And The Nominees Are

It's Oscar time again! Some initial reactions to the nominees:

• I keep flipping back and forth about the 10 issue. On the on hand, we get dreck like The Blind Side. On the other, my top 3 favorite films of 2009 are all BP nominees, something that's never happened before.
  
• Also worth noting, you get films like A Serious Man and The Blind Side as Best Picture nominees with only 2 total noms.
  
• A lot more autopilot noms this year than normal: Cruz, Damon, Mirren, Freeman. I was really disappointed with the acting nominations in general this year, although there were a few pleasant surprises (Maggie Gyllenhaal).
  
• It's nice, after the last 2 years, to have an actual race for Best Picture. Granted, one of the 2 big contenders is a bland summer blockbuster masquerading as quality cinema, but I prefer excitement in my Oscars!
  
• You did it Pixar!
  

Best Picture

Nominees:

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

Which ones I've seen: Much like last year with The Reader, I got a last minute hunch and forced myself to watch The Blind Side yesterday. It's as awful as expected, but I have seen all ten.

Who should win: Inglourious Basterds

Who will win: The Hurt Locker seems like it is in the lead, but no movie has won BP with that small of a gross. The fact it tied for most nominations is a good sign, though.

Possible upsets? Avatar is just as much as in the running, so it wouldn't be a surprise (but it would be upsetting...)


Best Director

Nominees:

• Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
  
• James Cameron - Avatar
  
• Lee Daniels - Precious
  
• Jason Reitman - Up In The Air
  
• Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds
  

Which ones I've seen: All five (with the ten in place, will we ever see a lone director again?)

Who should win: Tarantino, though Reitman and Bigelow would not bother me at all.

Who will win: Bigelow will go down as the first woman to win Best Director, something long overdue.

Possible upsets? Again, it's a race between Avatar and The Hurt Locker. Cameron already has his Oscar, so hopefully they will pass him over. The sheer size of his film may garner him a lot of votes, though.


Best Actor

Nominees:

• Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
  
• George Clooney - Up In The Air
  
• Colin Firth - A Single Man
  
• Morgan Freeman - Invictus
  
• Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker
  

Which ones I've seen: All but Firth

Who should win: Clooney has never blown me away as an actor because he usually plays the same part in most films, but here he makes that signature style work in perfect service of his film.

Who will win: Jeff Bridges. I wasn't amazed by his work in Crazy Heart, but as a career achievement award of sorts, I can't argue: he's a great actor.

Possible upsets? I really don't see any, but perhaps Renner if they love The Hurt Locker a little too much.


Best Actress

Nominees:

• Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
  
• Helen Mirren - The Last Station
  
• Carey Mulligan - An Education
  
• Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
  
• Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia
  

Which ones I've seen: All but Mirren

Who should win: It's funny, but the two front runners are the two worst performances here. I'd prefer to see Sidibe win, but Mulligan would be just as nice.

Who will win: I think it's Bullock's year. I don't understand it, but that's fine.

Possible upsets? The perennial question; when will Streep win another Oscar? The only reason she isn't leading this race anymore is because she already won twice. Were it not for that, she would have no problem beating Bullock.


Best Supporting Actor

Nominees:

• Matt Damon - Invictus
  
• Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
  
• Christopher Plummer - The Last Station
  
• Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones
  
• Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
  

Which ones I've seen: All but Plummer. Seriously, I live in Hollywood, it shouldn't be that hard to find The Last Station and A Single Man at a nearby theater, and yet it is.

Who should win: What an awful line-up. Thankfully, the one brilliant performance will win: Waltz.

Who will win: Christoph Waltz has this locked up.

Possible upsets? Woody Harrelson is the only other deserving person here, and he is long overdue for some serious recognition.


Best Supporting Actress

Nominees:

• Penelope Cruz - Nine
  
• Vera Farmiga - Up In The Air
  
• Maggie Gyllenhaal - Crazy Heart
  
• Anna Kendrick - Up In The Air
  
• Mo'Nique - Precious
  

Which ones I've seen: All but Nine. I don't think I will rectify that.

Who should win: I don't know where Mo'Nique found it in her to give that performance, but that Oscar has been hers for a while now.

Who will win: Mo'Nique

Possible upsets? Wow, I honestly don't see any threat here. The Up girls will steal votes from each other and Cruz won last year, so maybe Gyllenhaal?


All in all, not too many surprises this year, which I think we have the 10 to blame. Still, when films like Up and District 9 can get Picture nominations, it's not all bad. We'll see if this sticks around for a while, or if they ditch it in a few years. But they definitely achieved what they set out to do, with five $100 million films in the lineup, and Up in the Air likely to join them thanks to it's awards tally today.

Nominations Tally

Avatar - 9
The Hurt Locker - 9
Inglourious Basterds - 8
Precious - 6
Up in the Air - 6
Up - 5
District 9 - 4
Nine - 4
Star Trek - 4