Here we are again--time for the Oscar nominations to be announced on Tuesday, February 2nd at 8:30 EST/5:30 PST. Now, after all the guild awards, critics awards and those pesky Golden Globes, lots of these picks are foregone conclusions. But I think we'll be seeing a few surprises here and there, particularly in those tech categories, where there's always a "whaaaa?" inclusion (I really wanted to include
Bruno in the Best Costume Design lineup, but I really don't see it happening, much as I would love it).
Lemme tell you, with Best Picture this year, expanding the race to 10 made it a little more difficult to come up with a viable list (let's just say 2009 was NOT the year during which to start this little experiment). But looks like the genre movie fans are gonna get their wish--all three of the major sci-fi films this year will likely make the cut (though it really pains me to include
District 9 in the top slot, since I despised that movie almost as much as I did
Avatar; however, I did love me some
Star Trek, and I think it'll easily make the final cut). Luckily, Kathryn Bigelow's coming in to save the day with her underseen masterpiece
The Hurt Locker, which is virtually locking the hurt on the other nominees (sorry--hadda have a pun there). I think the big surprise will be the inclusion of
Crazy Heart in the Best Picture race (it's a latecomer that smalls like prime Oscar material; I really think it'll rack up at least five nominations, including one for Maggie Gyllenhaal in the supporting actress race).
I also think Michael Haneke's
The White Ribbon has a good shot at at least three nominations (including one for the Haneke/Carriere script). And
The Young Victoria will get three nods, I think, while the once high-flying
Nine will only get two, maybe three nods, tops. The lead acting nods will match the Screen Actors Guild picks, while the supporting categories will hold some shocks (like the dropping of Stanley Tucci from Oscar consideration for
The Lovely Bones AND
Julie and Julia). Eastwood's
Invictus once looked like an easy pick, but I can't see it only getting Best Pic and Best Actor nominations (I don't think it'll fit into any other categories), so I reluctantly handed its Picture slot to
District 9. Otherwise, the other nine picks seem pretty solid to me (no way is the Coens' brilliant
A Serious Man getting a Picture nom--much too esoteric for the Academy; a screenplay nod is all it'll manage).
By the way, as a side note: if you look at
my picks for last year, you'll see that I predicted correctly THREE of the Special Award recipients for this year: Lauren Bacall, Gordon Willis, and Roger Corman (I missed the estimable John Calley for the Thalberg award). Next year, you can count on Peter Bogdanovich and James Ivory being in the mix, with maybe Albert Finney in there as well. Oh, and I didn't bother predicting the short film categories, since I haven't seen a short list of the eligible movies.
Anyway, enough of my yappin'. Here are the nominees, as I see them being announced on 2/2/10:
BEST PICTUREAvatar (James Cameron and Jon Landau, producers)
Crazy Heart (T-Bone Burnett, Scott Cooper and Robert Duvall, producers)
District 9 (Carolynne Cunningham and Peter Jackson, producers)
An Education (Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, producers)
The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicholas Chartier and Greg Shapiro, producers)
Inglourious Basterds (Lawrence Bender, producer)
Precious (Lee Daniels, Gary Magness and Sarah Siegel-Magness, producers)
Star Trek (J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof, producers)
Up (Jonas Rivera, producer)
Up in the Air (Jeffrey Clifford, Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, producers)
BEST ACTOR Jeff Bridges,
Crazy HeartGeorge Clooney,
Up in the AirColin Firth,
A Single Man Morgan Freeman,
InvictusJeremy Renner,
The Hurt LockerBEST ACTRESSSandra Bullock,
The Blind Side Helen Mirren,
The Last StationCarey Mulligan,
An Education Gabourey Sidibe,
PreciousMeryl Streep,
Julie and JuliaBEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Alec Baldwin,
It's Complicated Woody Harrelson,
The MessengerAnthony Mackie,
The Hurt LockerChristopher Plummer,
The Last StationChristoph Waltz,
Inglourious BasterdsBEST SUPPORTING ACTRESSVera Farminga,
Up In The Air Maggie Gyllenhaal,
Crazy Heart Anna Kendrick,
Up in the AirMelanie Laurent,
Inglourious BasterdsMo'Nique,
Precious BEST DIRECTORKathryn Bigelow,
The Hurt LockerJames Cameron,
AvatarLee Daniels,
PreciousJason Reitman,
Up in the Air Quentin Tarantino,
Inglourious BasterdsBEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAYThe Hurt Locker (Screenplay by Mark Boal)
Inglourious Basterds (Screenplay by Quentin Tarantino)
A Serious Man (Screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen)
Up (Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson and Thomas McCarthy; screenplay by Bob Peterson and Pete Docter)
The White Ribbon (Screenplay by Jean-Claude Carriere and Michael Haneke)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Crazy Heart (Screenplay by Scott Cooper, based on the book by Thomas Cobb)
An Education (Screenplay by Nick Hornby, based on the book by Lynn Barber)
The Fantastic Mr. Fox (Screenplay by Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, based on the book by Roald Dahl)
Precious (Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher, based on the book Push by Sapphire)
Up In The Air (Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, based on the book by Walter Kim)
BEST ANIMATED FEATURECoraline
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ponyo
The Princess and the Frog
Up BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM Ajami (Israel)
A Prophet (France)
The Secret in Their Eyes (Argentina)
The White Ribbon (Germany)
The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner (Bulgaria)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Avatar (Mauro Fiore)
Bright Star (Grieg Fraser)
The Hurt Locker (Barry Ackroyd)
Inglourious Basterds (Robert Richardson)
The White Ribbon (Christian Berger)
BEST ART DIRECTION Avatar (Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Stuart Craig; Stephanie McMillan)
Sherlock Holmes (Sarah Greenwood; Katie Spencer)
Star Trek (Scott Chambliss; Karen Manthey)
The Young Victoria (Patrice Vermette; Maggie Gray)
BEST COSTUME DESIGN Coco Before Chanel (Catherine Leterrier)
An Education (Odile Dicks-Mireaux)
Nine (Colleen Atwood)
Sherlock Holmes (Jenny Beavan)
The Young Victoria (Sandy Powell)
BEST FILM EDITING Avatar (John Refoua, Stephen E. Rivkin)
The Hurt Locker (Chris Innis, Bob Murawski)
Inglourious Basterds (Sally Menke)
Star Trek (Maryann Brandon, Mary Jo Markey)
Up in the Air (Dana E. Glauberman)
BEST SOUND (EFFECTS) EDITING Avatar
District 9
Star Trek
Transformer 2: Rise of the Machines
UpBEST SOUND MIXING Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
Transformer 2: Rise of the Machines
2012BEST MAKEUPDistrict 9
Star Trek
The Young VictoriaBEST VISUAL EFFECTSAvatar
District 9
Star Trek BEST ORIGINAL SONG “Somebody Else” from
Crazy Heart (Music and lyrics by Stephen Bruton and T-Bone Burnett)
"The Weary Kind" from
Crazy Heart (Music and lyrics by T-Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham)
“You’ve Got Me Wrapped Around Your Little Finger” from
An Education (Music and lyrics by Beth Rowley)
“(I Want To) Come Home” from
Everybody’s Fine (Music and lyrics by Paul McCartney)
“Cinema Italiano” from
Nine (Music and lyrics by Maury Yeston)
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE Avatar (James Horner)
The Fantastic Mr. Fox (Alexandre Desplat)
The Informant! (Marvin Hamlisch)
Public Enemies (Elliot Goldenthal)
Up (Michael Giacchino)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATUREThe Beaches of Agnes
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Mugabe and the White African
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It’s the shapes, the rigid color palette, the horizontal lines battling with the verticals, the close-ups wrestling with the long views (with birds sizzling precisely along a flowered horizon at one point), and it’s the disconnect between the sound and image in the first half of Peet Gelderblom’s too-short Out of Sync--these are the facets that rivet us most. Then there’s the wide cloudy eyes of an upset wife, staring boldly at us upon the piece’s outset, as the husband absent-mindedly goes about his normal day--they upset us too (upon which we have Franz Schubert overcome by jerky dance muzik, following a heard argument that‘s woefully never detailed). .jpg)
