Winners of the 84th Academy Awards; THE ARTIST Wins 5 Including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor

The Oscars are finally over.  The front-runner, The Artist, won the awards race by picking up Best Picture, Best Director (Michael Hazanavicius), Best Actor (Jean Dujardin), Best Costume Design, and Best Score.  There were also some big upsets as “locks” like The Tree of Life for Best Cinematography and Rise of the Planet of the Apes for Best Visual Effects were no match for Hugo, which ended up taking those categories and three more (Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Art Direction).  As for nice surprises…not really (unless you loved Hugo).

It was a forgettable year for the Oscars, and Billy Crystal, turning in his safe, predictable, and family-friendly routine was the perfect fit for a year that screamed “Don’t rock the boat!”  Last year’s Oscars took a chance on pairing Anne Hathaway and James Franco, and the show was a mess.  This year, they played it safe and the ceremony was still dull.  Quite simply, there was no films to root for and the “upsets” were for the establishment.  It was also funny to have the show and actors celebrate the theater when audiences are moving to OnDemand services, and studios are trying to make the theatrical release window even shorter.   Hit the jump for a full list of the winners, click here for mine and Adam Chitwood’s Oscar predictions (he did way better than me), and click here for my live-blog of the ceremony.

BEST PICTURE: The Artist

BEST DIRECTOR: Michael Hazanavicius – The Artist

BEST ACTOR: Jean Dujardin – The Artist

BEST ACTRESS: Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christopher Plummer – Beginners

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Octavia Spencer – The Help

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Midnight in Paris

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Descendants

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE: A Separation

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Rango

BEST ART DIRECTION: Hugo

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Hugo

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: The Artist

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Undefeated

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT: Saving Face

BEST FILM EDITING: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

BEST MAKEUP: The Iron Lady

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: The Artist

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: The Muppets

BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED): The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE-ACTION): The Shore

BEST SOUND EDITING: Hugo

BEST SOUND MIXING: Hugo

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Hugo