`Hurt Locker' earns best-picture Academy Award

[alienlovechild 75]

LOS ANGELES – The Iraq War drama "The Hurt Locker" won best picture and five other prizes Sunday at the Academy Awards, its haul including best director for Kathryn Bigelow.

Bigelow is the first woman in the 82-year history of the Oscars to earn Hollywood's top prize for filmmakers.

Among those Bigelow and "The Hurt Locker" beat are ex-husband James Cameron and his sci-fi spectacle "Avatar." Bigelow and Cameron were married from 1989-91.

First-time winners took all four acting prizes: Sandra Bullock as best actress for "The Blind Side"; Jeff Bridges as best actor for "Crazy Heart"; Mo'Nique as supporting actress for "Precious"; and Christoph Waltz as supporting actor for "Inglourious Basterds."

The award wraps up a wild year for Bullock, who had box-office smashes with "Blind Side" and "The Proposal" and a flop with "All About Steve," which earned her the worst-actress trophy at the Razzies the night before the Oscars.

"Avatar" won three Oscars, for visual effects, art direction and cinematography, beating "The Hurt Locker" for the latter. "The Hurt Locker" also won out over "Avatar" for film editing, sound editing and sound mixing.

With nine nominations each, "The Hurt Locker" and "Avatar" came in tied for the Oscar lead.

With just $12.6 million domestically, "The Hurt Locker" is the lowest-grossing film to win best picture in this modern era of detailed box-office bookkeeping.

The best-picture category was loaded with smash hits, "Avatar" at $720 million domestically and climbing and the animated blockbuster "Up" and "The Blind Side" topping $200 million.

Argentina's "The Secret in Their Eyes" pulled off a surprise win for foreign-language film over higher-profile entries that included Germany's "The White Ribbon" and France's "A Prophet."

Oscar hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin opened the show with playful ribbing of nominees. They also made note of Oscar organizers' decision to double the best-picture category from five films to 10.

Leaders of the Academy widened the best-picture category from the usual five films to expand the range of contenders for a ceremony whose predictability had turned it into a humdrum affair for TV audiences.

Oscar ratings fell to an all-time low two years ago and rebounded just a bit last year, when the show's overseers freshened things up with lively production numbers and new ways of presenting some awards.

The overhaul continued this season with a show that farmed out time-consuming lifetime-achievement honors to a separate event last fall and hired Martin and Baldwin as the first dual Oscar hosts in 23 years.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_oscars

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I definitely want to see this one...and the one with Sandra Bullock.

[scandal 951]

I didn't watch the Awards, but I'm glad to see that Christoph Waltz won for Inglourious Basterds as Col. Hans Landa. That was an amazing performance, and a great role.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I definitely want to see this one...and the one with Sandra Bullock.

Sandra Bullock winning best actress was BS.

[alienlovechild 75]

I definitely want to see this one...and the one with Sandra Bullock.

Shows how little influence on I have here on generating buzz about a movie. I wasn't a fan of the movie but most people hadn't seen it so there were few comments.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...The+Hurt+Locker

Edited March 8, 2010 by alienlovechild

[alienlovechild 75]

I didn't watch the Awards, but I'm glad to see that Christoph Waltz won for Inglourious Basterds as Col. Hans Landa. That was an amazing performance, and a great role.

I had low expectations for Basterds as Hollywood hype but Waltz was far interesting to watch than the Pitt character who had little screen time despite the misleading movie trailer.

[slim 1,514]

Hurt Locker was an awesome movie... right up until it turned into a sappy drama.

Also, any movie where a guy misses a stationary target at 850 meters with an M-82A1 and then hits the guy when he gets up and starts running... yeah, I'm calling bullsh!t. I'm also gonna have to call bullsh!t on the sand walls of the little house stopping those rounds but that's neither here nor there. Why they didn't get chewed up by the M-2 in the first place is beyond me. Hollywood.

If they would've removed the whole "I want a son" part, this could've won best picture.

[krautlaus 7]

Has anyone seen Crazy Heart yet? Amaaazing! I loved it so much! Thumbs up for Jeff Bridges' Oscar!! :thumbs:

And Christoph Waltz'

His performance was outstanding in IB. He was by far the best of the entire bunch.

"That's a bingo!"

[sachinky 464]

I was rooting for Christopher Waltz too! He was superlative in Inglourious Basterds. Fantastic movie as well.

I'm going to watch Up in the Air today and Avatar tomorrow. Finally.

Edited March 8, 2010 by sachinky

[NickD 202]

Hitler that never went anywhere without 5,000 body guards gets killed and is in France during D-Day? Come on, most kids today haven't even heard of WW II, Inglorious Basterds was pure trash. And why can't we spell the title as written?

In like manner, "The Proposal" was an insult and power misrepresentation of the immigration process showing the Academy Awards is honoring pure BS. Get enough BS for free without having to pay for it. And I am suppose to get exited over the amount of money Avatar is earning for even more BS?

[krautlaus 7]

'The Proposal' (might be a stupid film BUT) was not nominated for an Oscar... Sandra Bullock was nominated for 'The Blind Side'...

Quentin Tarantino is a master of satire, and yes, it might seem trashy to some people - who don't get satire. The thing is that it is so far-fetched and extremely exaggerated - it's really just best to not take a movie like that too seriously.

It's not a movie about how we could have killed Hitler or saved millions of jews from being killed - it's an allegory!

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

I saw seven of the ten Best Picture nominations, and I suppose I think The Hurt Locker was the best suited for that award. I wasn't overly happy with ANY movies from 2009 though, other than the Star Trek reboot. A lot of "good" movies, but no "great" movies in my opinion.

I don't understand how The Hurt Locker won the screenplay award over ANY of the other nominees though. The screenplay was NOT exceptional in any way. Inglourious Basterds should have at least won that award.

No big surprises otherwise though. Sandra Bullock happened to catch lightning in a bottle for her role in The Blind Side I guess. I didn't see that movie, but other than her small role in Crash, I've never seen her in a role that required any serious acting, per se. A small part of Mirren and Streep must just cringe at the thought of Bullock being considered "better" than them in a role...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Hitler that never went anywhere without 5,000 body guards gets killed and is in France during D-Day? Come on, most kids today haven't even heard of WW II, Inglorious Basterds was pure trash. And why can't we spell the title as written?

It wasn't supposed to be historically accurate - it was an exploitation movie about Hollywood's fascination with the war movie, and how filmgoers find battle scenes (like the D-Day landing, in Saving Private Ryan) thrilling, rather than the harrowing experience they are actually supposed to convey.

It's quite deliberate.

[mawilson 2,133]

Sandra Bullock winning best actress was BS.

Yep.

[alienlovechild 75]

It wasn't supposed to be historically accurate - it was an exploitation movie about Hollywood's fascination with the war movie, and how filmgoers find battle scenes (like the D-Day landing, in Saving Private Ryan) thrilling, rather than the harrowing experience they are actually supposed to convey.

You or the generic audience found the D-Day landing scene in Saving Private Ryan "thrilling" but not harrowing? Both my Mom and I got both teary eyed as did a lot of WWII vets.

Supposedly Tarantino wanted to marry the Western bravado movies with the WWII genre. I liked the plot twists even though not historically accurate because I hate cookie cutter plotlines especially if they don't bring anything new to the genre.