Hurt Locker Triumphs
Jeff Bridges
During last night’s Oscar telecast, when I saw that The Hurt Locker beat Avatar head-to-head for sound editing and sound mixing, I knew I should have stuck to my guns. For most of the Oscar season I was prepared to call the best picture race for The Hurt Locker and Kathryn Bigelow for best director. However, in a move my late father and racetrack fanatic Harry Hoffman would appreciate, I played a hunch at the last minute. I suddenly decided that Avatar would win best picture.
Well that hunch ruined my perfect record in the main categories, as I otherwise nailed it with my selections of Jeff Bridges for best actor, Sandra Bullock for best actress, Mo’Nique for supporting actress, Christoph Waltz for best supporting actor and Bigelow for best director. A delighted Barbra Streisand handed the Oscar to Bigelow, who became the first woman to win the best director prize from the Academy.
Sandra Bullock
Bullock and Bridges might be the nicest actress-actor combo in the history of the awards; their humble and heartfelt speeches reflected their likability.
I’ve noted many times that I don’t really care about the show as television entertainment; I care about the awards. That said, I was a tad disappointed with Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin as the hosts, because I had high expectations. As Simon Cowell might complain, nothing they did was particularly memorable, no great ad-libs, and the scripted remarks were pretty bland and generic.
And while I understand why the honorary Oscars were given out at a ceremony in November to shave time from last night’s broadcast, I wouldn’t have minded an ten extra minutes to see the speeches from Hollywood icons Roger Corman and Lauren Bacall.
Also, although it didn’t generate as much buzz as Bigelow’s win, Geoffrey Fletcher, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, was the first African American to earn a best screenplay Oscar
As an Oscar junkie who enjoyed veal Oscar as my pre-ceremony meal, I checked out the post-Oscar action backstage that was broadcast on the E Channel, including coverage of the parties and the press interviews. Mo’Nique ruled during her press conference. She ignored the woman in charge of picking out the members of the press to ask her questions and decided for herself whose questions she wanted to answer, which she did with passion and a sense of humor, sugar. It was unexpected and hilarious.
In conclusion, I was happy with the outcome last night.
Tags: Academy Awards
