The 83rd annual Oscar ceremony was held last night.
I've been a fan of the Oscars for years, and have done a great deal of research about their history, as well as who has been nominated and won over the years. I also see almost all of the nominated movies and performances in the major categories each year (the only one I missed this year was Best Actor nominee Javier Bardem's performance in Biutiful).
With all of that background, I know that in a subjective competition like the Oscars—or any other film awards program—there will be times when I feel the awards went to the "right" people and times I feel they didn't, but it's only my opinion. However, I enjoy the awards season more when the people and/or films I believe "deserve" to win actually get some recognition. (Most years it's not too bad; some years are better than others.)
As I've commented previously, there truly is a glut of awards these days—Golden Globes, Critics Choice, BAFTAs, SAGs, hundreds of different film critics groups, Independent Spirit Awards, etc. When an actor or a film starts building momentum, their inevitable march toward the Oscars starts to seem boring (unless you're really rooting for them). It seems as if the possibility for a surprise win like Marcia Gay Harden or Anna Paquin, or even Russell Crowe for Gladiator seems less and less likely.
While there's little dispute that the winners of this year's Oscars were deserving, I'm grumpy because they weren't all the ones I would have picked, and also because these are the same people who have won at every awards show. (For those of you who are curious, if I were a member of the academy, I would have voted for Inception for Best Picture, Colin Firth (although if Ryan Gosling was nominated he would have gotten my vote), Annette Bening, Christian Bale and Hailee Steinfeld.)
Hopefully next year all of my favorites will win, and maybe there will even be a surprise or two. But I won't hold my breath...
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