The 82nd Academy Awards: Na'vi for "Suck it, Cameron"

Well boy was I very very impressed with the Oscars last night. While I’m not going to do a very thorough recap of the Oscar, I’ll simply say that they again were an amazing success. Following a similar path to the look and feel of last year’s show (hosted by master-classman Hugh Jackman), the 82nd Oscar ceremony went a slightly more funny route but still retained oodles of class.  That’s something that I believe has been missing in recent years and I’m glad to see the return to form.

So while I’m not going to give the nominees, the winners and an entire dissertation of my thoughts, here’s a quick rundown of the things I believed worked so well (plus a few biased “hell yeahs” for some of my favorite wins).

Although a great many people seem to disagree with me, I believe Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin had a great chemistry throughout the night (plus the Snuggie cut away had me in stitches). While they didn’t try in the least to disguise their “we’re reading the teleprompter” deliveries, they sold some really great lines that were suited to their comic stylings.

Much love was felt for Christoph Waltz (plus a few cartwheels and backflips from yours truly) with his win for Best Supporting Actor. His win for that performance was so very deserving and the acceptance speech was extremely heartfelt. You could see him shaking as he was walking away from the microphone and that really make me smile. Even mighty actors get nervous too…or was it acting? “Genius! Thank You!! Thank You!!” 🙂

In my eyes, the best award presentation “set-up” was definitely the Tina Fey/Robert Downey Jr. skit. To me, they really characterized the contempt the writers and actors have for each other in a way that was both satirical and almost a real life shoving match.  So hilarious were their deliveries and their back and forth was the stuff of legend. Best part of the show if you ask me.

Now I find it difficult writing anything about this next guy but his skit deserves just a little attention. Ben Stiller (who to this day I’m still am not a fan of) proved yet again how he is straying further and further from ever being taken seriously, and now embraces the fact that he is the unofficial Academy Awards ‘mascot’. While I don’t subscribe to his brand of humor, he did get a few chuckles out of me, so I will give him that small credit.

The best acceptance speech, hands down, was (of all people) given by Mo’nique who took the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. I believe her one line, where she quoted her husband as saying that sometimes you have to “forgo doing what is popular in order to do what is right”, is something I believe everyone in all walks of life can and should take note of. It’s something like that which I believe people need to keep that kind of spirit in their subconscious as it will make us all better people if we did.

Next Up (little play on words there), I got so very happy (even more elated than for Christoph Waltz‘ win) when Michael Giacchino won for Best Score. Up truly was the most deserving score as it was, to me, the most impacting emotional music of all 5 nominated films…and for an animated picture, that really really says something. Although I was impressed by the dance routines, I really found myself asking “what was the point of that?” when it was over.

While it seems that The Hurt Locker picked up steam and never looked back this year, I found it particularly funny that Kathryn Bigelow was sat right in front of James Cameron. I bet there were some eyes boring holes in Kathryn’s head for a good part of the show. However, much love for Cameron aside, Biglelow deserved the win for Best Director, but (and I will probably get heat for this) but The Hurt Locker wasn’t everything that everyone is saying it is. It’s a good movie but it’s been hyped beyond tolerable capacity. I was really expecting it to come down to Inglourious Basterds (my top choice) and Precious, personally but hey, with 10 nominees, everyone’s a winner, right?

So we got some laughs, some tears and the utter strike-out for the majority of awards for Avatar. Sorry James, I feel your pain. You spent almost 4 Olympics’ working on the most profitable movie in history, you may have masterminded the 2 biggest movies ever created, but in the Academy’s eyes, you’re just another George Lucas. Hell, even Peter Jackson took home gold for his fan boy film so I know a great many people thought you were a lock. Man, I bet it was sooo tough to watch your ex-wife steal your thunder (and a whole lot of categories while she’s at it) huh?. I feel for you but props to Bigelow for the huge upset. She really didn’t expect the win as the look of sheer (or shell) shock looked genuine for the back to back wins…or was it acting? “Genius!…Thank You!! Thank You!!”

So that was what we humble 3 at Go, See, Talk! thought of the 82nd Academy Awards. What about you? Agree, disagree, anyone have anything in particular they want to comment on?