The 82nd Annual Academy Awards took place on Sunday, March 7, and was filled with a number of new additions to the usually predictable Oscar repertoire. Among them, in order of most to least understandable were the following: Ten Best Picture Nominees! Two Hosts! Strange Interpretative Dance Interpretations of Film Scores! But while the televised tricks might have been slightly tweaked, there was nothing really all that unexpected about the 82nd Academy Awards. Except for how much it lacked the excitement and glitz of, well, the Academy Awards.
The biggest story during the weeks leading up to ìthe biggest night in show business”† was the addition of five more nominees to the Best Picture award category. This had not been since 1943. They explained their decision by rationalizing that the move would help lesser known movies get a shot at world recognition. Which is why high grossing films like the tear-jerker ìThe Blind Side” and Pocohantas with aliens ìAvatar” were among the nominees. The real, and not so artfully hidden reason behind the expansion was that the Academy Awards have been steadily declining in ratings for the past decade. The last time more than 40 million people tuned in to the show was when the mega-successful Titanic was up for the award in 1997. The producers have thus expanded the playing field, hoping to bring in more viewers hoping to hear a monologue spoken entirely in Naívi, or blue men, with tail plugs.
And yet, the movie that walked away with the top prize was ìThe Hurt Locker,” which also has the distinction of being the lowest-grossing film in modern times to win the honor. Though this ìlittle war movie that could” was a hit at both awards shows and criticsí circles, it may not be what the average American movie-goer pays for at the megaplex. But, at arguably one of the last credible award shows still televised, the win was definitely one the art community could be proud of. Director of ìThe Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow walked away as the first woman to win the Best Director prize. She gracefully did not mention this milestone even once in her speech, having previously said to the press that the decision should be based on her work, not her gender. Her ex-husband, director James Cameron was not† the† ìking of the world” but the king of ìFX” when early favorite ìAvatar” only went home with three techincal awards. On the bright side, those ìaverage American viewers” that interest groups keep targeting did get to see Ben Stiller in blue paint in a very funny sketch.
The co-hosts, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, who are both extremely funny men, left me bored. The opening of the show took the form of a largely unfunny 15 minute long conversation between the two, who stood on opposite sides of the stage barely looking at each other as they delivered stale jokes that were obviously aimed at an older age group. Needless to say, I thought this was a major step down from last-yearís hugely entertaining triple threat Hugh Jackman, whoís skit involving his ìhomemade move sets” is still one of my favorite Oscar moments. Martin and Baldwin did deliver a few snappy intros, but largely, I forgot they even had a special part in the show.
The acting awards of the night went to the overwhelming favorites. Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock recieved their Best Actor and Actress statuettes for ìCrazy Heart” and ìThe Blind Side” respectively. Bridges played washed-up country singer Bad Blake, while Bullock took on the role of tough football mom, Lee Ann Tuohy, but these awards were given more for their overall career performance (Bridges) or their box-office star power (Bullock).
The supporting awards were completely deserved in Christoph Walz and Moí Nique, who played an extremely fluent Nazi and hideously abusive mother respectively. The only real surprise of the night came when Best Foreign Film favorite, Germanyís ìThe White Ribbon,” was beat out by the lesser-known ìEl Secreto de Sus Ojos” from Argentina. And in a truly bizarre twist, a pseudo-Kanye West/Taylor Swift debacle took place when the producers for Best Documentary Short winner ìMusic By Prudence” started squabbling over the microphone.
At least no one was hurt.