“The Artist” Wins Best Picture Oscar

Photo: The Weinstein Company

The winners have been announced for the 84th Academy Awards!

My thoughts on the overall show?

Billy Crystal did a fantastic job as host. He is a veteran of Oscar hosting duties (this was his NINTH time), so this was a proverbial “cake walk” for him. He even did his usual Oscar song at the beginning of the show which included references to the nominees.

Fashion wasn’t too much of a disaster in Hollywood with one exception- what was with Angelina Jolie showing her leg through a slit in her dress? Strange.

In the big contest categories “The Artist” won Best Picture (my pick!), Jean Dujardin took the Best Actor award (another pick for me!), Meryl Streep took honors for Best Actress (not my pick and a sort of “upset” over critic and fan favorite Viola Davis), Christopher Plummer was named Best Supporting Actor (ANOTHER pick I got right!) and Octavia Spencer received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

An interesting note- this was the first time a silent film won Best Picture since 1929 when the World War I movie “Wings” took top honors. That was also the first year for the Academy Awards.

Another Oscar fact from tonight’s show- Christopher Plummer became the oldest Academy Award winner at the age of 82. During his acceptance speech, Plummer looked at the statue and said, “You’re only two years older than me, darling. Where have you been all my life?”

The Martin Scorsese film “Hugo” had a big night winning in five categories- Cinematography, Art Direction, Visual Effects, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. “Hugo” led in total nominations with 11.

Dave Morales is a member of the Houston Film Critics Society