It was far from the most exciting Academy Awards broadcast. The most surprising thing that happened was that Kirk Douglas stole the show from hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway.
As for my Oscar picks I got exactly the same amount right that I did last year - 13 out of 24.
Here are the ones I got wrong:
BEST PICTURE: THE KING'S SPEECH. For the first time in 4 years I got this one wrong. I picked THE SOCIAL NETWORK because that was what I was feeling, but the Academy voters felt differently. THE KING'S SPEECH is excellent and deserving so I'm not disapointed.
Funnily enough last September Bill Maher joked on his HBO show (Real Time With Bill Maher):
"New rule: If they are going to make a historic epic full of British actors in period costumes about Queen Elizabeth helping her father get over his speech impediment, why bother having the Oscars at all? You win."
He didn't get the plot right exactly, but he was dead on there.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Melissa Leo won for THE FIGHTER. I really thought Haileed Steinfeld would take it. Sigh.
BEST DIRECTOR: Tom Hooper for THE KING'S SPEECH. I picked David Fincher for THE SOCIAL NETWORK - I really should've seen THE KING'S SPEECH sweep coming.
These were pretty much stabs in the dark:
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Wally Pfister for INCEPTION. Was pulling for Roger Deakins for TRUE GRIT because he's been nominated 9 times and I thought it was his time. It wasn't.
BEST SCORE: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for THE SOCIAL NETWORK. The Academy got this one right, but I didn't with my pick of Alexandre Desplat for THE KING'S SPEECH.
BEST SONG: Randy Newman for TOY STORY 3. Another I was happy to be wrong about. I had choosen A.R. Rahman, Rollo Armstrong, and Dido for 127 HOURS which didn't win anything.
Ditto on these 2:
My favorite line of the entire broadcast: "You've just been Inceptioned!" - as spoken by Alec Baldwin.
More later...