2011 ACADEMY AWARDS WRAP-UP

The 2011 Academy Awards was generally okay but not spectacular. The ratings were even down from last year but still a nice show overall. Aside from Melissa Leo's F**K word on her speech and Anne Hathaway's seemingly endless line of gowns, there were lots of good moments and note-worthy performances that were well rewardedWell, I have my personal favorites and here's my take on some of the categories.

Natalie Portman

BEST PICTURE
- Well, King's Speech took the top prize but I was still keen on "Inception" or "Social Network" to grab the trophy. For me King' Speech was good but its plot is not something really new. "Inception" was really mind blowing and carefully made while "Social Network" was plain witty. Kings ended with 4 awards in total tied with Inception while the FB film grabbed 3.

BEST DIRECTOR
- OF all the categories, this is the only one that actually made me raise my eyebrows. Well, even before the start of the awards, I was expecting this one to be a surprise. Christopher Nolan (Inception) was not even nominated. And with that void, I was rooting for David Fincher to take the plum for "The Social Network".

BEST ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE
- The competition was not really strong this year as early on Colin Firth is already a shoo-in for the win. Even James Franco's hosting stint this year won't give plus points to enable him to grab the plum.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEAD ROLE
- Natalie Portman for the win! Yehey! She was just so convincing in "Black Swan" that I was really rooting for her. Only Annette Bening  stood a chance of upsetting her.

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
- Christian Bale took the prize for "The Fighter". This category sees one of the weakest ones in the past years and anyone could have actually taken the plum. My choice was Bale or Mark Ruffalo for "The Kids Are All Right".

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
- Melissa Leo won as we all know and dropped the F word in her acceptance speech. I have actually favored Amy Adams also from "The Fighter" to take the top prize but well Leo was also a good choice. I still thought Mila Kunis should have been at least been nominated.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
- Toy Story all the way. Great film. One classic to always remember. Well deserved win. Although I was quite surprised "Tangled" did not even get a nod.

BEST ORIGINAL THEME SONG
- Toy Story 3's "We Belong Together"took the prize but I was actually rooting for "Tangled's I See The Light". Also notable snob was Cher's song for Burlesque which was not even nominated.

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