Oscar history was made last night...

Yes, Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock prevailed in their frontrunner status leading up to last night's ceremony. Up until three months ago, who would have thought that Sandra Bullock would be an Oscar nominee, let alone an Oscar winner, but there she is, clutching that Oscar, which will soon have her name engraved on it.
As much as I wanted Meryl Streep to finally win her third Oscar, I can't begrudge the lovely Ms Bullock her triumph, especially after her incredibly humble, touching and charming acceptance speech. The big story is that 'Avatar' was defeated by 'The Hurt Locker' in the Best Picture and Best Director categories and the fact that the director of 'The Hurt Locker' Kathryn Bigelow used to be married to James Cameron, who directed 'Avatar', hasn't been lost by anyone who has been following this awards season. Ms Bigelow made Oscar history by becoming the first woman to win Best Director in the Academy Awards' 82-year history. History was also made when the screenwriter of 'Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire' Geoffrey Fletcher won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, becoming the first African-American to win a writing award! I applaud these trailblazers!!!

Click here for the full list of winners at the 82nd Academy Awards on Sunday night.

Oh, Mariah, noooooooooo......

Happy new year, y'all! To celebrate a new beginning and leaving your past behind, I have a little treat for you. It's a short clip of Mariah Carey accepting her award for Breakthrough Performance for her work in 'Precious' at the Palm Springs Film Festival. To say that Mimi's speech was a little incoherent would be putting it mildly....the girl was straight up drunk. Oh, dear.

They say that acceptance speeches given at lesser awards prior to the Oscars are a great opportunity for candidates to raise their profile to Academy members and to audition for a shot at the main golden boy! Jennifer Hudson accepted her Golden Globe for 'Dreamgirls' three years ago with an emotional speech that led to her eventual win at the Oscars. Well, if that's the case, I'm afraid Mariah did her campaign no favors by turning up without a prepared speech and talking out of her ass. Oh, Mimi, I had such high hopes for you and your lovely, subtle performance in 'Precious'....why did you go and ruin it!!! Or, could it be, that this was some sort of genius, subversive strategy on her part to draw an even bigger contrast between her no-nonsense character and her on-another-planet diva persona? If so, well played, Mimi....well played!

Double your Golden Globe chances!

The Golden Globe nominations were announced today and several stars emerged double nominees. Those reaping multiple nominations included Meryl Streep (who's a double nominee in the Best Actress - Musical or Comedy category for 'It's Complicated' and 'Julie & Julia'), Sandra Bullock (Best Actress - Musical or Comedy for 'The Proposal' and Best Actress - Drama for 'The Blind Side') and Matt Damon (Best Actor - Musical or Comedy for 'The Informant!' and Best Supporting Actor for 'Invictus'). Meryl Streep's performance in 'Julie & Julia' has already turned the veteran actress turned current box office queen the frontrunner for next year's Best Actress Oscar but it's entirely possible that having two nominations in the same category could end up costing her the Golden Globe, if votes end up being split between the two. Sandra Bullock's nominations top off what has been the most successful year of her career, with both movies that she's nominated for already hugely profitable hits.

Many titles that have generated award buzz for the past few months emerged even stronger contenders in Oscar's Best Picture race, especially now that the field has been expanded from the traditional five nominees to ten nominees. 'Precious' continues to be the little film that could in this upcoming race, with nominations in the Best Drama, Best Actress - Drama (Gabourey Sidibe) and Best Supporting Actress (Mo'Nique) but curiously, no nominations for Best Director (Lee Daniels) and Mariah Carey for Best Supporting Actress. 'Nine' will seems to have Best Musical or Comedy locked up, even though its director, Rob Marshall, was snubbed. Interestingly, Dave Karger of Entertainment Weekly noted that in the Best Director race, two of the nominees, Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) and James Cameron (Avatar), are former spouses, which must be a Golden Globe first!

On the TV side, I was so happy to see some of my favorite show, 30 Rock, nominated in multiple categories, as well as seeing several new shows that have caught my attention gain recognition, i.e. 'Cougar Town', 'Modern Family', 'Glee' and 'Nurse Jackie'. Actually, that's what I have planned for Christmas day - a marathon of 'Glee' followed by a marathon of 'Nurse Jackie'! Now, that's what I call quality time alone!

'Precious' Spirit Award nominations

It's the beginning of December and I feel like 2009 just flashed by me. Truth be told, I absolutely love this time of year because my version of Christmas is watching the unfolding of the movie awards season. As the year draws to an end, the road to Oscar unofficially begins, even though Oscar nominations aren't announced until early February and the actual ceremony isn't until March 7th, 2010. Actually, for an Oscar fan like me, someone who enjoys handicapping the entertainment industry's highest honors, Oscar season is all year round but it's around this time every year that contenders start to come into focus and pretenders fall by the wayside. On Tuesday, the nominations for the 2010 Spirit Awards were announced. These awards honor achievements in independent, US-funded cinema.

'Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire" and 'The Last Station' lead the field with five nominations each. 'Precious', the story of an abused and illiterate Harlem teenager who struggles to find a better life, is the frontrunner for the Best Picture Oscar. The movie has been collecting accolades and great acclaim ever since it was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. 'The Last Station' is an account of the battle over the estate of Russian literary giant Leo Tolstoy between the man, played by Christopher Plummer, and his wife, played by Helen Mirren, who has already won the Best Actress prize at the Rome Film Festival for her performance. Both are nominated, with the latter competing against Gabourey Sidibe, the young lady making her professional acting debut playing the eponymous role in 'Precious', in the Best Actress category.

Because the Spirit Awards specifically recognize lower-budget films, success here doesn't necessarily translate to success at the Oscars...but it certainly doesn't hurt a leading contender's Oscar chances and, if anything, only adds to the momentum of award frontrunners. Furthermore, there tends to be quite a number of overlapping in the acting categories between the Spirit Awards and the Academy Awards, ever since Oscar got more hip and wiser to the quality of independent film, especially in telling stories that are character-driven; the kind of meaty opportunities that every actor craves. Just last year, Spirit Award nominee Sean Penn, for Best Actor for his work in 'Milk', went on to win the Oscar. This year, there are several nominees at the Spirit Awards who will likely contend at the Oscars. They include the aforementioned Gabourey Sidibe and her co-star Mo'Nique, who portrays the title character's abusive mother, one of the most horrific parental figures ever committed to celluloid, for 'Precious', Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer for 'The Last Station', Woody Harrelson and Samantha Morton for the Iraq war on the homefront movie 'The Messenger', Colin Firth in iconic fashion designer Tom Ford's directorial debut 'A Single Man' and the current frontrunner for the Best Actor Oscar, Jeff Bridges for 'Crazy Heart'.

One performance that was surprisingly omitted from these nominations is Mariah Carey's performance as the social worker who helps the title character to confront her domestic hell in 'Precious', which has been generating a great deal of Oscar buzz for the diva, due to the transformative nature of her role and the revelatory potency of her subtle turn. Carey has already won one award for her work in 'Precious', the Breakthrough Performance Award from the Palm Springs Film Festival. I believe that her journey from making one of the worst-received film debut of all time in 'Glitter' to Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee for 'Precious' will continue because it is clear that the Oscar momentum for 'Precious' will continue to grow in the next few months. No doubt, Mariah will benefit from all the attention the movie is getting. If there is one thing that the Academy loves more than recognizing a good, deserving performance, it's recognizing a good, deserving performance given by someone with a personal trajectory of redemption and triumph over adversity. Now, that's definitely our Mimi!