Twenty*22

The image above aptly describes the 83rd Academy Awards. Did Franco and Hathaway really know what they were doing? It didn't appear that way. The pre-recorded intro video was great, but unfortunately for the young hosts it was all downhill from there. They will be blamed for the failure in it's whole but you cannot deny that that there was alot of poor writing in there as well. Their hosting wasn't bad, it just lacked any substance whatsoever. Gone were the performances or any real segment of any length. Hathaway got a chance to belt out a very short song, but where were the other segments that had been revealed online prior to the broadcast? Summary - James Franco looked half asleep and couldn't even look at his co-host. Anne Hathaway was a gushy teen falling at the feet of Hollywood greats when she has had more recognition from the Academy than some of those names that she was screaming.

The Academy is clearly failing in it's attempt to move from comedian hosts. Last year was a failure. This year was better, but not by much. My thoughts? Jeff Bridges. He owned the Best Actress presentation, let him do the entire show.

Quick summary of the awards;

Best Picture - The King's Speech

I felt this was deserved. I am yet to see the film in it's entirety but from what I have seen it is quite masterful.

Directing - Tom Hooper, The King's Speech

Once again, very deserved. From what I have seen of the film the direction seems to be fantastic. But so were so many of the others in the category (Black Swan & True Grit in particular).

Best Actor - Colin Firth

Could not be happier with Firth finally winning an Oscar. He is a fantastic actor and someone of his caliber is deserving of such an honour. I was going to be rather rage-filled if Jesse Eisenberg had won.

Best Actress - Natalie Portman

Like Colin Firth, Portman is very deserving of this honour. Black Swan was phenominal - and it could not have been so without her contributions.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Christian Bale

This came as a suprise. I expected that perhaps Geoffrey Rush would land this one but that proved to be false.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Melissa Leo

Did not pick this one. I felt that there were more deserving nominees. Although dropping an f-bomb at the Academy Awards was quite entertaining.

Best Animated Feature - Toy Story 3

 Predictable. The Illusionist held no hope of getting further than a nomination but I held secret hope for How to Train Your Dragon. Unfortunately the sheer mass of Toy Story 3's characters and environments proved too overwhelming. Pixar has had a continuing upwards journey the past few years, I would say that Cars 2 could very well upset this ride.

Best Animated Short - The Lost Thing

An Aussie film!! Winner!! The film is brilliant, absolutely mind-boggling. If you have not seen it, do so very soon. You can pick up a copy on dvd at JBHIFI! Oh, and to beat out Day & Night?? Well done!

Best Live Action Short - God of Love
Haven't seen any in the category.... Can't really pass judgement at all.

Best Documentary Feature - Inside Job

Having not seen the film I cannot pass judgement, but I was very interested to see what would have occurred if Exit Through the Gift Shop had won.

Best Documentary Short - Strangers No More
Unlike last year there was no upset with producers running up on stage or anything along those lines. I have not seen the film so there's not much I can say.

Best Visual Effects - Inception 

The category that I am perhaps most interested in I find the most difficult to pick. It is hard to determine what they are looking for but I am pleased that Inception landed the award this year. Seamless effects. That's what it's all about.

Best Art Direction - Alice in Wonderland

A tough category, the only film I was confident wouldn't get the award was Harry Potter.

Best Cinematography - Inception
Obvious.

Best Film Editing - The Social Network
Another tough category. All films were deserving.

Best Costume Design - Alice in Wonderland
A suprise. I expected that (as usual) as period piece such as The King's Speech would have won.

Best Makeup - The Wolfman
The stand out in the category, but the unexpected winner. I really enjoyed the film - the art direction was amazing, so it is nice that it has been recognised (in part).

Best Sound Editing/Best Sound Mixing - Inception

Again the one film wins both categories. I had hoped that Tron Legacy would land editing but I can think of no other film that was more deserving that Inception. So much of that film was reliant on the sound, evidence in fact if you youtube the soundtrack you will find hundreds of rehashed films to the soundtrack.

Best Original Song - We Belong Together (Toy Story 3)

Awful. Noone can understand Randy Newman and all his songs sound the damn same. I was not happy with this one whatsoever. Personally I was backing 'I See the Light' & 'If I Rise'.

Best Original Score - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (The Social Network)
Another tough category. Mind you, whilst the score was brilliant I don't feel that it was deserving. I felt that several of the others were far more compelling than I found The Social Network's score. Hell, I was displeased that Tron Legacy was not nominated for this category as well.

So that's my Oscar's wrap-up for this year!