The 82nd Annual Academy Awards

The 82nd Academy Awards will be remembered as the first time in many years that the Oscars featured ten Best Picture nominees and clips from all ten nominees were presented separately spread throughout the broadcast. However, let's face it, not much changed as only AVATAR and THE HURT LOCKER had a chance to win. Also, ever since the SAG Awards have been announced before the Oscars, the acting awards have become very predictable since the acting branch's votes naturally match the SAG votes nearly every time. This year's Oscars were also simplified for the public like most movies these days to a high concept pitch, in this case, it was billed as James Cameron vs. his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow. Regardless of any changes to the Oscars this year, they were guaranteed to have a good ratings year because of the presence of AVATAR, the new all-time box office champion. It didn't matter that the Best Picture field was expanded to ten nominees or who produced or directed this year's show, it was guaranteed to do better than it has in recent years.

The biggest change I noticed was the remodeling of the not very old yet Kodak Theatre, the seating looked different and was changed from red to blue. My favorite change (and one I hope will remain this way) was dropping the performances of the Best Original Song nominees and putting that award much earlier in the show. For years, so much time has been devoted to this music award at a movie award show while in the past the Best Picture nominees (the biggest and most important award) would be lucky to get a 30 second clip each while each song would be performed in its entirety. My least favorite change was dropping the lifetime achievement Oscars and Thalberg award to a private ceremony simply because it was felt that the show was slowed down by lengthy tributes to old people - not my opinion by the way. I wouldn't mind the show going over three hours by paying homage to great contributors to cinema like Lauren Bacall, Roger Corman, and Gordon Willis. Besides, let's face facts, they will be remembered for impacting the history of film a lot longer than Oscar winners like Mo'Nique! Another big change I noticed was having the presenters say, "the winner is" rather than "the Oscar goes to" for the first time in years. At first, it seems less appropriate, but on second thought, considering how many awards have been virtually "won" (and purchased) by relentless campaigning, maybe saying "winner" is more accurate. I am glad that the In Memoriam tribute was kept and I loved the tribute to John Hughes whose body of work has endured and will not be forgotten. However, some things never change: the obviously written and read jokes by the hosts and presenters, lame song and dance numbers (Neil Patrick Harris' show opening song and the choreographed dances to the Best Original Score nominees highlighted by doing the robot to UP!), and the awesome awkward reaction shots of actors not laughing at jokes and of actors not having anything to do with the film that just won an award.

Other highlights for me were: *Elinor Burkett rudely cutting off fellow winner Roger Ross Williams (MUSIC FOR PRUDENCE) to steal the short speech time! *The nervous young actresses who either flubbed their lines on stage (Miley Cyrus & Zoe Saldana) or coughed really loud (Kristen Stewart) while presenting *The hurry to present Best Picture by Tom Hanks without naming the ten nominees again, possibly an attempt to end the show at exactly 9pm Pacific/Midnight Eastern or because by then everyone knew that THE HURT LOCKER was going to win? Maybe they shouldn't have let Ben Stiller hog so much airtime dressed as a Na'vi or they should have cut the endless butt-kissing introductions of the Best Actor and Best Actress nominees by fellow actors.

This year's Oscar show was not exactly inspired (with rather sparse input from hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin) but quite tolerable altogether. As such there was little novelty (surprisingly, the individual presentation of the nominated songs was dropped but, then, there was still the usual ostentatious dance number which tried to 'illustrate' the nominated scores – the one for THE HURT LOCKER was particularly idiotic!), and the embarrassing display of reverence for the acting candidates (though this time it was restricted to the leading roles) from last year was reprised. Though appropriately featuring the accompaniment of The Beatles' track "In My Life" (beautifully played on guitar and sung by James Taylor), the "In Memoriam" section was not as moving as that of previous shows (due to the fact that, thankfully, no true cinema giant passed away during 2009); the individual tribute to John Hughes – by several of the (grown-up) actors he had honed – was an unexpected but pleasant surprise…as was the presence among the audience of Lauren Bacall and especially Roger Corman (recipients of an Honorary Oscar in a smaller-scale ceremony held back in November). The apologetic ode to Horror movies really came out of nowhere and, despite the obvious inclusion of clips from beloved classics and popular modern fare, mostly stuck out like a sore thumb! Again, none of the 'Thank You' speeches were particularly stirring – though Jeff Bridges dedicated his victory to his late parents, Mo'Nique acknowledged Hattie McDaniel (who had set a precedent with the first black win back in 1940), and costume designer Sandy Powell saluted those of her field typically involved in projects boasting contemporary settings (which she readily admitted were seldom recognized by the Academy). With respect to the results, apart from the AVATAR fiasco, the only real unforeseen victories were those of the Best Adapted Screenplay (won by PRECIOUS, complete with pretentious and baffling subtitle, rather than UP IN THE AIR) and Best Foreign-Language Film (Austrian Michael Haneke's highly-touted THE WHITE RIBBON missing out in favor of the Argentinian entry THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES). Typically, the night culminated with the Best Actor, Actress, Direction and Picture statuettes – all of which saw the winners venting their elation uninterrupted; though it was a given that Kathryn Bigelow would triumph (and receive a well-deserved standing ovation into the bargain) over her ex-husband James Cameron, thus awarding a woman director the first Oscar after 82 years, this became even more obvious when Barbra Streisand turned up to present that particular category. In the end, while hardly memorable, the show emerged (as ever) to be worth a watch for hardened movie-buffs.

_The worst costume goes to: the dress worn by (Sandy Powell) the lady who won the Oscar for the best costume design!

_The best line goes to: "I love you baby more than the rainbows" said by (Ryan Bingham), the winner of the best song, to his wife.

_The most creative moment goes to: (Ben Stiller) wearing as Avatar's creatures!

_The meanest look upon someone's face: (Quentin Tarantino) when he heard that someone else him won the Oscar for the best screenplay. Hmmm, wait a minute. I don't think it was mean. He always looks this way!

_The worst jokes came from: (Steve Martin), talking about whores, (Sandra Bullock), or Avatar. Silly jokes Steve, silly and offensive. And you know what the worst part is? THEY ARE NOT FUNNY!

_The most mediocre factor goes to: The 2 hosts. They were between "Ok" and "Yawn". When you put (Martin) with (Baldwin) what you'll have is: half of good host!

_The most invisible moment goes to: honoring Hollywood's icons (the lifetime achievement Oscar and the Irving Thalberg award previously). Yes, they made them as one award, but with names like (Lauren Bacall) and (Roger Corman) how there wasn't even a short montage for their greatest works?!

_The most distracting moment goes to: the dead artists montage. 3 screens to Not be able to watch anything or anyone!

_The most predictable moments goes to: I always thought that the academy used to send deliberate hints through selecting certain stars to present certain awards, whereas you can predict the winner by seeing the presenter. So it was easy for me to relate (Sigourney Weaver) and (James Cameron), who she worked with in (Aliens) and recently in (Avatar), when it came to present the set award to (Avatar). So (Barbra Streisand) and (Kathryn Bigelow) when it came to the first female to win the Oscar for the best director. Then the not too starry now (Demi Moore) when it came to the dead artists montage!

_The best moment of the show goes to: (Kate Winslet) while declaring the award of the best actor, since she said wisely: "The Oscar Goes To" instead of "And The Winner is" which all the presenters said it this year in sort of ugly way that indicates how all the rest competitors are LOSERS!

Fair show by the way. Not the best, but fair.

"The 82nd Annual Academy Awards" will mainly be remembered as important because a woman won Best Director for the first time, and a movie about the Iraq War won Best Picture. I should admit that I haven't seen most of the nominated movies. I'll now have to see "The Hurt Locker", "The Blind Side" and "Crazy Heart" (I think that I'll pass on "Avatar"). Mo'Nique definitely deserved her Oscar. Christoph Waltz, who made one nasty Nazi, must be the first person who won an Oscar for playing a guy who eventually gets a swastika carved into his forehead.

I really liked it when Ben Stiller appeared made up to look like a Na'vi. Silly, yes, but anything that elicits humor is fine by me.

But the most important thing is that a woman has finally won a directing Oscar. To be certain, by awarding it to Kathryn Bigelow, the Academy really stuck it to James Cameron.

All in all, I liked what I saw.

For me, "The 82nd Annual Academy Awards" will mostly remembered by because of two things; it was one of the ceremonies with the most predictable winners of all time and it was one of the worst Oscar shows ever televised.

I must say I'm really disappointed overall with the evening. I mean, this is the Oscar's, the biggest and most important movie award show of all time but however nothing about this evening felt big or important.

Because of the constant dropping number of viewers, the Academy once more decided on a different approach. This was most apparent with the fact that for the first time since 1944, 10 pictures got nominated for the best picture award. But also with the show itself they tried out some new things. Here is what they did; they got rid of of basically everything that was surrounding the actual handing out of the awards. No real musical intermezzo's and just one pathetic montage. Also the main host of the evening were given very little to do in between. They thought that in order to make the overall show better was by given it more pace, with basically trowing everything that made some the previous years shows so great to watch. It all felt extremely rushed, which also made it all very awkward and unpleasant to watch. In theory and on paper it of course all seemed like a good idea to get people involved who worked on faster paced and popular other award shows, also to connect more to the younger audiences. This only just seemed good in theory though.

To me it seemed like they had cut down the number of people being involved behind the screens of the show by halve. There is really no creativity with the show, also not with the writing. I'm sorry but the comical dialog for Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, the main presenters of the evening, were lame beyond the extreme. There also was nothing edgy or controversial about the whole evening because of the lack of any political jokes and statements made this year. It was a very safe show. I have also never seen so many things go wrong, directing-wise. I'm not even talking about the breaking down of the auto-cue at the beginning but more about the constant fact that you saw people who were working behind the scenes of the show walking around in basically every shot.

It also all really gave me the feeling that the show got put together by a bunch of people who aren't even too involved with movies and just don't care much about it. All they seemed interested in was to keep the show going, without any real respect to the movies of this year and that out of the past. Only one montage is far too less for the most important evening for movies and those who love movies. The montage was one that was supposed to pay homage to the horror genre but the montage, was like the entire evening, such a predictable and safe one. It was as if they said to a kid; find out what the 20 best known horror pictures are and the most iconic scenes within them. So all we have is the usual line-up, without the classic movies that truly influenced and changed the genre.

And well about the actual winners of the evening, it was nothing surprising. The acting categories all went to the winner that were predicted and expected. Best picture could had either gone to "Avatar" or the "The Hurt Locker" and best director to either James Cameron or his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow but either way it would had gone, it wouldn't had been a big surprise for anyone. I don't make a too big deal out of it that Bigelow is the first female to have won for best director and I also don't exactly see this as a turning point in cinematic history. Regardless of sex, political views, sexual preference or ethnicity, the best one should always win and in my opinion the Oscar's have always done this throughout the years.

Of course there were still some positive things, such as the king of B-movies, Roger Corman, receiving a lifetime Academy Award (though this got also REALLY pushed to the background) and the whole tribute part to John Hughes. In my opinion Hughes also really earned this, since he was one of the few, if not only directors, who could connect so well to teenagers and their real struggles with his movies and stories. One of the greatest and most underrated directors out of modern movie history and now that he is gone you start to actually realize this all the more.

So next year different presenters, different writers, a different director and some more creativity, humor and show element please. This year was quite bad and uninteresting not because as much because of its predictable wins but more because of the way the entire evening got presented as a rushed, disrespectful and not enjoyable or entertaining evening for the the overall movie industry itself and more importantly the lovers of it.

4/10

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