Posted on

82nd Academy Awards Retrospective

During the week running up to the Academy Awards, from all the buzz by everyone about The Hurt Locker, I predicted it to win Best Picture. Even though I still wanted Up In The Air to win because that was my personal favorite out of the 10 films. My original Academy Award for Best Picture of 2009 prediction…

All the Inglourious Basterds who were Blind Sided by Avatar’s visuals are not A Serious Man and should grow Up and get An Education or should be thrown into The Hurt Locker inside District 9 because the Best Picture of 2009 is still Up In The Air because the honor is very Precious: Based On The Novel Push by Sapphire.

As for the show itself, the 82nd Academy Awards honoring the best films of 2009 was held last night. Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin co-hosted the awards. The duo were mainly funny when they roasted celebrates at the start of the show. During last years 61st Primetime Emmy Awards, Tina Fey and Steve Martin presented an award and that is when I wished for the two to host together in the near future. I guess Tina Fey’s 30 Rock co-star Alec Baldwin is the next best choice. After hosting the last years Emmys and having a dance number on his own show, everyone’s favorite Neil Patrick Harris opened this years Academy Awards with a dance number.

As for the awards themselves, I am very happy of the winners. Everyone won an award that deserved it. Up won for Best Animated Feature. Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor for Inglourious Basterds. Like I said in my review, his character is an instant classic and his evilness over shadowed even Hitler. Mo’Nique won for Precious: Based On the Novel Push By Sapphire. Simply one of the most stomach turning roles I have ever watched. Jeff Bridges won Best Actor for Crazy Heart. I have yet to view the film, but his praise for the role and his winning has inspired me to watch it. Sandra Bullock won Best Actress for The Blind Side. It was not my favorite film of the year, but she deserved the award. Kathryn Bigelow won Best Director for The Hurt Locker. And Finally, The Hurt Locker won Best Picture. I think it deserved to win even though it might have not been my top choice for Best Film of the year. I did think it was much stronger than the majority of the 10. I am happy that it beat out Avatar for both Best Director and for Best Picture. Many people thought Avatar might win Best Picture, which I felt was a much weaker film. Avatar ended up only winning three out of its nine nominations. Avatar won the awards it deserved because all three awards were specifically about its visuals, which is the only substance the film has.

I noticed many connections between the 10 Best Picture nominees.

There were many films about war.

• Avatar
• District 9
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds

Spoiler Alert, two different films featured the exact same twist ending.

• Up In The Air
• An Education

A rarity in Hollywood, there were films that focused on Jewish people.

• Inglourious Basterds
• An Education
• A Serious Man

Two films were about young poor African American children wishing for a better life.

• The Blind Side
• Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire.

There were many films that had elements about Education.

• Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire
• The Blind Side
• An Education, blatantly by the title alone.
• Up featured a boy who is trying to get an education by earning merit badges.

Avatar and District 9 were basically the exact same film, hitting many of the same beats.

• They both were about Man versus Aliens.
• The main character is a man that ends up turning into an alien.
• The main character as an alien turns on man because they become evil.
• The final climactic scene features the main character fighting the main villain, with one in a giant robot suit.

All 10 films feature a sex scene.

• Avatar featured the Na’vi aliens having weird pony tail sex.
• The Blind Side featured, well, Sandra Bollock’s character had kids somehow.
• District 9 featured a fake Photoshopped image of the main character have sex with an alien.
• An Education, Spoiler Alert, they have sex.
• The Hurt Locker did not have a sex scene, but featured Evangeline Lilly, who is sexy enough.
• Inglourious Baserds features a two second long sex scene.
• Precious, well, lets just say no one is looking forward to that scene again.
• A Serious Man, featured a dream sequence where the main character has sex.
• Up featured a sad miscarriage at the beginning. The baby had to be created somehow.
• Up In The Air featured Vera Farmiga’s naked body.

All 10 films dealt with xenophobia.

• Once Again Inglourious Basterds, An Education, A Serious Man, all focused on xenophobia of Jewish people.
• Avatar and District 9 focus on Man being xenophobia agents Aliens.
• The Blind Side and Precious had elements of xenophobia of African Americans.
• The Hurt Locker featured elements of xenopobia of Iraqis.
• Up In the Air featured only white people except for a single African American, who of course rapped.
• Up, all old people are of course racist, and it was clear that original the old man was upset that the little fat asian kid joined him on his adventure.

Posted on

The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker is a well paced realistic look at a United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team during the Iraq War. The film is about a highly skilled team leader of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit play by Jeremy Renner. He rubs the rest of his team the wrong way because he likes to do everything is own way, even if it is extremely dangerous. The film is about him connecting with his other teammates as they are put in many risky situations.

The pacing was the first thing I noticed about the film because it starts off with a bang. The film continues this trend by feeding the audience a healthy amount of downtime of the soldier just living, between all the thrilling action. The opening of the film also makes the statement that anything could happen at any time. So all the characters did feel like they were in danger all the time, unlike many other films where main characters are completely invincible. Along with that, the films visuals had a quality to them that made you feel as if you were watching a real life documentary, unlike most unrealistic Hollywood movies. The near documentary style helped make the characters more real and thus allowing the audience to connection to the characters more and have them appear to be in greater peril. Even though the film is fictional, it puts perspective on the idea that this is a very real job that people actually risk their lives doing.

Overall the film is a very interesting look at the nearly unbelievable job and life of the main character, plus his wife is Evangeline Lilly. Out of the 10 Academy Award Nominated For Best Picture Of 2009, I would have to place it in the middle of the list of my favorite. Not only is the film up for Best Picture but for Best Director. The director is Kathryn Bigelow, who is the ex-wife of James Cameron. His film, Blue Aliens Are From Pandoria And Under Developed Characters Are From Earth, is also nominated for Best Picture and Best Director. This fact does not actually matter, but Hollywood’s second biggest export behind movies is celebrity gossip that does not effect anyone but the ones who are involved.

Update –
Congratulations to The Hurt Locker for winning Best Picture and Best Director among many other awards. It might have not been my favorite out of the ten Best Picture Nominees, but I completely understand why it won Best Picture and happy that it won because it beat out the majority of other films that did not even deserve the award.