I love Oscar night, I really do. That doesn’t mean that this year is going to be a great show, though. To recap, they’ve decided to cut the live performances of the songs, which could be a masterstroke or a terrible decision. Also, the decision to go from five to ten Best Picture nominees is going to be under the microscope, and rightly so. Personally, I like it. My gut instinct is that if they had stuck with five, that would have meant no nominations for A SERIOUS MAN, AN EDUCATION, UP, DISTRICT 9 and THE BLIND SIDE in the Best Picture category. The first three of those are wonderful pictures, while DISTRICT 9 is a really interesting genre picture, and THE BLIND SIDE is cornball, admittedly, but a solid piece of mainstream, crowd-pleasing filmmaking.
Anyway, from here on in, this is a running commentary.
I love Claudia Winkleman. It’s not even a crush, it’s a genuine love thing. But, seriously, who the hell thought that David Baddiel and Ronni Ancona were acceptable?
Hmmm, not sure about the opening, with the lead acting nominees on stage, stood there being clapped. The lovely Carey Mulligan looks a little ill-at-ease.
Love Neil Patrick Harris, but surely they could have mixed it so we could hear the words.
Great opening spiel from co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, and we’re into the awards.
First-up is BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE, presented by Penelope Cruz, last year’s winner of the BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Oscar™, for her performance in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
The winner is the utterly deserving CHRISTOPH WALTZ for his wonderful performance in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. His speech is unremarkable, yet mercifully brief.
Cameron Diaz and Steve Carell present the award for BEST ANIMATED FEATURE to UP! Hopefully not the last award for Pixar’s masterpiece.
Miley Cyrus and Amanda Seyfried to present the BEST ORIGINAL SONG Oscar. As mentioned, not performed on stage. The winner is “Weary Kind” from CRAZY HEART, winning the first of its two Oscars tonight.
Nice skit by Tina Fey and Robert Downey Jr. presenting the BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Oscar™. Fairly open category this, I think. The winner is THE HURT LOCKER, written by Mark Boal. Well deserved.
Now Matthew Broderick and Molly Ringwald on stage to pay tribute to the late, great John Hughes. Really nicely put together.
Interesting to note the people presenting the BEST PICTURE nominees. Samuel L Jackson (THE INCREDIBLES) shilling for UP, Chris Pine (STAR TREK) for DISTRICT 9 – I guess they’re both sci-fi, but surely Peter Jackson could have been persuaded? Ryan Reynolds for his THE PROPOSAL co-star Sandra Bullock’s THE BLIND SIDE.
Zoe Saldana (should have been nominated for AVATAR) and Carey Mulligan on stage now to present the Best Short Film Awards; Animated Short goes to LOGORAMA, Documentary Short goes to MUSIC BY PRUDENCE and Live Action Short goes to THE NEW TENANTS.
Ben Stiller to the stage, dressed as a Na’vi, to present the award for BEST MAKE-UP. Stiller as funny as ever. The award goes to STAR TREK.
Next Best Picture nominee is A SERIOUS MAN, presented by The Dude, of course.
The award for BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY, presented by Jake Gyllenhall, and the lovely Rachel McAdams. I had really expected the award to go to UP IN THE AIR, but the winner is PRECIOUS. The speech might have been great, but the winner had a weird voice, so who knows?
Next comes something different, the Governor’s Awards, which replace this year’s LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD. It would have been lovely to see the awards be presented in person, but it’s a nice segment. The winners were ROGER CORMAN, LAUREN BACALL, GORDON WILLIS and JOHN CALLEY.
Next comes BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE, presented by Robin Williams. No way this doesn’t go to Mo’nique. And it does, nice speech too.
Colin Firth, now to introduce AN EDUCATION.
RUNNING TOTAL:
THE HURT LOCKER 1
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS 1
PRECIOUS 2
UP 1
CRAZY HEART 1
STAR TREK 1
On to the stage comes the insanely elegant Sigourney Weaver. The award is for ART DIRECTION. I would expect AVATAR to come out victorious here. And it does. I’m awesome.
Next is COSTUME DESIGN, presented by Tom Ford and Sarah Jessica Parker. The winner is THE YOUNG VICTORIA.
Charlize Theron, now, to introduce PRECIOUS, still the only film to have won two awards thus far.
Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner to present a tribute to horror, after another funny Baldwin/Martin skit.
Zac Efron and Anna Kendrick to present the sound awards. With some help from Morgan Freeman. I’m tipping The Hurt Locker to win both Mixing and Editing here. BEST SOUND EDITING goes to THE HURT LOCKER, SOUND MIXING goes the same way, third award for THE HURT LOCKER.
John Travolta to present INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS as a Best Picture nominee. Great film.
3-1 THE HURT LOCKER now.
Razzie™ winner, Sandra Bullock to present the award for BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY. AVATAR wins the award.
Demi Moore with the lost, but not forgotten montage, with James Taylor singing THE BEATLES’ IN MY LIFE...
Patrick Swayze, Jean Simmons, Tullio Pinelli, Eric Rohmer, Ken Annakin, David Carradine, Gareth Wigan, Daniel Melnick, Howard Zieff, Dom DeLuise, Army Archerd, Ron Silver, Brittany Murphy, Lou Jacobi, Simon Channing-Williams, Betsy Blair, Joseph Wiseman, Jack Cardiff, Kathryn Grayson, Arthur Canton, Nat Boxer, Millard Kauffman, Roy E. Disney, Larry Gelbart, Horton Foote, Robert Woodruff Anderson, Budd Schulberg, Michael Jackson, Natasha Richardson, Jennifer Jones, David Brown, Karl Malden.
Sam Worthington and Jennifer Lopez now to present BEST ORIGINAL SCORE. Dance montages. Really? Oh. Dear. I blame Adam Shankman for this, he’s the artistic director, and the man who directed Bringing Down the House. Body-popping to illustrate the power of THE HURT LOCKER, for fuck’s sake. To be clear, UP should win here, or FANTASTIC MR FOX. My tip is for AVATAR, though. The dance for UP was also great. UP wins. Hooray!
Gerard Butler and Bradley Cooper to present the award for BEST VISUAL EFFECTS. I’ll eat my hat if AVATAR doesn’t win, here, the visual effects are game-changing. And, of course, it does.
Jason Bateman, to present UP IN THE AIR as a Best Picture nominee.
Matt Damon presents the BEST DOCUMENTARY Oscar to THE COVE, which is an extraordinary, powerful film.
Tyler Perry to present BEST EDITING. Another win for THE HURT LOCKER.
Keanu Reeves, star of Kathryn Bigelow’s POINT BREAK, to introduce THE HURT LOCKER as a Best Picture nominee.
Pedro Almodovar and Quentin Tarantino together at last! To present BEST FILM IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE. The winner is EL SECRETO DE SUS OJOS. It must be pretty good to beat THE WHITE RIBBON and A PROPHET, which are extraordinary.
Best Actor now, Michelle Pfeiffer, Vera Farmiga, Tim Robbins, Colin Farrell and Julianne Moore on stage. Pfeiffer to talk about JEFF BRIDGES, the obvious winner here, nice speech from Michelle, who looks great. Vera Farmiga to talk about GEORGE CLOONEY, her co-star in UP IN THE AIR. Nice speech again. Julianne Moore to talk about her A SINGLE MAN co-star, Colin Firth. Another nice speech. Tim Robbins for Morgan Freeman, his co-star in THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. Great speech. Colin Farrell to talk about Jeremy Renner, his co-star in S.W.A.T., another nice speech. This format doesn’t always work, but this was nicely done tonight. Kate Winslet, looking fine, to present the award. To Jeff Bridges, el Duderino himself. A great actor, and a much deserved standing ovation. He’s going to have fun with his speech. Terrific speech, without a hint of a tear. He just is The Dude. And I don’t know about you, but I take comfort in that.
Best Actress, now. Interested to see who they get to speak about these five. Peter Sarsgaard, Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Stanley Tucci and Michael Sheen. Whitaker to talk about Sandra Bullock, his co-star in HOPE FLOATS. Nice. Michael Sheen to talk about Helen Mirren, his co-star in THE QUEEN. Well done Michael. Peter Sarsgaard to talk about Carey Mulligan, his co-star in AN EDUCATION. Oprah (star power!) to talk about Gabourey Sidibe, the star of PRECIOUS. Nicely done Oprah. Stanley Tucci (love him) to talk about Meryl Streep, his co-star in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA and JULIE AND JULIA. Brilliantly done. Sean Penn to present the award. Sandra Bullock wins the Oscar, a day after winning the Razzie (for different films, obviously). She’ll cry, for sure. Best speech of the night, by far.
Barbara Streisand to present the Oscar™ for BEST DIRECTOR. Will this be the first African American winner (Lee Daniels), the first female winner (Kathryn Bigelow), or one of the other three, Reitman, Tarantino or James Cameron? My money, and hope, is on Bigelow. And, she wins. Not only does she deserve the award, it’s nice that there has now not never been a female winner of the BEST DIRECTOR Oscar™. Good speech.
Tom Hanks to present the award for BEST PICTURE. Love Hanks. Love him. THE HURT LOCKER wins. Rightly so. Jolly good.
THE HURT LOCKER wins 6 Oscars, including those for BEST SCREENPLAY, BEST DIRECTOR and BEST PICTURE.
Baldwin and Martin did great, but could have been used more perhaps?
Night night.
Anyway, from here on in, this is a running commentary.
I love Claudia Winkleman. It’s not even a crush, it’s a genuine love thing. But, seriously, who the hell thought that David Baddiel and Ronni Ancona were acceptable?
Hmmm, not sure about the opening, with the lead acting nominees on stage, stood there being clapped. The lovely Carey Mulligan looks a little ill-at-ease.
Love Neil Patrick Harris, but surely they could have mixed it so we could hear the words.
Great opening spiel from co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, and we’re into the awards.
First-up is BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE, presented by Penelope Cruz, last year’s winner of the BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Oscar™, for her performance in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
The winner is the utterly deserving CHRISTOPH WALTZ for his wonderful performance in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. His speech is unremarkable, yet mercifully brief.
Cameron Diaz and Steve Carell present the award for BEST ANIMATED FEATURE to UP! Hopefully not the last award for Pixar’s masterpiece.
Miley Cyrus and Amanda Seyfried to present the BEST ORIGINAL SONG Oscar. As mentioned, not performed on stage. The winner is “Weary Kind” from CRAZY HEART, winning the first of its two Oscars tonight.
Nice skit by Tina Fey and Robert Downey Jr. presenting the BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Oscar™. Fairly open category this, I think. The winner is THE HURT LOCKER, written by Mark Boal. Well deserved.
Now Matthew Broderick and Molly Ringwald on stage to pay tribute to the late, great John Hughes. Really nicely put together.
Interesting to note the people presenting the BEST PICTURE nominees. Samuel L Jackson (THE INCREDIBLES) shilling for UP, Chris Pine (STAR TREK) for DISTRICT 9 – I guess they’re both sci-fi, but surely Peter Jackson could have been persuaded? Ryan Reynolds for his THE PROPOSAL co-star Sandra Bullock’s THE BLIND SIDE.
Zoe Saldana (should have been nominated for AVATAR) and Carey Mulligan on stage now to present the Best Short Film Awards; Animated Short goes to LOGORAMA, Documentary Short goes to MUSIC BY PRUDENCE and Live Action Short goes to THE NEW TENANTS.
Ben Stiller to the stage, dressed as a Na’vi, to present the award for BEST MAKE-UP. Stiller as funny as ever. The award goes to STAR TREK.
Next Best Picture nominee is A SERIOUS MAN, presented by The Dude, of course.
The award for BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY, presented by Jake Gyllenhall, and the lovely Rachel McAdams. I had really expected the award to go to UP IN THE AIR, but the winner is PRECIOUS. The speech might have been great, but the winner had a weird voice, so who knows?
Next comes something different, the Governor’s Awards, which replace this year’s LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD. It would have been lovely to see the awards be presented in person, but it’s a nice segment. The winners were ROGER CORMAN, LAUREN BACALL, GORDON WILLIS and JOHN CALLEY.
Next comes BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE, presented by Robin Williams. No way this doesn’t go to Mo’nique. And it does, nice speech too.
Colin Firth, now to introduce AN EDUCATION.
RUNNING TOTAL:
THE HURT LOCKER 1
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS 1
PRECIOUS 2
UP 1
CRAZY HEART 1
STAR TREK 1
On to the stage comes the insanely elegant Sigourney Weaver. The award is for ART DIRECTION. I would expect AVATAR to come out victorious here. And it does. I’m awesome.
Next is COSTUME DESIGN, presented by Tom Ford and Sarah Jessica Parker. The winner is THE YOUNG VICTORIA.
Charlize Theron, now, to introduce PRECIOUS, still the only film to have won two awards thus far.
Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner to present a tribute to horror, after another funny Baldwin/Martin skit.
Zac Efron and Anna Kendrick to present the sound awards. With some help from Morgan Freeman. I’m tipping The Hurt Locker to win both Mixing and Editing here. BEST SOUND EDITING goes to THE HURT LOCKER, SOUND MIXING goes the same way, third award for THE HURT LOCKER.
John Travolta to present INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS as a Best Picture nominee. Great film.
3-1 THE HURT LOCKER now.
Razzie™ winner, Sandra Bullock to present the award for BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY. AVATAR wins the award.
Demi Moore with the lost, but not forgotten montage, with James Taylor singing THE BEATLES’ IN MY LIFE...
Patrick Swayze, Jean Simmons, Tullio Pinelli, Eric Rohmer, Ken Annakin, David Carradine, Gareth Wigan, Daniel Melnick, Howard Zieff, Dom DeLuise, Army Archerd, Ron Silver, Brittany Murphy, Lou Jacobi, Simon Channing-Williams, Betsy Blair, Joseph Wiseman, Jack Cardiff, Kathryn Grayson, Arthur Canton, Nat Boxer, Millard Kauffman, Roy E. Disney, Larry Gelbart, Horton Foote, Robert Woodruff Anderson, Budd Schulberg, Michael Jackson, Natasha Richardson, Jennifer Jones, David Brown, Karl Malden.
Sam Worthington and Jennifer Lopez now to present BEST ORIGINAL SCORE. Dance montages. Really? Oh. Dear. I blame Adam Shankman for this, he’s the artistic director, and the man who directed Bringing Down the House. Body-popping to illustrate the power of THE HURT LOCKER, for fuck’s sake. To be clear, UP should win here, or FANTASTIC MR FOX. My tip is for AVATAR, though. The dance for UP was also great. UP wins. Hooray!
Gerard Butler and Bradley Cooper to present the award for BEST VISUAL EFFECTS. I’ll eat my hat if AVATAR doesn’t win, here, the visual effects are game-changing. And, of course, it does.
Jason Bateman, to present UP IN THE AIR as a Best Picture nominee.
Matt Damon presents the BEST DOCUMENTARY Oscar to THE COVE, which is an extraordinary, powerful film.
Tyler Perry to present BEST EDITING. Another win for THE HURT LOCKER.
Keanu Reeves, star of Kathryn Bigelow’s POINT BREAK, to introduce THE HURT LOCKER as a Best Picture nominee.
Pedro Almodovar and Quentin Tarantino together at last! To present BEST FILM IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE. The winner is EL SECRETO DE SUS OJOS. It must be pretty good to beat THE WHITE RIBBON and A PROPHET, which are extraordinary.
Best Actor now, Michelle Pfeiffer, Vera Farmiga, Tim Robbins, Colin Farrell and Julianne Moore on stage. Pfeiffer to talk about JEFF BRIDGES, the obvious winner here, nice speech from Michelle, who looks great. Vera Farmiga to talk about GEORGE CLOONEY, her co-star in UP IN THE AIR. Nice speech again. Julianne Moore to talk about her A SINGLE MAN co-star, Colin Firth. Another nice speech. Tim Robbins for Morgan Freeman, his co-star in THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. Great speech. Colin Farrell to talk about Jeremy Renner, his co-star in S.W.A.T., another nice speech. This format doesn’t always work, but this was nicely done tonight. Kate Winslet, looking fine, to present the award. To Jeff Bridges, el Duderino himself. A great actor, and a much deserved standing ovation. He’s going to have fun with his speech. Terrific speech, without a hint of a tear. He just is The Dude. And I don’t know about you, but I take comfort in that.
Best Actress, now. Interested to see who they get to speak about these five. Peter Sarsgaard, Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Stanley Tucci and Michael Sheen. Whitaker to talk about Sandra Bullock, his co-star in HOPE FLOATS. Nice. Michael Sheen to talk about Helen Mirren, his co-star in THE QUEEN. Well done Michael. Peter Sarsgaard to talk about Carey Mulligan, his co-star in AN EDUCATION. Oprah (star power!) to talk about Gabourey Sidibe, the star of PRECIOUS. Nicely done Oprah. Stanley Tucci (love him) to talk about Meryl Streep, his co-star in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA and JULIE AND JULIA. Brilliantly done. Sean Penn to present the award. Sandra Bullock wins the Oscar, a day after winning the Razzie (for different films, obviously). She’ll cry, for sure. Best speech of the night, by far.
Barbara Streisand to present the Oscar™ for BEST DIRECTOR. Will this be the first African American winner (Lee Daniels), the first female winner (Kathryn Bigelow), or one of the other three, Reitman, Tarantino or James Cameron? My money, and hope, is on Bigelow. And, she wins. Not only does she deserve the award, it’s nice that there has now not never been a female winner of the BEST DIRECTOR Oscar™. Good speech.
Tom Hanks to present the award for BEST PICTURE. Love Hanks. Love him. THE HURT LOCKER wins. Rightly so. Jolly good.
THE HURT LOCKER wins 6 Oscars, including those for BEST SCREENPLAY, BEST DIRECTOR and BEST PICTURE.
Baldwin and Martin did great, but could have been used more perhaps?
Night night.
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