The 82nd Academy Awards 2010

In a stark contrast to Hugh Jackman's glitzy song and dance number of 2009, this year the academy decided to strip down the ceremony into its traditional light hearted comedic fair. Partially due to the worldwide recession and the fact academy members weren't expecting a great deal of viewers, the Board of Governors must have been surprised to find that 41.3 million people did in fact tune in, which is the biggest audience they have had in the last five years and is a 5.1 million increase on last year. It seems their spending spree on last year's ceremony has paid off as people have returned to the Oscars, leaving 2008's all time low of 32 million a thing of the past.

A major contributing factor to this year's viewing figures was the sudden hype in the media surrounding The Hurt Locker as favourite to win best picture. People the world over tuned in to see David pitted against the all mighty Avatar Goliath. Unfortunately to present this potentially historic occasion the Academy chose the unlikely pairing of comedian Steve Martin, who has not been funny since the 90s, and actor Alec Baldwin, who now appears in such classics as It's Complicated:




As you can see from this clip, most of the jokes fell flat on their face, often facing long pauses before some laughter and applause could pathetically gather together. Aside from the occasional gem such as Steven Martin's quip that 'Gabourey and I have something in common, in our first movies we were both born a poor black child', the presenting was unforgettable and tedious, summed up by this bizarre and unfunny performance by Ben Stiller for best make-up:





But presenting aside; the quality of films on offer and the rivalry between the divorced James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow provided yet another classic awards ceremony.

One aspect which stood out in particular was the Academy's horror film tribute, which means for the first time in their history they have officially accepted this genre for having artistic worth:

Here is the list of winners in full with my wrong predictions highlighted in red, actual winners in green, with a short critique underneath:


Best actor in a leading role
* Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart
* George Clooney in Up in the Air
* Colin Firth in A Single Man
* Morgan Freeman in Invictus
* Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker

In a career spanning over 50 years, nothing is sweeter than seeing 'The Dude' finally get the recognition he deserves.

Best actor in a supporting role
* Matt Damon in Invictus
* Woody Harrelson in The Messenger
* Christopher Plummer in The Last Station
* Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones
* Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds

The best thing about Quentin's film had his name written all over this award.

Best actress in a leading role
* Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side
* Helen Mirren in The Last Station
* Carey Mulligan in An Education
* Gabourey Sidibe in Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
* Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia

I always predict this award incorrectly by predicting an outside win. Always go with the favourite, especially when it comes to the best actress category would be my lesson here:

Sandra gave the most compassionate speech of the night by recognising the achievements of her fellow nominees. Kathryn may have been looking to make history by being the first woman in history to win a best director Oscar, but Sandra is the only person to have won an Oscar and a Razzie in the same year:

When Halle Berry accepted her Razzie she understood Catwoman was a dreadful film and subsequently fired her agent. The tragedy here is that All About Steve was produced by Bullock and even though she was a good enough sport to personally accept the award, she still appeared to be under the false impression that it was still a good film and was keen to promote it.

Best actress in a supporting role
* Penélope Cruz in Nine
* Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air
* Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart
* Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air
* Mo’Nique in Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Comedies may not win many Oscars, but comedians themselves can often turn out to be fantastic actors as proven here.

Best animated feature film of the year
*Coraline (Focus Features) Henry Selick
*Fantastic Mr. Fox (20th Century Fox) Wes Anderson
*The Princess and the Frog (Walt Disney) John Musker and Ron Clements
*The Secret of Kells (GKIDS) Tomm Moore
*Up (Walt Disney) Pete Docter

There was never any doubt that Up was going to win this award as it was a cut above all the other films nominated and was even nominated for best picture.

Best in art direction:
*Avatar (20th Century Fox) Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg. Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
*The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Sony Pictures Classics) Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro. Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
*Nine (The Weinstein Company) Art Direction: John Myhre. Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
*Sherlock Holmes (Warner Bros.) Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood. Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
*The Young Victoria (Apparition) Art Direction: Patrice Vermette. Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Best in cinematography:
*Avatar (20th Century Fox) Mauro Fiore
*Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Warner Bros.) Bruno Delbonnel
*The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment) Barry Ackroyd
*Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company) Robert Richardson
*The White Ribbon (Sony Pictures Classics) Christian Berger

Avatar was always going to win awards for its visual spectacle.

Best in costume design:
*Bright Star (Apparition) Janet Patterson
*Coco before Chanel (Sony Pictures Classics) Catherine Leterrier
*The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Sony Pictures Classics) Monique Prudhomme
*Nine (The Weinstein Company) Colleen Atwood
*The Young Victoria (Apparition) Sandy Powell

Every year a British costume drama wins this award making it the least interesting category in the whole ceremony.

Best Director:
*Avatar (20th Century Fox) James Cameron
*The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment) Kathryn Bigelow
*Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company) Quentin Tarantino
*Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (Lionsgate) Lee Daniels
*Up in the Air (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) Jason Reitman


Huzzah! It has taken the Academy 82 years but at last they have caught up with contemporary society to treat women as equals. Although to give the academy credit, it is as much a fault of the male dominated industry itself. The Academy may have never awarded a best director gong to a woman, but there has never been a great number of female directors in relation to men. Hopefully this win will inspire potential female directors and initiate some long needed change in the industry.

Best documentary feature:
*Burma VJ (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
*The Cove (Roadside Attractions)
*Food, Inc. (Magnolia Pictures)
*The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
*Which Way Home (A Mr. Mudd Production)

An insightful documentary on the poorly treated dolphins in Japan is something that needs to be seen.

Best documentary short subject:
*China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
*The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
*The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
*Music by Prudence
*Rabbit à la Berlin

Best in film editing:
*Avatar (20th Century Fox) Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
*District 9 (Sony Pictures Releasing) Julian Clarke
*The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment) Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
*Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company) Sally Menke
*Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (Lionsgate) Joe Klotz

Best foreign language film of the year:
*Ajami: Israel
*El Secreto de Sus Ojos (The Secret in their Eyes): Argentina
* La Teta Asustada (The Milk of Sorrow): Peru
*Un Prophète (A Prophet): France
* Das Weisse Band (The White Ribbon): Germany

Every year the favourite to win this category always loses. It is almost as if the Academy deliberately vote for a film that is harder to get hold of.

Best in Makeup Oscars 2010 Nominees:
*Il Divo Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
*Star Trek Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
*The Young Victoria Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Best in music written for motion pictures (Original score):
*Avatar (20th Century Fox) James Horner
*Fantastic Mr. Fox (20th Century Fox) Alexandre Desplat
*The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment) Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
*Sherlock Holmes (Warner Bros.) Hans Zimmer
*Up (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino

Best in music written for motion pictures (Original song):
*"Almost There" from The Princess and the Frog Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
*"Down in New Orleans" from The Princess and the Frog Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
*"Loin de Paname” from Paris 36 Music by Reinhardt Wagner. Lyric by Frank Thomas
*"Take It All” from Nine Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
*"The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from Crazy Heart Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Over the past two years the music awards have always proved controversial. In 2008 Jonny Greenwood was denied a nomination for his haunting score on There Will Be Blood even though it should have been a clear cut winner. Then in 2009 Bruce Springsteen was not nominated for his song 'The Wrestler' as used in Mickey Rourke's film of the same name. But there was no doubt this year that the song used in Crazy Heart, a film all about country music, was going to win.


Best motion picture of the year:
*Avatar
*The Blind Side
*District 9
*An Education
*The Hurt Locker
*Inglourious Basterds
*Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
*A Serious Man
*Up
*Up in the Air

Well I never. Just after I had predicted who was going to win this category the press was suddenly ablaze with talk of The Hurt Locker snatching it from Avatar's clutches, and rightly so. But despite the quality of the film it is officially the least financially successful Oscar winner of all time, but hopefully its well deserved win should spark a DVD sales comeback. Buy it now!

The acceptance speech can be watched in HD on Youtube Here.

Best animated short film:
*French Roast A Pumpkin Factory
*Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty (Brown Bag Films)
*The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
*Logorama (Autour de Minuit)
*A Matter of Loaf and Death (Aardman Animations)

This was probably the best chance the UK had of winning an award this year. Sadly however, it seems the Academy has seen just about enough of Wallace and Gromit's adventures, for now at least.

Best live action short film:
*The Door (Network Ireland Television)
*Instead of Abracadabra (The Swedish Film Institute)
*Kavi A Gregg Helvey Production
* Miracle Fish (Premium Films)
*The New Tenants A Park Pictures and M & M Production

Best in sound editing:
*Avatar Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
*The Hurt Locker Paul N.J. Ottosson
*Inglourious Basterds Wylie Stateman
*Star Trek Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
*Up Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Best in sound mixing:
*Avatar Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
*The Hurt Locker Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
*Inglourious Basterds Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
*Star Trek Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
*Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

The sound used in The Hurt Locker really complimented the handheld camerawork and increased the tension of the bomb disposal units, especially in the cinemas' surround sound systems.

Best in visual effects:
*Avatar Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
*District 9 Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
*Star Trek Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

No wonder there were only three films nominated, there was only one film that was going to win this category.

Best in Adapted screenplay:
*District 9 Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
*An Education Screenplay by Nick Hornby
*In the Loop Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
*Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
*Up in the Air Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

It would have been good to see Iannucci's film win the award, but Precious was still very deserving as some scenes were especially heart rendering and difficult to watch.

Best in Original screenplay:
*The Hurt Locker Written by Mark Boal
*Inglourious Basterds Written by Quentin Tarantino
*The Messenger Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
*A Serious Man Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
*Up Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter. Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

In retrospect, the Coen's script was probably far too bizarre for the Academy. Nevertheless, the characterisation in The Hurt Locker is what has made it the best war film of the decade.

So there we are, my faith in the Academy was restored with The Hurt Locker's six wins against Avatar's three. This rivalry which surfaced days before the ceremony will be a tough act to follow next year mind you.