The Academy Awards

The 83^rd Academy Awards aired last night, and it was quite predictable. The King’s Speech was the big winner, while The Fighter, Inception, and Social Network also received some wins.

The hosting by James Franco and Anne Hathaway was very mediocre. James was pretty bad, as he didn’t seem like he cared. At times, it didn’t even seem like he was even there. That was unfortunate, because he has some good comedic background.

Hathaway was decent and tried to pick up the slack from Franco, but it didn’t work that well. The only parts I liked from them were the montages.

The opening where they were in the nominated movies was actually funny and the auto-tuned movies that Franco introduced were also good.

But most of the rest of what they did wasn’t that great. They barely did any jokes at the beginning, and the ones they did weren’t that good. I was expecting more and they didn’t quite deliver.

The special segments of the night were good, which included the “In Memoriam” segment, Billy Crystal telling a story about Bob Hope, and Kirk Douglass came out and talked for a few minutes before giving out an award.

As for the winners themselves, there were not many surprises. The King’s Speech won for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. Actually, director and screenplay were shocking to me.

I thought for sure that David Fincher was going to win for The Social Network and Inception would win for screenplay. However, Inception did win four awards itself.

They were all technical awards, but the film certainly deserved it. I thought it was great how every person who won an award for Inception completely glorified Christopher Nolan.

The man is a genius and I think the winners for Inception just wanted to remind the Academy just how bad they messed up by snubbing him again.

There were a few wins that I liked seeing. Natalie Portman (Black Swan) for Best Actress, Christian Bale (The Fighter) for Best Supporting Actor, and Melissa Leo (The Fighter) for Best Supporting Actress.

Leo had a very memorable speech, as she dropped the f-bomb. However, while there were some winners that made me happy, I still was upset at the award show as a whole.

First of all, Alice in Wonderland won two awards. That is just as many as The Fighter, Toy Story 3, and more than Black Swan (which only won one) and many other films that deserved an award.

I understand that the film excelled at Art Design and Costume Design, but come on. Even the Academy had to know that giving a film like Alice in Wonderland more awards than True Grit was a crime.

In fact, True Grit didn’t win anything. It got nominated for ten awards, but went home empty handed. That movie was just as good as The Social Network and Inception.

Anyway, my second complaint is The King’s Speech. It seems like every time there is a period piece about some King or Queen, the Academy gives it all the awards. I understand that those films are exactly what the Academy likes, but there were some really different and great films nominated this year that deserved it more.

No film in 2010 was more original than Inception and when was the last ballet movie out in theaters? How about a sports movie with some heavy drama? Or a western film that was not only great, but made a story that came from a book all it’s own?

It felt like lately that the Academy was going for something different. With films like Crash, The Departed, Slumdog Millionaire, and The Hurt Locker winning Best Picture, it seemed like a new era where films that weren’t just art films could win.

But, once again, we had to watch and see the same period piece about a King win all the awards. I am not saying it is a bad film, but I think that different kinds of films should have their time as well.

I thought that there were some rightfully won awards and some that should have never won. Either way, another year in movies is over and I thought it was a pretty good year.

Here’s hoping that 2011 can be just as good. I will now post the full list of winners.

Best Motion Picture – The King’s Speech

Best Director – Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech)

Best Actor in a Leading Role – Colin Firth (The King’s Speech)

Best Actress in a Leading Role – Natalie Portman (Black Swan)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Christian Bale (The Fighter)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Melissa Leo (The Fighter)

Best Animated Feature Film – Toy Story 3

Best Animated Short – The Lost Thing

Best Original Screenplay – The King’s Speech

Best Adapted Screenplay – The Social Network

Best Art Direction – Alice in Wonderland

Best Cinematography – Inception

Best Costume Design – Alice in Wonderland

Best Documentary Feature – Inside Job

Best Documentary Short – Strangers No More

Best Editing – The Social Network

Best Foreign Language Film – In a Better World

Best Live Action Short – God of Love

Best Makeup – The Wolfman

Best Original Score – The Social Network

Best Original Song – “We Belong Together” (Toy Story 3)

Best Sound Editing – Inception

Best Sound Mixing – Inception

Best Visual Effects - Inception