The 82nd Annual Academy Awards - The Hurt Locker's big night

Tonight at the Oscars, history was made as Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman in history to win the Best Director Award.  Her film The Hurt Locker won a total of six awards including the Best Picture Award, Bigelow's second Oscar of the night. Some will see its victory as an upset over Avatar, but I predicted its triumph over a month ago. Avatar did win three awards, for cinematography, editing, and visual effects.

I managed to correctly guess 16 of the 24 nominations.  There were a number of surprises on the night.  Precious took the Best Adapted Screenplay Award which most (including myself) had expected to go to Up in the Air.  Perhaps the smear campaign against it discouraged enough voters from selecting it.  The upset winner for Best Foreign Film was the little-known Argentine film The Secret in Their Eyes.

The ceremony itself was not terribly exciting.  Hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were good but not great.  There was an over-emphasis on the actors, with the acting nominees being introduced right at the beginning of the show, and then getting the long introductory praise/roasting from fellow actors before their awards were announced.  They were allowed to give longer, rambling speeches and happily obliged. Other nominees weren't so lucky. There were many who were played off, especially those with co-nominees that had spoken too long at first.

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Complete list of winners for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards

Actor in a supporting role
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Animated feature film
Up (Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)

Music (original song)
"The Weary Kind," from Crazy Heart, by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Writing (original screenplay)
The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)

Short film (animated)
Logorama (Nicolas Schmerkin)

Documentary (short subject)
Music by Prudence (Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett)

Short film (live action)
The New Tenants (Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson)

Makeup
Star Trek (Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow)

Writing (adapted screenplay)
Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher)

Actress in a supporting role
Mo'Nique, Precious

Art direction
Avatar (art direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; set decoration: Kim Sinclair)

Costume design
The Young Victoria (Sandy Powell)

Sound editing
The Hurt Locker (Paul NJ Ottosson)

Sound mixing
The Hurt Locker (Paul NJ Ottosson and Ray Beckett)

Cinematography
Avatar (Mauro Fiore)

Music (original score)
Up (Michael Giacchino)

Visual effects
Avatar (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R Jones)

Documentary (feature)
The Cove (Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens)

Film editing
The Hurt Locker (Bob Murawski and Chris Innis)

Foreign language film
The Secret in Their Eyes (Juan Jose Campanella, Argentina)

Actor in a leading role
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Actress in a leading role
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

Directing
The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)

Best picture
The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro, producers)