"I think, Evelyn, that we've lost touch..."

Evelyn: Why, what's wrong?

Patrick: I need to engage in homicidal behavior on a massive scale, cannot be corrected, but I have no other way to fulfill my needs. We need to talk.

Evelyn: Talk about what, Patrick?

I'm pretty sure that a fresh Oscar gets you an 8:30 res' at Dorsia any night you want.

Three whole days have gone by and I haven't mentioned how pleased I was to see Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) receive his Oscar from former fiancé Evelyn (Reese Witherspoon). And they still don't seem very important to each other!

Patrick: It's over Evelyn. It's all over.

Evelyn: Touchy Touchy. i'm sorry I brought up the wedding. Let's just avoid the issue, all right? Now.. are we having coffee?

Patrick: I'm fucking serious. It's fucking over, us. This is not joke. I don't think we should see each other anymore.

Evelyn: But your friends are my friends and my friends are your friends. I really don't think it would work.

If you don't know what the hell we're talking about your assignment is to watch American Psycho (2000) immediately. For maximum time capsule pleasure, try to find a store that still rents VHS tapes so that you can return some videotapes later.

Bale's performance as the psychopath is justifiably classic already but less often discussed is how much Reese nails her vacant pseudo human fiancee. Reese has always been so great at comic stylization. When are the great directors and screenwriters going to give her something worthy of her gifts again? It's been way too long.

Christian Bale's Oscar was 10 years late but at least it arrived. Speaking of which, under the decade too late rule, who is due for a statue in 2012? Whose coronation should we obsess over next?

James & Anne & Mickey & Judy

Editor's note: This is my final Oscar column for Tribeca Film to wrap up awards season. Thanks for your patience. I'd intended to do a lot more right here but I'm in day 3 of flu and about to pass out again. If you're not done talking Oscar night, let me know by commenting. But here it is.

Early on Oscar night, the legendary actor Kirk Douglas took to the stage to present Best Supporting Actress. (Oscar producers wisely throw one of the big awards near the beginning each year lest the least committed viewers click away.) "Spartacus" himself, still an entertainer at 94, didn't make you wait for the envelope reveal for a show—he was hamming it up from his cane-walking entrance to his purposefully distracted, drawn-out announcement of the winner. Before he even got to the nominees, he stopped to joke with the youngest hosts Oscar has ever had, 32-year-old James Franco and 28-year-old Anne Hathaway. To the giggling, girlish Hathaway, he said, "Where were you when I was making movies?"

The irony, if you stop to think about, is that she was around back then. Not “Anne Hathaway,” exactly, mind you, but earlier incarnations of her...

Read the rest at Tribeca Film

Now that the 83rd Oscar dust has settled, how are you feeling about them?

As Links Go By

The Front Row Richard Brody on Oscar surprises and the health of quality movies.
Towleroad Why did the Oscar broadcast censor the Josh Brolin Javier Bardem kiss?
Getty Images The Bening is ready to dance. But first she'll politely pose for photos.

Reuters Anjelica Huston is writing memoirs. Everyone wants Jack Nicholson dirt but I'm hoping for a good juicy chapter on The Grifters or The Royal Tenenbaums.
Nicks Flick Picks on how this year's Oscar winners will be treated in the judgement all of Time Passing By
Carpetbagger Carr reacts to the ceremony. Love the sum up sentence. So true.
Monkey See 5 Lessons learned from the Oscars Sunday night. Lurve this one.

(4) Australians don't care about your stupid alphabetical order. When the nominees for Best Supporting Actress were announced, Aussie Jacki Weaver was named third, even though she was alphabetically fifth in the category. Take that, Melissa Leo! You might have the Oscar, but Jacki Weaver controls language!

The Wrap the Annie Awards are officially considering changes post Disney/Pixar boycott and the shutouts of WALL•E & Toy Story 3

Best Actress Finale: Dresses, Reactions, Questions

Like we did with supporting actress, I've displayed the most lauded ladies of 2010 in the order of your preference: Natalie Portman stabbed all competition with a nail file "IT'S MY TURN" to the tune of 47% of your votes; Annette Bening (19%) just barely edged out Nicole Kidman (18%) in the last day of voting for second place and second place is always where Bening seems to end up (more on that tomorrow); Michelle Williams (11%) and Jennifer Lawrence (2%) followed. But look at Lawrence. She doesn't care. She had a grand time at the Oscars apparently, turning heads in the red tank dress and relaxed enough to quip to the press about bringing her brother as her date.

I'm from Kentucky, so that's normal.

It's interesting that her distinction  "Second Youngest Best Actress Nominee Ever" has been so ignored by the media; She's only 20. We might be seeing a lot more of her on Oscar's red carpet. She's already too old to nab the "fastest to two nominations in any acting category" since Angela Lansbury was 20 when she accomplished that. But theoretically Lawrence could still beat Joan Fontaine's record of fastest to two Best Actress nominations (Fontaine did the double by 24 and won) if good lead roles come soon. Up next are three supporting roles: The Beaver, Like Crazy and X-Men First Class.

Reaction shots, questions for readers and Portman's speech after the jump.

Click to read more ...

Supporting Actress Finale: Fashion, Speech and Reader's Choice.

I have displayed the talented women above in the order of Readers Choice voting. Jacki Weaver (25%)  just barely won your virtual Oscar over Amy Adams (24%) . Of course the Oscar went to Melissa Leo (21%), who memorably hammed it up with Kirk Douglas before bringing the crazy that we've come to expect and dropping a rare Oscar night F Bomb on the Kodak. Film Experience readers didn't wish the win on Hailee Steinfeld (15%) or Helena Bonham Carter (11%) in big numbers though I noticed that Hailee trounced her competition in Awards Daily's balloting of readers. Different crowd with some overlap. Like AMPAS & BAFTA ;)

It's all over but the memories... and the fallout... and the statistics... and the gowns. Oscar night has a way of bleeding over. Certain competitions remain in the popular memory, or at least the blog memory for long periods of time. Consider how often people still talk about Annette Bening vs. Hilary Swank (1999, 2004) as opposed to say, Marion vs. Julie (2007) ?  or especially Reese vs. No One (2005). I sense that Supporting Actress 2010 will be one of those categories we come back to time and again, not only for the real sense of "it could go to any one!" drama that sprung up in the hive mind of Oscar watchers, but for the way that Kirk Douglas almost psychically seemed to understand that dragging out the envelope opening to ridiculous but funny lengths as the women laughed nervously.

Melissa's Speech

Oh my god. oh wow. really really really really really really  truly wow. I know a lot of people said a lot of nice things to me for several months now but i'm just shaking in my boots here. ok all right. thank you David O. Russell. I wanna thank the actors Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy My Sweet Sister Amy, Jack, our lovely daughters. ok yeah I am kind of speechless. [Looks up] Golly sakes there's people up there, too.

When i watched Kate two years ago it looks so fuc [BLEEPED OUT] Alice Ward. Your beautiful family that opened your hearts. I saw Mick here earlier. Dick? all right Dick's not in the room. Thank you so much opening your hearts to all of us to make this film. I thank David. I'll thank him again. My family, my beautiful son who is traveling right now who couldn't join me. It's okay I'm okay Jeff. My mom and my dad and my brother and my friends and my family. And I want to thank the very most of all the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences [sic] the Board of Governors and all their members and many of you are here today. This has been an extraordinary journey getting to know what the academy is about. And first and foremost thank you Academy [suddenly shouting] because it's about selling motion pictures and respecting the work! Thank you so much.

And then she stole Kirk Douglas cane. She brought the kooky and Oscar needs moments like that.

Three Questions
1. Best dressed of the category?
2. Who will be back the quickest to the nominee pool?
3. Who owes Melissa $200 dollars?