Monday, March 8, 2010

The Oscars 2k10

The Oscars 2k10

Oscar season has come and Oscar season has gone. The dust is settling once again to leave behind a trail of dissapointment and bewilderment as the Oscar night was filled with surprises. Who won and how do I think about it? Let’s find out!

The Wieners … Euh, winners … sorry: (As copied and pasted from Comingsoon.net)

BEST PICTURE:
**Winner** The Hurt Locker
Avatar (20th Century Fox)
The Blind Side (Warner Bros.)
District 9 (TriStar)
An Education (Sony Pictures Classics),
Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company)
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Lionsgate)
A Serious Man (Focus Features)
Up (Disney•Pixar)
Up in the Air (Paramount)

DIRECTING:
**Winner** Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment)
James Cameron - Avatar (20th Century Fox)
Jason Reitman - Up in the Air (Paramount)
Lee Daniels - Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Lionsgate)
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company)

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
**Winner** Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart (Fox Searchlight)
George Clooney - Up in the Air (Paramount)
Colin Firth - A Single Man (The Weinstein Company)
Morgan Freeman - Invictus (Warner Bros.)
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
**Winner** Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side (Warner Bros.)
Helen Mirren - The Last Station (Sony Pictures Classics)
Carey Mulligan - An Education (Sony Pictures Classics)
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Lionsgate)
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia (Columbia Pictures)

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
**Winner** Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company)
Matt Damon - Invictus (Warner Bros.)
Woody Harrelson - The Messenger (Oscilloscope)
Christopher Plummer - The Last Station (Sony Pictures Classics)
Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones (Paramount)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
**Winner** Mo'Nique - Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Lionsgate)
Penelope Cruz - Nine (The Weinstein Company)
Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air (Paramount)
Maggie Gyllenhaal - Crazy Heart (Fox Searchlight)
Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air (Paramount)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
**Winner** Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Lionsgate), Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
District 9 (TriStar), Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
An Education (Sony Pictures Classics), Screenplay by Nick Hornby
In the Loop (IFC Films), Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
Up in the Air (Paramount), Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
**Winner** The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment), Written by Mark Boal
Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company), Written by Quentin Tarantino
The Messenger (Oscilloscope), Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
A Serious Man (Focus Features), Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Up (Disney•Pixar), Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
**Winner** El Secreto de sus Ojos (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haddock Films Production, Argentina
Ajami (Kino International), An Inosan Production, Israel
The Milk of Sorrow, A Wanda Visión/Oberon Cinematogràfica/Vela Production, Peru
Une Prophéte (Sony Pictures Classics), A Why Not/Page 114/Chic Films Production, France
The White Ribbon (Sony Pictures Classics), An X Filme Creative Pool/Wega Film/Les Films du Losange/Lucky Red Production, Germany

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
**Winner** Up (Disney•Pixar), Pete Docter
Coraline (Focus Features), Henry Selick
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Fox Searchlight), Wes Anderson
The Princess and the Frog (Walt Disney), John Musker and Ron Clements
The Secret of Kells (GDKIDS), Tomm Moore

ART DIRECTION:
**Winner** 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

CINEMATOGRAPHY:
**Winner** 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

COSTUME DESIGN:
**Winner** The Young Victoria (Apparition), Sandy Powell
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

FILM EDITING:
**Winner** The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment), Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
Avatar (20th Century Fox), Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
District 9 (TriStar), Julian Clarke
Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company), Sally Menke
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Lionsgate), Joe Klotz

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
**Winner** The Cove (Roadside Attractions), An Oceanic Preservation Society Production, Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens
Burma VJ (Oscilloscope Laboratories), A Magic Hour Films Production, Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
Food, Inc. (Magnolia Pictures), A Robert Kenner Films Production, Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (First Run Features ), A Kovno Communications Production, Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
Which Way Home, A Mr. Mudd Production, Rebecca Cammisa

MAKEUP:
**Winner** Star Trek (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
Il Divo (MPI Media Group through Music Box), Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
The Young Victoria (Apparition), Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

ORIGINAL SCORE:
**Winner** Up (Disney•Pixar), Michael Giacchino
Avatar (20th Century Fox), James Horner
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Fox Searchlight), Alexandre Desplat
The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment), Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
Sherlock Holmes (Warner Bros.), Hans Zimmer

ORIGINAL SONG:
**Winner** "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from Crazy Heart (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
"Almost There" from The Princess and the Frog (Walt Disney), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Down in New Orleans" from The Princess and the Frog (Walt Disney), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Loin de Paname" from Paris 36 (Sony Pictures Classics), Music by Reinhardt Wagner, Lyric by Frank Thomas
"Take It All" from Nine (The Weinstein Company), Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston

SOUND MIXING:
**Winner** The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment), Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
Avatar (20th Century Fox), Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company), Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
Star Trek (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro, Distributed by Paramount), Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

SOUND EDITING:
**Winner** The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment), Paul N.J. Ottosson
Avatar (20th Century Fox), Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company), Wylie Stateman
Star Trek (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
Up (Disney•Pixar), Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

VISUAL EFFECTS:
**Winner** Avatar (20th Century Fox), Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
District 9 (TriStar), Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
Star Trek (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

DOCUMENTARY SHORT:
**Winner** Music by Prudence, An iThemba Production, Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province, A Downtown Community Television Center Production, Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner, A Just Media Production, Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant, A Community Media Production, Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
Rabbit à la Berlin (Deckert Distribution), An MS Films Production, Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

ANIMATED SHORT FILM:
**Winner** Logorama (Autour de Minuit), An Autour de Minuit Production, Nicolas Schmerkin
French Roast, A Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films Production, Fabrice O. Joubert
Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty (Brown Bag Films), A Brown Bag Films Production, Nicky Phelan and Darragh O'Connell
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte), A Kandor Graphics and Green Moon Production, Javier Recio Gracia
A Matter of Loaf and Death (Aardman Animations), An Aardman Animations Production, Nick Park

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM:
**Winner** The New Tenants, A Park Pictures and M & M Production, Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson
The Door (Network Ireland Television), An Octagon Films Production, Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
Instead of Abracadabra (The Swedish Film Institute), A Directörn & Fabrikörn Production, Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
Kavi, A Gregg Helvey Production, Gregg Helvey
Miracle Fish (Premium Films), A Druid Films Production, Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
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Most of these I do not care about. What I’m here to discuss is the travesty surrounding The Hurt Locker and Avatar. Whilst both movies deserve their credit where it’s due, neither of them truly deserved the Best Picture statue. Even though they seemed to be the only ones running for it. The Hurt Locker especially did not deserve to be even nominated in the same year that Watchmen was DENIED from being nominated to begin with. As this movie was superior to The Hurt Locker. For me, there was only one true winner for this category and that was Basterds. True, the movie was too long in certain scenes and it did not a few tweeks here and there … but the movie was far better. That first chapter in Basterds alone would be good enough.
Now, The Hurt Locker also got several other statues that it most definitely did not deserve. Let’s start with Best Director. The movie needed a better director, really. There were so many things that needed to be changed in order for this movie to truly shine. Following this is Writing. Now there’s a statue that the movie did not deserve. The Hurt Locker has been made before, it’s been made better and it’s certainly not new or innovative. Hell, it’s just about better than Avatar. When it comes to director, I’d have given the award to Neill Blomkamp. Then there’s other awards like Best Editing. My ass. That movie was a mess when it came to editing. My thoughts throughout the movie were: FOCUS. Lady, FOCUS. The only reason this movie got the awards it did get was because the director had boobs.
Avatar deserved the statues it got when it comes to its visuals though.

Oh and Sandra Bullock won an award that should also have been sent out to the one thousand other actresses and actors even that performed the same part in other movies exactly like it.

Lastly, I think that we need to stop caring about the Oscars. It’s gone the road of Spike’s Game of the Year Awards, as in it rarely hit’s the nail on the head. It’s nothing more than an advertisement for a movie. As Moviebob said, if anyone remembers The Hurt Locker by next year, I’ll be surprised. Then there’s the fact that in a clip of memorable horror movies, Twilight was put between The Exorcist, The Shining, Jaws and others. Proof and Point that the Oscars are a hoax.

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