The 82nd Academy Awards were as predictable as usual with Kathryn Bigalow winning the two big Oscars for Best Director and Picture for "The Hurt Locker" (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)For the fourth time in five years, an independent film has won the Best Picture Oscar. Is Big Hollywood over? As far as the summer movies no, but for Oscar-calibar films the sun is setting. You gotta give Kathryn Bigalow a lot of credit. "The Hurt Locker" was lauded as one of the best films of 2009 and with all the campaigning for it, the little $13 million dollar film slayed James Cameron's billion dollar grossing monumental movie "Avatar."
Don't get me wrong, Bigalow is a fantastic director. Her movie about the gritty Iraq war bomb squads was chilling. I just never saw it as the best movie of 2010. This reminds me of the year "Brokeback Mountain" was the odds on favorite to win only to have "Crash" upset the Ang Lee film. Again, a good movie won but not the best of that year. The Oscars need to look long and hard at who they give this award to. The best movies are not getting the award they deserve.
"Avatar" was a phenominal film. The story was lacking and had been done but the visual effects and 3-D has changed the way movies will be made forever. Cameron deserves the award solely for that merit.
All the actor awards were decided way in advance of the Oscars. Wins by Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock, Mo'Nique and Christoph Waltz were well deserved. Tarantino came up empty but has an Oscar already for "Pulp Fiction." One of these days he's going to blow the lid off the Oscars and win Director and Picture. He's such a fantastic filmmaker and writer.
So what will 2010 bring? Who knows but there are 10 open slots for Best Picture. Let's hope this years list is more competitive.
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