|
"The Hurt Locker" emerged victorious from a tough battle with "Avatar"-the biggest movie of all time - to win Best Picture at Sunday night's Academy Awards.
"Hurt Locker" won five other Oscars, including, in a surprise main sweep, Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow.
She made history as the first woman to receive the honor. Only three other women have been nominated: Lina Wertmuiller for "Seven Beauties," Jane Campion for "The Piano" and Sofia Coppola for "Lost in Translation."
"This is the moment of a lifetime," said Bigelow, who received her statuette from Barbra Streisand, who opined, "the time has come."
She dedicated her award to the men and women who are risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, as did "Locker" screenwriter Mark Boal, who won for Best Original Screenplay.
She defeated Cameron, her ex-husband, for the helmer's award. The two were married from 1989 - 1991.
Jeff Bridges, widely predicted to nab Best Actor for "Crazy Heart," won for his portrayal of a down-and-out country-western singer.
"Mom and dad, look!" Said Bridges, honoring his late mother and father, Dorothy and Lloyd Bridges, for passing on their show-biz tradition. He recalled preparing with his dad for A small role on Lloyd's TV program "Sea Hunt" when Bridges was a kid.
Sandra Bullock, also a front-runner, won Best Actress for "The Blind Side."
"Did I really earn this, or did I just wear you down?" said the romantic-comedy vet. Referring to an earlier awards-season liplock with her main competition, she quipped, "Meryl, you know what I think of you, and you're such a good kisser!"
In another highlight from the most anticipated Oscar show in a decade, Mo'Nique won Best Supporting Actress for her turn as a monstrous mother in "Precious."
The crowd gave her a standing ovation. "Sometimes," Mo'Nique said, "you have to forego doing what's popular in order to do what's right."
"Precious" also won Best Adapted Screenplay. "This is for everybody who works on a dream every day," said New Yorker Geoffrey Fletcher in an emotional speech.
Austrian Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the smooth and scary Nazi Col. Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds."
"Up" won Best Animated Feature.
"Crazy Heart" won Best Song category for its theme, "The Weary Kind."
The main event, of course, was the heated competition between Best Picture nominees "Avatar" and "Hurt Locker."
Both the blockbuster fantasy epic and the Iraq War action-drama entered the Oscar battle with nine nominations, but the front-runners otherwise were complete opposites on every level, including budget, visual effects and box-office take.
"Avatar" ended up with a total of three awards: Art Direction, Cinematography and Visual Effects.
Molly Ringwald and Matthew Broderick introduced a tribute to late "Brat Pack" filmmaker John Hughes. They were joined by Hughes movie vets Jon Cryer, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Judd nelson and Macaulay Culkin.
Sunday's gala expanded the Best Picture race from 5 to 10 movies for the first time since 1942 in an unofficial and not-so-secret attempt to get more blockbusters into the mix.
Though some did make the final Best Picture cut - "Up," "The Blind Side" and "District 9" - the increased list also gave a pat on the back to deserving smaller films like "An Education" and "A Serious Man."
|