Whereas last year I made the slightly foolish decision to splash the cash and pay for Sky Movies (which I forgot to cancel after the first month leading to me ending up paying way more than I should have done), this year I decided to follow the twitter troops and search for a reliable streaming service online that wouldn't plaster a big black bar over the faces of the nominees or keep stalling for so long that you end up 4 minutes behind. Well, although both those things did happen we did eventually finally find a reliable stream, but it would have been a lot easier if they'd just made the ceremony available on to order on Sky Box Office. I would have happily paid for it just to avoid the hassle.
As for the ceremony itself, it couldn't have been much worse if Frank Drebin had shown up looking for a bomb, accidentally sexually assaulting people along the way. Actually, that would have provided a little bit of excitement at least. It wasn't the liveliest of affairs, but did manage to have some memorable moments courtesy of the elder-elder statesman Kirk Douglas and an ever welcome Billy Crystal. It's just a shame Crystal didn't have time to pass on any hosting tips to James Franco. This was the 83rd Academy Awards so there's been plenty of hosts come and go over the years, but I'm guessing no-one before has been able to look like they didn't give a shit about it in quite the same way as James Franco did. As for Anne Hathaway, she was clearly a nervous wreck so resorted to giggling her way through the ceremony, finding no sort of back-up from her co-host Franco who, quite honestly, acted like a surly teenager forced to go on a family trip around a spice museum. He wasn't just nonchalant, he was none.
Of course some lucky people did get to take home those gold statuettes, and it's clear my choices don't tally with that of the academy. Making use of the rather handy Oscars app I made my predictions in all 24 categories, which then became about as useful as James Franco when it proceeded to stop working during the actual ceremony. It probably just couldn't bear to tell me what a crushing failure I was at predicting winners. Out of the 24 main categories I managed to guess a measly 11 right, and they were in the categories that EVERYONE got right. Ooh, Colin Firth and Natalie Portman winning Oscars, someone tell Mystic Meg she's got a replacement.Still, it was a good show for us Brits, with every one of the smaller and unglamourous categories won by at least one nerdy but grateful person from this side of the pond. The King's Speech walked away with way more than I expected them too (though not undeservedly), but then so did Inception so I can't really complain. I think the choice of Tom Hooper over David Fincher for Best Director was ridiculous, but that's an oversight that will be corrected in time.
Christian Bale won the Best Supporting Actor award as expected, then took to the stage to deliver his speech in the most Cockney of Welsh accents I've ever heard. I don't think Melissa Leo's Oscar for Best Supporting Actress went to the right person, as Hailee Steinfeld's breakthrough performance in True Grit was way more deserving of recognition. Leo didn't manage to ingratiate herself with me after her Oscar campaign controversy, and appeared far from humble on stage. Colin Firth's speech was as every bit charmingly English as you'd expect, and Natalie Portman was very sweet when accepting her award.The best speech of the night has to go to Luke Matheny, the slightly bizarre looking NYU student who won for Best Live Action Short, took to the stage with a couple of well timed gags and earnt himself the attention of the Oscar crowd and a potential career in Hollywood. Normally these smaller categories are easily forgettable, but I'm quite eager to see his short film. Also he's on Twitter, so we're basically friends now.
If you were smart enough to skip the ceremony but would still like to find out who won what where, here's a rather exhaustive list of all the nominees and the eventual winners, just so you can see how wrong you were too.
BEST PICTURE
The King's Speech
127 Hours, Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, Winters Bone, Toy Story 3, True Grit, The Social Network
BEST DIRECTOR
Tom Hooper - The King's Speech
Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan, David O Russell - The Fighter, David Fincher - The Social Network, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - True Grit
BEST ACTOR
Colin Firth - The King's Speech
Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network, James Franco - 127 Hours, Javier Bardem - Biutiful, Jeff Bridges - True Grit
BEST ACTRESS
Natalie Portman - Black Swan
Annette Bening - The Kids Are All Right, Nicole Kidman - Rabbit Hole, Jennifer Lawrence - Winter's Bone, Michelle Williams - Blue Valentine
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale - The Fighter
John Hawkes - Winter's Bone, Jeremy Renner - The Town, Mark Ruffalo - The Kids Are All Right, Geoffrey Rush - The King's Speech
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Melissa Leo - The Fighter
Amy Adams - The Fighter, Helena Bonham Carter - The King's Speech, Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit, Jacki Weaver - Animal Kingdom
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
In a Better World - Denmark
Biutiful - Mexico, Dogtooth - Greece, Incendies - Canada, Outside the Law - Algeria
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
David Seidler - The King's Speech
Mike Leigh - Another Year, Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson and Keith Dorrington - The Fighter, Christopher Nolan - Inception, Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg - The Kids Are All Right
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Toy Story 3
How to Train Your Dragon, The Illusionist
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Aaron Sorkin - The Social Network
Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy - 127 Hours, Michael Arndt - Toy Story 3, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - True Grit, Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini - Winter's Bone
BEST ART DIRECTION
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Inception, The King's Speech, True Grit
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Inception
Black Swan, The King's Speech, The Social Network, True Grit
BEST SOUND MIXING
Inception
The King's Speech, The Social Network, Salt, True Grit
BEST SOUND EDITING
Inception
Toy Story 3, Tron: Legacy, True Grit, Unstoppable
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
We Belong Together (Toy Story 3)
Coming Home (Country Strong), I See the Light (Tangled), If I Rise (127 Hours)
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Social Network - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
How to Train Your Dragon - John Powell, Inception - Hans Zimmer, The King's Speech - Alexandre Desplat, 127 Hours - AR Rahman
BEST COSTUMING
Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love, The King's Speech, The Tempest, True Grit
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Inside Job
Exit Through the Gift Shop, Gasland, Restrepo, Waste Land
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Strangers No More
Killing in the Name, Poster Girl, Sun Come Up, The Warriors of Qiugang
BEST EDITING
The Social Network
Black Swan, The Fighter, The King's Speech, 127 Hours
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
The Lost Thing
Day & Night, The Gruffalo, Let's Pollute, Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
God of Love
The Confession, The Crush, Na Wewe, Wish 143
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Inception
Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, Hereafter, Iron Man 2
BEST MAKE-UP
The Wolfman
Barney's Version, The Way Back
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