day 2.60

the critics have spoken

last night, the critics choice awards aired live on vh1. i don't usually catch the critics choice awards, probably because they air on a friday, but, yesterday, i had been traveling and crashed into a hotel room and turned on the show. plus, the critics choice awards are often a good prediction of what will happen at the oscars. hosted by one of my favorites, kristin chenoweth, the awards were relatively entertaining - though whoever was writing the show should have been monitoring how much of the free champagne the presenters were drinking because some of the presentations were a little slurred, stuttered and the jokes fell flat. the best portions of the show were the pre-taped "screen tests" by kristin, which included spoofs of twilight: new moon, the lovely bones, orphan and up. below is a list of the winners and what i think of them.

best picture: the hurt locker - this movie has come out of nowhere and is making major buzz. the biggest controversy is that the film is directed by kathryn bigelow, ex-wife of james cameron, director of avatar, which was nominated in almost every category against locker.

best director: kathryn bigelow, the hurt locker

best actor: jeff bridges, crazy heart - crazy heart is another out-of-nowhere flick that's making a lot of buzz. they're saying it's bridges' best work ever. i'll tell you when i see it.

best actress: tie: meryl streep, julie and julia; sandra bullock, the blind side - this was by far the highlight of the night. first off, these two are two of my favorites and deserved the award. the only thing that would have made it better would have been if precious' gabourey sidibe had grabbed a statue, too. but she's just on her first movie, so there's time. the acceptance speeches by these two were great, especially because...well, watch for yourself. these women are obviously talented actresses.

best supporting actor: christoph waltz, inglorious basterds

best supporting actress: mo'nique, precious - yay! comedians who make the transition into the dramatic world almost always grab the awards.

best young actor/actress: saoirse ronin, the lovely bones - the most shocking thing about saoirse getting the award was that she looks so different from the film's previews. maybe that's because it's been almost 2 years since the flick was filmed - it took that long to do all the special effects.

best ensemble: inglorious basterds - brad pitt wasn't there to accept though.

best animated feature: up

to check out more from the show, including kristen's skits, click here.