The 83rd Academy Awards

Sipping champagne and still eating my piece of Laura's Black Swan cake, I am reflecting on this year's Oscar ceremony. I'm sorry to say, the show itself, was disappointing. The movies, were the best group I have been delighted to be entertained by in many years. Things started off well and then early on, with the Best Supporting Actress category, things went downhill. Legendary actor Kirk Douglas presented the award. I mean no disrespect, but it was a very bad idea to have him present. The poor man suffered a stroke in 1995 and despite speech therapy, speaking is still a struggle. When painstakingly Melissa Leo was announced as the winner, she dropped an F-Bomb in her speech!

On the positive side, the opening sequences were delightful. I loved how the 10 Best Picture nominee montage was put together with the Oscar winning score from the Social Network over the film clips, excellent. The sketch of co-hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway incepting Alec Baldwin's dreams for hosting tips, hilarious and fantastic. Other highlights -- Russell Brand is always funny and presenting Best Foreign Film with Helen Mirren delivered. During Jake Gyllenhaal's presentation of the Best Documentary Short and Best Live Action Short Film categories with Amy Adams, he talked about how these awards can make or break your ballot of predictions. WORD Jake Gyllenhaal, word.

Several surprises. Tom Hooper, the director of the King's Speech won Best Director (not David Fincher for the Social Network as widely anticipated). Inception also took home Best Cinematography, not True Grit.

Inception and Best Picture winner The King's Speech, each took home four statues. Social Network received three. Laura and I tied with 17 correct predictions. Dave Karger at Entertainment Weekly correctly estimated 16. I did not improve from my past two years of predicting 19 correctly. I did however best my mentor, so that's something.

Surprisingly, early reviews of the show online and on tv, are positive for the show. EW's Ken Tucker was glowing and even questioned Billy Crystal's standing ovation saying, "was the audience missing him in that role that much this evening?" Well in my home we were! It seemed as though Laura summoned him when she said, "where's Billy Crystal?" I think we mostly fall into that "younger demo" that they were going for too, so go figure.

 

Much like the opening, I really enjoyed the presentation of the Best Picture category. Steven Spielberg presented brilliantly and the montage of clips narrated by the actual speech in the King's Speech, excellent.

Complete winner's list for all 24 categories:
BEST PICTURE
The King’s Speech

BEST ACTOR
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

BEST ACTRESS
Natalie Portman, Black Swan

BEST DIRECTOR
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech

BEST SONG
WINNER: “We Belong Together,” Toy Story 3, Randy Newman

BEST EDITING
The Social Network, Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Inception, Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Inside Job, Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
God of Love, Luke Matheny

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Strangers No More, Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Alice in Wonderland, Colleen Atwood

BEST MAKEUP
The Wolfman, Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

BEST SOUND EDITING
Inception, Richard King

BEST SOUND MIXING
Inception, Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo, and Ed Novick

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale, The Fighter

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
In a Better World (Denmark)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The King’s Speech, Screenplay by David Seidler

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Social Network, Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Toy Story 3

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
The Lost Thing, Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Melissa Leo, The Fighter

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Inception, Wally Pfister

BEST ART DIRECTION
Alice in Wonderland, Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara