And the big night is finally here. For those of you keeping track, I made some Oscar predictions last month in some of the major categories. Now that the awards are finally being handed out, let's see how much I got right:
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, for Inglourious Basterds. He gave a very gracious speech. Good for him.
Best Animated Feature: Up. No big surprise here. I have to admit that I haven't see it yet, but I haven't heard anybody say anything bad about this flick. Gonna have to check it out soon. Personally, I'm a little disappointed The Princess and the Frog didn't win, but Pixar is seemingly unstoppable (but they are pretty good at what they do). Hopefully, their domination of the Best Animated Feature category will force other animators to step up their game in the years to come. No offense, but I'd like to see someone else win this one. But until that happens, let's see if they take it again next year for Toy Story 3. Good job and congratulations, Pixar!
Best Original Screenplay: Mark Boal for The Hurt Locker. Very nice. This could bode good things for the movie tonight. We'll see.
The John Hughes Tribute: That was very touching. It was nice to see so many stars from his movies come together to remember him and honor his family. Movies like The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, Some Kind of Wonderful, and of course, Ferris Bueller's Day Off spoke to an entire generation, and were some of the most memorable movies of the last 25 years. Well done, guys. Mr. Hughes, rest in peace and we miss you...
Best Adapted Screenplay: Geoffrey Fletcher for Precious. Looks like this movie is off to a great start for Oscar night. We'll see if the movie wins any other of its nominated awards. Mr. Fletcher is the first African-American to win a screenwriting Academy Award. Very cool, and history in the making, too.
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique for Precious. And that makes two for Precious tonight. After all of the other acting awards she's garnered for this role, it's not surprising that Mo'Nique's taking home Oscar gold tonight.
Best Cinematography: Mauro Fiore for Avatar. Just what I thought. A well-deserved award for a visually stunning film.
Best Original Score: Michael Giacchino for (Up). Looks like I called this one, too. Never bet against a Pixar movie.
Best Visual Effects: And who out there seriously believed that someone other than Avatar would win? What remains to be seen is if Avatar will walk away with the little gold man for any of the bigger awards. Stay tuned, we'll find out pretty soon.
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart. I've been a fan of his for a very long time and I'm really glad to see him win this one.
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side. Despite what I said last month, the feeling I was getting about this award was for Sandra. She was the nominee I was looking at when the winner was announced. I think she was a little surprised when she won. She has quite the sense of humor, as she demonstrated in her acceptance speech. I'm glad she won the little gold guy.
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow!!!! Whoo-hoo! Awesome director of an equally awesome movie. And the very first woman to win this major award. Ms. Bigelow gave a very gracious speech. You could tell how touched she was by her win. I couldn't be more pleased by this choice. Good job, motion picture academy...
Best Picture: The Hurt Locker. Very pleased to see this film win the biggest prize. And equally glad to see Ms. Bigelow holding two Oscars in her hands. If you haven't seen this film yet, check it out.
Well, that's it for another year, folks. Let's do this again next year - same time, same blog - to find out which films from 2010 will take home Oscar gold.
Until then, I hope you have a magic time at the movies. I know I will.
