So, last night was the Academy Awards, so now it is time for the inevitable postmortem:
The results:
[source with full nominee lists [http://oscars.nytimes.com/ballot/234d37c3]]
My take: Not a huge amount of surprises in the top categories. As expected, The King's Speech turned out on top on the big awards (Picture, Director, Actor, Screenplay), Portman got best actress, and Toy Story 3 got Animated Feature (which was pretty much a no-contest category this year). Bale got his Oscar for nearly destroying himself (The Fighter, supporting) and Inception swept up a good number of the technical awards (Cinematography, Sounds, Visual).
The surprises were mainly along the lines of "wow, that was released in 2010? It feels like I can't even remember it..." Alice in Wonderland scored Art Direction and Costume Design (probably the only things that that movie had going for it) and The Wolfman grabbed Makeup.
The disappointments come from the movies that used the be done by Scorsese (i.e. movies that get nominated for just about everything but always hit runner-up in every category). The Social Network definitely fell into this category, sweeping up only three awards for Adapted Screenplay, Score, and Film Editing out of the seven categories it was nominated for. Best Documentary was probably the most competitive of all the categories as three of the five were relatively well-done documentaries on subjects relating to major issues in politics (energy, the financial sector, and Afghanistan) competing with a Banksy film and another on trash scavengers in Brazil. (Then there's the issue with the best soundtrack that didn't even get nominated, but I'm not going to beat you over the head with that one anymore than you already have. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/moviebob/8602-MovieBob-And-the-Nominees-Are.3])
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The bottom line: It feels like we are both moving backwards with these awards. Last year's Avatar style-over-substance raid on the awards was blocked only by a low-budget but well-directed movie on war-zone bomb technicians. This year, we had the Oscar bait [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/2719-The-Kings-Speech] win just about everything it got nominated for while the newer, less-traditional winners pretty much got shafted despite a good turnout. Given that 2011 is looking to be a relatively anemic year for those same traditional movies, it may look better for next February ($10 on the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo remake walking away with an armful of awards for next year).
As a side note: I didn't actually watch the awards. I had better things to do than sit and watch a show that didn't even impress me when Jon Stewart was hosting.
So, your thoughts on last night: Surprises? Disappointments? Utter-apathy? Predictions for next year?
The results:
Best Picture: The King's Speech
Best Director: Tom Harper for The King's Speech
Best Director: Tom Harper for The King's Speech
Best Lead Actor: Colin Firth for The King's Speech
Best Lead Actress: Natalie Portman in Black Swan
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale in The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo in The Fighter
Best Lead Actress: Natalie Portman in Black Swan
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale in The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo in The Fighter
Best Original Screenplay: David Seidler for The King's Speech
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network
Best Foreign Language Film: In a Better World (Denmark)
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Documentary Feature: Inside Job
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Documentary Feature: Inside Job
Best Original Score: The Social Network
Best Original Song: "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3
Best Art Direction: Alice in Wonderland
Best Cinematography: Inception
Best Costume Design: Alice in Wonderland
Best Make-up: The Wolfman
Best Sound Mixing: Inception
Best Sound Editing: Inception
Best Visual Effects: Inception
Best Film Editing: The Social Network
Best Original Song: "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3
Best Art Direction: Alice in Wonderland
Best Cinematography: Inception
Best Costume Design: Alice in Wonderland
Best Make-up: The Wolfman
Best Sound Mixing: Inception
Best Sound Editing: Inception
Best Visual Effects: Inception
Best Film Editing: The Social Network
Best Animated Short Film: The Lost Thing
Best Live-Action Short Film: God of Love
Best Short-Subject Documentary: Strangers No More
Best Live-Action Short Film: God of Love
Best Short-Subject Documentary: Strangers No More
My take: Not a huge amount of surprises in the top categories. As expected, The King's Speech turned out on top on the big awards (Picture, Director, Actor, Screenplay), Portman got best actress, and Toy Story 3 got Animated Feature (which was pretty much a no-contest category this year). Bale got his Oscar for nearly destroying himself (The Fighter, supporting) and Inception swept up a good number of the technical awards (Cinematography, Sounds, Visual).
The surprises were mainly along the lines of "wow, that was released in 2010? It feels like I can't even remember it..." Alice in Wonderland scored Art Direction and Costume Design (probably the only things that that movie had going for it) and The Wolfman grabbed Makeup.
The disappointments come from the movies that used the be done by Scorsese (i.e. movies that get nominated for just about everything but always hit runner-up in every category). The Social Network definitely fell into this category, sweeping up only three awards for Adapted Screenplay, Score, and Film Editing out of the seven categories it was nominated for. Best Documentary was probably the most competitive of all the categories as three of the five were relatively well-done documentaries on subjects relating to major issues in politics (energy, the financial sector, and Afghanistan) competing with a Banksy film and another on trash scavengers in Brazil. (Then there's the issue with the best soundtrack that didn't even get nominated, but I'm not going to beat you over the head with that one anymore than you already have. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/moviebob/8602-MovieBob-And-the-Nominees-Are.3])
---
The bottom line: It feels like we are both moving backwards with these awards. Last year's Avatar style-over-substance raid on the awards was blocked only by a low-budget but well-directed movie on war-zone bomb technicians. This year, we had the Oscar bait [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/2719-The-Kings-Speech] win just about everything it got nominated for while the newer, less-traditional winners pretty much got shafted despite a good turnout. Given that 2011 is looking to be a relatively anemic year for those same traditional movies, it may look better for next February ($10 on the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo remake walking away with an armful of awards for next year).
As a side note: I didn't actually watch the awards. I had better things to do than sit and watch a show that didn't even impress me when Jon Stewart was hosting.
So, your thoughts on last night: Surprises? Disappointments? Utter-apathy? Predictions for next year?