82nd Academy Awards Run Down

By Maricor Capulong


Although this year, the Academy awards expanded their nominations to further include the under-indie dogs. I think that they should have stayed with the old format. Why may you ask? Because they were very thorough with trimming the fat and choosing the best of the year's end in films. I truly think that including more nominations, lessens the importance of winning an Oscar.

Lets get down to the nominations shall we?

Best Picture

For best picture we have "The Hurt Locker" Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. I am not a fan of this movie, just because I did not like the over all story. I fail to feel anything for the main character, his apathetic stance on war, and simply his love of high stress situations. I also did not grasp the onset stance of the film about war. In the beginning, we see that the characters hate war and even question why they are there, then the film does a 180 turn and have the main character go back to it as though he missed it more than missing his family. There are some strong points to this movie, the casting director did a great job hiring Jeremy Renner as William James, Guy Pearce and Ralph Fiennes in small but very memorable supporting roles. I do think that the movie won due to the director being an ex wife to James Cameron, and having this David and Goliath feel.

Hey there is always intrigue and drama everywhere, so I would not be surprised if the Academy just wanted to give a show of the middle finger to James, by making his ex-wife be the winner.

I'm just kidding, this movie was a great start for Kathryn Bigelow, but I did not think it was the right movie for her to win an Oscar for.

I wanted Inglourious Basterds to win, I am a big Quentin fan. I feel like he needs to win an oscar this year simply because this movie was pure genius. What can be wrong with a little espionage, world war II era violence, and taking revenge (even in fantasy) on the Nazis?

Best Actor
"Crazy Heart"

Well deserved, always nominated, and in the 82nd awards he finally won the award he deserves.

I loved him in The vanishing, which co-stars Fellow Oscar winner Sandra Bullock. I did not see crazy heart, but his repertoire speaks loud to me, and I believe that he deserved this Oscar. Congrats to Jeff Bridges.

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock
"The Blind Side"

I love Sandra Bullock. Although she has not been good at choosing the greatest roles to show off her acting abilities, she finally chose the best one in "The blind side." The first time I was moved by her performance was in a scene from " Practical Magic" when she was forlorn about her lost husband, the scene was a breaking point in which she greatly expressed the feeling of losing a very beloved person. I just hope she follows this big feat with more movies that would show more of her versatility. I also loved her in "A time to kill" a paralegal intent on making right what was wrong in the Southern court system. I hope she takes on some more of the indie films, just to strip the glitz and glamor off of her, and take on more gutsy, dirty, dark roles. Congrats Sandra!

The John Hughes tribute was very heart felt. I love his movies and he will be greatly missed. Who else can capture teenage angst in films, now that he's gone. It is true, as one of the actors said about Hughes, that he captured teenagers as young budding adults. Without veiling too much unnecessary sexuality, or drama, John Hughes made teen films simple. If ever I wanted to let my future children watch what real teenagers feel or should be, I would want them to watch his films. Its not too clean that it sugar coats problems, but not too abrasive where characters sleep with one another and have lesbian experiences like "Gossip girl."

Great night for film indeed!