And....THE RESULTS

Unfortunately I've been too busy to write a follow-up article after Sunday night's ceremony, so here it is.

I will preface this post by stating that I was not especially pleased with this year's show, mainly because I found it to be painfully predictable. Aside from the short film and documentary categories, which I was not acquainted with, none of the winners came as an upsetting, or even pleasant, surprise to me.

To those who didn't watch on March 7th, here's the complete list of winners:
Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique for Precious
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Best Animated Feature: Up
Best Foreign Language Feature: The Secret In Their Eyes
Best Original Screenplay: The Hurt Locker
Best Adapted Screenplay: Precious
Best Original Score: Up
Best Original Song: "The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart
Best Art Direction: Avatar
Best Cinematography: Avatar
Best Costume Design: The Young Victoria
Best Documentary Feature: The Cove
Best Documentary Short Subject: Music By Prudence
Best Film Editing: The Hurt Locker
Best Makeup: Star Trek
Best Animated Short Film: Logorama
Best Live Action Short: The New Tenants
Best Sound Editing: The Hurt Locker
Best Sound Mixing: The Hurt Locker
Best Visual Effects: Avatar

I would argue that if you had any knowledge of the Oscars prior to the ceremony, then every single winning actor would come as no surprise. Mo'Nique and Waltz have been locked in for months, and over the last couple of weeks it became very evident that Bullock and Bridges would take home their awards too.

Some would argue that the Best Picture category was a tight race between The Hurt Locker and Avatar, but I think, that if you look with hindsight, Avatar probably wasn't a frontrunner because the Academy has a tendency to not favor commercial blockbusters. I also understand that it's a big deal that Kathryn Bigelow took home the Best Director award, as she is the first female director to do so. However, it's been expected that she would win for so long that I wasn't legitimately surprised with her win.

I will not deny that I'm very happy for some of the winners (Bridges, Up, Waltz, etc.), but I would've almost been happier if there were more upsets in more categories. A great awards show will be full of shocks and twists and turns. There were very few at the 82nd Academy Awards, and that's why I think this ceremony will be easily forgotten a few years down the road. I've watched the Oscars for the past few years, and I have to say that this is easily the least memorable ceremony I have viewed.