2010 Academy Awards: Here is the Scoop (not Gossip) on the Oscar Winners and the Ceremony

In Hollywood, style usually wins over substance; if it looks good, it wins. The 2010 Academy Awards were a triumph of substance over style, of David beating Goliath in a history-making win, and a seeming lack of Hollywood politics, which allowed some truly deserving actors to win an Oscar.

Avatar and The Hurt Locker

With James Cameron's Avatar passing Titanic (also directed by James Cameron) as the highest grossing film in history (based on worldwide gross) a Best Director and Best Motion Picture Oscar nod was assured. Love him (Bill Paxton, Sigourney Weaver) or not (Kate Winslet)¹, Cameron has made some technologically remarkable movies (Terminator, Aliens, Terminator 2, The Abyss, Titanic (which he pitched simply as "Romeo and Juliet on the Titanic" according to his interview on Inside the Actor's Studio), and Avatar. I have nothing against James Cameron and have enjoyed many of his movies.

Interestingly Gone With The Wind still ranks as the number one domestic money maker of all time when its 1939 earnings of $198,676,459 adjust to an astonishing $1,537,559,600 in today's dollars).²

Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker had the better story by far. While James Cameron's ten-year labor of love, Avatar, was technologically stunning (he did invent a new 3-D camera to shoot the movie), the story was not unique. My 16-year-old step-daughter declared that Avatar was essentially Pocahontas with cool effects. I was hoping Avatar would deservedly win the more technical Oscar categories and that the Best Director Oscar and the Best Picture Oscar, and yes, I dared to hope, even the Best Original Screenplay Oscar would go to The Hurt Locker. The Academy Awards didn't disappoint.

Avatar received Oscars for Best Visual Effects, Best Cinematography, and Best Art Direction.

The Hurt Locker was nominated for nine Academy Awards as was Avatar. The Hurt Locker won an impressive six Oscars: Best Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Film Editing, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing.

When Barbra Streisand appeared on stage to present the Best Director Oscar I hoped it portended a win by Kathryn Bigelow. It did and history was made as Bigelow became the first woman to win the directing Oscar. Of course, getting to meet Babs would have also done it for me.

Rather than rubbing in her Oscar win over ex-husband James Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow took the classy high road and said she was humbled. As I watched James Cameron on Inside the Actor's Studio, I was impressed when he indicated that it would be a win either way. He would like to win the Oscar, but would be thrilled to see his ex Kathryn Bigelow become the first female to win a Best Director Academy Award while he praised her body of work over the last twenty years. Yes, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis set the mark for exes staying friendly and made sure the paparazzi documented it, but James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow are hard to beat as exes remaining good friends. They still look at each other's works in progress and help one another professionally. Bigelow made notes on five different incarnations of Avatar. Very mature.

Of course, an Oscar-winning movie will have an Oscar-worthy (if not winning) screenplay. Mark Boal struck Oscar gold with his first Oscar nomination. Boal's original screenplay makes you feel as though you are in the action with the bomb-disposal unit in Iraq. That's because he reported from the front line as a journalist and he really spent time with an elite bomb-disposal unit. The movie is a tight, suspenseful ride with the men who must deactivate enemy bombs, yet it is far from another war movie. Consider the tantalizing opening words of The Hurt Locker; "War is a drug."

Best and Supporting Oscars

Actor in a Supporting Role

I was pulling for Matt Damon in Invictus since he spent six months with a dialect coach to nail the South African accent and also learned to play rugby - apparently the accent was much harder. Of course, my husband hails from South Africa so I admit to a slight bias. I hear Cristoph Waltz's performance as the insidiously villainous psychopathic "Jew Hunter" was one of the best things about Inglourious Basterds, Since he had won for his role at SAG, Golden Globes, BAFTA, and Cannes, I was sure Waltz would win the Oscar and complete his grand slam. What a marvelous night for him.

Actress in a Supporting Role

A no-brainer - Mo'Nique rules! She had the Academy at "you fat bitch." Her stunning portrayal of Precious's mother, Mary, won her the Supporting Actress Oscar. I was mesmerized as Mo'Nique, in Barbara Walters's final Oscar interview show, was completely forthcoming about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her older brother, which began when she was seven. Thus, Mo'Nique's brother informed the role of Mary. Mo'Nique distilled what she learned in therapy down to "it ain't that heavy, let it go." In other words, there aren't really any big deals. That should save some of us a fortune in therapy bills. She also credits the love of a good man, as does Sandra Bullock.

Actor in a Lead Role

I was thrilled to see Jeff Bridges win for his role as Bad Blake in Crazy Heart, especially when I learned that he was very sick the first three weeks of the shoot. That information aside, this was as many called it, "the role of his career." He dedicated his award to his parents and mentioned his father Lloyd Bridges's classic television show Sea Hunt where he learned to act. His speech was an interesting mix of where he came from and hippie-like talk. Some of us wondered if he was stoned since it's well-known that he is 420 friendly.

This was his fifth nomination and first win. I believe he should have won in 1984 for his role in Starman. His portrayal of the alien visitor who takes the form of the dead husband of Karen Allen's character, Jenny Hayden, was perfection, from his manner of speech to his physical bearing. However, the Academy voters felt differently and awarded the Oscar to F. Murray Abraham for his remarkable role as Antonio Salieri, who is made insane by his jealousy of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Amadeus. I admit, Abraham was really great in the role.

Actress in a Lead Role

Sandra Bullock won for her role as Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side. I always suspected there was an actress beyond the usual rom-com movies within her and she finally got "the role." Her acceptance speech was exquisite - humble, self-deprecating, emotional, and real. Read it here. I especially like it that Sandra consistently states that her work greatly improved since she married Jesse James. As Barbara Walters's final guest on her final Oscar special, Sandra indicated that she cannot fail anymore because she has a home and a family to come home to. So she's already won what is most important. All romantics watching the show teared up. Bullock also has the distinction of being the only actor to win an Oscar and a Razzie (for All About Steve) in the same year. She is so cool, she picked up her Razzie in person (actors rarely do this since it's a worst acting award).

Meryl Streep's nomination for her role as Julia Child in the delightful Julie & Julia was her 16^th, making her the most nominated actor of all time. One could say that during her long dry spell (she last won in 1892) she is becoming the Susan Lucci of the Academy Awards, but she has won two Oscars: Best Supporting Actress for Kramer vs. Kramer (1978) and Best Actress for Sophie's Choice (1982), and remains the gold standard of acting.

Comments on the 2010 Academy Awards Show

Ten Best Picture nominees? That move prompted some interesting new math to arrive at the winner. If you are geeky like me, you can read about the new Oscar math here.

I was a bit perturbed when the presenters kept saying, "And the winner is . . .". It's been the tradition to say, "And the Oscar goes to . . .", so that the idea of winner and loser is not at the forefront of people's minds. Kate Winslet is the only presenter who got it right.

The Oscar In Memoriam segment omitted many favorites, including Farrah Fawcett, who made more movies than Michael Jackson's embarrassing The Wiz, and Bea Arthur. Curious about these omissions, I researched and discovered why many actors, directors, and others are left out of the montage. Bruce Davis, executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences explains that more people die in a year than can fit into the montage, which typically shows only 30 decedents. "'It gets close to agonizing by the end,' Davis says of the annual meeting. 'You are dropping people who the public knows. It's just not comfortable.'"³ So I feel their pain, but couldn't they make the montage long enough to show everyone? The Oscars always run overtime anyway. If they eliminate the cheesy opening musical number they would have the time they need for a full montage.

The lead actor nominees were abused not once, but twice. First at the opening of the Academy Awards where they had to stand on stage (nervous about whether they would win) as they were introduced. Later in the Oscar ceremony just before the winners were introduced they were first lauded by their pals who all tried to tell us what great people the nominees are. So what? That has nothing to do with why lead actors were nominated and it was obvious that some of the lead actors were uncomfortable listening to their "praise." Nobody needed to know that while shooting The Queen, Michael Sheen was aroused when Helen Mirren's makeup started to come off at the end of the day such that he could see the tattoo on her hand. It doesn't help that he might have been joking.

Worst acceptance speech - Best Costume Design Oscar winner, Sandy Powell (for The Young Victoria), who was wearing a dreadful green dress and I'm not sure what on top of her head. She started with , "Wow. Well, I already have two of these." Oops. Total lack of humility, ingratitude - downright snarky.⁴

Best acceptance speech - Sandra Bullock - (see Actress in a Lead Role above).

Best Award presentation - Tom Hanks. He jumped right in with no fanfare and announced the Best Picture winner (The Hurt Locker) immediately.

This year the Oscars had a "Kanye moment" as Roger Ross Williams, director-producer of the winning short film Music by Prudence, was interrupted by producer Elinor Burkett who apparently felt that her Oscar acceptance speech would be better than his. The two violently disagreed over the direction of the film and were still not speaking to each other as their film won an Oscar.

Of course the Academy Awards show was like a hot dog - mostly filler. They only have 24 awards to present, but apparently feel that they must do their best to entertain. The 2010 Oscars had some weird entertainment choices. The Horror Movie Tribute? Most of the movies shown were never nominated for an Oscar. What did clips from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre add to the show?

The John Hughes tribute. Yes, his coming of age films like Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Breakfast Club were enjoyable and realistically captured the inner turmoil of being a teenager. But why was he the only director given such a tribute? Other directors died in 2009: Gidget's Paul Wendkos, along with Murder in the First's Alex Rocco who was even younger when he died than John Hughes was. I get it that John Hughes's body of work was bigger, but I'm sure the families of the other directors are grieving their loss too.

The dance numbers to the Best Original Song nominees? They dropped the part where the nominated songs are performed, but then felt compelled to insert the overly long dance number late in the show when I'm sure everyone just wanted it to be over.

Luckily, a few minutes later it was. Thus ends another Academy Awards season.

Sources:

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron#Casting

(2) http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm

(3) http://www.10news.com/entertainment/22726289/detail.html

(4) http://oscar.go.com/nominations/nominees/the-young-victoria/3135