No surprises at the 82nd Academy Awards.

Kathryn Bigelow, 58, became the first of four women ever nominated to win an Oscar for best director, beating out ex-husband James Cameron, to whom she was married from 1989 to 1991.

“The time has come,” leaked presenter Barbra Streisand.

“It’s the moment of a lifetime,” Bigelow said. “I’d just like to dedicate this to the women and men in the military who risk their lives on a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan. May they come home safe.”

When she found herself back on stage for the best picture statue, she also gave shout-outs to firefighters and haz-mat teams.

It was so late Tom Hanks didn’t even say who was nominated, just blurted out the winner.

It’s not “War of the Roses.”

They remain pals. Her “The Hurt Locker” is an Iraq-war movie about a bomb demolition team and the cost of battle on human lives and broken families. Filmed in 115-degree heat in Jordan in 2007, it won Best Picture at about the stroke of midnight, again over “Avatar” in 3D, the most successful movie ever made, replacing Cameron’s previous spectacle, “Titanic.”

“Avatar” won three Oscars for best visual effects, cinematography and art direction.
Ironically, it wasn’t even nominated for makeup, though Ben Stiller apparently didn’t get the memo, because he came dressed like the first member of the Blue Man Group with a tail. “Star Trek” won and Ben has two pairs of Spock ears signed by Leonard Nimoy at home, though “that would have been too nerdy.”

“This seemed like a better idea in rehearsal,” Stiller said. “It was between this and the Nazi uniform, but the show seemed a little Hitler-heavy.”

“Life goes by pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it,” Matthew Broderick said as Ferris Bueller in a John Hughes tribute that involved Molly Ringwald, Macauley Culkin, Jon Cryer, an unrecognizable Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy (“When you get older, your heart dies. Ironic words written by a modern-day Peter Pan”).

The last time 10 pictures were nominated it was 1943.

“Casablanca” won.

“The Hurt Locker” garnered nine nominations and received six Oscars for original screenplay, sound editing, sound mixing, film editing, directing and best picture. Her next collaboration with writer and co-producer Mark Boal will be a movie about the drug trade in South America.

I was surprised to find that this almost 6-foot-tall woman known for making thoughtful movies about tough guys and for blowing things up, made one I have seen, 1991’s “Point Break,” a cult classic about bank-robbing surfers.

She grew up in northern California, the daughter of a paint factory manager and a librarian.

Painting at an early age, Bigelow enrolled for college at the San Francisco Art Institute.
Her second year she was accepted at the Whitney Museum of American Art. She set off for New York City at 19 in 1971.

She lived in a tough Tribeca neighborhood and made money fixing loft spaces with Philip Glass, who drove cabs by day and performed by night.

Bigelow sanded floors and put up Sheetrock walls and Glass did plumbing.

She teased him about signing pipes before fame found him.

She imagined herself a professor of art history, but found herself in film instead.
Sandra Bullock, 45, carted off her first gold guy from Sean Penn and delivered an acceptance speech which teared up her tattooed tough-guy husband, Jesse James.

“Did I really earn this or did I just wear you all down?” asked the star of “The Blind Side.”

She thanked “the moms that take care of the babies and the children, no matter where they come from” who deserve love.

As Oprah Winfrey reminded us, Gabourey Sidibe had already won by landing at the Academy Awards on her first acting job in a category with the alltime loss leader, Meryl Streep, her 16th nod for cooking up Julia Child.

“She was a student trying to earn some money to go to college,” Oprah said. “On Monday, she skipped school to audition. On Tuesday, they called her back to meet the director, Lee Daniels. On Wednesday, she got the part … If that isn’t a Hollywood fairy tale, what is? … Where did you learn how to do that? … We see a true American Cinderella on the threshold of a brilliant new career.”

Stand-up comic Mo’Nique was also front runner for best supporting actress in “Precious” for her unfunny work as an abusive mother.

“I would like to thank the Academy for showing it can be about the performance and not the politics,” Mo’Nique said. “I I want to thank Miss Hattie McDaniel for enduring all that she had to so that I would not have to. Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey, because you touched it, the whole world saw it … to my amazing husband, thank you for showing me that sometimes you have to forgo doing what’s popular in order to do what’s right. Baby, you were so right!” Samuel L. Jackson rolled his eyes.

Best supporting actor went to Austrian export Christoph Waltz as a Nazi Jew hunter in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds.”

Best actor was no contest. Jeff Bridges finally took home an Academy Award for his portrayal of alcoholic country singer Bad Blake in “Crazy Heart.”

I thought it was a documentary about Kris Kristofferson.

It was his turn after five nominations going back to 1971’s “The Last Picture Show.”
I grew up watching his dad’s “Sea Hunt” and The Big Lebowski’s been married for 33 years.

He seemed like more of a lock every time they showed George Clooney and he looked irritated.

Plus, Bridges had to overcome Morgan Freeman, who followed playing God with Nelson Mandela. James Taylor played The Beatles’ “In My Life” in the salute to fallen stars such as Patrick Swayze.

John Eby is the Dowagiac Daily News managing editor. E-mail him at john.eby@leader pub.com.