Spirit Winners & Losers

The Indipendent Spirit Awards were last night and if you missed them have no fear; IFC will play them to death. Host Joel McHale was hilarious. What other awards show would have a cunnilingus joke, let alone one that worked? While he may be no John Waters, McHale proved he has the right stuff for this style of award show.

The biggest loser was the stage. Multiple presenters and winners slipped on the overly shiny set. It was a good idea, the floors were plastered with the nominated movies posters, but the execution was off. When Natalie Portman won Best Actress (yea!), I kept chanting, "Please don't let the pregnant lady fall. Please don't let the pregnant lady fall..."

A faux 'In Memoriam" piece highlighting how attendees may die in the year to come had all the right ideas but was poorly executed. The camera cut to Nia Vardaloos with the headline "My Big Fat Greek Bus Crash" under her name. Samuel L. Jackson- "Motherfucking Snakes". It was funny. Unfortunately, the title cards often didn't match the visual or were very late coming up, leaving us with a confused celebrity staring into the camera for 30 seconds and nothing happening. It was the perfect metaphor for the evening. What is normally a tight show felt a bit sloppy.

Best Picture, Director, Cinematography, Actress- "Black Swan" (Heck yea! It needed to win something and this was going to be it come hell or high water!) If I were ever famous or in the movie world, I would kill to work with Darren Aronofsky. He is always so supportive of his actors and crew. It's really lovely to see. I also didn't realize how in danger this film was of never being finished. There were several jokes about the brokers showing up and people not getting paid. As Aronofsky put it, "They're all millionaires now!"
[side note: How cute was Natalie Portman in her kind of mod maternity dress? So cute!]

Best 1st Feature- "Get Low". Anyone, let alone a brand new film maker, who scores Bill Murray in their picture should get some kind of award. Murray is notoriously reclusive to the whole studio system: He has no manager, no agent, no publicist, and no listed number. If you're lucky, someone you know knows his 800-number. You leave a message. Maybe he calls you back, maybe he doesn't. It's brilliant!

John Cassevetes Award- Daddy Long Legs (Looks really depressing)

Best Screenplay- "The Kids Are All Right". I'm also giving this my best acceptance speech honors. Co-writers Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg made jokes about lesbians and each other, sealing it all in a big kiss. So fun!

Best First Screenplay- "Tiny Furniture". The writer is, like, 23 and I hate her. Not really but it's easier this way.

Best Actor- James Franco. Thank you Spirit Awards! Poor thing had to act practically the whole movie by himself with one arm tied behind his back, literally. I also love Colin Firth, and am glad he was not niminated here, but this was one of the best performances of the year. Period.

Supporting Actress- Dale Dickey "Winter's Bone"

Supporting Actor- John Hawkes "Winter's Bone" (yea!). Looks like I'm going to have to see this movie now. It looks super depressing... I love these two actor's though... Crap.

Foreign Film- "The King's Speech"

Best Documentary- "Exit Through the Gift Shop". We were all far too excited when this movie won for our own good. Come on Oscar!

See you guys later after the Oscars!!