Well, the Oscars have come and gone again. I wouldn’t say the results were unexpected, but they were, I would say, good. I’m glad, first and foremost, to see that Avatar, the gazillion-dollar blockbuster, didn’t sweep the podium. It had the potential to, and the rumour mill was buzzing like nobody’s business leading up to Sunday. But thankfully, common sense prevailed and the Academy decided that just because a movie was twenty years in the making, costs the GDP of a small nation, and brought it ten times that amount means that it deserves an award. Avatar, after all, is a movie about Indians and the White Man and of all the Best Picture nominees this year, this genre has definitely been done to death.
So instead, the good guys prevailed: The Hurt Locker, taking almost every award possible away from Avatar. It was interesting. James Cameron just sat there, nearly the whole time, with that smug look on his face: a look of arrogant confidence. It was with that expression, that smugness in mind, that it felt so good when Kathryn Bigelow took both Best Director and Best Picture. When she won, she was beside herself and it showed, she could barely stand up to receive her first and then second award. A sharp contrast to Cameron’s demeanor. One would say, just from looking at them, that she deserved it more.
But unfortunately, the movie I would’ve picked for the best out of these three didn’t really have a chance. Precious, in my opinion, was the best film out of the front-runners. I think it was far more impactful and a much more complete film than The Hurt Locker, ditto Avatar. Why it didn’t win is anyone’s guess, but I imagine it got lost in the shuffle. This year’s Academy Awards, wrongfully so, were billed as a battle between former husband and wife. While there was some mention of an African American filmmaker, possibly for the first time, taking home Best Picture, it wasn’t the headline like the Cameron-Bigelow affair was. Sadly, I think the best picture became a casualty of war—a victim of collateral damage.
It was a pretty solid night, though. Some unexpected things, one of which was Avatar winning almost nothing but another was the severe lack of banjo. Before the show, I took a vote with the friends at our Oscar Party, the question was: when do you think Steve Martin’s banjo will make an appearance. If Avatar losing everything was a big shocker, it’s only supplanted by the shock that Martin never had a chance to play us Camptown Races. I don’t know, but if Hugh Jackman gets to put on his dancing shoes, why doesn’t Steve Martin get to display his musical chops? After all, he does have a Grammy to his name. I would’ve bet good money on a Baldwin-Martin musical duet but instead we get, what, an opening musical number by Neil Patrick Harris? My apologies to N.P.H. fans, but I would’ve preferred to see the hosts perform.
Although the Oscars are over, I’m still getting through reviewing a few more nominated films. While we watched most of them, I couldn’t keep up with writing the reviews too—after all, I do have a day job, and it’s report card season right now. We just watched Up in the Air, The Lovely Bones, and Crazy Heart, so there are still lots more Oscar nominees coming up, stay tuned.
