The 82nd Annual Academy Awards

The Hurt Locker put the hurt on the competition at last night's Academy Awards, including James Cameron's sci-fi magnum opus, Avatar:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/movies/2011285555_oscars08.html?prmid=head_main

Why didn't Avatar's ticket sales translate into Academy Gold?  Here's some comments from Yahoo! Movies' Oscar Blog:

http://oscars.movies.yahoo.com/blog/68-avatar-king-of-the-box-office-world-not-king-of-the-awards-world?nc

I watched the Academy Awards last night for the first time since Return of the King, made-off with 11 Oscars in 2003:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/76th_Academy_Awards

In the intervening years, I thought the awards ceremonies and the movies the Motion Picture Academy nominated, well, sucked.  This year seemed different.  The Academy nominated movies people actually went to go see. 

As to the awards program itself, I thought it was rather enjoyable.  True, the humor at times was a bit clunky.  But, I thought the Steve Martin-Alec Baldwin duet did a good job of entertaining the masses with their comedy routine.  Despite their efforts, the ceremony wasn't without it's weird moments, like the "Lady Kanye" incident:

http://oscars.movies.yahoo.com/blog/69-the-story-behind-the-oscars-weird-lady-kanye-moment

And I thought Sandy Powell's attitude for winning her 3rd Oscar for Best Costumes in The Young Victoria, was condenscending at best.

I haven't seen The Hurt Locker yet, but I've heard from several military folks that parts of the movie's depiction of operations "downrange" is BS.  While I don't doubt that, I have yet to see a Hollywood war movie that doesn't have a trace element of hokyness.  What I do like is the fact that such a movie, honoring our men and women in uniform, did so well even against Cameron's box-office smash.

But Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman awarded Best Director for The Hurt Locker, wasn't the only woman who made Oscar history last night. Sandra Bullock is the first actor to win both a Razzie and an Oscar in the same year.

Here's an article from Starpulse:

http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2010/03/08/sandra_bullock_is_the_big_winner_with_ 

I did see The Blind Side and thought Sandra Bullock's performance desrved an Oscar.  I'm glad the Academy agreed with me.  Her "performance" at both the Academy Awards and the Razzies enshrined her reputation as Hollywood's classiest and most down-to-earth celebrity.

As far as the "end credits," the show left some folks bewildered and others hurt.  Here are some answers to the ongoing Oscar buzz:

http://oscars.movies.yahoo.com/blog/71-oscars-big-mysteries-explained?nc