2010 Academy Awards Winners

We can finally close the book on 2009. The Oscars have come and gone and The Hurt Locker has triumphed, winning Best Picture and five more awards including Best Director (making Kathryn Bigelow the first woman to win best director) and Original Screenplay.

It was definitely a night for "Hurt Locker" as it nabbed many of the technical awards that were expected for "Avatar," the blockbuster that was directed by Bigelow's ex-spouse James Cameron.

The Dude, Jeff Bridges, won best actor for his portrayal of an alcoholic country singer in "Crazy Heart." Sandra Bullock won best actress for portraying a nurturing mom in the football drama "The Blind Side" and worst actress for portraying a stalker in "All About Steve."

Enough talk, here are the winners and who they were up against:


Best motion picture of the year

* Avatar
* The Blind Side
* District 9
* An Education
* The Hurt Locker
* Inglourious Basterds
* Precious
* A Serious Man
* Up
* Up In the Air

Performance by an actress in a leading role

* Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
* Helen Mirren (The Last Station)
* Carey Mulligan (An Education)
* Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)
* Meryl Streep (Julie and Julia)

Performance by an actor in a leading role

* Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
* George Clooney (Up In the Air)
* Colin Firth (A Single Man)
* Morgan Freeman (Invictus)
* Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)

Achievement in directing

* James Cameron (Avatar)
* Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
* Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)
* Lee Daniels (Precious)
* Jason Reitman (Up In the Air)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

* Matt Damon (Invictus)
* Woody Harrellson (The Messenger)
* Christopher Plummer (The Last Station)
* Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)
* Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

* Penelope Cruz (Nine)
* Vera Farmiga (Up In the Air)
* Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart)
* Anna Kendrick (Up In the Air)
* Mo'Nique (Precious)

Best animated feature film of the year

* Coraline
* Fantastic Mr. Fox
* The Princess and the Frog
* The Secret of Kells
* Up

Best Documentary Short Subject

* China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
* The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
* The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant”
* Music by Prudence
* Rabbit à la Berlin

Best Short Film (Animated)

* French Roast
* Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
* The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
* Logorama
* A Matter of Loaf and Death

Best Short Film (Live Action)

* The Door
* Instead of Abracadabra
* Kavi
* Miracle Fish
* The New Tenants

Achievement in art direction

* Avatar
* The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
* Nine
* Sherlock Holmes
* The Young Victoria

Achievement in cinematography

* Avatar, Mauro Fiore
* Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Bruno Delbonnel
* The Hurt Locker, Barry Ackroyd
* Inglourious Basterds, Robert Richardson
* The White Ribbon, Christian Berger

Achievement in costume design

* Bright Star, Janet Patterson
* Coco before Chanel, Catherine Leterrier
* The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Monique Prudhomme
* Nine, Colleen Atwood
* The Young Victoria, Sandy Powell

Best documentary feature

* Burma VJ
* The Cove
* Food, Inc.
* The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
* Which Way Home

Achievement in makeup

* Il Divo, Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
* Star Trek, Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
* The Young Victoria, Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Achievement in film editing

* Avatar, Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
* District 9, Julian Clarke
* The Hurt Locker, Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
* Inglourious Basterds, Sally Menke
* Precious, Joe Klotz

Best foreign language film of the year

* Ajami
* El Secreto De Sus Ojos
* The Milk of Sorrow
* A Prophet
* The White Ribbon

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

* Avatar, James Horner
* Fantastic Mr. Fox, Alexandre Desplat
* The Hurt Locker, Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
* Sherlock Holmes, Hans Zimmer
* Up, Michael Giacchino

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

* "Almost There" from The Princess and the Frog Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* "Down in New Orleans" from The Princess and the Frog Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* "Loin de Paname" from Paris 36 Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
* "Take It All" from Nine Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
* "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from Crazy Heart Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Achievement in sound editing

* Avatar, Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
* The Hurt Locker, Paul N.J. Ottosson
* Inglourious Basterds, Wylie Stateman
* Star Trek, Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
* Up, Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Achievement in sound mixing

* Avatar, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
* The Hurt Locker, Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
* Inglourious Basterds, Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
* Star Trek, Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
* Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Achievement in visual effects

* Avatar, Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
* District 9, Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
* Star Trek, Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Adapted screenplay

* Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell (District 9)
* Nick Hornby (An Education)
* Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche (In the Loop)
* Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious)
* Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (Up In the Air)

Original screenplay

* Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker)
* Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)
* Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman (The Messenger)
* Joel and Ethan Coen (A Serious Man)
* Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy (Up)

As for the actual event itself, I really enjoyed the banter between Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. The two did a great job of keeping the atmosphere light and no doubt, helping viewers not only tune in, but to stick around.

Throughout the ceremony we saw a wide variety of presenters which included notable Oscar winners of the past and currently-popular mainstream celebrities.

Some Notable call-outs:

* Robert Downey Jr. & Tina Fey were awesome. We needed more Robert Downey Jr.
* Miley Cyrus & Amanda Seyfried were not awesome. Ms. Hannah Montana messed up her lines and tried to cover herself by saying she was nervous (and no one else was?). We need none of this next year.
* Ben Stiller as a Na’Vi from "Avatar" was hilarious.
* The hosts "Paranormal Activity" skit was quite amusing.
* The tribute to John Hughes was a very touching moment and featured Hughes regulars such as Jon Cryer, Anthony Michael Hall, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Macaulay Culkin and Matthew Broderick.

And in an offbeat rant, I’m not a fan of desperate attempts at bringing out celebrities like Taylor Lautner and Miley Cyrus for the sole reason of bringing their fanbases in for ratings rather than their accomplishments. There were quite a few shots of Lautner sitting near the front when he wasn’t nominated for anything (like we saw with Rob Pattinson last year). He has a better seat than those who were nominated or even winners of other categories.

What did you think of the 2010 Oscars? Do all the winners deserve their awards?
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: Rope of Silicon, USA Today, Screen Rant