Ian Phillips ’10
A&E Editor
This year, the Academy Awards was fairly predictable, yet managed to be one of the better ones in recent memory.
As expected, “The Hurt Locker” took home the big prize at the Academy Awards, as well as five other Oscars. As expected, “Hurt Locker” director Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman ever to take home the Best Director prize.
The only real surprise of the night came in the Screenplay categories. The Best Adapted Screenplay category seemed like a done deal, “Up in the Air” had it basically since it came out in December. It’s balance of comedy and drama, along with its ability to be both original and faithful, made it seem like a shoo-in. Instead, the heart-wrenching screenplay for “Precious” took home the prize.
Inglorius Basterds didn’t get totally shut out: Waltz got his well-deserved Best Supporting Actor trophy. As Waltz’s Landa might say, “That’s a bingo!” Let’s hope he rides this to a fortuitous future career.
Another win, although expected, was still no less exciting. Jeff Bridges won the first Oscar of his long career for his performance as a burnt out country singer in “Crazy Heart.” There’s nothing much more to say about the greatness of Bridges besides “The Dude Abides.”
No surprises in the female acting categories, either. Mo’Nique took home an Oscar for something that will not be lost in time and Sandra Bullock won for “The Blind Side.”
The biggest up was the two hosts: Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. Both men are funny and charismatic, but two hosts seemed like too much. However, the two actors read off their scripted banter in the most perfect harmony. And they threw out a few good improvised lines, as well, a huge improvement from last years performance by song-and-dance man Hugh Jackman.
Before the winners were announced, the Best Picture race was defined as a race between “The Hurt Locker” and “Avatar,” a true David and Goliath story.
This isn’t the first David and Goliath Oscar race, but this was one of the first where David came out the victor. It makes you think now that maybe “Goodfellas” could’ve beaten “Dances with Wolves,” “Pulp Fiction” could’ve beaten “Forrest Gump,” or even “L.A. Confidential” could’ve beaten “Titanic.”
Will “The Hurt Locker” be remembered down the road as a cinematic classic, or one of Oscar’s biggest mistakes? Maybe in the future it’ll be known as the best film made about the Iraq War, with “Inglourious Basterds” and “A Serious Man” being masterpieces ahead of their time, “Avatar” a fun blockbuster that changed visual cinema, “District 9” a sci-fi film on the same level with “Blade Runner,” and “Up in the Air” as an example for aspiring filmmakers of how to write a good script.
What I’m trying to say is that no matter who won, this was a rare year where almost every film and filmmaker earned their nominations. Here’s to hoping 2010 is going to be another good year for cinema.
