THE ARTIST AND HUGO SHARE 5 WINS AT 84TH ACADEMY AWARDS!

 

And so ends another year of glitz and glamour and predictions and groans as the classical Hollywood dramedy The Artist secured five Oscar wins including the coveted Best Picture award though initially it looked as though Martin Scorsese's Hugo would be giving it a run for its money at the start. Both films which pay homage to the history of cinema shared the same number of awards though it was the black and white/silent one that triumphed in the major categories. As well as its Best Pic win, the film also scooped the prizes for Best Director (Michael Hazanavicius), Best Actor (Jean Dujardin), Best Costume Design and Best Original Score.

Before the ceremony started there was plenty of stars around with many ladies looking particularly stunning (no guesses as to which one I preferred) although the likes of Meryl Streep, Rooney Mara, Michelle Williams and Jennifer Lopez looked divine in their outfits. There was also the odd bit of controversy from none other than the dark-humoured Sacha Baron Cohen who attended the Red Carpet dressed as his latest un-PC character General Aladeen from the upcoming comedy The Dictator. While being interviewed by E! host Ryan Seacrest, 'Aladeen' dropped an urn containing 'Kim Jong Il's ashes over Seacrest which led to much talk from other stars afterwards.

The 84th Academy Awards began in style with the wacky Billy Crystal returning to host for the 9th time (the previous occasion being 2004) and once again he delivered with a hilarious opening monologue which poked fun at The Artist, George Clooney, Justin Bieber and The Adventures of Tin Tin followed by his singing rendition of the nine Best Picture nominees. The first award was a big enough shock as Hugo beat off The Tree of Life to take the Cinematography Oscar followed quickly by a more deserving win in Art Direction. But when it also won the two Sound categories AND Visual Effects (over Harry Potter and Rise of the Planet of the Apes), it looked like The Artist would have a big struggle. But once it took Director, it's surge towards glory was never in doubt.

Frenchman Dujardin managed to beat off competition from the Hollywood superstars of George Clooney and Brad Pitt while Meryl Streep managed to get enough votes to claim her third win for her phenomenal role as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady (which also won Best Makeup making it the 'second' most successful film of the night) over the likes of Viola Davis, Glenn Close, Rooney Mara and Michelle Williams. She appeared humble over the win having gained strong support from the Weinstein's who finally ended her barren run with losing out on awards having not won since 1983. Captain Von Trapp himself, Christopher Plummer became the oldest Oscar-winning actor of all time aged 82 winning the Supporting Actor award for Beginners beating off Kenneth Branagh and Nick Nolte amongst others while Octavia Spencer picked up Supporting Actress for The Help ahead of her co-star Jessica Chastain and Bridesmaid's Melissa McCarthy.

 

Other than the wins for The Artist and Hugo and the acting champs, there was individual wins for various other films including Woody Allen winning Original Screenplay for Midnight in Paris, The Descendents winning Adapted Screenplay and the likes of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (a shock win in Film Editing), The Muppets (Original Song) and Rango winning Animated Film (Tin Tin should have been nominated!). Disappointingly it was a bittersweet end for the Harry Potter films which will officially be the most successful franchise never win an Oscar as the final installment Deathly Hallows Part II failed from its three nominations. The big losers of the night though were Moneyball and War Horse who both failed to win from five nominations each.

Other than that, a thoroughly enjoyable event and poignant for me to not only see Billy Crystal host again but to see Meryl Streep pick up an Oscar after all these years made for great viewing. The Cirque Du Soleil act and the In Memorian segment also added to the spirit of the occasion on another wonderful night for Oscar. The official winners are below:

Best Picture: THE ARTIST 

Best Director: MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS - THE ARTIST

Best Actor: JEAN DUJARDIN - THE ARTIST

Best Actress: MERYL STREEP - THE IRON LADY

Best Supporting Actor: CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER - BEGINNERS

Best Supporting Actress: OCTAVIA SPENCER - THE HELP

Best Original Screenplay: MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

Best Adapted Screenplay: THE DESCENDANTS

Best Art Direction: HUGO

Best Cinematography: HUGO

Best Costume Design: THE ARTIST

Best Makeup: THE IRON LADY

Best Editing: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

Best Sound Editing: HUGO

Best Sound Mixing: HUGO

Best Visual Effects: HUGO

Best Original Score: THE ARTIST

Best Original Song: 'MAN OR MUPPET' - THE MUPPETS

Best Animated Film: RANGO

Best Foreign Film: A SEPARATION 

Coming soon will be my preview of the next 12 months ahead with blockbusters and the next batch of award contenders set for my attention. It promises to be another fascinating year ahead, and after the marvelous experiences I've had with film recently (internship work and the BAFTAs), there's just no place like the movies!