Oprah gives her seal of approval at the Academy Awards

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Kathryn Bigelow has now created a brand new era for the potential of female directors.  It doesn’t surprise me that Avatar didn’t walk away with any of the top prizes.  Although the film showcases excellence in technology, it doesn’t achieve that same feat in storytelling and character development. 

Here is a breakdown of my pros and cons for the night.

Pros:

*I think there were a lot of great parts to the show.  The John Hughes tribute was beautiful.  Molly Ringwald epitomizes what Hughes’ movies were all about and for her to be there made the tribute all the more special.  After the highlight reel, it was wonderful to see a handful of the people Hughes helped make famous.  However, half of them looked like time hasn’t been so nice to them.  Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy and Macauly Culkin all were looking a little on the rough side.  In addition to Ringwald, no proper Hughes tribute would be complete without the face of Jon Cryer’s “Duckie,” Matthew Broderick’s “Ferris” and Anthony Michael Hall’s “Brian/Farmer Ted.”

*Oscar producer, Adam Shankman,  made good on his promise of making the show more current and entertaining.  His collection of dancers were phenomenal during their performances, especially the big number during the Original Score category.  There is a tiny part of me though that isn’t sure the Oscars are the right medium for Shankman to show off his So You Think You Can Dance favorites.

*I really liked how the seating arrangement was different than the standard straight rows.  The stage was really nice, but I was waiting for someone to trip.  At the beginning of the show, the stage reminded me of what old bandstands used to look like.

*Ben Stiller took a risk as he came to present the Best Makeup category dressed as a Na’vi character from Avatar.  His personal commentary made it work.  Tina Fey and Robert Downey, Jr. definitely win the best presenter prize in my book.  They were sarcastic, funny and had great chemistry.

 *My favorite dressed celebs included Kristen Stewart, Anna Kendrick, Cameron Diaz, Rachel McAdams, Meryl Streep and Elizabeth Banks.

Cons:

*Hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin definitely had some humorous moments, but I can’t say they were a total win for the show.  The opening played it kind of safe.  They announced a variety of actors, said something witty and then clapped.  And clapped some more.  The opening by Neil Patrick Harris was alright, but I wasn’t entirely surprised.  There had been rumors of his participation for a days now.  As much as I love NPH, I’m not sure why he did the opening.  That should be reserved for the hosts and if they can’t handle an opening number, maybe they shouldn’t have the job.

*All of the acting categories were as expected and that can make things kind of boring.  Deep down I was hoping for an upset or two in an acting category, but that didn’t happen.

*ABC‘s pre-show red carpet needs A LOT of work.  There are so many on-air journalists that could have done a better job.  Kathy Ireland was terrible, just terrible.  It was excrutiating to watch her talk to the actors.

*My pics for worst dressed celebs are Sarah Jessica Parker, Miley Cyrus, Charlize Theron, Vera Farmiga and Jennifer Lopez.

Here is where I’m torn – I loved Hurt Locker.  I thought it was brave and real and strong.  Avatar was beautiful in a visual aspect, but does making almost two billion dollars equal excellence in filmmaking?

I think Cameron should win every technological award out there for his effects and invention of “performance capture technology.”  Given that, I can’t say that his story equals the emotional hold I felt towards ‘Locker.’  This is a time when I’m glad I’m not an Academy voter.  These are two completely different types of films.

Kathryn Bigelow‘s film allowed every emotion to be felt, while making a war movie not feel like a war movie.  It was about the characters and the words they spoke.  Cameron’s film is less about story and more about special effects.  If you take away the effects, what would Avatar be?  Even an Oscar winner like Lord of the Rings had a fleshed out story to back up the effects.

I don’t know that there is a right or wrong answer here.  I just don’t know how to differentiate between the two incredible films.

What do you think??

It’s the last day of my Oscar Week countdown and we’ve come to the biggest prize of all, Best Picture.  Ten nominees, but it really only comes down to two.  Who will it be: Avatar or The Hurt Locker?

Out of the ten nominees, I believe only five have a chance at actually winning.  I think you can eliminate District, Education, Blind Side, Up and Serious Man. 

As for the remaining five, I would rank them from one to five as The Hurt Locker, Avatar, Inglourious Basterds, Precious and Up in the Air.  You could easily say that this is a two-horse race exactly like the Best Director category.  The only dark horse would be Basterds.

I don’t care for the increase from five to ten for nominees in this category.  I understand the desire to have a wider arrange of movies; movies that people have actually seen, but it’s too cluttered now.

My Pick: The Hurt Locker

I am looking forward to seeing how my predictions pan out on Sunday’s live telecast of the 82nd Academy Awards.  I really hope to see some upsets as well.  There are so many people who are dead sure their pick is going to win, myself included, but that doesn’t always make for an entertaining show.

If you want to take a look at all my picks from this week, click below.

We’re down to the last day of my Oscar feature and it’s time to focus on which of the Best Director nominees will snag the prize.  Will this be the year that a woman wins for the first time?  I think so.

This is a two-horse race between Cameron and Bigelow.  Cameron once again made the highest grossing movie, but does he really deserve this award?  Technical awards, sure, but I think Bigelow has the edge here.  I truly think the only thing she has against her in this category is that no other woman has ever won it.  It will be groundbreaking when/if she wins.

Tarantino could vie for this title, but I think he’ll just have to settle for Best Original Screenplay instead.  He is a great filmmaker, but with the momentum Cameron and Bigelow have coming in, he doesn’t stand a chance.  Daniels should be happy that his film has gotten such wonderful reviews and again, can’t compete with the one-two punch in this group.  Similar to Tarantino, Reitman will have to be happy with his Best Adapted Screenplay award.

If anyone other than Cameron or Bigelow won this award, I would be shocked.  I think Bigelow has the lead going in, but you can’t ever count Cameron out.

My Pick: Kathryn Bigelow

With two days to go until the 82nd Academy Awards, I will close out the acting categories with Best Actor.  Don’t miss out tomorrow when I will wrap up my Oscar week features with a discussion and my picks for Best Director and Best Picture.

Earlier in the awards season, many felt that Clooney might take this category.  However, Bridges has come storming through in these last couple of months.  Bridges has been piling up statue after statue and he’ll have to make room on his shelf for Mr. Oscar himself.

Many people felt that Clooney’s character in Up in the Air was too close to his own persona.  Firth is finally being recognized and I think he has a shot, a miniscule one though.  Freeman, much like Matt Damon in the Supporting Actor race, is cursed by a movie that didn’t go over as well as expected.  Renner doesn’t have a shot at this; I don’t think he should even be in this category.  I felt Anthony Mackie had more of a breakthrough performance than Renner did.

Bridges is one part of a Hollywood family legacy and with that, his past nominations (The Last Picture Show, The Contender) and his incredible performance in Crazy Heart, he is the guy to beat. 

My Pick: Jeff Bridges

Starting today, we have arrived at the beginning of the biggest awards for the Oscars.  Today, I’ll be taking a look at the race for Best Actress.  This category has been widely talked about this year; specifically the nomination of Sandra Bullock.

I believe that Bullock is going to take this prize.  I’m not sure she is completely deserving of it though.  I saw her film and she was great in it, but I don’t know that it’s worthy of an Academy Award.  Sure, she did something different, but in comparison to some of the other nominees, I don’t think she is as strong. 

I haven’t seen Mirren’s film, but I’d say she is at the bottom of the list in terms of who has a chance to take this category.  Many people have said that Streep is Bullock’s stiffest competition, but I think Mulligan might just be a dark horse in this group.  She recently won the BAFTA lead actress prize, so it could be a shocker. 

I don’t think Sidibe has a chance, if only because of all the attention put on Bullock and Streep.  I think she probably is the most deserving of the five ladies.  She gives me the Jennifer Hudson vibe of a few years ago when she won for Dreamgirls.  This is her first acting job and it wasn’t some small role, it was meaty and dark and heartbreaking.

I honestly don’t know why Streep was even nominated this year.  I did not care for her film at all.  I get that she did a good impersonation of Julia Child, but I just don’t get how it’s Oscar worthy.  I think if she makes a movie a year, a spot is automatically reserved for her in this category.

Like I said, Bullock will take this category.  I would love to see an upset though.  Could you imagine if Sidibe came from nowhere to win?  I think that would be kind of beautiful.

My Pick: Sandra Bullock

Day three of Oscar week brings us to the Best Supporting Actress category.  Similar to the Best Supporting Actor race, I believe this race has already been won.

The Supporting Actress race is usually very competitive.  Sometimes, the winner is someone who only spent a miniscule part of time on the film.  This year’s race began competitively, with Anna Kendrick picking up a lot of the early award season prizes.  However, the biggest awards of the last couple of months have gone to Mo’Nique.

Cruz won this category last year and Nine didn’t do very well, so she can be eliminated.  Gyllenhaal was the surprise nominee in this category, but I don’t think that will help her cause.  Farmiga is probably content with her nomination, as she has no chance of winning.  Kendrick would be a long shot, but all of her momentum has dissipated.

This category 100% belongs to Mo’Nique.  Not only did she give a breathtaking performance, but she played a role completely outside of her usual abilities as an actress.

My Pick: Mo’Nique