The 82nd Annual Academy Awards from Ajijic, Lake Chapala, Mexico
The 82nd Annual Academy Awards
Last night was the highly anticipated “Oscars”.
When we first arrived in Ajijic, Lake Chapala over 15 years ago having an opportunity to view the nominated films was a bit of a challenge as we did not have a movie theatre in those days nor would the latest films get to us if we did.
Things have changed and we now have a lovely theatre complex and we do get all the current releases.
This year there were 10 nominated films and that has not been the case since 1943 when Casa Blanca won for Best Picture.
To my huge disappointment Avatar did not win best picture but it did win several other awards including best Cinematography and Visual Effects.
There were no surprises in the best actor, actress and best supporting actor and actress categories.
Jeff Bridges won Best Actor for A Crazy Heart and they also won Best Original Song for “The Weary Kind” with kudos to music legend, T. Bone Burnett.
Sandra Bullock won Best Actress for The Blind Side.
Christoph Walz won Best Supporting Actor for Inglourious Bastards.
Mo’Nique won Best Supporting Actress for Precious.
Best Director was given to the first female winner, Kathryn Bigelow, for The Hurt Locker by a very happy presenter, Barbra Streisand.
The Best Film went to The Hurt Locker which I have not seen so cannot comment on. I will say, however, that although I thought Avatar richly deserved to win best picture, The Hurt Locker was about a much more topical subject – Iraq and apparently was extremely well done.
The Best Animated Feature was “Up”.
The other nominated films were Up, Up in the Air, Inglourious Bastards, Avatar, Precious, A Serious Man, The Blind Side, District 9 and An Education..
I do very much like Colin Firth and was happy to see him nominated for his role in A Serious Man.
I like the way they have previous winners comment on this year’s nominees in the categories of best actor and actress which brings a very warm personal touch to the proceeding.
Neil Patrick Harris did a gala opening number and Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were entertaining as co-hosts.
Most of the presenters were young beautiful newcomers but there was a nice tribute to Director, John Hughes 1950-2009. One of John’s many claims to fame was “Ferris Beuller’s Day Off”.
James Taylor sang “Faces we Remember” as we remembered those who had passed which was again a very nice personal touch.
The show ran from 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm which included Barbara Walter’s Pre-Oscar Special which showcased Mo’Nique and Sandra Bullock plus all the previous stars she has had on her show since 1981. This is the last year Barbara will be doing this Pre-Oscar special and it was fun looking back over the 29 years of interviews with the highlight being Hugh Jackman giving the red-faced Barbara Walters a lap dance.
The red carpet preview showed all the beautiful gowns and tuxedos but I was not crazy abut the interviewers. Buy hey that is just me. All in all I didn’t miss a moment of the entire presentation and for the most part was pleased with the winners.