MADness—the Blog

There’s not much to say about the show.  The two hosts, Martin and Baldwin, hardly did anything to make the night memorable.  I remember reading stories about Billy Crystal when he was hosting—there’d be four or five months of tireless preparation that went into the show, especially the opening act.  It showed.  It was funny.  Something to remember.  I suppose they don’t do that anymore.

But we’re not tuning in for the show anyway, right?  There are the awards!

The big winner, I was glad to see, was The Hurt Locker, winning Best Picture, Best Director, and six Oscars altogether.  I have lost track of the times I’ve been disappointed at the end of an Oscar show, so it’s gratifying to see the Academy do the right thing.

Tom Hanks, oddly, didn’t read the ten nominees.  Was that intentional, or did he forget?  Or was I nodding?  One other oddity:  the reading of the prize winners was not consistent.  Kate Winslet’s “…and the Oscar goes to…” was a contrast to the reading of other presenters, ”…and the winner is….”  Which is it these days?

The final tally:

6 — The Hurt Locker (Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing)
3 — Avatar (Cinematography, Art Direction, Visual Effects)
2 — Precious (Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay)
2 — Up (Animated Feature, Score)
2 — Crazy Heart (Actor, Song)
1 — The Blind Side (Actress)
1 — Inglourious Basterds (Supporting Actor)
1 — Star Trek (Makeup)
1 — The Young Victoria (Costume Design)
1 — El Secreto de Sus Ojos (Foreign-language Film)
1 — The Cove (Documentary Feature)
1 — Music by Prudence (Documentary Short)
1 — Longarama (Animated Short)
1 — The New Tenants (Live-action Short)

For what it’s worth (not a lot, actually), I was 16 of 24 on my predictions.

1. Bob Fitzpatrick says:

   March 9, 2010 at 7:05 am

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   They used to make a big deal out of not using the word “winner.” I remember when they started this, and then many times after when it would accidentally slip out and the presenter would correct themselves. After Sunday night, who knows?

   I thought the show moved at a good pace with the reordering of the awards–screenwriting up front, then rushing through the technicals mid-show. But it all fell apart during best acting presentations when they brought out the 5 actors to tell the nominees how wonderful they were (did they do that last year, too?). Tucci was the only good one. And was Farrell avoiding Bridges glare as he extolled Renner??

   Does anyone know what the hell Sean Penn was taking about before he presented?
2. John Farmer says:

   March 9, 2010 at 8:50 am

   Good point, Bob. It was odd to have Farrell talk about Renner after his role working with Bridges.

   Penn was having a bad night and should have skipped the ball. Not exactly a class act.