Independent Spirit Awards

The Oscars were last night. Big deal! The Independent Spirit Awards were Friday night. Instead of turning on the Oscars, we watched Where the Buffalo Roam with Bill Murray which I found to be a cheery ray of sunshine compared to Johnny Depp's turn as the iconic Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Seriously, that movie creeps me out, and it is hard to creep me out. Then we watched all six episodes of Eastbound & Down because it had been a while since we have watched Kenny Powers tell that principal, "No, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not trying to be the best at exercising. I play real sports."
It is a yearly tradition for me to watch the Independent Spirit Awards in front of my computer with Netflix pulled up so I can make sure not to miss any movies I may be interested to see. I ended up adding a few movies, but I already had most of the ones I might want to see sitting in my queue. My wife asked me a question that I thought was interesting because I did not know the answer. She asked what qualified a film for The Independent Spirit Awards, does it just have to be weird or have Peter Saarsgaard in it? Good question, right? According to this story from the AP, "the Spirit Awards honor movies that cost less than $20 million to make, with a significant part of their budget originating outside the Hollywood studio system. Other criteria for nominations include originality and provocative subject matter." Good to know.
Here's the full list of winners of the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards:

• Best Feature: Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
• Best Director: Lee Daniels, Precious
• Best Male Lead: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
• Best Female Lead: Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
• Best Supporting Male: Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
• Best Supporting Female: Mo’Nique, Precious
• Best First Feature: Crazy Heart
• Best Screenplay: Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, (500) Days of Summer
• Best First Screenplay: Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
• Best Cinematography: A Serious Man
• Robert Altman Award: A Serious Man
• Best Documentary: Anvil! The Story of Anvil
• Best Foreign Film: An Education
• John Cassavetes Award (best feature made for under $500,000): Humpday
• Acura Someone to Watch Award: Kyle Patrick Alvarez, Easier With Practice
• Chaz & Roger Ebert Truer Than Fiction Award: Bill Ross and Turner Ross, 45365

And even though I am growing quite fond of him, I disagree with Roger Ebert that Eddie Izzard was not funny as host. I think he did a fine job. I hope we can still be friends in my head, Mr. Ebert. And if I heard the phrase, "based on the novel Push: by Sapphire," I was going to open fire on my television. Nails on a chalkboard.