Is everyone still in shock? Why no Oscar talk after the big show?

[Harry Caul]

BEST PICTURE
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

BEST DIRECTOR
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
James Cameron, Avatar
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air

BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

BEST ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo'nique, Precious

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Quentino Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Peter Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy, Up

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell, District 9
Nick Hornby, An Education
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche, In The Loop
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ajami, Israel
El Secretro de sus Ojo, Argentina
The Milk of Sorrow, Peru
Un Prophete, France
The White Ribbon, Germany

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Princess and the Frog
The Secrets of Kells
Up

ART DIRECTION
Avatar Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
Nine Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
Sherlock Holmes Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Young Victoria Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar Mauro Fiore
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Bruno Delbonnel
The Hurt Locker Barry Ackroyd
Inglourious Basterds Robert Richardson
The White Ribbon Christian Berger

COSTUME DESIGN
Bright Star Janet Patterson
Coco before Chanel Catherine Leterrier
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Monique Prudhomme
Nine Colleen Atwood
The Young Victoria Sandy Powell

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Burma VJ Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
The Cove Nominees to be determined
Food, Inc. Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
Which Way Home Rebecca Cammisa

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
Music by Prudence Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
Rabbit à la Berlin Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

FILM EDITING
Avatar Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
District 9 Julian Clarke
The Hurt Locker Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
Inglourious Basterds Sally Menke
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire Joe Klotz

MAKEUP
Il Divo Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
Star Trek Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
The Young Victoria Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

ORIGINAL SCORE
Avatar James Horner
Fantastic Mr. Fox Alexandre Desplat
The Hurt Locker Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
Sherlock Holmes Hans Zimmer
Up Michael Giacchino

ORIGINAL SONG
Almost There from The Princess and the Frog Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
Down in New Orleans from The Princess and the Frog Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
Loin de Paname from Paris 36 Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
Take It All from Nine Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart) from Crazy Heart Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

ANIMATED SHORT
French Roast Fabrice O. Joubert
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte) Javier Recio Gracia
Logorama Nicolas Schmerkin
A Matter of Loaf and Death Nick Park

LIVE ACTION SHORT
The Door Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
Instead of Abracadabra Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
Kavi Gregg Helvey
Miracle Fish Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
The New Tenants Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

SOUND EDITING
Avatar Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
The Hurt Locker Paul N.J. Ottosson
Inglourious Basterds Wylie Stateman
Star Trek Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
Up Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

SOUND MIXING
Avatar Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
The Hurt Locker Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
Inglourious Basterds Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
Star Trek Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
District 9 Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
Star Trek Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

[ddilts399]

I thought Hurt Locker would get the director award, but was shocked it won best picture.

[paul waines]

I got the out come I wanted, Hurt Locker is a first rate film. A big budget, and over use of CGI dose not make a winner. Full marks to Hurt Locker and all who were involved.

[supraman079]

I'm happy Hurt Locker won over Avatar. Don't get me wrong, Avatar is a great movie experience but Hurt Locker is a better story and is a new story. Avatar's story has been seen with Dances With Wolves and Last of the Mohicans which both won academy awards already. Avatar did get it for visual as it should have because it was ground breaking. I don't think the academy got it wrong this year.

[Louie D.]

I got the out come I wanted, Hurt Locker is a first rate film. A big budget, and over use of CGI dose not make a winner. Full marks to Hurt Locker and all who were involved.

Agreed, I'm seriously done with CGI.

[CSM]

Oscars hold little meaning for me.  Like everything else, it is completely overrun by marketing and the almighty $...

[Harry Caul]

5 replies in 20 minutes... I knew there were some feelings not being expressed!

I'm not going to lie and say that I saw all the nominees, but I did see Hurt Locker, Avatar (in 3D), Inglourious Basterds, District 9 and Up.  I enjoyed all of them but frankly, I thought District 9 might have been the best of the bunch.

The Hurt Locker was great, but for a movie that billed itself as a "authentic" experience from the perspective of a soldier I thought a lot of the plot elements were absurd.  I'm all for creative license, but you can't have it both ways.  I'm sorry, but bomb disposal teams don't get to go on impromptu sniper missions with no escorts.  And one of the final shots back home (staring at all the products on the grocery store shelves) has also been done a million times before... that distracted a bit for me personally.

Again though, I did think it was a great movie and I'm not upset that it won.  I spent the whole hour and a half drive home (yes, I had to go that far to even see it!) defending it to a couple of Argentinians we saw it with.  They thought it was a macho bull-shit action movie and that Renner's character glorified violence by never getting injured (i.e. only sissies get killed... America, FUCK YEAH!)... not to mention that it ignored the politics of war and why were there all together.  I tried to explain, unsuccessfully, that that was the point

Anyway, I just wanted to point out that it was not just Avatar vs. Hurt Locker for me like it was apparently for the press/academy... I thought the five that I saw were all very strong and I could make cases for any of them.  That said, none of them really screamed BEST PICTURE either.  I kind of just shrugged my shoulders when it was announced last night...

[supraman079]

not to mention that it ignored the politics of war and why were there all together.  I tried to explain, unsuccessfully, that that was the point

That's why it did so well. All the other Iraq War films done recently have all had some political agenda behind them. If people want to see the politics they'll turn on the news. Another reason why Lions for Lambs was such a bomb.

I didn't like District 9 and I knew the IB was based off a B movie, so that was going to make it hard for the academy to vote for it against some of the others. Overall, the academy doesn't give respect to Horror Films, Comedies, and B movies.

[ddilts399]

I expected Avatar to get BP due to overall film success. The Academy tends to vote based on body of work, and "I guess we better let it win one of the big ones" mentality.

The more I see Jeff Bridges at the awards this year, the more I think he wasn't acting as the Dude by just being Jeff Bridges.

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Ben Stiller dressing up in Navi makeup was the best part of that show.  Otherwise very uneven show. But really Cameron deserved Best Director - he worked non-stop on that movie for eight years and tremendously advanced movie technology.  20 years from now Hurt Locker will be long forgotten and Avatar will be seen as a milestone, despite its plot flaws.

[linder1]

I didn't like District 9 and I knew the IB was based off a B movie, so that was going to make it hard for the academy to vote for it against some of the others. Overall, the academy doesn't give respect to Horror Films, Comedies, and B movies.

Forgive my ignorance, but "IB"?  What does this mean?

I liked District 9 quite a bit.  For me it was the best film I saw last year... but I didn't see Hurt Locker, just didn't have the right occasion / mood to go see it.

[Harry Caul]

Forgive my ignorance, but "IB"?  What does this mean?

Inglourious Basterds

[supraman079]

Here's an article and polls to vote.

[holiday]

I agree - they had some real chutzpah this time, the Academy.  I was happy with The Jew Hunter getting his award - he was fantastic.  Up! deserved its award.  Sandra Bullock also, I must say.  She was easy to watch, easy to listen to, and the story to my surprise was watchable.  The Hurt Locker is painfully good.  Personally, though, District 9 is my favorite of the 10 nominees.  Overall, it was a very surprising show.

[brude]

Long ago, I gave up on the Academy Awards as the final word on a film's 'greatness.'  It seems that the most memorable films of all time have never won the top award.  It is a long list.

As always though, there were interesting choices this year.

But, what did I like best about the show itself?

The tribute to Horror.  This surprised me because horror was not a factor amongst the nominees.  Not that I'm complaining, it was a slick little montage.  I didn't catch Oscar's end credits to see if it was Chuck Workman's work, who did so many excellent montages for the Academy in the past.

The John Hughes tribute was nice.  Also nice to listen to real-live tributes from so many of the youngsters who made their marks in his films.

Lauren Bacall.  What can I say?  I loved her back in the day and it was cool seeing her again.  What I didn't like is that she should have been brought up on stage, rather than left in the confusion on the floor.  She is true Tinseltown royalty and should have been treated appropriately.

Speaking of royalty, where were all of the Oscar-attendee mainstays? Frankly, I thought there were too many 'kids' present who haven't earned their wings yet or the privilege of attending the most advertised -- and televised -- film awards ceremony of the year.

Favorite acceptance speech of the evening goes to Bridges.  His acknowledgment of Dad and Mom (Lloyd and Dorothy) was a certifiable 'Oscar moment.'  Then, the Dude started rambling....

Sadly, "Avatar" joins "Star Wars" and "E.T." as yet another hugely popular sci-fi bypassed by the Academy.  "Hurt Locker" was terrific, but IMO -- like "Annie Hall" and "Gandhi" -- didn't deserve top honors.  And, like "Star Wars" and "E.T.," "Avatar" is earning REAL gold. 

I'm sure Cameron looks no diff than Spielberg and Lucas when they tally up their bank statements.

[eatbrie]

You have to remember that the Academy hates Cameron... too big, too rich, too powerful...  There is a lot of resentment in this business.  Come to think of it, it is all about resentment.  Once a year, they get together at the big kiss-ass fest, congratulate each other, schmooze, but at the end of the day, they really hate each other.  Remember Spielberg being nominated for 11 AA in 1985 for "The Color Purple" and coming home with... zero ("Out of Africa" got it all).  Why?  Because a couple of years earlier, Spielberg had directed a little movie named "E.T." and Academy members were like: "Enough is enough!"  Each ones of these directors eventually makes a movie that voters cannot disregard, i.e. "Schindler's List" or "Titanic".

Here's a good article as to why "Avatar" lost: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1970502,00.html

Only time will tell, of course, but I suspect "The Hurt Locker" to be remembered as one of those "lesser" Best Picture winners, like "Slumdog Millionaire" last year, and many, many others.  This is why I decided a while back to collect posters for ALL the nominees, since they seemed more interesting than the actual winners.

As far as Lauren Bacall and Roger Corman, it was a decision by the Academy to cut the Lifetime Achievement award out of the ceremony for time constraint (and revive younger viewers' interest).  Why did they have to add this horrible dance number at the beginning, I don't know, but with 41 million viewers (up from 36 last year), I guess they won their bet.

T

[Louie D.]

E.T. blew.