This is in about an hour.

Predictions

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BEST PICTURE

Avatar
A Single Man
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Up In The Air


BEST ACTOR

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


BEST ACTRESS

Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
Charlotte Gainsbourg - Antichrist
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

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

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air
Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air
Penelope Cruz - Nine
Mo'Nique - Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Julianne Moore - A Single Man

BEST DIRECTOR

Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
James Cameron - Avatar
Tom Ford - A Single Man
Jason Reitman - Up In The Air
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The White Ribbon
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
Up

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

District 9
An Education
In The Loop
Precious
Where The Wild Things Are

BEST FOREIGN FILM

Das weiße Band
Un Prophète
Ajami
El Secreto de Sus Ojos
Samson & Delilah

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ponyo
The Princess And The Frog
Up

BEST ART DIRECTION

A Serious Man
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Julie & Julia
Up In The Air


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Avatar
The Road
The Hurt Locker
A Single Man
Das weiße Band

BEST MAKE UP

Coco Before Chanel
An Education
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Avatar
2012
District 9
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Star Trek

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Coco Before Chanel
An Education
A Single Man
The Young Victoria
Watchmen


BEST FILM EDITING

Star Trek
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds

BEST SOUND MIXING

Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

BEST SOUND EDITING

Terminator Salvation
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Up

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Crazy Heart
Nine
Avatar
Everybody's Fine
Brothers

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

A Single Man
Avatar
Up
Coco Before Chanel
Where The Wild Things Are

BEST DOCUMENTARY

The Cove
Food Inc
Living In Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders
Valentino The Last Emperor
Sergio

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

A Matter of Loaf and Death
Partly Cloudy

and some others

Most Nominations.

Avatar 10
The Hurt Locker 9
A Single Man 7
Up In The Air 6
Up 5
Inglourious Basterds 5
District 9 5
An Education 5

I would love love love to see Samson & Delilah get nominated for Best Foreign Film. I hope your prediction comes true.

If Christoph Waltz doesn't win best supporting actor for Inglorious Basterds I would be fucking shocked. He was BY FAR the best supporting actor this year, if not this decade.

Actual nominations

Best Picture

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

Actor

Bridges
Clooney
Firth
Freeman
Renner

S. Actor

Damon
Harrelson
Plummer
Tucci
Waltz

Actress

Bullock
Mirren
Mulligan
Sidibe
Streep

S. Actress

Cruz
Farmiga
Kendrick
Mo'nique
Gylenhall

Animation

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

Art Direction

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

Cinematography

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

Costume

Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Avatar

Directing

Cameron
Bigelow
Tarantino
Daniels (Precious)
Reitman

Documentary

The Cove
Food Inc
Burma VJ
Which Way Home
The Most Dangerous Man In America

Film Editing

Avatar
District 9
Inglorious Basterds
The Hurt Locker
Precious

Foreign

Das weiße Band
Un Prophète
Ajami
El Secreto de Sus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow

Make Up

Il Divio
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Original Score

Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Sherlock Holmes
Hurt Locker
Up

Original Song

'Almost There' - Princess and The Frog
'Down In New Orelans' - Princess and The Frog
'Loin de Paris' - Paris 36
'Take It All' - Nine
'The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)' - Crazy Heart

Animated Short

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

Sound Editing

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
Inglorious Basterds
Up

Sound Mixing

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

Visual Effects

Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Writing (Adapted)

District 9
An Education
In The Loop
Precious
Up In The Air

Writing (Original)

The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
A Serious Man
The Messenger
Up

Short film

The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants

Waltz has won every award that is possible already. Don't worry. It's a lock.

Damon for Invictus? Isn't all he does in that movie is throw the ball around?

Predictions

BEST PICTURE 8/10

BEST ACTOR 5/5

BEST ACTRESS 4/5

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR 5/5

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS 4/5

BEST DIRECTOR 4/5

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY 4/5

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY 4/5

BEST FOREIGN FILM 4/5

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE 4/5

BEST ART DIRECTION 1/5

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY 2/5

BEST MAKE UP 1/3

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS 3/3

BEST COSTUME DESIGN 2/5

BEST FILM EDITING 4/5

BEST SOUND MIXING 5/5

BEST SOUND EDITING 3/5

BEST ORIGINAL SONG 1/5

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE 2/5

BEST DOCUMENTARY 2/5

BEST ANIMATED SHORT 1/2

73/111 (with 109 guesses.)

Most Nominations.

Avatar 9
The Hurt Locker 9
Inglourious Basterds 8
Precious 6
Up In the Air 6
Up 5
Dictrict 9 4
Nine 4
Star Trek 4

Why was Avatar nominated for best cinematography? I'm not trying to be coy, and I don't mean this as a rhetorical question, but isn't the vast majority of the film CGI? I know most films, even dramas, have some sort of CGI and touch-ups, but I thought cinematography referred to art of "in-camera" work?

Yep.

Oh well, fuck the Oscars. Everyone should see this film anyway.

Also,is this the first time a Pixar has been nominated for Best Picture?

Yes, but Beauty and The Beast was nominated for Best Picture in 1991.

I'm no expert on the criteria, but I believe avatar still had a lot of real life camera moves and lighting and what not to go along with the CGI and green screen work.

I love seeing pixar finally get a best picture nomination seeing as how this is what their 5th (debatable) movie that should have gotten the honor. Still I can't help but feeling it's lessened by the whole 10 nominations thing.

Quick thoughts: I would have liked to have seen Sam Rockwell make the Best Actor list instead of Morgan Freeman.

Also, Sherlock Holmes and The Hurt Locker get nominated for Best Musical Score while Clint Mansell's excellent work in Moon gets unnoticed? Not cool.

I guess we will have to wait for another year until a former Pop Will Eat Itself member is nominated for an Oscar.

Yeah, I know there's "real" film work in that movie as well. It's just my impression that the knock-out "shots" are primarily CGI.

When did they start nominating 10 films for Best Picture? I always remember only 5.

I would love to see Inglorious Basterds get some bigs wins. Liked that movie a whole lot more than I thought I would and I had some high expectations.

Just now. Started this year, presumably so they could fit in nominations for popular films like The Dark Knight and make the general public care about the oscars again.

This is the first year. It's basically the Academy's attempt to include some more popular movies, and hopefully draw bigger ratings.

I'm sure you remember the 1944 ceremony.

why must you always be such a cunt?

This is an interesting topic of conversation. In all those CGI shots even in fully animated movies like pixar movies etc, there is usually a virtual camera that is manipulated in much the same way a real camera is to make CGI shots that resemble shots with actual cameras. I recall reading that pixar brought in Roger Deakins to work on Wall-E. Should the operation of these virtual cameras receive recognition in the cinematography category? Should it get a whole new category, "virtual cinematography" ? There is definitly an art to it.

I'm really excited that this movie we're showing at the festival, which I've probably watched about a dozen times, and is my favorite short this year, got nominated for an Oscar. Miracle Fish, btw.

I guess that's what I was getting at. I didn't mean to imply that there wasn't an art to it, but rather should Avatar and its fantastical settings be in the same category with individuals who lugged there cameras to more earthly destinations to practice their art. I don't think one is necessarily better than the other, but they do seem like different crafts.

Be thankful that Zoe Saldana didn't get a Best Actress nom.

Kinda of an interesting story line that Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow were brifley married and now they both release big films each with a ton of Oscar noms.

I haven't seen Hurt Locker (its at the top of my queue-- with the 'very long wait' tag, which drives me fucking crazy), but I'll be rooting for it when up against Avatar.

Hurt Locker was pretty damn good but i'm not rooting for it. I'll be rooting for Inglourious Basterds and Up but I don't think either one really has a chance.

Added emphasis. I'd rather the Hurt Locker win a bunch of awards than Avatar, though I know that's wishful thinking.

I'm not so sure about that, the DGA award definitly works in Hurt Lockers favor, I think it's a pretty neck and neck race between the two right now.

I can't believe The Blind Side is nominated for Best Picture...the Academy is a joke anyway, but damn.

Also, yeah, the Damon nomination is also absurd. Just a "we didn't nominate you for The Informant! so here's a supporting nod." After all, as much as a mess as I thought that movie was, he was pretty good in it.

I didn't see either of these movies, so I can't really speak to them all that much. I don't see the Blindside being all that great.

Invictus on the other hand looks awesome. I love everything Eastwood touches and Freeman was made to play Mandela. Was that movie not good? Or was Damon's role just not that great/impressive?

AMPAS generally does a better job than their equivalents in the other Arts.

The Academy Awards would be so much better if the members actually, you know, liked to watch movies.

anything but avatar for me...in rooting order would go:
hurt locker
basterds
up
serious man
up in the air
district 9

I kinda concur with you here. Is this the most boring list of nominees ever? Even last year had a pile of surprise nominees like Richard Jenkins and Melissa Leo. This year it's pretty much "Yup, uh-huh, hmmm, no surprises."

more opinions from people who haven't seen any of the movies, please

just give all the awards to avatar. and then give a couple to bastards and hurt locker. don't give any to up in the air cause the young reitman is overrated. actually give that chick who played the college grad one cause she was really good.

and i don't think whether or not a movie utilizes a virtual environment should divide it in any way from filming in a live environment. you're still creating moving images, establishing the distance & movement of shots, the timing of cuts, manipulating lighting etc. it's not like you're making a screen saver. it's different of course, but ultimately the end result for the viewer is the same.

metacritic scores:

94 The Hurt Locker (42% to win)
88 Up
85 An Education
84 Avatar (47%)
83 Up In Air
81 District 9
79 A Serious Man
79 Precious
77 A Single Man *mitch pick
74 Invictus *mitch pick
69 Inglorious Basterds (8%)
53 The Blind Side

at first i had a problem with 10 films being nominated, but if it means more exposure for less known quality stuff than it's all good. but how in hell did blind side sneak in? yikes

haven't seen either but how can you not root for hurt locker/bigelow over the behemoth. i'd settle for director for bigelow but i don't see how picture/director wouldn't be a package deal - even more so this year than usual

my family always chides me for my bullock disdain. if she wins i'll never hear the end of it. gotta hope ms. streep wins another. hard to make a pick though

mo'nique, waltz, bridges. don't see any upsets in those categories

I didn't see it, I personally don't love Eastwood lately. The film just looked generic and heavyhanded to me, and the reception seems to say it was both. Maybe I'm wrong though: anyone else here see it and like it? As for Damon, I just don't think he's a very good actor to begin with. The Good Shepherd is his only great performance, IMO. Only because he's damn good at being boring (not an insult at the film, which I love).

***As for The Hurt Locker and Bigelow for Director...how involved in the success of the film do you think she was? I didn't really love the movie, but I've wondered. She's directed real (albeit often entertaining) trash most of her career, and now this? Wonder as to her importance vs. the writer, cinematographer, and editors. I just haven't really been impressed with her before: Near Dark could've been great had it not spiraled off, I just hate Point Break, and Cameron wrote Strange Days. Etc.

I'd disagree. Just because both products result in moving images doesn't mean the craft is the same. A photographer and a landscape painter both produce similar still artistic images, but we wouldn't judge them in the same category. Now that doesn't mean that one has more or less artistic merit; but it doesn't make sense to have them in the same group imo.

For reals? Eastwood has been on fucking fire lately. Mystic River (2003), Million Dollar Baby (2004), Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), and Gran Torino (2008) are all fantastic films. (I haven't seen Changeling, so I can't speak to that.)

All these movies suck and the academy should be ashamed.

Damon was pretty good in The Informant! but award worthy, I dunno.

Who's seen Crazy Heart and is Bridges' performance all that? Or is this just another case of Hollywood loving its washed-up alcoholic losers-with-a-heart-of-gold in search of redemption?

Changeling was by far the worst of his recent output but still an enjoyable movie, doesn't hold a candle to stuff like Iwo Jima and Mystic River though.
I think most of the criticism of Invictus comes from people wanting a Nelson Mandela biopic and getting a fairly by the numbers sports movie instead. Damon did a good job with a role that didn't have a lot of meat on it. He should have been nominated for The Informant instead, that one might just be my favorite role of his career.

Eastwood's reputation as a film director is baffling to me. He just films the script. No nuance. No contradictions. No mystery. It's all so clear, so forthright, the emotions so telegraphed. Apart from having different taste in material, I don't see a big difference between him and Ron Howard. The fact that his films are so laconically paced has fooled some people into think thinking that there's some DeepThink going on. But wait, Unforgiven is the first mature Western!





What was wrong with Up?

Had no idea what was nominated before I made that post.

Oh.

Ha.

Yeah, it's been a slow day.

My thoughts exactly.