The Oscars 2010

I usually rely on pen & paper to make my way through the Oscars, thanks to printable ballots. Thought I'd try blogging instead this year.

Looking forward to it more this year than I have for a while. A lot of great films are up, and a lot fewer films I hated than the last few years. I don't get the Hurt Locker thing at all, but certainly didn't dislike it. I'm rooting for Avatar all the way, and Up.

I'll predict and vote on each category as and when.

Claudia Winkleman hosts the UK coverage with guests David Baddiel, Ronnie Ancona and Mark Dolan. Interesting choices, with only Baddiel absent last year. No party pooper Stephanie Beacham, thankfully. She did my head in last year.

Baddiel didn't even know A Serious Man was nominated. Oh dear.

Over to Angela Griffin on the red carpet. And we're back. That totally wasn't a waste of time.

Now we hear the nominees discuss how they feel. I'm guessing the response is positive. I am, evidently, correct. And now winners' memories. A montage of "um"s over Kylie music. Nice.

We'll be returning to the panel at each ad break.

1.30
And here we go...

As always, can't hear the live announcements to the audience. All the nominated actors are on stage for some reason. Except Matt Damon. Christoph Waltz too. Bastards.

1.32
Neil Patrick Harris. Legen.... Wait for it... Dary! Sound mix is off. Can hear the trumpets over the vocals. Hang on, some of those dancers are from SYTYCD (US)... Cool.

1.35
Hosts Steve Martin & Alec Baldwin lowered from the ceiling. Jokes about Meryl Streep losing. She rocks. All three of them were in It's Complicated. Must see it.

1.41
Ooh the Bigelow/Cameron marriage has been mentioned! Drink! A joke about a Toyota. I don't get it. George Clooney is looking well fucking miserable. Alec's called him up on it.

Twice!

1.45
Penelope Cruz introduces Supporting Actor.
Nominees:
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

My vote: Christoph Waltz
My prediction: Christoph Waltz
Winner: Christoph Waltz
Wow, he named a lot of people!

1.51
Ryan Reynolds introduces Best Picture nominee The Blind Side.

1.52
Ad break. Boy do the audience look bored shitless. They have 4 hours to go.

1.55
Cameron Diaz and Steve Carrell introduce Animated Picture.
Nominees:
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess & the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

Vote: Up
Prediction: Up
Winner: Up, Pete Docter director.

2.01
Amanda Seyfreid and Miley Cyrus introduce Original Song.
Nominees:
"Almost There" from The Princess & the Frog.
"Down in New Orleans" from The Princess & the Frog.
"Loin de Paname" from Paris 36.
"Take It All" from Nine.
"The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart.

Vote: "Take It All"
Prediction: "The Weary Kind"
Winner: "The Weary Kind"

2.05
Chris Pine introduces Best Picture nominee District 9.

Ad break 2. The panel are happy with Up.

2.12
Robert Downey Jr & Tina Fey introduce Original Screenplay. Amusing intro.
Nominees:
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

Vote: Up
Prediction: The Hurt Locker
Winner: The Hurt Locker, Mark Boal writer.

2.17
Molly Ringwald & Matthew Broderick introduce a tribute to John Hughes, followed by a video montage and then his films' stars appear on stage, introducing his family in the audience. Fair play, what with all the Oscar recognition he got.

2.24
Samuel L Jackson introduces Best Picture nominee Up.

Ad break 3. The panel reveal Baddiel had worked with John Hughes. And is there to plug his new film.

2.28
Carey Mulligan & Zoe Saldana introduce Short Films. I won't be predicting many of these.

Animated nominees:
French Roast
Sleeping Beauty
The Lady & The Reaper
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf & Death

Prediction: A Matter of Loaf & Death.
Winner: Logorama

Documentary nominees:
China's Unnatural Disaster
The Last Campaign
The Last Truck
Music By Prudence
Rabbit a la Berlin
Winner: Music By Prudence.

Live action nominees:
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants
Winner: The New Tenants.

2.38
Ben Stiller, in Avatar form, introduces Makeup.
Nominees:
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Vote: Star Trek
Prediction: The Young Victoria
Winner: Star Trek

2.43
Jeff Bridges introduces Best Picture nominee A Serious Man.

Ad break 4. They briefly predict the next category.

2.48
Jake Gyllenhaal & Rachel McAdams introduce Adapted Screenplay.
Nominees:
Up in the Air
Precious
In The Loop
An Education
District 9

Vote: District 9.
Prediction: Up in the Air.
Winner: Precious.

2.52
Queen Latifah introduces the Governors' Event. Don't ask me. Roger Corman and Lauren Bacall won something. Cue seriously laboured standing ovation.

2.55
Robin Williams introduces Supporting Actress.
Nominees:
Penelope Cruz, Nine.
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Monique, Precious

Vote: Monique
Prediction: Monique
Winner: Monique
Cue genuine standing ovation. And then she spoke...

3.01
Colin Firth introduces Best Picture nominee An Education.

Ad break 5. Was Monique being arrogant in her speech? This is for the performance, not the politics??? Does that mean "I won because I was great"? She was, but even so...

3.06
Sigourney Weaver introduces Art Direction.
Nominees:
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

Vote: Avatar
Prediction: Avatar
Winner: Avatar
Yay! Avatar won something!

3.10
Tom Ford and Sarah Jessica Parker introduce Costume Design.
Nominees:
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Vote: The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
Prediction: The Young Victoria
Winner: The Young Victoria
She sounded a bit ungrateful.

3.12
Charlize Theron introduces Best Picture nominee Precious.

Ad break 6. Mark Dolan is losing the hosts' predictions competition.

3.17
Steve & Alec do a Paranormal Activity spoof.

3.18
Kristin Stewart & Taylor Lautner introduce a tribute to horror because Oscar loves to ignore it. Errrrm... Okay....? I'm noticing a theme. Spoiler alert aplenty btw. Someone should have pointed out that Twilight is a different definition of horror.

3.23
Zac Efron & Anna Kendrick introduce Sound awards, with a handy video showing us the difference.
Sound Editing
Nominees:
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

Vote: Avatar
Prediction: The Hurt Locker
Winner: The Hurt Locker

Sound Mixing:
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Vote: Avatar
Prediction: Avatar
Winner: The Hurt Locker
Uh-oh. A Hurt Locker sweep is looming...

3.28
Elizabeth Banks introduced the Scientific and Technical awards. Which we don't see.

3.29
John Travolta introduces Best Picture nominee Inglourious Basterds.

Ad break 7. They discuss the Hurt Locker sweep. Consensus appears to be "hope not" as Avatar will be remembered.

3.35
Sandra Bullock introduces Cinematography.
Nominees:
Avatar
Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Vote: Avatar
Prediction: Avatar
Winner: Avatar
Phew.

3.38
Demi Moore introduces In Memoriam, while James Taylor sings In My Life.
I'd heard of...
Patrick Swayze
David Carradine (met him, not nice)
Dom DeLuise
Ron Silver
Brittany Murphy
Roy Disney
Michael Jackson
Natasha Richardson
Karl Malden

Twitter was not happy at the absence of Farrah Fawcett and Bea Arthur, when Michael Hackson was honoured. Fair play. Bad form, Academy.

Ad break 8. Avatar vs Hurt Locker. 2-3 so far. SFX will even it next. Avatar is in a league of its own, but Hurt Locker is better made?!??!?

3.45
J-Lo and Sam Worthington introduce Score, danced by SYTYCD alumni! Travis Wall!!!! That awesome Asian guy from Madonna videos and shows!!! Will be YouTube-ing that tomorrow.
Nominees:
Sherlock Holmes
The Hurt Locker
Fantastic Mr Fox
Up
Avatar

Vote: Up
Prediction: Up
Winner: Up
Wow! The actual best score rarely wins. Good for them!

3.54
Gerard Butler & Bradley Cooper introduce Visual Effects
Nominees:
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Vote: Avatar
Prediction: Avatar
Winner: Avatar
A no-brainer.

3.57
Jason Bateman introduced Best Picture nominee Up in the Air.

4.01
Matt Damon introduces Documentary Feature.
Nominees:
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man In America
Which Way Home

Vote: I haven't seen any of them yet.
Prediction: The Cove
Winner: The Cove
Wow, Oscar winner Fisher Stevens! Again, Twitter was ablaze!

4.06
Some black guy introduces Editing.
Nominees:
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

Vote: Avatar
Prediction: The Hurt Locker
Winner: The Hurt Locker
Oh and the black guy is Tyler Perry. He's famous in America. (Thanks, Twitter!)

4.10
Keanu Reeves introduces Best Picture nominee The Hurt Locker.

Ad break. David's moved into the lead.

4.14
Pedro Almodovar & Quentin Tarantino introduce Foreign Language.
Nominees:
Ajami, Israel.
The Milk of Sorrow, Peru.
A Prophet, France.
The Secret in Their Eyes, Argentina.
The White Ribbon, Germany.

Vote: The White Ribbon
Prediction: The White Ribbon
Winner: The Secret in Their Eyes.

4.18
Kathy Bates introduces Best Picture nominee Avatar.

Ad break 4454. Countdown to the final four...!)

4.24
Best Actor performance montage. Past co-stars appear.
Nominees:
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart. Introduced by Michelle Pfeiffer.
George Clooney, Up in the Air. Introduced by Vera Farmiga.
Colin Firth, A Single Man. Introduced by Julianne Moore.
Morgan Freeman, Invictus. Introduced by Tim Robbins.
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker. Introduced by Colin Farrell.

Award presented by Kate Winslet.
Vote: Colin Firth
Prediction: Jeff Bridges
Winner: Jeff Bridges

Ads

4.39
Best Actress performance montage. Past co-stars appear.
Nominees:
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side. Introduced by Forest Whitaker.
Helen Mirren, The Last Station. Introduced by Michael Sheen.
Carey Mulligan, An Education. Introduced by Peter Sarsgaard.
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious. Introduced by Oprah Winfrey.
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia. Introduced by Stanley Tucci.

Presented by Sean Penn.
Vote: Sandra Bullock.
Prediction: Sandra Bullock.
Winner: Sandra Bullock.

4.50ish
Barbra Streisand introduces Best Director.
Nominees:
James Cameron, Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds.
Lee Daniels, Precious.
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air.

Vote: James Cameron, Avatar.
Prediction: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Winner: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

5.00ish
Tom Hanks introduces Best Picture.
Nominations: see above.

Vote: Avatar
Prediction: Avatar
Winner: The Hurt Locker.
Shit.

5.05
It's over.
Sigh. We have witnessed history. A pub quiz answer has been created.

Apologies for any typos, spelling errors, etc. It's 5am for f***'s sake.

Thrown doll out of pram.

Goodnight.

The Top 10 Best Films of 2009

Well, the year's over, I have had the chance to revisit most of the films, and this is my definitive list of films with a UK release date of 2009.

1. Avatar
2. District 9
3. Up
4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
5. Inglourious Basterds
6. Bolt
7. 2012
8. Let the Right One In
9. Paranormal Activity
10. Drag Me to Hell

It may still be tweaked if I see some 2009 films in time to come, especially as I hunt down unwatched films with big award nominations.
I've chosen the films to watch very carefully, and, knowing my tastes, find it unlikely. However, each year at least one awards contender takes me by surprise.

BluRay collection

Movies:

1. The 39 Steps (1935)
2. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
3. Pinocchio (1940)
4. The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
5. North by Northwest (1959)
6. Sleeping Beauty (1959)
7. Blade Runner (1982)
8. Ghost Busters (1984)
9. Gremlins (1984)
10. The Terminator (1984)
11. Dirty Dancing (1987)
12. Lethal Weapon (1987)
13. Die Hard (1988)
14. Batman (1989)
15. Die Hard 2 (1990)
16. Total Recall (1990)
17. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
18. Batman Returns (1992)
19. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
20. Speed (1994)
21. Stargate (1994)
22. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
23. Batman Forever (1995)
24. A Time to Kill (1996)
25. Independence Day (1996)
26. Mission: Impossible (1996)
27. Men in Black (1997)
28. The Wedding Singer (1998)
29. The Matrix (1999)
30. The Mummy (1999)
31. The Sixth Sense (1999)
32. Final Destination (2000)
33. Mission: Impossible II (2000)
34. The Patriot (2000)
35. Unbreakable (2000)
36. X-Men (2000)
37. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
38. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
39. The Mummy Returns (2001)
40. Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
41. The Bourne Identity (2002)
42. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
43. Signs (2002)
44. The Transporter (2002)
45. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
46. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
47. The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
48. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
49. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
50. X-Men 2 (2003)
51. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
52. The Butterfly Effect (2004)
53. The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
54. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
55. House of Flying Daggers (2004)
56. I, Robot (2004)
57. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
58. Ocean’s Twelve (2004)
59. National Treasure (2004)
60. Night Watch (2004)
61. The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
62. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
63. Batman Begins (2005)
64. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
65. The Chronicles of Narnia: 62. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
66. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
67. The Island (2005)
68. King Kong (2005)
69. Serenity (2005)
70. Sin City (2005)
71. The World's Fastest Indian (2005)
72. The Ant Bully (2006)
73. The Butterfly Effect 2 (2006)
74. Cars (2006)
75. Casino Royale (2006)
76. Day Watch (2006)
77. The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
78. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (2006)
79. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
80. Mission: Impossible III (2006)
81. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
82. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
83. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
84. 300 (2006)
85. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
86. AVPR: Aliens vs Predator - Requiem (2007)
87. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
88. Bridge to Terabithia (2007)
89. Death Proof (2007)
90. Die Hard 4.0 (2007)
91. Enchanted (2007)
92. The Golden Compass (2007)
93. Hairspray (2007)
94. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
95. I Am Legend (2007)
96. Juno (2007)
97. The Kite Runner (2007)
98. National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
99. Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)
100. The Orphanage (2007)
101. Persepolis (2007)
102. Ratatouille (2007)
103. Son of Rambow (2007)
104. Superbad (2007)
105. Bolt (2008)
106. Changeling (2008)
107. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)
108. Cloverfield (2008)
109. The Dark Knight (2008)
110. Hancock (2008)
111. Iron Man (2008)
112. Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)
113. Kung Fu Panda (2008)
114. Let the Right One In (2008)
115. Mamma Mia! (2008)
116. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)
117. WALL•E (2008)
118. Wanted (2008)
119. The Wrestler (2008)
120. Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)
121. The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations (2009)
122. District 9 (2009)
123. Drag Me to Hell (2009)
124. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
125. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
126. The Proposal (2009)
127. Push (2009)
128. Star Trek (2009)
129. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

TV:
1. Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (2003-2009)
2. Damages: Season One (2007)
3. True Blood: Season One (2008)
4. Dollhouse: Season One (2009)
5. Family Guy: Something, Something, Something Dark Side (2009)