Oscar Mania!! Highs and Lows

I have a question for all you lovely bloggers out there: if the Oscars have been traditionally career-stunting in the past (Halle Berry and Kate Winslet, anyone?), what is someone like Sandra Bullock, who didn't really have a stellar acting career to begin with, to do? At this point I think returning to duds like All About Steve is just awkward, not to mention cements the fact that she shouldn't have gotten the damn Oscar to begin with. On the other hand, however, I just can't picture her in mind-blowing, career changing roles. So... if she can't go up, and can't go down, does that mean even more movies as terrible as The Blind Side will be made? I hope not. 

On a better note, I was immensely happy to see Mo'Nique win Best Supporting. More happy than I was when she won the Golden Globe (I mean, this is the fucking Oscars). She gave, as always, a heartfelt and touching speech, and I mean that with the deepest sincerity. Only a real asshole would turn the cut-off music on her. I haven't seen anyone as openhearted. Just to show some love: 

I was also really happy to see Kathryn Bigelow win Best Director. It's high time that the award goes to a woman, and I loved that they kept flashing to James Cameron's reaction to the results. I couldn't find her actual speech, but there was a great interview with her afterward:



My only other gripe about this year's Oscars, was, of course, Up. I knew it would win Best Animated Film, but I was still immensely disappointed when I compared it mentally to what it was up against. I've said this before, and I'll say it again- I have a lot of issues with Up and I think that to call it a children's film is to cheat children out of a full film. It basically insinuates that it doesn't matter if you market a film to kids that they'll only understand a quarter of, and the parts that they do understand are cheap laughs and side gags. Because I don't feel like going more into this, I'm just going to say that Coraline had a more sophisticated animation style and The Secret of Kells was more concise, and either deserved the award more than Up.

If you didn't watch the Oscars this year, I'd say that the overall feeling was that they were very rushed. It was as if there was this race or push to get to the end, the very thing that the Academy always tries to avoid!! I just felt that because of all the Best Picture Nominations, they didn't take any time in relishing any of the movies, whether the nomination was for Best Picture or Best Documentary Short. The Oscars are not just about announcing the Best of this year's films- they are about appreciating what is out there in terms of cinema, and for some reason, this year's awards ceremony seemed to forget about that goal. 

Peace,

The Movie Mistress