Oscar Night's Biggest Winner: The Hurt Locker
In what had to be a major upset (at least to Avatar's James Cameron) the little film that could made a big impact on last night's Academy Awards.
Amid all the hype and speculation, not to mention its financing producer Nicolas Chartier, being banned from the Oscars, The Hurt Locker not only won best picture, but we now have our first Best Director award won by a woman, Kathyrn Bigelow.
Overall, it was an entertaining evening, with dual hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin doing a fantastic job of being funny (unless you are George Clooney), while keeping things moving along. The two took jabs at each other, the famous Hollywood elite in the audience and the film industry as a whole.
There weren't many surprises in the major categories, and most of the odds leading into the Oscars panned out. Christoph Waltz won best supporting actor, for his portrayal of the sickeningly perverse Nazi Jew-hunter Col. Hans Landa, in the bizarre, but brilliant Tarantino film, Inglourious Basterds.
Also not surprising was comedienne Mo'Nique's Best Supporting Actress in the almost-too-painful-to-watch film, Precious. The outspoken, and sometimes obnoxious actress, portrayed a vile, unflattering portrait of an abusive mother to the irrepressibly sweet Gabourey Sibide's Precious, and her performance didn't go unnoticed. She was expected to win, and win she did, making her only the fifth black actress to win an Oscar, four of which are supporting, the fifth belonging to Halle Berry who won Best Actress for Monster's Ball.
The Academy switched things up this year by putting the Best Actor category before Best Actress, and no one was surprised by Jeff Bridges win as Bad Blake in Crazy Heart. This was his fifth nomination for an Oscar, and the veteran from the showbiz family was well deserving. He also should get an award for being married to the same woman, the gorgeous Susan Geston, for 33-years. That's like a billion years in Hollywood time. Congrats to "The Dude!"
Up next was everyone's favorite Hollywood sweetheart, Sandra Bullock, who was expected to win for her role as Leigh Anne Tuohy in the uplifting tear-jerker The Blind Side. The self-effacing and always funny Bullock seemed genuinely touched by the win, but also pointed out she "wore them down" as her way of poking fun at the odds of winning in the stacked competition. In the Best Actress category with Bullock were Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren, and newcomers Gabourey Sibide and Carey Mulligan. Beating Streep and Mirren, is no easy feat.
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