S.G. Browne

Prior to Sunday night’s Academy Awards show, I didn’t think I had much of an emotional investment in the outcome of any of the races.  But as I was sitting with my buddy Brad drinking a Corona and filling out my Oscar Pool Picks, I realized I cared more than I thought.

I also realized I would have preferred to have been drinking my Corona on a tropical beach beneath an umbrella with nothing in front of me but a turquoise ocean beneath an azure sky.  Maybe a bikini or two.

But I digress…

Of the 10 films up for Best Picture, I’d seen nine of them (127 Hours the only holdout) so as opposed to the past couple of years, I felt like I had a pretty good handle on what I thought deserved to win.  Yes, I thought The King’s Speech was worthy of the little gold man but I was hoping the Academy would avoid taking the safe pick and go instead with the edgier and more timely The Social Network as the best film of 2010.  And I probably could have lived with their choice had they awarded David Fincher with the Best Director Oscar, which I felt he deserved for the excellent job he did.  But then, he’s one of my favorite directors and I am a little biased.

As for the rest of the major awards, I thought Colin Firth was worthy of being named Best Actor and, as a Natalie Portman and a Black Swan fan, was happy to see her walk away with the Best Actress Oscar.  But secretly, I was cheering for Michelle Williams. Personally, I think she would have looked much more dazzling accepting the award.

By the way, what was the over/under on how many outfits Anne Hathaway would wear?

The last two major awards, and the two that are most relevant to me, were the Oscars for Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay.  While I thought The Social Network was the clear choice for the latter of the two and happy it took home the gold, I wasn’t as excited about the Original Screenplay as I’ve been in years past, when I rooted for scripts like The Fisher King, Pulp Fiction, The Usual Suspects, Fargo, Good Will Hunting, Being John Malkovich, Almost Famous, Memento, Little Miss Sunshine, and Juno.  (Of the ten listed, seven won the Oscar, with The Fisher King, Being John Malkovich, and Memento losing out.)

And after rambling on, I’ve lost my place.  Ah yes.  Original Screenplay.  While I was hoping Inception might manage to pull it out this year, I couldn’t fault the choice of The King’s Speech as the winner.  It was well-crafted and a lot less confusing.  But like I said, I didn’t really care.

That’s it for the post-Oscar wrap-up.  Oh, and for the record, I only picked 13 out of the 24 awards correctly.  How did you do?  And what did you think of the winners?