Oscar Results

I flew back from Cali to Ann Arbor tonight (had a marvelous spring break – thank you for asking) and I caught the latter half of the show… thought the Baldwin-Martin ‘Paranormal Activity’ spoof was laugh-out-loud funny and I enjoyed the Ben Stiller Na’vi act, though I generally do NOT like Stiller, not at all. I enjoyed some of the speeches, esp the ones with some substance to them, like the Mo’nique speech and the one where the guy talked about supporting youth to develop their creativity. The speeches where they just get up and thank their laundry list are lacking, no doubt, though I enjoyed Jeff Bridges’ speech, esp when we invoked his parents and his acting background. Needless to say, I was a bit disgruntled to see ‘Avatar’ get routed (Im a guilty fan). I wasn’t entirely surprised bc all the main critics predicted that ‘Hurt Locker’ would clean up.  Perhaps I should see the movie again to fully understand why but my initial assessment as to why it won best picture, other than it being well made, is the fact that it is the first Iraq War film that actually understands SOME, though not all, of how this war is different from other American wars. Most American dead have died at the “hands” of roadside bombs so it makes sense to make an Iraq War movie that is about that aspect and some of the tension that it encompasses.  Here’s a list of award count by number and by category.