'Hurt Locker' earns best-picture Academy Award

In an evening where all the winners pretty much lined up as expected, Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq war drama "The Hurt Locker" won the Best Picture statuette during the 82nd annual Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood.

Bigelow made Academy Award history by becoming the first woman ever to receive the Oscar for best director. As expected, of course.

"There's no way to describe it," she said. "It's the moment of a lifetime."

"The Hurt Locker" was nominated for nine Oscars, and took home six.

As far as Chicago was concerned, the big news of the night came when Palatine High School alum and Columbia College graduate Mauro Fiore won the best cinematography Oscar for shooting the live-action portion of "Avatar," James Cameron's groundbreaking science-fiction adventure.

"Everybody, thank you very much," Fiore said. "An incredible honor!"

Jeff Bridges won best actor as a boozed-out country-and-western singer in "Crazy Heart." As expected.

"Thank you, Academy members!" he yelled to a standing ovation. "Mom and Dad! Look! Whoa-hoo! Thanks for turning me on to such a groovy profession!"

Sandra Bullock won her first Oscar for best actress for her role as a tough, sexy steel magnolia in "The Blind Side."

"Did I really win this, or did I just wear you all down?" she said.

"Avatar" won Oscars for visual effects, art decoration, cinematography, sound effects and sound mixing.

It was a night of acceptance speeches filled with names of family members as well as co-workers. It was, in the words of co-host Alec Baldwin, "The biggest night in Hollywood since last night!"

And it was a night of newbies taking home Oscars on their first nominations.

Considered a lock for supporting actor, Christoph Waltz won for his role as a Nazi officer in Quentin Tarantino's World War II black comedy "Inglourious Basterds."

As he accepted the statuette from Penélope Cruz, Waltz said, "Oscar and Penelope. That's a big bingo!"

As expected, Mo'Nique won supporting actress for her searing performance as a destructive welfare mother in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire."

"I would like to thank the Academy for showing us that it can be about the performance and not the politics," the actress said. "I want to thank Hattie McDaniel for enduring all that she had to so that I wouldn't have to."

One of the few surprises came when Geoffrey Fletcher won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for his script to "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire." "Up in the Air" was the favorite to win.

"I don't know what to say," Fletcher said. His brief and touching speech rambled with the names of his siblings and parents. Choking back emotion, he concluded with, "I'm sorry I am drawing a blank right now, but I thank you, everyone."

Peter Docter picked up his first Oscar for directing the best animated feature, "Up."

"Boy, never did I dream that making a flip book out of my third grade math book would lead to this!" he said. "It was an incredible, incredible adventure making this movie."

The program was co-hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. They shouldered through with a modicum of chemistry, and they made a running gag out of mispronouncing words on their Teleprompters.

The most heartfelt tribute was for the late Chicago filmmaker John Hughes, who gave us insightful, entertaining views of adolescents in such films as "16 Candles," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "The Breakfast Club." Original "Brat Pack" members showed up on stage, including Jon Cryer, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy.

Matthew Broderick introduced the montage with Molly Ringwald. "After 25 years," Broderick said, "there isn't a day that goes by that someone doesn't come up, tap me on the shoulder, and say, 'Hey, Ferris, is this your day off?'"

Ben Stiller goosed the program along by presenting the best makeup Oscar to "Star Trek" dressed as a blue Na'Vi warrior from the planet Pandora in "Avatar." Stiller, with deadpan delivery, launched into an obviously fake version of the Pandorans' fictional tribal language, then explained, "That means 'This sounded a lot better in rehearsal.'"

Stiller said that he could have worn one of his two sets of Vulcan ears - signed by Leonard Nimoy ­­­­- "but that would have been too nerdy. This is much cooler."

Cameron, in the audience, reacted with a grin.

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<ul class="links">

<li><a href="/story/?id=364266">For the frill of it: Ruffles rule the red carpet on Oscar night<span class="date">[3/7/10]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=364270">Palatine High alum wins Oscar for work with 'Avatar'<span class="date">[3/7/10]</span></a></li>

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