Well it’s Oscar time again. Say what you will about the Academy Awards or awards shows in general, there is little argument that the Oscars are seen within the industry as the Super Bowl of movies. This year as most of you know debuts the ten best picture nominations replacing the lowly five. This most likely was done so viewers who don’t see things outside of their basic multiplex feel like they have a dog in the race. Based on what got nominated, I’d say this experiment may prove to be successful. But lets get to the noms…

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Penelope Cruz (Nine)
Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air)
Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart)
Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air)
Mo’Nique (Precious)

I haven’t seen Nine, but I had a stinking suspicion Penelope Cruz was going to find herself nominated again, even if it’s attached to a movie that few saw or liked. From where I stand, I assumed Marion Cotillard was the only one who gave a performance worth registering. At least that’s what the critics told me. Alas, this is an award given to peers and Cruz must have plenty of friends. The fact that Melanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds) and Samantha Morton (The Messenger) got overlooked is a damn shame. Gyllenhaal’s nomination is also a bit of a surprise but not in a bad way. The other three, Mo’Nique and the Up in the Air girls were a given.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Matt Damon (Invictus)
Woody Harrelson (The Messenger)
Christopher Plummer (The Last Station)
Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)
Christolph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)

Generally, this is usually one of my favorite categories. Not so much this year. Matt Damon got nominated for the wrong movie (he did better work in The Informant), Tucci plays creepy well but is saddled in a subpar film and Plummer… well, what the hell is The Last Station again? Woody Harrelson is having a strong year and he is excellent in The Messenger, but it would be a crime if anyone took the prize away from Waltz’s work in Basterds. It’s arguably the best performance of the year.

BEST ACTRESS

Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
Helen Mirren (The Last Station)
Carey Mulligan (An Education)
Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)
Meryl Streep (Julie and Julia)

Everyone is talking about the potential head-to-head of Bullock and Streep, but it Sidibe’s work in Precious that has stayed with me far longer than all the other nominees combined. That said, Mulligan and Streep are very good in their respective work. Bullock on the other hand was competent at best. As for Mirren… uh, I guess I’ve got to find me a screener of The Last Station.

BEST ACTOR

Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
George Clooney (Up in the Air)
Colin Firth (A Single Man)
Morgan Freeman (Invictus)
Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)

Happy to see Renner gets the nod. Of all the Best picture noms I’ll be seeing again with my mom (more on that later), The Hurt Locker is the one I’m most anticipating returning to. He’s a big reason for that. Freeman is quickly becoming the next Streep, getting nominations for anything that threatens to be prestige. Clooney is at his best in Up in the Air incidentally. It’s his best “Clooney-type” role ever. What’s that exactly? Virtually anything that isn’t Syriana. Haven’t seen Single Man yet, but I’ve heard good things about Firth’s work. All of this is a bit moot since Jeff Bridges will win the best actor/lifetime achievement award for his work in Crazy Heart. Not that he isn’t deserving.

BEST DIRECTOR

James Cameron (Avatar)
Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)
Lee Daniels (Precious)
Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)

This is actually the least surprising line up. I know there were some people expecting Eastwood to muscle in, but it’s good to see that cooler heads prevailed. All five directors do good work and it’s not exactly set in stone that the winner of this wins best picture. However, I’ll go on record now to say that if Tarantino doesn’t win this, he most likely won’t win best picture. This will become a three-way race with Quentin, James and Kathryn.

BEST PICTURE

Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

I would say that the ten nominee idea is rather ingenious in getting more people to watch the awards show. There are three 100 plus million dollar grossing nominees (Blind Side, District 9 and Up) that otherwise would of never gotten any recognition. Now its pretty safe to assume everybody has a horse in this race. District 9 and The Blind Side were kind of surprises for me, quite possibly taking Invictus (yay) and The Messenger (boo) out of the picture. Like the directing noms, this one is ultimately a three way race between Avatar, Hurt Locker and Basterds. Let the race begin!

What about the other nominees? OK… fine…

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of the Kells
Up

All strong nomin — er, what the hell is The Secret of the Kells?

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

Pretty strong work here, but this is Basterds to lose.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

District 9
An Education
In the Loop
Precious
Up in the Air

I’m elated to see In the Loop get the nomination!

BEST ART DIRECTION

Avatar
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

I’m going on a limb and guessing Avatar sweeps all the technical awards.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Year in and year out, this is the one award that I always find hard pressed to disagree with.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

By contrast to cinematography, this award always overlooks the more daring costumes. Watchmen? Where the Wild Things Are? The fuck?

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Burma DJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

I’ve seen two of these (The Cove and Food, Inc.). Who should win? Anvil! The Story of Anvil fools!!

BEST EDITING

Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

Generally, I rate this one on pace over complexity. Fingers crossed for Inglourious….

BEST FOREIGN FILM

Ajami
El Secreto de rus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
Un Prophet
The White Ribbon

I pour the milk of sorrow on my Golden Grahams every morning to start my day.

BEST MAKEUP

Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Hey! I saw Il Divo!! Solid flick! Star Trek gets this though.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Sherlock Holmes
Up

It would be so sweet if Mr. Fox wins this since it’s the only score I can vividly remember.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Two from Princess and the Frog
Paris 36
Nine
Crazy Heart

Hey! I saw Paris 36! It wasn’t very good. Crazy Heart was though. It better win.

BEST SOUND EDITING

Avatar
Inglourious Basterds
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
Up

All solid choices, but I can’t imagine Avatar not winning this.

BEST SOUND MIXING

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: The Revenge of the Fallen

It’s the same nominees as sound editing it……..the hell………WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE TRANSFORMERS AND WHAT DID YOU DO WITH UP!?!?!

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

That snow beast in Star Trek should disqualify it right now.

As for the short films, short docs and animated shorts — well, I don’t care.

For the next five weeks, I will be seeing all ten of the Best Picture nominees with my mom as I’ve done every year since 1997 (the year Titanic won everything). I’ll report back my own thoughts on seeing a film again and my mother’s feeling on said film as well. Watch out for that.

Now go back to work…