly hard category to pick because it's all very similar - all very elaborate. I'm so sick of Victorian-era films winning this category although I thought Sandy Powell made a good point in her acceptance speech - those designers working on the low budget contemporary films do just as good a job - but they're never going to win.
Best Makeup - Star Trek
The stand out in the category, the other nominees really didn't do very much at all - let alone anything groundbreaking. Although I think in their showcase they could have shown a little less of Spock's ears - I understand that it's Star Trek, but come on. There was better things to show.
Best Sound Editing/Best Sound Mixing - The Hurt Locker
Need to see this movie. =p
Best Original Song - The Weary Kind (Crazy Heart)
Best Original Score - Michael Giacchino (Up)
Outstanding. Giacchino is very talented, I've been a fan of him ever since I discovered him in 2004 - first with Lost and then The Incredibles. The most appealing thing about his work is that it isn't all the same i.e. John Williams. He comes up with a unique theme AND score for a piece as opposed to Williams who comes up with a fantastic theme and then the rest is much the same.
On another note, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were not the hosts I were hoping for. Neil Patrick Harris' performance was an obvious ploy to play off the success of Hugh Jackman's perfomance last year as host - Channel 9's telecast of his performance was AWFUL - the music completely drowned out his voice so who knows what he was singing about?
And George Clooney looked absolutely miserable and unwilling to play along with Alec and Steve's banter - and all throughout the night he looked almost angry to be there, point at the camera at one point - attempting to direct the cameraman's attention off him and back on stage. Sorry George but there's several cameras covering the stage, several covering the audience. Should have stayed home perhaps.
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