A look at: The 84th Annual Academy Awards

This year, the Oscars, definitely improved on the past 3 years. The show was a lot more interesting to watch and the host, Billy Crystal, was far more entertaining. It may have been a so-so year for movies, but greats that were nominated like; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Bridesmaids, Hugo, The Descendants, The Artist, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Harry Potter, Transformers, The Iron Lady and Rango, all got their well-deserved recognition. Although I am not very happy about the other greats that missed out this year, like; 50/50, Hanna, Super 8, Sucker Punch and Drive(even though it was nominated for one Oscar), were snubbed.
The big winners tonight were Hugo and The Artist taking home 5 Oscars each. Best Picture went to The Artist, my pick, and I believe was well-deserved. Best Actor went to Jean Dujardin, from The Artist, to me this is an upset because me and many other people thought Clooney would take it. The winner I was most happy for was Meryl Streep winning Best Actress for The Iron Lady, she hasn't won since 1982 and it was a good thing to see. Best Supporting Actor went to Christopher Plummer for Beginners (another one of my picks) and became the oldest actor to win an acting award, at 82. Best Supporting Actress went to Octavia Spencer for The Help(my pick again).
This year was probably the hardest ever for me to pick Oscar winners because there were a lot, that had so many nominated people and films that could or should have won. I will not talk about every award, but here are some more that were important to me. Rango won Best Animated Film, which I thought was pretty obvious. Best Makeup went to The Iron Lady, another movie that did an amazing job in that department. Best Editing award went to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter). If I would've known to check that those were the same two who won for The Social Network last year (2 years in a row!), I would've picked them because they are great at what they do.
Best Foreign Film went to A Separation, which was another obvious win, I knew this just from watching the trailer, I need to see this movie.
The only 2 upsets, other than Clooney's, were firstly Best Doc Feature went to Undefeated, which was hard for me to believe when I and almost everybody on the planet picked Paradise Lost 3 to win. Secondly, I think the biggest upset was in the Visual Effects the award went to Hugo, over Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The effects in that movie were superb and I didn't think any movie had a chance to beat it.
This year it was a tough one for picks, but I defeated my girlfriend 11 to 6.
Overall the 2012 Academy Awards were a big improvement on past years shows, except for adding Steve Jobs and Whitney Houston to the memorial slideshow. What they have to do with the Oscars and big-time movies, no one knows.

P.S. I have added to my movie tattoos with a new tat on my leg. A famous line from the great western Tombstone.