A LOOK BACK AT OSCARS 2009
March 13, 2010
A LOOK BACK AT OSCARS 2009
The 2010 Academy Award Ceremonies proved to be historic for one particular 2009 film. The Hurt Locker won Best Picture and led all contenders with 6 Oscars. Although I accurately predicted the winners in all 4 acting categories, my prediction of Avatar to win Best Picture did not come through. The explanation, in my opinion is quite simple. History! As I reviewed previously in this blog, Hurt Locker was a very good movie, but not a great film that should be categorized as one of the best war films of all time. However, by selecting The Hurt Locker for Best Picture, the Academy writes history in that Kathryn Bigelow, it's Director, becomes the first woman to win Best Director. She also is the first woman to ever direct a war film. I contend that if Bigelow were a man, the results would be quite different. I do not mean to say that she didn't deserve to be recognized because I predicted that she would win Best Director. Her accomplishment in directing Locker is well earned. As you know, my vote would have gone to Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds for Best Picture. . but I predicted that Avatar would win because there is no question it revolutionizes movie making . . .from here on. I knew quite early on in the Awards ceremony that The Hurt Locker might be the movie to beat. When Mark Boal won Best Original Screenplay over Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, the trend began. Another indicator was Hurt Locker winning Film Editing. Most of the time. . .a precursor for winning Best Picture. When The Hurt Locker upset Avatar in Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. . it was quite obvious it was going to be Bigelow's night.
I enjoyed both Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock's acceptance speeches. They were equally touching. The most eloquent acceptance speech of the night belonged to Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds. However, Monique' had to inject politics. . as she accepted her award. I'm still not sure what she meant when she said "It's nice to be rewarded for the performance, not the politics." Help me understand. . .what in Heaven's name. . .was she talking about?
I thought Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin's monologue to start the show was very funny. What made it particularly enjoyable for me was that they did not feel compelled to inject politics to appease left-wing Hollywood. The 2 big negatives in the show were: 1) not allowing Lauren Bacall to speak after honoring her career. Lauren Bacall is one the biggest movie stars of all-time. . and they didn't even show any clips from her great performances. . and 2) in the memoriam; I liked the touch of James Taylor's performance but they did not do justice to some of the deceased Academy members. Karl Malden will forever be remembered as one the greatest actors of all time, and if you weren't paying attention you wouldn't have noticed that they even acknowledged him.
All in all. . I give this year's show a passing grade.
In my next entry I'll start reviewing films that are eligible for Oscar consideration, here in 2010.
