2010 Oscar Blog

Doing my taxes... and starting the Oscars. Academy gets it wrong half the time, but I still find it interesting. Follow along...


Wow... terrible intro graphics. Glad we are in 1993.

Kathy Ireland... terrible announcer.

Enough with the Gyllenhaals already...

These opening interviews are painful.

Really? Zack Efron gets screen time at the awards for the supposed best in the medium? Rob Pattinson will too no doubt. And Kathy Ireland... still doing terrible.

Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren... some people with actual weight.

I really enjoy when they show these past nominees... Casablanca, you got that right. Wonder how the general public feels about it.

I love that a film with BASTERDS in the title will be repeated all night.

Matthew Broderick is relegated to Sarah Jessica Parker accessory these days...

Cameron Diaz in interviews... shows she isn't the brightest bulb around.

8:22 - Jeff Bridges FTW. That guy rocks.

I guess Meryl Streep will continue to be nominated forever for being her... regardless of the role. She is often great, but often gets noms by just being her.

8:30 and we start. This is different... the best actor/actress people hanging out up front. That guy from Hurt Locker could blow up (no pun) as a star.

NPH kicking it off! YEAH! That's right Harold and Kumar reference at the Oscars.

Alec and Steve always have great chemistry. The set this year is elegant.

Very funny opening dialog.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Kicking it off with a good one. A no brainer, CHRISTOPH WALTZ.

Waltz gives a nice, sincere speech.

8:51 Blind Side montage. Meh.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE - Strong field this year. UP wins and it probably wasn't close. I really want to check out the Secret of Kells.

These are presenters... Miley Cyrus? Can't they get someone with some prestige?

BEST ORIGINAL SONG - THE WEARY KIND. Great song and really a stand out from this years nominees. Crazy Heart has great music.

District 9 montage. A truly special and great film. Genre snobbery will keep it from getting close to a win. Yet, if dumbed down, the genre has a chance (see Avatar).

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - THE HURT LOCKER. Not really deserved, but perhaps a good sign of things to come for the film. BASTERDS script owned this one. Tarantino not being in WGA really hurts him around awards time.

9:17 - John Hughes montage presented by Molly Ringwold and Matthew Broderick. Almost no other person has had as much impact on pop culture over the last 25 years than John Hughes.

Up montage. Lovely film. Sad there won't be a non-sequel Pixar film for a while.

Nice bit about short films. Criminally under seen format. The net should have made these things explode, but no such luck.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT - LOGORAMA. Never saw it, want to.

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT - MUSIC BY PRUDENCE. Never saw it, want to.

LIVE ACTION SHORT - THE NEW TENANTS. Never saw it, want to.

9:38 - Ben Stiller as a Na'Vi. Great.

BEST MAKEUP - STAR TREK. No surprise. Good makeup in that one. Ben Stiller always does good presentations.

A Serious Man montage. Super strong filmmaking. Sad that it wouldn't have even gotten a nom without the 10 picture structure.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - PRECIOUS. Meh. Not a knock on the film, but In the Loop is ridiculously great writing. Also, D9 is imagination in overdrive. But Precious feels like a good win.

Governor's awards montage... nice stuff.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - MO'NIQUE. Well deserved. Two Precious wins in a row. Still wish Melanie Laurent was nominated. Good speech save BET mention.

10:01 - An Education montage. Need to see it.

ART DIRECTION - AVATAR. No surprise. In the speech... Jim Cameron this award SEES YOU... WTF. Avatar boo.

COSTUME DESIGN - THE YOUNG VIC...yawn... er sorry. THE YOUNG VICTORIA. Costume designer is one of the best. Her dress is amazing.

Precious montage. Good stuff.

Kristen Stewart and Tayler Lautner (ugh) giving a horror send up. JAWS of course... but it's Spielberg... what else. Some good stuff. But Twilight is not horror.

SOUND EDITING - THE HURT LOCKER. Deserved.

SOUND MIXING - THE HURT LOCKER. This could spell big trouble for AVATAR.

Inglourious Basterds montage. Travolta. UGH and boo to you. But yay for an amazing film.

10:35 - CINEMATOGRAPHY - AVATAR. This evens the field a bit. How can a movie with almost no cinematography get this award?

The montage of people who died this past year.

What does break dancing have to do with Sherlock Holmes score... And the Hurt Locker gets pop lockin with force wave blasts... WTF. This is terrible. Fantastic Mr Fox... gets the nutters. UP gets Mr. Roboto. Avatar's terrible score gets... bright lights and head spinners. Best score through interpretive dance everyone... terrible.

BEST SCORE - UP. Well deserved. My favorite composer to come on the scene in the last decade. Zimmer's Holmes score was also excellent.

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS - AVATAR. Of course. Nothing to say, can't knock the effects work... too much. I am tired of everyone who wins from Avatar kissing Cameron's douchey self.

Up in the Air montage. Nice film. Director is a jerk. Not as fantastic as some people try to say, but nice and timely.

BEST DOCUMENTARY - All good films this year. Anvil deserved a nomination, light as it may be. THE COVE wins. No surprise as it was the most high profile, which is what it often comes down to in this category.

Tyler Perry. You sir make terrible films. And you aren't funny as a presenter... imagine that.

BEST EDITING - THE HURT LOCKER. Good. GREAT editing in that film. Worked on Drag Me to Hell too... great work this year from these editors. No competition.

The Hurt Locker montage. Amazing set pieces in that one.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM - This was a possibility. EL SECRETO DE SUS OJOS. The vote was split between people who know good film... The White Ribbon was great and A Prophet is INCREDIBLE. They split, and a film that is more palatable to generic Academy members wins. Ugh.

Avatar montage. Awfully generic film. Much of it is a montage... so a montage for the film is fitting. James Cameron keeps looking like a toolbag.

These actor talking on actor things are always a bit awkward.

BEST ACTOR - JEFF BRIDGES. Deserved out of the nominees. Fairly strong field. Bridges is so much the Dude.

Oprah speaking for Precious... predictable and boring.

BEST ACTRESS - SANDRA BULLOCK. Bleh. Tied for the bottom of the nominees with Meryl's Julia.

BEST DIRECTOR - KATYRN BIGELOW. Super deserved. Tarantino and Lee Daniels did great work too. Streisand was a bit of a bitch for saying the time has come... Lee Daniels looked like he was about to crack with that pressure. He would have been the first black winner. We get the first female winner, which is astounding by itself.

BEST FILM - THE HURT LOCKER. Avatar got shut down and out of big awards. Take that, king of the douche. Hurt Locker is solid and infinitely better than Avatar, but still not the best picture of the year. But it is a small movie that is expertly made, so it is good to see it slay Goliath.