|
 They're in. They're here. They're predictably all pointing towards Avatar and The Hurt Locker. Shame about the first bit there, but Cameron and Mrs Non-Cameron are squaring up with nine nominations apiece for their movies. And maybe, just maybe, The Hurt Locker might bag the majority of those.
Naturally, they're both up for the two biggies, but it's nice to see Kathryn Bigelow's brilliant war film pick up a Best Actor nomination for Jeremy Renner too. Although with Jeff Bridges in there for Crazy Heart, it's likely the Oscar is going his way - sorry, Colin Firth, but it's not a year for British actors.
British Actresses, on the other hand. Well, we've got Helen Mirren for The Last Station, as well as Carey Mulligan for An Education. Neither will get it with Sandra Bullock up for grabs, but hey, it's good to have our ladies honoured in passing at least. As for Supporting Actors, those are pretty much a given, too, with Mo'Nique and Christoph Waltz both nominated for their award-winning roles.
The best news for me is Best Adapted Screenplay, which sees not only Nick Hornby pick up his first nod for An Education, but also Armando Ianucci for In the Loop. I'll just repeat that again: In the Loop. Armando Ianucci. It's worth repeating, partly because it's brilliant but also because Academy President Tom Sherak can't pronounce his name correctly. Once again: Ianucci.
Anne Hathaway had no problem reeling off the other names on the list, with Costume and Art Direction seeing The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus receive some worthy creative attention - alongside Avatar, of course. Visual Effects obviously also mentioned the blue people (who thankfully didn't get any writing nominations), but it's stuff like Editing where Avatar might easily lose out to Bigelow's The Hurt Locker; while each have a raft of contenders, some of the technical categories could easily swing any which way.
Animation, naturally, sees Up at the front of the pack - with Fantastic Mr Fox, Coraline and even Princess and the Frog, but curiously no Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. But Up is also now playing with the big boys over in the Best Picture arena. Yes, with the major Oscar now extended to 10 entries, there's a chance for the more audience friendly fare to get a look in. Naturally, that means that Moon, Star Trek, A Single Man and (500) Days of Summer are nowhere near any of them. Instead we have Avatar, Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds (which is too heavily nominated with 8), Up in the Air (a solid 6 nods), Precious, A Serious Man, An Education, District 9 (a pleasant inclusion), Up and The Blind Side. Yes, The Blind Side. The Sandra Bullock thing.
So with no Moon, no Road and no (500) Days of Summer anywhere on the list, this year's Oscars are the usual mix of America-friendly biopics, box office smashes and heartfelt dramas. It's great to have an outsider like District 9 step into position, not to mention the wonderful A Serious Man, but if Young Victoria and Coco Before Chanel can get in there for Costumes, it seems unfair to completely dismiss Clint Mansell's score for Moon, or (500) Days' screenplay. Still, Jason Reitman's nominated for stuff. So I'm happy. The rest I blame on Sandra Bullock.
The Oscars will be happening live here on Sunday 7th March - expect big, multi-platform, cross-blogging coverage - in the wee small hours of the morning. I'll put up my predictions in the interim weeks. Until then, read on for the full list of nominees. And then leave your angry comments below.
Best Picture Avatar The Blind Side District 9 An Education The Hurt Locker Inglorious Basterds Precious A Serious Man Up Up In the Air
Best Director
James Cameron, Avatar Katherine Bigelow, The Hurt Locker Quentin Tarentino, Inglourious Basterds Lee Daniels, Precious Jason Reitman, Up In The Air
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
Best Actress
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side Helen Mirren, The Last Station Carey Mulligan, An Education Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz, Nine Vera Farmiga, Up In the Air Anna Kendrick, Up In the Air Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart Mo’nique, Precious
Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds Matt Damon, Invictus Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones Woody Harrelson, The Messenger Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Best Adapted Screenplay
Neil Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell, District 9 Neil Hornby, An Education Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, In The Loop Geofrey Fletcher, Precious Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner, Up In The Air
Best Original Screenplay
Mark Boall, The Hurt locker Quentin Tarentino, Inglourious Basterds Joel And Ethan Coen, A Serious Man Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, The Messenger Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Up
Art Direction
Avatar The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Nine Sherlock Holmes The Young Victoria
Cinematography
Avatar Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds The White Ribbon
Costume Design
Bright Star Coco Before Chanel The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Nine The Young Victoria
Best Documentary Feature
Burma VJ The Cove Food Inc. The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers Which Way Home
Best 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
Film Editing
Avatar District 9 The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire
Best Foreign Language Film
Ajami El Secreto Desus Ojos The Milk of Sorrow A Prophet The White Ribbon
Make Up
Il Divo Star Trek The Young Victoria
Music: Original Score
Avatar Fantastic Mr Fox The Hurt Locker Sherlock Holmes Up
Music: Original Song
The Princess and The Frog – Almost There The Princess and The Frog – Down In New Orleans Paris 36 – Loin de Panane Nine – Take It All Crazy Heart – The Weary Kind
Short Film: Animated
French Roast Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty The Lady And The Reaper Logorama A Matter of Loaf and Death
Short Film: Live Action
The Door Instead of Abracadabra Kavi Miracle Fish The New Tenants
Sound Editing
Avatar The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds Star Trek Up
Sound Mixing
Avatar The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds Star Trek Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Visual Effects
Avatar District 9 Star Trek
Best Animated Feature Film
Coraline Fantastic Mr Fox The Princess And The Frog The Secret Of Kells Up
|
1) Hurrah for Up! I'm glad they're allowing animated films to enter the Best Pic category in their own right. A step in the right direction. Though do think that there should be a 'Best Sci-Fi' category (after Jacques spent so much time last year moaning about how The Dark Knight didn't win much).
2) The 'score' category is pretty poor but so, by and large, are the scores. I love the Avatar score but that's because it's a mishmash of all Horner's best work with some tribal beats thrown in. And I love tribal beats.
3) Still bitterly disappointed that Watchmen hasn't been nominated for anything (am I missing something? Is it not eligible?) Best Adapted Screenplay, Visual, Sound, Freakiest Sex Scene? Jackie Earl Haley alone needed a nom. I just like saying nom. Omnomnomnom.
4) Perhaps prematurely disappointed that Sandra is probably going to steal the Best Actress from our Carey, who deserves it FAR more, mainly because we probably won't get to see The Blind Side until after the Oscars. Stooopid international release dates.
5) Agree with my lemur friend that I would rather see ANYTHING but Tarantino win, because I hate a) Tarantino and b) Brad.
6) Penelope Cruz? Seriously? I haven't seen Nine, I admit, but she's just a pest. Even in Volver.
Loaf and Death!!!
I'd love to see A Prophet take foreign, but it's Haneke's already.
I would really like to see the Coen's take screenplay (but that's pretty much "anyone but Tarantino". For adapted SP they've got some absolute crackers, An Education and UITA especially. I want Armando, Jesse and Sam to get that, though I suspect it will be difficult difficult lemon difficult.
Of the 7 best pic noms I've seen, my favourite is Up in the Air (I still haven't seen Hurt Locker or District 9), I have a sneaking suspicion Avatar will take this, while Bigelow takes director.