2010 OSCARS: Recapping the Show
Ugh, can we do that one over again?
I’m not only referring to my predictions which were uncharacteristically poor, but also the show itself. I haven’t read many other people’s thoughts on the show, but I was quite unimpressed. This was the weakest show in recent memory. Maybe it’s awards fatigue this year, or perhaps it was just frustration over some of the winners, but honestly, I just thought it was a poorly planned, poorly produced show.
I went 14/24 on my predictions. It wasn’t awful, but it should’ve been better. I got both screenplay categories wrong (The Hurt Locker and Precious won while I predicted Inglourious Basterds and Up in the Air). Both sound categories wrong (went with Avatar instead of The Hurt Locker). All three short film categories wrong (I don’t think anyone picked Music for Prudence, did they?), as well as art direction and cinematography (so much for my big Sherlock Holmes upset). The major stuff I got right, but who didn’t?
As for the show itself, it wasn’t all bad. Here’s a top ten list of the good, followed by a top (or bottom) ten list of the not-so-good, in no particular order.
The Good:
1.) Mo’Nique wins Best Supporting Actress and gives the night’s most moving speech.
2.) Michael Giacchino wins Best Original Score for Up and gives an surprisingly inspiring and meaningful speech.
3.) Christoph Waltz and Jeff Bridges win Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor, respectively.
4.) Logorama guy gave an interesting speech for Best Animated Short.
5.) The awkward situation for Best Documentary Short. It was weird, but in a night of overly rehearsed moments, something that off the cuff is refreshing.
6.) Say what you will about Sandra Bullock’s victory (I say plenty below), but her speech was quite good.
7.) Nice balance between Avatar‘s tech victories and The Hurt Locker‘s big victories. Both were worthy of whatever came their way last night.
8.) The three Hurt Locker guys on stage for the Best Picture win were comically giddy.
9.) Some of Martin and Baldwin’s jokes were funny.
10.) Since I don’t really have anything else, but want to have a top ten…I’ll just say Meryl Streep and George Clooney because the camera loved them last night.
The Bad:
1.) A lot of Martin and Baldwin’s jokes weren’t funny.
2.) Up in the Air shut out!
3.) Inglourious Basterds only wins for Supporting Actor
4.) The presenters—why should Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron, Taylor Lautner, etc. even be there? Give us some real actors. Enough with this “trying to be young” shit.
5.) Best Original Score dance routine. It was stupid.
6.) Best Picture was so rushed. It’s supposed to be the culmination of the year in movies.
7.) Maybe this one is just me, but I kind of though the Bigelow win would be a bigger deal. It was a bit of an anti-climax, although she deserved her win.
8.) The horror film montage: Big, unnecessary time waster…and what the fuck was a clip of Twilight doing in a classic horror movie montage? It’s neither classic nor horror.
9.) No matter how expected it was, I was unable to prepare myself for Sandra Bullock’s travesty of a victory. Way to go Academy, ignoring the brilliant work of Mulligan, Streep, and Sidibe in favor of a nice, charming girl whose sassiness somehow got confused for great acting.
10.) I just thought everything was so bland and ordinary. Last year (my favorite show I’ve seen), they broke up the tech categories and explained everything; showed how the nominees did what they did. Everything was better paced. Musical numbers were fun. This year, two seemingly random people just came out and gave an award. The whole production seemed haphazard. It was a disappointment.
That’s all I got. Here’s to next year!
