2011 Oscar Winners

The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony just wrapped up, and we have all the 2011 Oscar winners listed below. Tinseltown’s biggest event of the year took place at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California, its home since 2002. James Franco and Anne Hathaway served as the hosts, and the evening was accompanied by all the expected glitz and glamour of the red carpet.

While The King’s Speech picked up four wins against 12 nominations, Inception gained an equal number of wins in the technical categories. The show itself was nothing to write home about, as the first-time hosts were used as little more than recognizable names to draw in younger viewers. And while Hathaway seemed game in a succession of stunning dresses, poor James Franco looked even more uncomfortable than a man considering self-amputation.

Before we get to the 2011 Oscar winners, here are a few more observations about the evening:

• Pre-show: Can’t they find anyone better than Tim Gunn? His fashion sense may be impressive, but his interview skills are subpar.
• Pre-show: Amazonian hostess Robin Roberts made most of the actors she interviewed look tiny by comparison. I’m sure they loved that.
• My favorite dresses of the evening? Jennifer Lawrence’s clingy red head-turner and the high-collar elegance of Melissa Leo.
• My favorite Oscar commercial? The one for Venus Pro Skin that focused on J-Lo’s lovely legs for 30 seconds.
• The writer’s didn’t do Franco and Hathaway any favors, and I’m starting to wonder if they should just abolish the role of the host.
• When your hosts are floundering, maybe it’s not a good idea to bring out Billy Crystal, one of the all-time great Oscar hosts. To make it even worse, Crystal (who received a standing ovation) was there to honor Bob Hope, a man who hosted the show a mammoth 18 times. Why did they ever stop using Crystal in the first place?

Feel free to add your own thoughts about the 2011 Oscar winners and losers in our comments section. Now just as I promised…

Best Picture

• The King’s Speech
• The Kids Are All Right
• Black Swan
• Inception
• The Fighter
• 127 Hours
• Toy Story 3
• The Social Network
• True Grit
• Winter’s Bone

Comments: It was neck-and-neck between The King’s Speech and The Social Network, and I predicted the latter would pull off the win. I was wrong, of course. As my friend Randy pointed out, “Hollywood loves a period drama.”

Best Director

• Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
• David O. Russell – The Fighter
• Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech
• David Fincher – The Social Network
• Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – True Grit

Comments: After getting passed over last year, I thought David Fincher had this one sewed up. Wrong again. Tom Hooper gets a major boost to his young film career, and he threw in a nice anecdote about his mother during his acceptance speech.

Best Actor

• Javier Bardem – Biutiful
• Jeff Bridges – True Grit
• Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
• Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
• James Franco – 127 Hours

Comments: No surprise here. Firth threatened to start dancing, but avoided doing so as to not be labeled the next Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Best Actress

• Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right
• Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole
• Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone
• Natalie Portman – Black Swan
• Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine

Comments: Another lock to win, Portman delivered a classy if somewhat long speech. It’s hard to believe that her debut role came all the way back in The Professional. Thank you, Luc Besson.

Best Supporting Actor

• Christian Bale – The Fighter
• John Hawkes – Winter’s Bone
• Jeremy Renner – The Town
• Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right
• Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech

Comments: Bale referenced his famous tirade in a good-natured manner. His on-air plug of Dickey Ecklund’s website drew a few boos from the Oscar purists in the crowd.

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams – The Fighter
• Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
• Melissa Leo – The Fighter
• Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit
• Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom

Comments: She teared up, waved to the people in the balcony, and dropped an F-bomb that had to be edited out. One of the more unpredictable speeches of the night. Still, it’s always nice to see a character actress get her due.

Best Animated Feature Film

• How to Train Your Dragon– Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
• The Illusionist– Sylvain Chomet
• Toy Story 3– Lee Unkrich

Best Documentary

• Exit Through the Gift Shop– Banksy and Jaimie D’Cruz
• Gasland– Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
• Inside Job– Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
• Restrepo– Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
• Waste Land– Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Foreign Language Film

• Biutiful – Mexico
• Dogtooth – Greece
• In a Better World – Denmark
• Incendies – Canada
• Outside the Law – Algeria

Comments: The third Danish film to win in this category.

Best Original Screenplay

• Another Year – Mike Leigh
• The Fighter– Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson
• Inception – Christopher Nolan
• The Kids Are All Right– Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
• The King’s Speech– David Seidler

Comments: He claimed to be the oldest person to ever win in this category. Had an impressive voice, which is even more impressive when you consider that he’s also overcome a stutter. Accepted the award on behalf of stutterers around the globe.

Best Adapted Screenplay

• 127 Hours– Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy
• The Social Network– Aaron Sorkin
• Toy Story 3– Michael Arndt
• True Grit– Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
• Winter’s Bone– Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini

Best Documentary Short

• Killing in the Name– Jed Rothstein
• Poster Girl– Sara Nesson
• Strangers No More – Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
• Sun Come Up– Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
• The Warriors of Qiugang – Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Best Live Action Short

• The Confession– Tanel Toom
• The Crush– Michael Creagh
• God of Love– Luke Matheny
• Na Wewe– Ivan Goldschmidt
• Wish 143 – Ian Barnes

Comments: Luke Matheny showed off his crazy hair which reminded me of Howard Stern circa the 1980s.

Best Animated Short

• Day & Night – Teddy Newton
• The Gruffalo– Max Lang and Jakob Schuh
• Let’s Pollute– Geefwee Boedoe
• The Lost Thing– Andrew Ruhemann and Shaun Tan
• Madagascar, a Journey Diary– Bastien Dubois

Comments: Had the honor of being the first winners to receive the “get the hell off the stage” music.

Best Original Score

• 127 Hours– A.R. Rahman
• How to Train Your Dragon – John Powell
• Inception– Hans Zimmer
• The King’s Speech– Alexandre Desplat
• The Social Network– Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Comments: How odd to see Trent Reznor, the creator of Nine Inch Nails, wearing a tuxedo. I almost didn’t recognize him at first.

Best Original Song

• “Coming Home” from Country Strong– Bob DiPiero, Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, Troy Verges
• “If I Rise” from 127 Hours– A.R. Rahman, Rollo Armstrong and Dido
• “I See the Light” from Tangled– Alan Menken, Glenn Slater
• “We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3 – Randy Newman

Comments: Randy Newman’s second win against 20 nominations in the category. He delivered one of the funnier speeches of the evening, including a good-natured complaint about only four songs being nominated for the category.

Best Sound Editing

• Inception – Richard King
• Toy Story 3 – Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
• Tron: Legacy– Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
• True Grit– Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
• Unstoppable – Mark P. Stoeckinger

Best Sound Mixing

• Inception– Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
• The King’s Speech– Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
• Salt – Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
• The Social Network– Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
• True Grit– Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Comments: Recipient Lora Hirschberg was surprisingly hot.

Best Art Direction

• Alice in Wonderland– Art Direction: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1– Art Direction: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
• Inception– Art Direction: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias & Doug Mowat
• The King’s Speech – Art Direction: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
• True Grit– Art Direction: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Comments: Fitted the Oscar with a miniature Mad Hatter hat, and also cited the “wacky world of Tim Burton.”

Best Cinematography

• Black Swan– Matthew Libatique
• Inception– Wally Pfister
• The King’s Speech – Danny Cohen
• The Social Network– Jeff Cronenweth
• True Grit– Roger Deakins

Best Makeup

• Barney’s Version – Adrien Morot
• The Way Back– Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
• The Wolfman – Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Comments: Rick Baker and his badass white hair win again in this category. His 12th nomination.

Best Costume Design

• Alice in Wonderland – Colleen Atwood
• I Am Love– Antonella Cannarozzi
• The King’s Speech– Jenny Beavan
• The Tempest – Sandy Powell
• True Grit– Mary Zophres

Comments: It’s unusual to see winners read straight from a piece of paper, but that’s exactly what Colleen Atwood did. Her nerves weren’t helped by the “hurry up” music, either.

Best Film Editing

• Black Swan– Andrew Weisblum
• The Fighter – Pamela Martin
• The King’s Speech– Tariq Anwar
• 127 Hours – Jon Harris
• The Social Network – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Best Visual Effects

• Alice in Wonderland– Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
• Hereafter – Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
• Inception – Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
• Iron Man 2 – Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

That wraps up our list of 2011 Oscar winners, but there’s plenty more cinematic goodness here at Only Good Movies. If you’re open to suggestions, go ahead and give the following award-related links a try:

• 2011 Razzie Award Winners
• 2011 Independent Spirit Award Winners
• Natalie Portman Movies
• Colin Firth Movies

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