It's unusual when the underdog to win Best Picture at the Oscars is the highest-grossing film of all time, but that was exactly the case on Sunday night. James Cameron's "Avatar" came into the evening behind in most of the major awards, and it wasn't able to overcome "The Hurt Locker" in the end. Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq war drama finished the night with six awards, including Best Director and Best Picture.
Was it deserving? You really have to look at the issue from a number of standpoints. On one side of the coin, the Oscars are very much about business -- ABC wants big ratings for their broadcasts, and it certainly helps them when the top-earning films garner some big prizes. On the other hand, the Academy has to be responsible for picking who they feel are "simply the best." If "The Hurt Locker" was the best in their mind, it should grab the most trophies. Will people remember it more than "Avatar" ten years down the road? We will merely have to wait and see.
The only real disappointment coming from a TV standpoint is simply that there weren't many surprises -- every projected "favorite" ended up winning. If the Oscars want a better reputation for being "solid entertainment," than 2011 needs to have more shocking moments than 2010.
What do you think: did the Oscars pick the right movie? Let me know your thoughts with a comment and as always check back soon for more news.
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Comments
I was stunned so many awards have gone to Hurt Locker (starting with America guild, BAFTA and now Oscars); which is not worthy enough because in the recent years many deserving movies made on Iraq and Afghan war themes were either dumped or ignored. Why suddenly tons of love was flooding?
At couple of forums I've stated that The Hurt Locker is also an over-rated film. Any sane individual could comprehend on why the Awards were graced on this film - only to brush off The Avatar (slap on its anti US/UK war machine).
As usual, like we've seen in case of Winter Olympics (anti Russian results), there was a kinda conspiracy for sure. They played it badly (fiddling & politics) with the well deserving movies such as Avatar.
Many think "Generation Kill" was 100 times better compared to Hurt Locker because it was based on over 90% *real* incidents (embedded reporter). Hurt Locker wasn't! Point is, did Generation Kill win any major non-film award? NOPE.
Then, why only Hurt Locker
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