The Bay Lives: and the oscar goes to...

It's that time of the year again. The 83rd Annual Academy Awards were last night and I could not be happier about the selected winners. I made a solid effort to try to see as many of the Oscar nominated films as possible this year. The only movies I still haven't seen are The Kids Are All Right, Blue Valentine and The King's Speech- which I plan on viewing shortly (stay tune for my movie reviews). Here are the top takeaways from the evening:

Best Actor: Colin Firth in The King's Speech.
I've heard a few positive and negative reviews about The Kings Speech, yet most everyone can agree that Colin Firth's performance was incredible. He's always been one of my favorite actor's (what can I say, I loved him in Bridget Jones Diary). I heard the film can be a little slow for people are aren't into "period pieces" but I'm such a fan of Colin Firth that I'm sure I'll love this one.

Best Actress: Natalie Portman in Black Swan
I thought Jennifer Lawrence was amazing in Winter's Bone but Natalie Portman definitely deserves the win for her role in Black Swan, which by the way was offered to her at the age of 19- more than 10 years ago. The role took her years to prepare for: ballet lessons, extreme dieting, studying the art of ballet and getting inside the mind of a professional dancer. It surely was a challenge to take on and its clear she worked very hard to portray the character as well as she did. If you haven't seen Black Swan I'd definitely recommend it. Just be fore-warned that there are some pretty graphic scenes. I had to shield my eyes a few times.

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale in The Fighter
I think Christian Bale is a total psycho so the role of Dicky Eklund worked really well for him. He's lost an extreme amount of weight for his roles in the past, up to 40 lbs. Maybe that gives actors a step up when it comes to Oscar nods? A well deserved win none the less. He plays a good crack head.

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo in The Fighter
I have sort of mixed feelings about this win. I think that Melissa Leo had a noteworthy performance but I was also really pulling for Hailee Steinfeld to win for True Grit. At the age of 14 she conquered this huge role (her first film ever). It's always exciting when new-comers to the industry can achieve such a prestigious award, like Gabourey Sidibe did for Precious two years ago. Melissa Leo may have had a stronger performance than Hailee Steinfeld but I think her personal ad campaign initiative was super tacky. She basically paid for her own personal Hollywood trade ads promoting herself for the Academy Award win. Not the finest of publicity I'd say, but hey- if it got her the win then I suppose she made all the right moves.

And last but not least, the red carpet review. The red carpet is always an exciting phenomenon however this year no celebrity really stood out as very daring or outrageous with their stylish choices. I felt that a lot of the dresses were fairly safe and conservative, but still just as bit gorgeous. I loved all of the dresses Anne Hathaway wore as hostess- I think she changed about 8 times during the course of the show. Mila Kunis and Gwyneth Paltrow's dresses also stood out as some of my favorites.