And the Academy Award Goes To...

It wasn't a night of surprises but a satisfying one nonetheless. The Hurt Locker romped home with 6 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and the first for best female director (Kathryn Bigelow). Despite my reservations about the movie's less than risky narrative and some prize Hollywood corn (roll out the bumbling SAS represented by Ralph Fiennes), it's still a deserved success, bringing Iraq into the movie mainstream by, sensibly, ignoring stuffy politics and focusing on the real men on the ground.

Of course, this meant Avatar was neglected to three technical wins (Art Direction; Cinematography; Effects) but James Cameron won't be complaining with $2 billion in the bank. More troublesome was the perhaps inevitable neglect of brilliant efforts like District 9 - but hey, you can't win 'em all. Likewise, the heavily touted UK representatives, who did so well at the BAFTAs, were of course ignored in Hollywoodland.

Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock were always the sentimental odds-on-favourites to win Best Actor and Actress (for Crazy Heart and The Blind Side, respectively), and in Bridges' case, it's about bloody time, considering he's been knocking out quality work for over 30 years. Christoph Waltz' gong for Supporting Actor as Inglourious Basterds' delightfully devilish Hans Landa was also immensely satisfying.

However, perhaps my personal favourite was Michael Giacchino triumphing for his incisive, witty and heartfelt score for Up (the film also scooping the Best Animated feature, obviously!) Not only is this a triumph for craftmanship, integrity and faith in the film score, his measured speech was quietly inspiring - and that's what we want out of people who make movies, right?

The full list is below.

BEST PICTURE
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

BEST DIRECTOR
James Cameron, Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air

BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

BEST ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo’Nique, Precious

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
District 9
An Education
In the Loop
Precious
Up in the Air

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FEATURE
Ajami
El Secreto de Sus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
Un Prophete
The White Ribbon

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit a la Berlin

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death

BEST SCORE
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

BEST SONG
“Almost There” from The Princess and the Frog
“Down in New Orleand” from The Princess and the Frog
“Loin de Paname” from Paris 36
“Take It All” from Nine
“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from Crazy Heart

BEST SOUND EDITING
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

BEST SOUND MIXING
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

BEST ART DIRECTION
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

BEST MAKE-UP
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Bright Star
Coco before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

BEST FILM EDITING
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek