Oscar 2010: Final Words

"At the end, he called me to his deathbed. He could barely speak, but he took the trouble to tell me one last thing. He pulled me close, and I could only make out one word. 'Disappointed'." - Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) from Inception

We can now leave 2010 to the past, and stop dwelling in it with anger and desperation. The awards season is over, and much like Maurice Fischer in Inception, I am too am disappointed. If there's one thing that last night's Oscar telecast showed us, it's how pathetic 2010 in film was compared to 2009. I was part of the most delusional Oscar party in America, with people who honestly felt that 2010 was a modest improvement, both in respects to the films and the ceremony. I wasn't a fan of 2009's mixed up and frantic show, last night's show was all over the place. It was as corny and frantically emotional as the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland, the second worst Oscar winning film of this year. But thinking back to the films released, there is a noticeable rift in quality.

The King's Speech and Inception both walked away with four nominations, the latter in all technical categories and the former only in the big eight categories. The Social Network only walked away with three, all of which were well deserved awards. Some of the most disappointing awards decisions were based solely on the politics of the show. Banksy definitely deserved to win for Exit Through the Gift Shop, but the Academy was without a doubt fearful that he would ruin their precious little show, as if they needed any help with that. I'm a moderately understanding person, but I just don't stand for giving awards out to anything less than the best in each category. It didn't help that there just weren't many interesting films out this year. Probably the most disappointing upset was Roger Deakins being snubbed from Best Cinematography once again. The man just can't seem to catch a break, even after all these years.

I guess that's the way things are meant to go. The best films of the year go by under-appreciated, and the obvious crowd-pleasers are the victors. It wasn't always like this, as the Academy decided in the past two honor the best, not compromising for the sake of flash. 2007 may have been the best Oscar year in the past ten years, with films like Juno, No Country for Old Men, and There Will Be Blood pushing audiences once again to widen their horizons. If this year were more like that year, the five nominees for Best Picture would be Winter's Bone, Black Swan, The Social Network, True Grit, and The Fighter, not even mentioning The King's Speech. Those great days are past us, but I sill manage to hope that changes this year.

If things seem somewhat sparse here for the next week, it's because I'm quite honestly busy catching up with my real life. I need a break from this mania, and what better way to do it than immerse myself completely in this year. The next month offers some exciting features, and even if they turn out to be merely unintelligent diversions, that will be a welcome break from the over-intellectualized ramblings we Oscar prognosticators have been partaking in over the past few months. It all boils down to one night, and that night has to deliver. This year, it just didn't. I leave you with my guiltiest pleasure from last night's show.