Well, there was The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, Precious, and Up in the Air that also contended. And guess who wins? Goddamn Avatar, which also won Best Director! I mean, don't get me wrong, I really liked Avatar, but that does not, under any circumstances, beat any of those movies (except maybe Precious. I don't know, never saw it). At least Martin Scorsese won the Cecil B. DeMille, The Hangover won Best Comedy/Musical (!), Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor, and UP won both Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score.
Also, Robert Downey Jr. wins Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical for Sherlock Holmes? It's nice to see that great performances by Matt Damon and Michael Stuhlbarg are being ignored in favor of some moron who everyone loves because they went through rehab, like Mickey Rourke!

Mickey Rourke fucking wins for doing that fucking Rogue Warrior. I don't care what anyone fucking says, that's a fucking awesome game with fucking Mickey Rourke because he fucking does an awesome fucking voice in that fucking game.
I like Downey Jr. After Iron Man I realized he was actually good at what he does, and after seeing Sherlock Holmes I think he's a great actor to look out for in the next few years. I think he deserves it.

Robert Downey Jr. starting showing he was good back in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, totally funny crime movie. He actually did a good job in that movie and Iron Man just later cemented the fact he's getting better. Kinda like Jim Carrey, everyone notice how he started acting really good after he stopped talking out of his ass to animals?

Avatar won?! That's ridiculous. I did find Avatar to be entertaining and worth seeing, but the whole plot is basically ripped from Dances with Wolves. Dances with Blue Mostly Naked Aliens IN THE FUTURRREEEE!

Sure it wasn't "Best drama created by a movie"? Maybe those "depressed" twats were what pushed it over the line

There's no Action award. If there were, Avatar wouldn't have stood a chance against the others in the Drama category.

Maybe it was "Best drama created under the influence" ?

How can Avatar be considered "drama?"
Are there even characters in that movie? I only remember explosions, pretty flowers, and flying lizards.

Flying lizards were pretty dramatic thou

I'm going to continually repeat myself - award shows are just auto-fellatio

Avatar is overrated and overhyped.

Remember when 'Gladiator' won Best Picture at the Academy Awards? Yeah...

He stopped? :o
He can't be a good actor by definition : At least, as long as he remains a pathetic, unfunny copy-cat of people like Norman Wisdom and Jerry (not to be confused with Lee "Great Balls of Fire") Lewis.. -_-

A little to far-fetched to consider "Up" as a serious dramatic movie, I suppose...