The Oscars

I saw quite a few movies last year. And good ones. Oscar contenders even. So I was quite surprised to see that in all the major catergories, I had only seen one winner. Christoph Walz took the Best Supporting Actor award for Inglorius Basterds. Deservedly so. I'm pretty sure that as soon as people saw that movie, there was no doubt he would win.

The other big winners of the night were The Hurt Locker (Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay), Precious (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress), The Blind Side (Best Actress), and Crazy Heart (Best Actor).

I had wanted to see The Hurt Locker, but changed my mind after a scathing review from a co-worker. I've been meaning to see Precious, but that's a hard movie to go see. I'd have to want to be depressed and not care that I would be depressed for days after seeing it. So I haven't made it to that one yet.

I have no desire to see The Blind Side, even after I've been surprised by so many people who say it is actually a really good movie. It just seems like this is Sandra Bullock's Erin Brokovich. It just looks so very formulaic.

As for Crazy Heart, if Maggie Gyllenhaal wasn't in this movie, I would have seen it by now. I can't stand her. She just seems so stuck up. She is all the parts of New York that I don't like. She is cigarettes and french pronunciations. She is modern art and complicated scarves. She is only listening to vinyl and not owning a TV.

But I digress.

Having not seen the movie, I can't speak to Jeff Bridges' performance, though I'm sure it was fantastic. He's a great actor and should have been given the Oscar for The Big Lebowski, which makes this win seem like one of those "you're due" awards.

As for Sandra Bullock, this is a hard one to grasp. Yes, I haven't seen this movie either so maybe she was great. But like I said, it looks like she's playing Julia Roberts playing Erin Brokovich. I like Sandra Bullock. How can you not? She's very likeable. But I don't get the win. Of course, it was a pretty lame duck Best Actress category this year and they couldn't very well give it to Meryl Streep again.

One last thing: A shout-out to the Academy voters for keeping Avatar wins where they belong. In the special effects area. Hallelujah for not winning Best Picture. There's still hope yet for Hollywood.