Oscar 2010: This Image Has Made my Night...

This image of Ben Stiller, dressed head-to-toe as a Na'vi, was the single most entertaining segment of the 82nd Academy Awards, and I have no doubt I'll be cracking up to it at entirely random points the rest of the week.

Overall, the award show didn't hold too many surprises. The obviousness of The Hurt Locker taking home the majority of the nominations sort of spoiled the funness, as did the 30 minutes of congratulatory speeches for the Best Actor and Best Actress awards. I'm pleased with a good amount of the awards - most notably Christoph Waltz for his amazing work in Inglourious Basterds, and Michael Giacchino winning, although I think the Academy chose the wrong score to nominate (it is of my opinion that the score for Star Trek was the best of the year).

On the plus side, for the first time I'm actually interested in watching Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire. The brief clips they've show peaked my interest, as did their music choice for Hans Zimmer's work in Sherlock Holmes, so I might just have to check that score out again.

So...general thoughts. Before yesterday, I would definitely have supported Disney/Pixar's Up, but upon seeing Fantastic Mr. Fox, I believe that the Academy made the wrong choice. The first 10 minutes of the Pixar film is pure splendor, but the overall product, I feel, is a fun ride, but hardly amongst Pixar's finest work and not exactly worth the amount of recognition. Fantastic Mr. Fox, on the other hand, was phenomenal: the direction, the characters, the dialogue, the flow of the story, and especially the music. I simply find it overall superior. Basterds should have absolutely deserved Best Original Screenplay, as it truly was one of the most original, invigorating scripts of the year. I'm torn about the Best Editing award, but the more I think and think about it, I guess I must concede that The Hurt Locker was the best choice. The un-nominated Star Trek 100% deserved it - the editing of that film is flawless I tell you, flawless! But Hurt Locker for Best Cinematography? That I wholeheartedly disagree with. The erratic camera of the Paul Greengrass Bourne movies had more pizazz than Locker.

And note to self: get my ass up, cave, and rent The Cove from a nearby Redbox. Oh, and put some of these Foreign movies on my damn Netflix Que. (And speaking of which, I just got A Serious Man in the mail yesterday, so I'm totally gonna watch that soon! Yippie!) In conclusion, I guess I should also see The Blind Side. Wah.

Well, not a horrible night by any means. There were a lot of good acceptance speeches (notably Mo'Nique), and the inevitable long-ass ones (Jeff Bridges), and the ones that need to cram some sort of message. And Neil Patrick Harris better damn well be a host next year, or super pissed I shall be.

Now we can officially close the 2009 plate of films and push it behind us. Onward to 2010! To Greek Gods, wizards, rebels, and yet another damn vampire installment in that shitacular franchise that I'll still see anyway and am thus helping this demonic plague flurish!

^Oh gee golly wizz - I love Ben Stiller.