The Oscar nominations are out. I’m not sure what to say. First why the hell do people think that Avatar is a great movie? I saw it. It was fun. The effects were impressive but it was not a great movie. It is not one of the top ten movies of the year. I was over the fact that it won the Golden Globe for Best Picture, Drama. I assumed it would be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards but I hoped it wouldn’t.
Rounding off the films for Best Picture are The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up and Up in the Air.
All of these were to be expected. The only real surprise was A Serious Man. Great movie but I assumed everyone forgot about it once Avatar was released. Up is also a surprise. I thought the purpose of creating the animated feature award was so they would still be recognized. It makes sense that it be included in both but seems a little unfair to the other great movies that were ignored. Hopefully The Hurt Locker or Precious will win this.
Actor in a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart, George Clooney in Up in the Air, Colin Firth in A Single Man, Morgan Freeman in Invictus, Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker. I think Jeff Bridges is likely to take this home after both his win at the Golden Globes and his win from SAG.
Actor in a supporting role: Matt Damon in Invictus, Woody Harrelson in The Messenger, Christopher Plummer in The Last Station, Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones, Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds. The clear winner is Christoph Waltz. I haven’t drank any of the Quentin Tarantino Kool-Aid. So I’m not a part of the QT cult. I thought Inglourious Basterds was a good movie. Definitely closer to the quality of his work in Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. Christoph Waltz was the one performance that stood out this year as a guaranteed win. I walked out of Basterds saying that Waltz would walk away with this hands down and he will. Watch.
Actress in a Leading Role: Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side, Helen Mirren in The Last Station, Carey Mulligan in An Education, Gabourey Sidibe in Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia. I think Sandra Bullock will take this one. Although Gabourey Sidibe should. Poor Meryl Streep is hamstringed by the fact that she has won a couple already and I really wish Helen Mirren would be my Mrs. Robinson. I’ve always thought she was sexy as hell, even now.
Actress in a Supporting Role: Penelope Cruz in Nine, Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air, Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart, Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air, and Mo’Nique in Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. Mo’Nique is going to win. The other nominees don’t even really stack up. I think the tragedy is that Penelope was recognized in Nine over the work of Marion Cotillard.
Animated Feature Film: Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess and the Frog, The Scret of Kells, and Up. Up is the obvious winner. I think this category is bullshit though. The Princess and the Frog wasn’t really good enough to be recognized for anything but maybe music. The Academy however, struggles to find enough nominees for Best Animated feature so pretty much every animated film gets nominated. The real category that must be added to the Academy Awards is Best Choreography.
Art Direction: Avatar, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Nine, Sherlock Holmes, The Young Victoria. I think Avatar will take this one. They will pretty much dominate awards like this.
Cinematography: Avatar, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, The White Ribbon. I think this is a tough one because The Hurt Locker and Inglourious Basterds are beautifully shot. While Avatar and Harry Potter are generic and really showcase the special effects more than the talent of the DP. But sadly Avatar will win.
Costume Design: Bright Star, Coco Before Chanel, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Nine, and The Young Victoria and Bright Star. I don’t understand why period pieces like The Young Victoria are always nominated. I think the originality of the design is lost when these movies are made every year. Nine will take this one.
Directing: James Cameron for Avatar, Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker, Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds, Lee Daniels for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, Jason Reitman for Up in the Air. My only hope is that QT doesn’t win. I think Kathryn Bigelow will take this one home. I really think the voters will recognize that she deserves this more than her ex-husband James.
Documentary Feature: Burma VJ, The Cove, Food, Inc. The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, and Which Way Home. Sadly I haven’t seen any of these this year. I suck.
Documentary Short: China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province, The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner, The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant, Music by Prudence, Rabbit a la Berlin. Again I suck. Haven’t seen these.
Film Editing: Avatar, District 9, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. Avatar will take this I’m sure. District 9 is a close second.
Foreign Language Film: Ajami, El Secreto de Sus Ojos, The Milk of Sorrow, Up Prophete, The White Ribbon. I haven’t seen any of these either.
Makup: Il Divo, Star Trek, The Young Victoria. Star Trek will win just because everyone wants to award Star Trek something. What a piece of shit movie.
Music (Original Score): Avatar, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Hurt Locker, Sherlock Holmes and Up. Well Sherlock won’t win. Up and Avatar are the two to watch. I’m going to go out on a limb and call it for Up.
Music (Original Song): The Princess and the Frog is nominated for two songs which means it’s screwing itself. Paris 36, Nine and Crazy Heart. I thought Nine would win at the Globes although I thought T-Bone Burnett’s song in Crazy Heart was better. So I’m going to flip and go with Crazy Heart.
I haven’t seen any of the shorts. However, the nominees are:
Animated: French Roast, Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty, The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte), Logorama, A Matter of Loaf and Death.
Live Action: The Door, Instead of Abracadabra, Kavi, Miracle Fish, The New Tenants.
Sound Editing: Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Star Trek, Up. Oh man Star Trek will win and they will throw up a clip from the beginning when the sound goes out as the body of the crewman flies into space.
Sound Mixing: Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Star Trek will again win this.
Visual Effects: Avatar, District 9, Star Trek. Take one guess. Avatar.
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Neil Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell for District 9, Nick Hornby for An Education, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche for In the Loop, Geoffrey Fletcher for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner for Up in the Air. I think Geoffrey Fletcher will likely get this or at least should win this.
Writing (Original Screenplay): Mark Boal for The Hurt Locker, Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Bassterds, Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman for The Messenger, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for A Serious Man, and Bob Peterson, Pete Docter for Up. I think The Hurt Locker will get the recognition it deserves in this category and walk away with it.
Phew, a lot of writing. I will probably be wrong about all of these. I usually am. My judgement in these matters is rarely impartial and I’ve yet to fully grasp the Academy’s decisions.
So tell me what you think will win.
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