Oscars Handed out at 82nd Academy Awards

A big night in Hollywood tonight with the much anticipated 82 Annual Academy Awards.

Unfortunately, I missed most of the show but thankfully, as always, the Oscars ran long so I was able to watch the final four award presentations.

I heard that the show itself was good, with Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin hosting, but I also heard that for some reason, Farrah Fawcett was left off the tribute of those who have passed in the last year. Strange.

I’ll have to catch up on my movies since I’ve only seen one of the ten movies that was up for Best Picture, and that was UP.

From the New York Daily News:

“The Hurt Locker” dominated the Oscars on Sunday night, winning six awards – including Best Picture and Best Director.

Kathryn Bigelow took home the Best Director Oscar, beating out “Avatar” director James Cameron.

Jeff Bridges won the Best Actor award Sunday night, taking him the trophy for his performance in “Crazy Heart.”

Sandra Bullock won Best Actress for “The Blind Side.” For both Bridges and Bullock, it was their first Oscars.

Mo’Nique won Best Supporting Actress for her turn as a monstrous mother in “Precious.”‘

Austrian Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of a smooth and scary Nazi in “Inglourious Basterds.”

Oscar Nominations Announced

The nominations for the 81st annual Academy Awards were announced early this morning, with “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” nabbing 13 nods to lead all films.

From CNN:

The movie, about a man who ages in reverse, is a big film (almost three hours long) with big themes (death and love) and earned nominations for best picture, best director (David Fincher), best actor (Brad Pitt), best supporting actress (Taraji P. Henson) and best adapted screenplay along with eight nominations in other categories.

“This is a great honor for the movie, and I’m especially happy for David Fincher, for without him there would be no Ben Button,” said Pitt in a statement. The film, based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, has been a project of Fincher’s for years.

However, despite eight Oscar nominations, “The Dark Knight” — 2008’s box-office king — only picked up one in a major category, that for Heath Ledger’s performance as the villainous Joker. The late actor, who died exactly one year ago Thursday, is nominated for best supporting actor, the same award he won posthumously at the Golden Globes almost two weeks ago.

“The Dark Knight” had made the short lists for the producers’, directors’ and writers’ guilds, but those honors weren’t enough to qualify it for a best picture Oscar nomination.

“Slumdog Millionaire,” the sleeper hit about a Mumbai orphan who seeks fame and love through the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”, earned 10 nominations, including best picture, best director (Danny Boyle) and best adapted screenplay. The film, which struggled to find a U.S. theatrical distributor after its initial studio folded, has dominated the awards season thus far and is considered the front-runner for best picture.

In a mild surprise, “The Reader,” based on the best-selling novel about a postwar German boy who has an affair with an older woman with a secret, took home nominations for best picture, best actress (Kate Winslet) and best director (Stephen Daldry). “The Reader” comes from the Weinstein Co. — the studio headed by producer and master Oscar player Harvey Weinstein.

“I’m extremely happy to have been nominated. And very fortunate. Playing Hanna Schmitz will always remain one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever been blessed with,” Winslet said in a statement.

The other best picture nominees are “Frost/Nixon” and “Milk.”