Living up to the Hollywood rumblings, Kathryn Bigelow and her bomb defusing, Avatar bruising film The Hurt Locker took top honors at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, beating out James Cameron's 3 billion dollar CGI wunder-film for both Best Director (the first win by a female director) and Best Picture. The film scored 6 Oscars, the most of any film of the evening, including a win for Best Original Screenplay, Film Editing, and both Sound Editing & Mixing awards. The fan favorite Avatar didn't come away empty handed, winning 3 awards, including achievements for Art Direction, Cinematography, and the in-the-bag Visual Effects award.
On the acting side, easy favorites Cristoph Waltz and Mo'Nique won their respective genders' acting categories for a supporting role, while newly christened Razzie winner Sandra Bullock and Jeff "The Dude" Bridges took somewhat less certain, but nonetheless predictable wins for the lead acting categories.
In fact, despite the minor tit-for-tat struggle to shore up the technical awards between The Hurt Locker and Avatar, there were no real surprises for the night. Pixar won its fifth Oscar for Best Animated Feature with Up, T-Bone Burnett's song "The Weary Kind" crooned its way into the Academy's crazy hearts, Michael Gee-ah-kee-no's floaty score for Up lifted its way to top honors, and despite being ironically called out by the winner for Best Costume Design, the Academy continued its tradition of picking gaudy Victorian period pieces for that category.
In fact, the predictable nature of the wins this year seemed to be reflected in the ceremony's subdued, almost cautious tone. There was nothing as flamboyant as last year's valiant, if somewhat odd, tribute to the intimate, music filled night clubs of the 1930s, and nothing beyond mild, self-debasing banter between the ceremony's co-hosts Alec Baldwin & Steve Martin. Earlier in the week, press had leaked about several skits being cancelled by the show's producer, including a send-up of James Cameron's Avatar by Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen, and it was hard to escape that nagging feeling of restraint the entire way through. I've said it once, I've said it twice, and I'll continue to say it until someone listens or I get bored and wander off: either re-animate Bob Hope, or Bring Back Billy Crystal!!
On a personal note, I was disappointed that we were denied live performances of the Oscar nominated original songs, and were instead forced to watch interpretive dance routines to the Best Original Score nominees, a head scratching choice for a show trying to attract a more mainstream audience (don't give us the Ballet Russes when we just want Bruce Springsteen). I was also miffed by the adapted screenplay choice for Precious over several far superior works, including the WGA winner Up in the Air, a film which ended up with zero Oscars at the end of the night. I thought Precious was a great film, but in my opinion, its writing paled in comparison to Reitman's snappy repartee, and his story's insipid way of making you question your own life, even if you feel comfortably secure with it.
Perhaps the saddest thing about this year's Oscars, is that despite offering twice as many nods to the Best Picture category, the Academy continues to show an unwillingness to hand out the award to films inside the mainstream loop, two steps back to their one step forward. You might argue that Avatar, while unprecedentedly popular, simply didn't have enough momentum in the non-technical categories to shift the balance, but I have to believe that the results of last night's Oscars will only further widen the gulf between the 95% of people who watch films and the 5% of people who make and review them, an uncanny valley that not even James Cameron's technical wizardry can bridge.
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