The Winner Is TKS!2

Well the 83^rd Annual Academy Awards is finally over and what can you say about Hollywood’s night of nights? In a word, predictable. Lets face it this was one year that most of the major awards could be worked out back in January. The big winner this time round was undoubtedly The King’s Speech (I’m going to get tired of typing that title so from hear on The King’s Speech will be referred to as TKS) with eleven nominations and four wins including Best Picture, Director, Leading Actor and Best Original Screenplay.  While I really enjoyed TKS it’s no big secret that this was a movie that touched on just about everything that the dinosaurs’ running the academy, likes. It’s a period piece, about disability, royalty, class structure and set during world war two. Why wouldn’t it be the academy’s best picture?

Collin Firth was the favourite to win Best Actor by a parsec. His role in TKS was powerful and touching. Plus he’s been making movies for so long that he was due some solid recognition. Lets look at who he was up against: Jeff Bridges won last year, Jesse Eisenberg is still too young, Javier Bardem is too foreign (and had his win a few years ago) and James Franco got to host the show instead for being a good sport. So it was clear Firth would be the winner leaving this part of the article (and the ceremony) with no surprise or anything interesting to talk about.

Black Swan was a standout movie of the past year and was centred around a single female performance. If it was going to win only one Oscar (and it did), it was going to have to be for the fantastic Natalie Portman. Following her Golden Globe win it was quite obvious that she was going to take the Oscar considering the great work she’d been doing over the last few years. Up against Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lawrence and Michelle Williams, in much smaller films. Portman’s only real competitor was Annette Bening for The Kid’s Are Alright. The Academy may have wanted to make a positive statement about same sex marriage and thrown it her way. But in the theme of  the night they went the unsurprising way and honoured Black Swan. In this case they were right.

The supporting performances both went to The Fighter, for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo. Very deserving too. Would have been nice to see Geoffrey Rush take another but TKS got more then its fair share of statues. Plus have you seen Bale in the Fighter? Holy crap! I swear that guy actually became a crack addict just to prepare for this role, he’s that good. One day I want to see him take on a role where he has to be a fat guy, just to see how much more his body can take. Again Hellena Bonham Carter was deserving of the nomination but the TKS didn’t need another. Hailee Steinfeld performance in True Grit was good but again she’s young and she’ll have plenty more cracks at it. It was also nice to see Jacki Weavers role in the Australian movie Animal Kingdom being recognised.

It was nice to see Inception get a few nods especially since it’s probably my personal favourite of the year. Also it deserved some recognition after the academy snubbed Chris Nolan when he didn’t receive a director nomination. Winning for Cinematography, Sound, Sound Editing and Visual Effects, all the winners gave a special shout out to Chris Nolan as if to say “Sorry dude you deserve one too.” Maybe he had threatened their families if they didn’t pay homage to The Nolan. You never know. Even though Inception didn’t win any big categories, it still won four awards. Which is the same amount as TKS, glass half full I guess.

The Social Network was probably TKS’s only big competitor for best film and directing. It received three awards for best film editing, original score and adapted screenplay. But a lot of people had hoped that if TKS got best picture they would hand the directing statue to the great David Fincher who has made some great movies over last twenty. Unfortunately this didn’t happen and Tom Hooper racked up another for TKS.

Of course Toy Story won the Pixar award (also known as  best animated feature) but it also picked up best original song. I was shocked to hear that this was Randy Newman’s second win out of twenty. I guess if all of your songs sound the same you wont win a lot. Burn.

As for True Grit, 127 Hours, The Kid’s Are Alright and Winter’s Bone, I guess they got a gift basket or something. It’s a little sad that all these great films got nothing, where as that awful Alice In Wonderland movie won twice. Ouch.

The show itself was a lot of fun as always and way too long as always. Ann Hathaway did a great job as co-host, (so hot) even if she had to carry James Franco through a lot of it. He was a little dry. Maybe it was the nerves. With a few friends, snacks and some drinking games thrown into the mix, it’s a great tradition. Although it can be hard to block out all the spoiler tossed at you from the internet and tv station. Stupid time zones.

See you next week.

Rowan