And so it has come to this. A rather mixed bag of awards, in a show that zipped by in just over three hours, but leaving very few parting memories. No one film monopolised the awards, no real one person put in a truly memorable speech, no one person put in much of a lasting impression as a presenter either.
For what do we remember about this year is that Anne Hathaway (over-rehearsed) and James Franco (over-rehearsed and stoned looking) failed to live up to expectations with jokes and casual banter coming off rather flatly. There is, as always, the odd good gag – but it was not sustained. They did get to partake in an opening film that made fun of many of the nominees this year – but ended rather weirdly and disjointedly in a pointless Back To the Future skit?
The awards themselves were largely predictable. Melissa Leo and Christian Bale taking home their supporting role awards. Leo looked surprised, Bale was gracious (and even put in a decent joke at his own expense noting the foul language he has used in the past).
Natalie Portman was this year’s cry-baby darling onstage this year as she took home the leading role for Black Swan, and Colin Firth, much more dignified, took home his for The Kings Speech.
The biggest, and perhaps only, Shock was seeing The King’s Speech take the director nod for Tom Hooper. This left The Social Network with only three awards all evening that included Adapted Screenplay and Original Score (which made the editor leap out of his seat with joy).
Inception took a bunch of technical awards including Cinematography which is as close as it will get to a director nod, but we can’t complain about that forever.
Here is the list in full!
Best Picture
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
Best Director
David O. Russell – The Fighter
Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech
David Fincher – The Social Network
Joel And Ethan Coen – True Grit
Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
Best Actress
Natalie Portman – Black Swan
Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right
Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone
Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine
Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole
Best Actor
Javier Bardem – Biutiful
Jeff Bridges – True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
James Franco – 127 Hours
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo – The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit
Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom
Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale – The Fighter
John Hawkes – Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner – The Town
Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech
Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right
Best Original Screenplay
Another Year – Mike Leigh
The Fighter – Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Keith Dorrington
Inception – Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right – Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
The King’s Speech – David Seidler
Best Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours – Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 – Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich
True Grit – Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter’s Bone – Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
Best Animated Film
Toy Story 3
The Illusionist
How To Train Your Dragon
Best Foreign Film
Biutiful (Mexico)
Dog Tooth (Greece)
In A Better World (Denmark)
Incendies (Canada)
Outside the Law (Algeria)
Best Score
How to Train Your Dragon – John Powell
Inception – Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech – Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours – A.R. Rahman
The Social Network – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Best Song
Coming Home from Country Strong – Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
I See the Light from Tangled – Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
If I Rise from 127 Hours – Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
We Belong Together from Toy Story 3 – Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
Best Cinematography
Black Swan – Matthew Libatique
Inception – Wally Pfister
The King’s Speech – Danny Cohen
The Social Network – Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit – Roger Deakins
Best Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland – Colleen Atwood
I Am Love – Antonella Cannarozzi
The King’s Speech – Jenny Beavan
The Tempest – Sandy Powell
True Grit – Mary Zophres
Best Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland – Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
Inception – Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
The King’s Speech – Eve Stewart , Judy Farr
True Grit – Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh
Best Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland –Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian
Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter – Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
Inception – Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Iron Man 2 – Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick
Best Sound Editing
Inception – Richard King
Toy Story 3 – Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
Tron: Legacy – Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit – Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable – Mark P. Stoeckinger
Best Sound Mixing
Inception
The King’s Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit
Best Documentary Feature
Exit through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land
Best Live Action Short Film
The Confession
The Crush
God Of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143
Best Animated Short Film
Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let’s Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar
Best Documentary Short Subject
Killing In The Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Comes Up
The Warriors Of Qiugang
Best Editing
Black Swan
The Fighter
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Best Make-up
Barney’s Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman