Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker (WINNER)
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air
This year’s battle for the top prize will be a true David versus Goliath bout. On one side you have “Avatar,” the big budget 3D blockbuster from James Cameron that’s earned a record-setting domestic box office of $707 million and counting. In the other corner is the nail-biting indie war flick about defusing bombs, “The Hurt Locker,” which would become the lowest grossing Best Picture winner in history, with a domestic box office of $12.6 million. “Avatar” took home the Golden Globe, but “The Hurt Locker” ousted the Na’vi at the Producers Guild Awards, which boasts a voting base more similar to the Academy than the Globe’s Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Although both films earned nine total nominations, “The Hurt Locker” will beat out “Avatar” for the night’s biggest prize, proving that a riveting screenplay and stellar cast trump a pure visual spectacle. In a distant third is the magnificent and timely “Up in the Air.”
BEST DIRECTOR
James Cameron – Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker (WINNER)
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels – Precious
Jason Reitman – Up in the Air
Round two of the “Avatar” versus “The Hurt Locker” bout will pit ex-spouses James Cameron and Directors Guild Award winner Kathryn Bigelow against each other. Although the two have nothing but nice things to say about each other nowadays — Cameron has publicly said he thinks Bigelow should win — you know the man who pronounced himself “King of the World” after winning in this category 12 years ago for “Titanic” wouldn’t mind placing a second directing Oscar up on the shelf. Yet, while Cameron’s groundbreaking work took 15 years to create, it’s a lot easier to direct your cast and shots when most of it can be controlled by a computer. Therefore, Bigelow, the fourth woman ever to be nominated in this category, will become the first woman ever to win an Oscar for directing. Although they won’t win, Daniels and Reitman both have their own personal successes, becoming only the second African-American director ever nominated and the youngest person (age 32) to receive two directing nominations, respectively.
BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart (WINNER)
George Clooney – Up in the Air
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker
Proof that some things really do get better with age, this group of talented men averages out at over 53 years old. Luckily, this category won’t result in any big surprises, because a couple of the nominees’ hearts might not be able to survive the shock. Already a Golden Globe and SAG winner, five-time Oscar nominee Jeff Bridges will complete the trifecta when he takes home the Academy Award for his stirring performance as a down-and-out country singer. On the outside looking in are Clooney, who would take this award if it wasn’t for Bridges, and Firth, whose poignant portrayal of a gay professor contemplating suicide needed a bigger showcase than the independent “A Single Man” to shine. Even further out is another five-time Oscar nominee in Freeman and, at 39, the baby of the group, Renner, with his first nomination.
BEST ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side (WINNER)
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Carey Mulligan – An Education
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious
Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia
With her 16th nomination, Streep not only broke her own record for the most overall nods, but also passed up Katherine Hepburn for the most nominations in this category with 13. Not bad at all for a woman turning 61 this June. However, Streep hasn’t actually won an Oscar since her leading role in “Sophie’s Choice” 27 years ago. Unfortunately, it’s going to take at least one more year before Streep and Oscar reunite. While Streep’s dynamic portrayal of a cooking legend was the better performance, there’s just too much buzz surrounding Bullock. A surprise nominee at the Golden Globes, Bullock not only won for Best Actress, but also followed up her success with a SAG award as well. There’s also the fact that this is the veteran actress’ first ever nomination. With everything going her way, Bullock will be a tough act for Streep to beat and even tougher for past winner Mirren and the indie fresh faces of Sidibe and Mulligan.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon – Invictus
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds (WINNER)
To think, Tarantino originally sought out Leonardo DiCaprio to play the role of Hans Landa. Sure, DiCaprio is a fantastic actor, but it’s impossible to imagine anybody else playing “The Jew Hunter” after watching Waltz take on the role with such terrifying charm. There’s absolutely no question the quadrilingual Austrian actor, who has taken home nearly every award possible, will finish off the season with an Oscar to call his own. Although a win is damn near impossible at this point, veteran actors Tucci and the 80-year-old Plummer should both take condolence in earning their first ever Academy Award nominations in their long, illustrious cinematic careers. Past winners Harrelson and Damon, who both earned their first nods since 1997, were brilliant as well, but this battle was all Hans Landa from the start.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Pen?lope Cruz – Nine
Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
Mo’Nique – Precious (WINNER)
If there’s anything more predictable than Waltz’s win for Best Supporting Actor, its Mo’Nique’s win in this category. The stand-up comedian and TV host went completely outside of her comfort zone for her harrowing performance as an abusive New York City mother. A first time nominee, Mo’Nique has dominated the pre-Oscar awards season much in the same way Waltz has swept his category. Rounding out the runner-up slots are the beautiful and talented ladies of “Up in the Air,” Kendrick and Farmiga, Gyllenhaal as the single mom and journalist who falls for Bridge’s troubled character and Cruz, who doesn’t quite belong in this group of award-worthy performances for her rather mediocre performance in the musical flop “Nine.” But, hey, you got to find someone to fill that fifth spot, right? Why not someone who won this category last year?
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Mark Boal – The Hurt Locker (WINNER)
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman – The Messenger
Joel and Ethan Coen – A Serious Man
Bob Peterson, Pete Docter and Tom McCarthy – Up
This one’s a tug-a-war between Boal and Tarantino. The Academy has been willing to accept the cult bloody goodness that saturates Tarantino’s screenplays — they awarded him the Oscar in this category in 1995 for “Pulp Fiction.” But in a battle of two war scripts, which of the two are voters more likely to side with? On one side of the rope you have a gritty, realistic, timely Iraq thriller from first-time nominee Boal. Pulling back on the other side you have a sensational, blatantly inaccurate, semi-historical WWII flick from past winner Tarantino. “Inglourious Basterds” lives and dies on its eccentric dialogue and unique, nonlinear storyline, while “The Hurt Locker” is an exhilarating story that doesn’t rely so much on words as it does sight. Therefore, “Basterds” is the better choice, but judging by Boal’s win at the Writers Guild Awards and the film’s hype, “The Hurt Locker” is going to squeak by with the Oscar.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell – District 9
Nick Hornby – An Education
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche – In the Loop
Geoffrey Fletcher – Precious
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner – Up in the Air (WINNER)
Although Reitman won’t pick up an Oscar for his other two nominations this year, he won’t be going home empty-handed at the end of the night. Having already won big at the Writers Guild Awards and the Golden Globes, which doesn’t split the screenplay category, meaning “Up in the Air” even defeated the solid scripts of “Inglourious Basterds” and “The Hurt Locker,” Reitman will get his first statuette with a win in this category. That will make it two straight films with Oscar-winning screenplays for Reitman, who watched Diablo Cody take the prize in 2007 for “Juno.” Fletcher’s adaptation of the 1996 bestselling novel “Push” by Sapphire is just as beautiful and unsettling as the book, but it’s still a distant second to Reitman and Turner’s “Up in the Air.” As for the remaining three screenplays, they don’t even come close, though, Blomkamp and Tatchell’s sci-fi script is a pleasant surprise in this category.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up (WINNER)
Despite boasting perhaps the best all-around group of nominees in this category’s short history, this race was over before it started. As has become the standard for Pixar films, “Up” will soar away with the animation giant’s fifth Oscar in this category. Not a bad consolation prize for failing to become the first animated film to win Best Picture after becoming only the second to be nominated — to be fair, though, all other animated flicks had only five chances, while “Up” had ten. However, Pixar did face some tough competition this year. The studio’s parent company, Walt Disney, returned to its former animation glory with the musically captivating “The Princess and the Frog” and Henry Selick’s “Coraline” and Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” with the latter two making perfect use of spellbinding stop-motion to mesmerize audiences of all ages.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Burma VJ
The Cove (WINNER)
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province (WINNER)
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit ? la Berlin
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ajami – Israel
The Milk of Sorrow – Peru
Un Proph?te – France
El Secreto de Sus Ojos – Argentina
The White Ribbon – Germany (WINNER)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar (WINNER)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon
ART DIRECTION
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus (WINNER)
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death (WINNER)
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
The Door (WINNER)
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants
VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar (WINNER)
District 9
Star Trek
COSTUME DESIGN
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria (WINNER)
FILM EDITING
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker (WINNER)
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
SOUND MIXING
Avatar (WINNER)
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
SOUND EDITING
Avatar (WINNER)
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up
ORIGINAL SCORE
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up (WINNER)
ORIGINAL SONG
Almost There by Randy Newman – The Princess and the Frog
Down in New Orleans by Randy Newman – The Princess and the Frog
Loin de Paname by Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas – Paris 36
Take it All by Maury Yeston – Nine
The Weary Kind by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett – Crazy Heart (WINNER)
BEST MAKEUP
Il Divo
Star Trek (WINNER)
The Young Victoria
