Last night in Los Angeles, the world watched as the stars of Hollywood and beyond descended upon the Kodak Theater for the 84th Annual Academy Awards. Billy Crystal returned for his ninth stint at host, and with it having been 22 years since his first time hosting, he seemed familiar and yet aged. His singing and dancing routines were nothing new, but compared to last year’s fiasco, the event on the whole was a small improvement.
Now, on to the winners. As expected, “The Artist” won big with five awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Costume Design and Best Score. It certainly was the belle of the ball, followed closely by “Hugo,” which also won five Oscar statuettes: Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing.
There were no major upsets for the night, but there were a few surprises such as when Meryl Streep beat Viola Davis for Best Actress and when “Hugo” beat out major blockbuster contenders like “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” for Best Visual Effects. I loved “Hugo” and am happy that it was awarded so many awards in the art department; I don’t personally believe that it soared above the rest in this particular category, though.
Although the host and the award show may be forgotten easily, there was history made at the Academy Awards last night, twice. First, when Christopher Plummer won Best Supporting Actor for his role in “Beginners” he became the oldest person to ever win an Oscar at 82 years old. And also the documentary (short subject) “Saving Face” was the first Pakistani film to ever be nominated, and it even won the Oscar.
So how did you do in your predictions for who would win, and were there any major surprises to you on who ended up taking home the most coveted award in Hollywood? Leave a comment and let us know.
Best picture: “The Artist.”
Actress in a leading role: Meryl Streep, “Iron Lady.”
Actor in a leading role: Jean Dujardin, “The Artist.”
Actress in a supporting role: Octavia Spencer, “The Help.”
Actor in a supporting role: Christopher Plummer, “Beginners.”
Directing: Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist.”
Cinematography: “Hugo.”
Art direction: “Hugo.”
Costume design: “The Artist.”
Makeup: “The Iron Lady.”
Foreign language film: “A Separation,” Iran.
Film editing: “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”
Sound editing: “Hugo.”
Sound mixing: “Hugo.”
Documentary feature: “Undefeated.”
Animated feature film: “Rango.”
Visual effects: “Hugo.”
Original score: “The Artist.”
Original song: “Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets.”
Adapted screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, “The Descendants.”
Original screenplay: Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris.”
Live action short film: “The Shore.”
Documentary (short subject): “Saving Face.”
Animated short film: “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.”
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Adam,
The best documentary of the year, “George Harrision: Living in the Material World” by Scorsese was not only the best doc of the year but of all time. I don’t understand why it wasn’t even nominated in the doc category.
I also thought Lebanon’s entry for the Best Foreign Language film, “Where do we go now?” should have at least been in the top 5 – but it didn’t even make it to the semi-final top 9.
I think we should have an IJM Counter Oscar page where we give our own awards. What do you think?
Christopher Plummer’s speech was probably my favorite thing. He was so sweet in Beginners, and he definitely deserved that. Plus I loved how he “emerged from his mother’s womb.” haha