of Best Original Score. Michael
Giacchino won for his work in Up,
although I personally sought the folk-
inspired music of Fantastic Mr. Fox
to win.

The second most obvious win of
the night was Avatar for Best Special
Effects, but it was still relieving to
ironically see two other sci-fi films
(Star Trek and District 9) share the
nomination.

Attempting to end the constant
slaughter of dolphins in
Japan, The Cove thankfully won Best
Documentary Feature, although I did
have to question the random “text to”
sign held up during the acceptance

speech.

Best Film Editing was awarded
to Chris Innis and Bob Murawski
for The Hurt Locker; an award | felt
should’ ve gone to Sally Menke for
Inglourious Basterds.

Best Foreign Language film went
to Argentinean piece, El Secreto de
Sus Ojos (The Secret in Their Eyes)
by Juan José Campanella.

Finally came the big four,
with the Oscars keeping last year’s
decision to have five presenters
represent all five actors and actresses.

First was the award for Best
Actor, which, while against Oscar-
hopefuls Jeremy Renner and Morgan
Freeman, was given to Jeff Bridges
for his role as Otis “Bad” Blake in

 

Crazy Heart. The result was the
awkwardly moving image of a man’s
man crying while giving a long,
uneven acceptance speech.

Then came Best Actress; again,
two other hopefuls (Meryl Streep
(Julie & Julia) and Gabourey Sidibe
(Precious)) lost to a nonetheless
deserving winner: Sandra Bullock,
for her role as Leigh Anne Tuohy
in The Blind Side. This time, the
tearful speech was smooth and heart-
warming.

There was much criticism over
the decision to nominate ten films
for Best Picture; specifically because
any of the five nominated for Best
Director automatically had a leg up,
proving the other five nominations
seriously pointless (no offence). In
the end, Kathryn Bigelow won for
Best Director, leading up to a Best
Picture win for The Hurt Locker.

From here comes two criticisms
of my own, the first of which being
Bigelow should’ ve taken into
consideration that she is the first
woman in the history of film to win
both awards, instead of going into a
semi-anti-war speech. I don’t mean
to use her as a scapegoat for female
filmmakers, but in a profession
seriously lacking just that, the
woman should’ve stopped acting like
a tomboy for five seconds to give
a “women aren’t useless” speech

 

instead. I’m not saying she should’ ve
made a feministic joke out of herself
by any means, but for goodness sake
woman, embrace your uterus!

My other criticism is simply
that the Academy should’ve had the
decency to list all ten films nominated
instead of almost literally just giving
the Oscar to Bigelow’s team right
then and there.

An impressive feat

My gut feeling towards two hosts was
unnerving at first; but it should’ ve
come as no surprise that both Steve
Martin and Alec Baldwin had
fantastic chemistry together. Actually,
what really surprised me was just how
flawless that chemistry was. After an
awkward opening number performed
by Neil Patrick Harris, Martin and
Baldwin literally came down from
the heavens before roasting nearly
every nominee and even some of the
presenters in what was a side-splitting
experience. By the end of it all, James
Cameron and Meryl Streep proved

to be resilient people, taking more
hits than anyone else —- Cameron in
particular.

The night was also met with
several tributes, each one relatively
well executed. Matthew Broderick,
Molly Ringwald, and several other
Brat Pack members presented the first
of these in honour of late filmmaker

back in town

The winners, losers, hits and misses of the 2010 Academy Awards

John Hughes. In some strange,

sick move by the Academy, the
emotionless duo of Kirsten Stewart
and Taylor Lautner (noticeably
missing the equally cold Robert
Pattinson) presented an honorary
montage to horror films. Save for

the three-second clip of New Moon
that snuck its way in, the sequence
was brilliantly pieced together. Last
but not least came their annual “In
Memoriam” tribute, of which they
tried to fit in the most appropriate

of the last years many deaths within
their 30-name limit. Oddly presented
by Demi Moore, the tribute was
touchingly played along side of a live
acoustic performance of “In My Life”
by The Beatles.

The curtain draws to a close

Compared to last year’s atrocious
ceremony, the 82™' Academy Awards
were by every means stupendous,

if not somewhat short for my taste.
There were times when the ceremony
felt rushed, and with an ending time
of 4.5 hours that’s not surprising.

Of course, we must keep in mind
that very rarely do the awards run as
smoothly as they did this year. If the
Oscars can keep this system in tact
for next year, my previous beliefs of
the ceremony lowering its standards
may be put to rest yet.

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