It all worked out. Pretty much.

Jeff Bridges finally won an Oscar. “The Hurt Locker” beat “Avatar” for Best Picture. And Sandra Bullock actually made me want to see her performance in “The Blind Side.”

All in all, this year’s Academy Awards was one of the most satisfying Oscar ceremonies ever. The right people won (mostly) and the producers found interesting ways to present the less-than-star-studded categories (the video packages for the sound and short film categories were the most compelling B-roll of the night).

If only hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin  had brought the funny. I can’t really blame them completely; the material they were forced to present was some of the worst second-rate awards banter on record. I couldn’t believe the live audience was giving them so many pity laughs.

Too bad opening act Neil Patrick Harris couldn’t have stuck around for the entire ceremony. He was, as always, legendary.

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Casual moviegoers finally have a reason to watch the Academy Awards ceremony.

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided to expand its Best Picture category from five nominees to 10, many hoped it would lead to a more diverse and audience-friendly awards show. They got their wish, and it only desecrated the Oscar image a little bit.

The expanded category gives blockbusters “Avatar,” “The Blind Side,” “District 9,””Inglourious Basterds” and “Up” a chance to compete against the smaller, award-friendlier films, “An Education,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Precious,” “A Serious Man” and “Up in the Air.”

Voters should be commended for such solid choices in the first year of this 10-nominee experiment. “Up” becomes only the second animated feature to ever compete for Best Picture, and surprise nominee “District 9” proves that Academy voters are finally beginning to understand the craft of science-fiction. Yeah, yeah, “Avatar” proves that too.

The only real misfit here is “The Blind Side,” a movie with almost no Oscar precursors to its credit. Most of its buzz has circled star Sandra Bullock, who is now the likely frontrunner in the Best Actress category.

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