The Hurt Locker Puts The Hurt On Avatar, Wins Best Picture; Bigelow First Female Best Director In Oscar History

It took close to three-and-a-half hours for something truly exciting to happen at Sunday's 82nd annual Academy Awards.  But when it did, it was a biggie -- Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman ever to be named best director in Oscar history, for helming The Hurt Locker.  An emotional Bigelow, who was presented her trophy by fellow female director Barbra Steisand, called the win "the moment of a lifetime" and dedicated it to "the women and men in the military who risk their lives on a daily basis." The Hurt Locker, a tense drama about a bomb squad in Iraq, was also named best picture, beating out its closest competition, Avatar, directed by Bigelow's ex-husband, James Cameron.  Overall, The Hurt Locker won six prizes, including best original screenplay, to Avatar's three.

As for the rest of the telecast -- which co-host Steve Martin said in the closing seconds was "so long that Avatar now takes place in the past" -- it was one of the most unsurprising Oscars in recent years, with all the acting winners -- Mo'nique, Chrisoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock -- predicted by pundits weeks ago.  The show itself was also somewhat disappointing, despite promises from producers of a new, exciting, hipper, different take on the Oscars.  Except for the addition of lengthy dance sequences and re-institution of the phrase "And the winner is...." rather than "And the Oscar goes to...," it was pretty much the same old, same old.

Mo'Nique's win for supporting actress for Precious made her only the fifth black actress ever to win an Oscar.  In her acceptance speech, which felt a bit over-rehearsed, she acknowledged the first black female Oscar winner, Gone With The Wind's Hattie McDaniel, saying, "I want to thank [her] for enduring all she had to, so that I would not have to."  She also pointedly thanked the Academy for "showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics."  Mo'Nique had been criticized by pundits for refusing to, essentially, kiss the right behinds in the pursuit for Oscar gold, as so many of her colleagues do year after year.

The nominees for best actor and actress were introduced by their past co-stars, each of whom gave a speech about how great it was to work with them.  However, sitting through those ten separate mini-speeches just so we could find out who won the big prizes was excruciating.  When Jeff Bridges won his well-deserved award -- he's been nominated a total of five times -- he lifted his trophy to the sky and said, "Mom and Dad...yeah!  Look!", acknowledging his late parents Lloyd and Dorothy Bridges, both actors.  He added, "Thank you Mom and Dad for turning me on to such a groovy profession."  Bridges used the word "man" so frequently during his acceptance speech that at times he seemed to be channeling his most famous character, The Dude, from The Big Lebowski.

Sandra Bullock's win for The Blind Side wasn't a surprise to anyone but her.  The actress took the podium and said, "Did I really earn this, or did I just wear y'all down?"  She said the win was "a once-in-a-lifetime experience," and said her performance -- as a wealthy Texan woman who adopts a poor black boy and sees him become a football star -- was for "the moms that take care of the babies and the children, no matter where they come from."  She then paid tearful tribute to her own late mother, Helga.

As for the telecast itself, it began with Neil Patrick Harris in a sequined blazer, singing and dancing his way through a number called "No One Wants To Do It Alone," which served to introduce co-hosts Baldwin and Martin, whom he called "The biggest pair since Dolly Parton." They descended from the ceiling on a glittery contraption flanked by showgirls and walked to the front of the stage holding hands.  Their monologue was essentially a series of extremely safe one-liners.  Sample gag:  Steve Martin said, "Oh, look! There's that damn Helen Mirren."  Baldwin corrected him, "Steve, that's Dame Helen Mirren."  After noting that Christoph Waltz's Nazi character in Inglourious Basterds was obsessed with finding Jews, Martin spread his arms, indicating the showbiz audience, and cracked, "Well...here's the motherlode."

Of note, there was also quite lengthy, moving tribute to the late John Hughes, the king of teen films, who brought us 16 Candles, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Home Alone and Pretty in Pink.  In what was a thrill for anyone who was a teen or pre-teen the eighties, the segment brought together live onstage most of Hughes' stable of stars, including Molly Ringwalk, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Matthew Broderick, Macauley Culkin, Ally Sheedy and Jon Cryer.  There was also a tribute to horror films, which seemed completely unnecessary -- in fact, it seemed the segment was only there as an excuse to give hot young Twilight stars Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner.

Overall, the 82nd annual Academy Awards will likely be remembered for making history with Kathryn Bigelow, giving Hollywood good guys Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges a long overdue pat on the back, and not much else.  All things considered, that's probably enough.

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