Avatardy for the Party: 2010 Academy Awards Full of Surprises, Not So Many Na’vi

By Christa Youngpeter

The 2010 Academy Awards have come and gone, leaving in their wake 3 hours and 30 plus minutes of song, dance, deaths and upsets.

In something of a shock (for this jaded 3-D weary viewer anyway), Avatar walked away with just three awards and neither of them Best Director nor Best Picture. Kathryn Bigelow, scored both awards along with six others for The Hurt Locker, a little-known dark horse just a few short months ago. What is certainly a score for independent films, Bigelow directed a modern war film with an unmatched perspective thanks to former battlefield journalist Mark Boal. Talk about street cred’. A flawed film, sure, but it embodied much of what filmmaking should be all about- passion, intensity and raw emotion.

Not that the first three hours of the show didn’t have some upsets and surprises of their own. I was among the camp who didn’t believe the Academy would vote for Sandra Bullock, and lo and behold- she came away with a huge win and tear-jerking speech. The Best Actor lock, Jeff Bridges, was huggable like your favorite uncle at a family reunion.

Supporting Actress Mo’Nique and supporting Actor Christoph Waltz were much ballyhooed favorites, pulling though with wins for their gritty, mind-bogglingly hateful performances in Precious and Inglourious Basterds respectfully. For the five of you out there who saw Domino, you’d know Mo’nique had it in her all along- she just needed the right vehicle.

One of the genuinely moving pieces of the evening was the John Hughes tribute, which included many of the “Brat Pack” he made household names in the ‘80s. A tearful thank you from Hughes’ widow and children, though, was a definite tearjerker and harkened back to a more innocent age of comedy filmmaking. Later on in the show, though, the montage of Hollywood icons who passed away in the past year missed two fan faves- Bea Arthur and Farrah Fawcett. Sure, they were mostly known for their iconic TV roles, but they did have some film credits.

As for the hosts…well. Unlike Neil Patrick Harris’ laugh out loud Emmy hosting gig, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin’s shtick was painfully scripted at times- certainly a shame coming from two legendary actors. But hey, the Oscars aren’t exactly known for their cutting edge comedy (unless you count interpretive dance). Thankfully the awkward reality-show-ish gimmick of lining all of nominees on stage a la the Bachelor was eschewed in favor of cute anecdotes given by former co-stars. Different yes? A bit self-fellating by the Hollywood A-list? Also yes. Overall, not entirely memorable but an entertaining evening nonetheless.