Those that follow this blog in any way (yes, all you three and a half people) will no doubt have noticed that I have been terribly remiss in offering up any sort of Oscar talk this year. Your humble blogger purchased a house in December and some things have changed in the day to day workings of the Hurd. That does not mean that I have not noticed this years crop of nominated films, but I've truly been too busy to actually care. I'd love to put up some picks, especially as I've seen at least one of the nominated films (Inception, which I thought was brilliant) but I do not seem to have the energy to try and go nominee by nominee as I usually might. That said, I will at least put up a listing of the major winners - Best Picture and all that:
Best Picture - The King's Speech
Best Actor - Colin Firth for The King's Speech
Best Actress - Natalie Portman for Black Swan
Best Supporting Actor - Christian Bale for The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress - Melissa Leo for The Fighter
Best Director - Tom Hooper for The King's Speech
Beyond that, I don't know that I can really make any sort of educated guess. I do see some ground swell of support for The King's Speech out there (though notably one Christopher Hitchens has not let his cancer keep him from finding a cause to support - or in this case deny as he has major problems with the historical accuracy of the film) and while it seemed that The Social Network was the front runner, it is hard to tell now which one has the real support.
I do look at the above winners and see all first time winners if it comes out that way. Nothing wrong with that and all four actors, at least, have been deserving more times than I can think. Bale and Portman have impressed me since Empire of the Sun and The Professional respectively. And it is really a shame that this might be Firth's first Oscar. The man has been doing it and doing it well for years! He is the best shot at winning, if you are betting.
There will be no live blog this year as I just want to sit back and enjoy it. I feel slightly bad that I have let down a bit of a tradition since I've written so much over the years on the Oscars, but with all that is going on right now, it's time for some sitting back and relaxing. I will be watching however, and may very well have an afterthoughts post the next day (which is likely when the damn thing will end...with Speilberg announcing Best Picture, I am to understand.)
I do have one MAJOR complaint about this years awards ceremony...why did they put all the honorary awards in a separate dinner? Coppola is receiving the Irving Thalberg award this year and I would love to see his acceptance speech! Godard received an honorary award this year as well and he refused to come to the dinner. It's a shame Hollywood doesn't understand what is truly great about the town. It's all about the kids and their Benjamins now, apparently. Sigh.
UPDATE - Also getting an honorary award is the great Eli Wallach (95 years young!) You can catch his awesome acceptance speech right here.
That is all.
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