Oscar Nominations.

It's the first year of the Oscars' ten Best Picture nominees and it's not nearly as interesting as I would have hoped. First up...

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'm pretty disappointed that the Oscars decided to abandon their love for Eastwood this year considering the nominations for The Blind Side and District 9, or at least hoping A Single Man, Crazy Heart, or The Messenger would slip in there but life is full of disappointment. My prediction is that Avatar or Up in the Air are most likely to take it and out of the two I'd very much like it to be Up in the Air, though like I said earlier, life is full of disappointment. Also, The Hurt Locker is starting to build some late press so that could help come Oscar night as well. I am very happy to finally see a Pixar movie get a well deserved Best Picture nomination even though I thought Coraline and Fantastic Mr. Fox were better animated features. Up is still a wonderful movie and I was just happy to see so may strong animated movies from last year.

Best Director:

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

It's pretty much between Cameron and Tarantino. Or rather it's pretty much Cameron as the favorite and the only one with a chance of taking that away is Tarantino. And if they decide to give Best Picture to Up in the Air then I doubt Tarantino has any chance. Though what I said about The Hurt Locker in Best Picture also applies to Bigelow.

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)

Bridges is the favorite and the man to beat. Really can't think of anyone else nominated who is that much of a contender. Though who knows, The Oscars like throwing a surprise here and there and Clooney, Firth, or Freeman would all make plausible upsets.

Best Actress:

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

Pretty disappointing selection if you ask me. Well from a speculative stand point. Mirren and Streep are great and generally get nominated when they're in any movie, though that is usually because they're always great when they're in any movie but I can't see either of them taking it. Mulligan, who probably should be the favorite is most likely too early on the scene and hasn't gotten enough attention as of yet and I can't see it going to Sidibe mainly because Mo'Nique seems to be such a lock for supporting actress. It'll most likely be Sandra Bullock.

Best Supporting Actor:

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

Waltz, I really can't see anything beyond an act of god taking away his Oscar.

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)

Like I said earlier, Mo'Nique is pretty much a lock for supporting, though again the acting categories are the place that the Oscars like to switch it up and Farmiga and Gyllenhaal are well liked enough that it could be possible, though I doubt very likely.

Adapted Screenplay:

Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell (District 9)
Nick Hornby (An Education)
Armando Iannucci, Simon Blackwell, Jesse Armstrong, Ian Martin, Tony Roche (In The Loop)
Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious)
Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner (Up In The Air)

Precious or Up in the Air. Most likely be Up in the Air but it could probably go either way, the other three should be thankful to be nominated.

Original Screenplay:

Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker)
Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)
Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman (The Messenger)
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen (A Serious Man)
Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Thomas McCarthy (Up)

I'm betting it'll be Tarantino. The Hurt Lock and A Serious Man are contenders, though I doubt A Serious Man is walking home with any awards this year (even though it's still my favorite movie from 09).

Animated Feature

Coraline
Fantastic Mr Fox
The Princess And The Frog
The Secret Of Kells
Up

It's got to be Up. I know I prefer Coraline and Fantastic Mr. Fox but the only one of these movies that has a chance against Up at the Oscars is The Princess and the Frog.

Best Foreign Language Film

Ajami
El Secreto de Sus Ojos
The Milk Of Sorror
A Prophet
The White Ribbon

Okay, now we're getting into the area of the awards where I'm a little less certain. I'd go with the White Ribbon since Haneke is the only one I'm very familiar with and it did win at Cannes last year.

Art Direction:

Avatar
The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

It'll probably be Avatar.

Cinematography:

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

Hmm. This is a tough one. For most of the technical awards I want to say Avatar just because it has such a monopoly on the hype surrounding technical acclaim this year but The Hurt Lock and Inglourious Basterds could still be possibilities. I can't see Potter and White Ribbon having a chance though.

Costume Design:

Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Again, I'm not that certain. I love Bright Star and I would hope it wins but I'm saying it'll most likely go to Nine or maybe even Coco Before Chanel.

Documentary Feature:

Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc
The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg And The Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

Really have no idea. The only one I'm familiar with is Food, Inc. so I'll just close my eyes and point at my computer screen...Burma VJ.

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

I know even less about these so I'll go with the one about China.

Editing:

Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

It'll probably be Avatar again though what I said earlier still applies to Inglourious Basterds and The Hurt Locker here as well.

Makeup:

Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Star Trek? Overall a pretty disappointing category.

Original Score:

James Horner (Avatar)
Alexandre Desplat (Fantastic Mr Fox)
Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders (The Hurt Locker)
Hans Zimmer (Sherlock Holmes)
Michael Giacchino (Up)

Hopefully Giacchino. Well honestly, I would prefer Desplat from the nominees but that isn't happening and the absence of Karen O's music for Where the Wild Things Are is also disappointing.

Original Song:

'Almost There' (The Princess And The Frog)
'Down In New Orleans' (The Princess And The Frog)
'Loin de Paname' (Paris 36)
'Take It All' (Nine)
'The Weary Kind' (Crazy Heart)

The Weary Kind most likely, unless Take it All or Down in New Orleans steal it.

Sound Editing:

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

Again, Avatar is most likely the favorite and blah blah blah Inglorious Basterds and The Hurt Locker...

Sound Mixing

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

I am most likely going to start sounding like a broken record.

Visual Effects:

Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Avatar, obviously.

Animated Short:

French Roast
Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
The Lady And The Reaper
Logorama
A Matter Of Loaf And Death

Not sure. A Matter of Loaf and Death? Go Aardman Studios!

Live Action Short:

The Door
Instead Of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants

No idea. For the hell of it I'll say Miracle Fish.