BECCA WATERLOO ae@technewsiit.com TechNews | Tuesday, March 1,2011 Oscars: the aftermath Last week, some of the TechNews staff got together to give you their predictions on who would win some golden statuettes on the night of February 271 It’s time to recap who won big last night, and which staff members are better at spotting winners when they see them 12 ITHE KING’S SPEECH Best Picture Best Director: Tom Hooper Best Actor: Colin Firth Best Original Screenplay: David Seidler None of us got Best Director right Our main picks were Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan and David Fincher for The Social Network But Ryan cleaned up with Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Screenplay The rest of the TechNews staff were pretty firmly in the James Franco camp for Best Actor, and were disappointed he didn’t get any recognition for 127 Hours Our picks for Best Picture were 127 Hours and True Grit THE SOCIAL NETWORK Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin Best Film Editing: Angus Wall & Kirk Baxter Best Original Score: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross We pretty much agreed that the Best Adapted Screenplay came out of left field Becca had favored 127 Hours, Karl was supporting True Grit Film editing was where most of the staff were perplexedi Inception had been the staff favorite for this (and, honestly, most of technical awards)l But Becca felt that the preview shown for The IINCEPTION Best Sound Editing: Richard King Best Sound Mixing: Lora Hirschberg, Gary A Rizzo, & Ed Novick Best Cinematography: Wally Pfister Best Visual Effects: Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Locke ley, and Peter Bebb The TechNews staff was almost certain Inception would clean up in the technical categories, and we were pretty much right Given how impressive the movie was in its visual and audio aspects, it was a fronterunner for all of these ITHE FIGHTER Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo These two caught all the staff by surprise Sure, these roles were good, but we’d assumed that Helena Bonham Carter or Hailee Steinfeld would be getting some recognition in this category Karl had Mark Ruffalo pegged for best actor, tool Social Network made it the obvious fronterunneri It became especially evident when they played the clip from the Winkleboss’s rowing scene with “In the Hall of the Mountain King’ ' playing in the background For soundtracks, Becca’s pick was 127 Hours, and Karl was in the Inception camp (A Hans Zimmer score is always a worthy contender)i Both were disappointed However, Beca concedes that the win made perfect sense, and those who listen to the soundtrack again will understand why TOY STORY 3 Best Original Song: Randy Newman, “We Belong Together" Best Animated Feature: Lee Unkrich Randy Newman for Best Original Song? We’ll allow it Becca will never understand how they can surpass AIR Rahman’s brilliancel Florence Welch took over Dido’s role during the live performance’s last night in “If I Rise" 7 hopefully that wasn’t what made them lose it None of us were particularly surprised by the Best Animated Feature choice, but we were definitely all happy with it! ALICE IN WONDERLAND Best Costume Design: Colleen Atwood Best Art Direction: Robert Stromberg & Karen O’Hara We hadn’t made a pick for these two categories, but Alice in Wonderland was a strong contender, so it’s tough to argue with the result THE NOT-SO-BIG WINNERS Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan Ryan, Utsav and Becca were agreed on this one, but our EditoreineChief had picked Michelle Williams for her role in Blue Valentinei It’s OK, he understands Best Foreign Language Film: In a Better World This was a tough one Karl had thought Biutiful was the fronterunner for this Oscar, but it was a close win, so no hard feelings Best Feature Documentary: Inside Job Karl had been a big supporter of Inside Job, though we were all curious to see whether Banksy himself would go up to accept the award if Exit Through the Gift Shop won Best Documentary Short: Strangers No More Best Live-Action Short: God ofLove Best Animated Short: The Lost Thing We’ll be honest“ we didn’t see many shorts this past year, but we’re sure these were all great Best Makeup: Richard Baker & Dave Elsey, The Wolfman Another one we hadn’t made a pick for, but it’s good to see The Wolfman getting some Oscar lover Final impressions from the TechNews staff “I thought this year’s Oscars were very cool I agreed with almost all the award recipients, the musical performances were excellent, and the vast majority of the Oscar winners were grae cious and humble in their acceptance speechesi I’m really happy that The King’s Speech did so well 7 it was an excellent movie, and it’s great that it’s finally getting the attention it deserves My one real complaint about the night was the hosting done by James Franco and Anne Hathaway Towards the end of the night, both lost their charm and killed the mood of the night Another thing I found interesting was the fact that narration from The King’s Speech narrated the best picture montage 7 almost as if the Academy was trying to give us a clue as to who was going to win" 7 Ryan “Most of the awards were well deserved, but I hated the lack of attention to 127 Hours The academy went throughout the whole night without giving the film the time of day In all of the clips for previews of each movie, the movie got about 4 seconds while The King’s Speech was spoken over the whole clipping I think politically it was a sweep, and they could have been a little bit more modest about it James Franco’s hosting was unimpressive, but I think he may have seen what was coming before anyone else did“ Natalie Portman was stunning, and her award was an obvious win Anne Hathaway was adorable, although the abundant dress change wasn’t necessary; she was also a lot more upbeat than James Franco The Social Network deserved best soundtrack, and if anyone wants it, I can give it to them Personally I’m sad 7 127 Hours should have won at least one award It was a piece of artwork that went underrated, underestimated, and underepublicizedi The academy obviously never saw it Such a shameful" 7 Becca “The hosts could have done a better job (I found them a little nervous), 127 Hours definitely deserved more recognition, even Best Picture, maybe, and the stage performances, especially Rahman’s, were Oscareworthy Best Actress obviously wasn’t a surprise It was nice that she acknowledged her beginnings and her competitorsl I was excited to see Sir Francis Ford Coppola get the Lifetime Achievement 7 I am a huge fan of the Godfather seriesi Director: I expected the Black Swan guy [Darren Aronofsky], but I think Tom Hooper wine ning it makes all the more reason for me to catch the film asapll Great to see Inception’s technical excellence getting recognized, and Toy Story, Alice in Won, derland, the documentary Karl mentioned in his initial list [Inside Job], all getting their due As for how the stars looked, I was very, very happy to see Aishwarya Rai (who you might remember from Pink Panther 2) looking STUNNING" 7 Utsav “I may be part of a tiny minority who actually liked the job James Franco and Anne Hathaway did hosting the Oscars 7 after Ricky Gervais’ excessive snark at the Golden Globes and the general overedone nature of most award shows, it was actually refreshing to see them being awkward and geeking out over movies 7 I don’t know, it just felt more earnestl The costume changes were uni necessary, but undeniably impressivei As far as the awards themselves, I was honestly surprised at how well The Social Network and The King’s Speech did I felt like too many people couldn’t separate the former from all the hype surrounding it, and the latter pretty much was just Oscar bait (though a welledone movie, I’ll readily admit)i Movies I wish had done a little better? Blue Valentine, The Kids Are All Right, and, of course, True Grit I was really happy with the Inside Job win, thought An award well, deserved" 7 Karl