Since I love soaking up all of the glamour, I always enjoy the show regardless but I have to admit that this year's show seemed a bit lackluster. It's hard to put my finger on the specific problem but hosts, Anne Hathaway and James Franco were no better or worse than last year's Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, and their best bit was the funny opening taped segment that cleverly used the "Inception" plot to have the hosts running through Alec's dreams that included scenes from this year's Best Picture nominees.
While James seemed uncomfortable and distracted at times (probably thinking about an upcoming exam he has for his college class), Miss Hathaway seemed to thoroughly enjoy her moment in the spotlight, with the show giving her a great opportunity to show off her comic and singing skills. I think the two were fine but I still believe the show works best when there is a comedian running the show, which became more obvious when eight-time Oscar host, Billy Crystal made an appearance. He received a standing ovation before even uttering a word but when he did, he brought some well needed humor to the show. I hope someone comes to their senses and asks him back next year because he is capable of making great spontaneous jokes out of whatever occurs during the show like he did when Jack Palance did his one arm push-up when he won his award. I would have loved to have heard what he would have done with the Kirk Douglas moment this year.
I'm glad they brought back the live performances of the nominated Best Original Song but boy, were they bad this year. Not a memorable song in the bunch and I'm sure Randy Newman only won because his was the only recognizable name in the group, not because it was particularly good.
There were no real surprises on this show as well as in regards to who took home the gold. Most of the front runners won but Annette Bening was robbed again. Although I do love Natalie Portman but perhaps partially because I am not a fan of "Black Swan", I thought it should have gone to the more deserving Ms Bening. I missed the idea of five former winners presenting each of the acting awards and speaking of that, why didn't last year's supporting actors, Christoph Waltz and Mo'nique present the awards this year?
Oh, well. Until next year.
Here is the complete list of the winners:
Best Picture: "The King's Speech"
Best Actor: Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, "The Fighter"
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, "The Fighter"
Best Director: Tom Hooper, "The King's Speech"
Best Original Screenplay: "The King's Speech," David Seidler
Best Adapted Screenplay: "The Social Network," Aaron Sorkin
Best Foreign-Language Film: "In a Better World"
Best Animated Feature: "Toy Story 3"
Best Cinematography: "Inception," Wally Pfister
Best Film Editing: "The Social Network," Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
Best Art Direction: "Alice in Wonderland," Robert Stromberg (Production Design), Karen O'Hara (Set Decoration)
Best Costume Design: "Alice in Wonderland," Colleen Atwood
Best Original Song: "We Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3," Randy Newman
Best Original Score: "The Social Network," Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Best Live Action Short: "God of Love," Luke Matheny
Best Documentary Feature: "Inside Job"
Best Documentary Short: "Strangers No More"
Best Animated Short Film: "The Lost Thing," Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
Best Sound Editing: "Inception," Richard King
Best Sound Mixing: "Inception," Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
Best Visual Effects: "Inception," Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
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