|
2010 Oscar Nominations - Reactions
Article by
Todd Plucknett
Posted - 2/3/10
Wow…Terry was right all along about that 10 nominee
thing. The Academy completely botched that opportunity this year. They
are going back to 5 next year. They have to. Anyway, these nominations
are interesting. A lot of them were fairly predictable, but then there
are some absolute shockers. Here is how it went down:
Best Picture
A Serious Man
An Education
Avatar
District 9
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
The Blind Side
The Hurt Locker
Up
Up in the Air
Predicted: 9 for 10
Reactions: First off, never in my wildest dreams
would I have considered predicting
The Blind Side for Best
Picture. It was just so average in every way. Of all the great pure
sports films that we have seen, they award this one? Wow, now we really
know what happens in that 6-10 range every year. This is like
Coach Carter getting
nominated or something. You never know, maybe it nabbed that #10 slot
back in 2006. Secondly, I thought if anything else gets in it would be
for
District 9, not
Invictus. They must really be
tired of Clint. That’s 0 for 9 the last two years. I don’t know what to
say about that. It’s just ludicrous. This was the year that they were
desperate for ratings, so I suppose
The Blind Side is better than
say…The Hangover. But still,
I was expecting like
Star Trek
maybe? Ugh…whatever. If it wins Best Picture, I will quit watching. You
can guarantee that.
Preliminary prediction: The Hurt Locker
Best Director
James Cameron – Avatar
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by
Sapphire
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
Jason Reitman – Up in the Air
Predicted: 5 for 5
Very predictable bunch. Eastwood was the only one
who might have slid in. He didn’t.
Preliminary Prediction – Kathryn Bigelow
Best Actor
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker
George Clooney – Up in the Air
Predicted: 5 for 5
This was basically locked up a while ago. Good to
see they didn’t snub the actors from
Invictus at least. Good to
see Renner there. He is a tremendous talent.
Preliminary Prediction: Jeff Bridges
Best Actress
Carey Mulligan – An Education
Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by
Sapphire
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Hellen Mirren – The Last Station
Predicted: 4 for 5
I had Blunt in for Mirren. It was basically a
tossup. I guess Bullock wins this now with the Academy apparently
completely behind her film. What a shame. She does not deserve it.
Preliminary Prediction: Sandra Bullock
Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds
Matt Damon – Invictus
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Predicted: 5 for 5
Yeah, this one was very predictable too. I would
have been crushed if Damon got lost in the shuffle. He was tremendous.
And finally one of our best actors Woody Harrelson finally gets his
long-deserved second nomination. This is probably my favorite category.
Preliminary Prediction: Christoph Waltz
Best Supporting Actress
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart
Penelope Cruz – Nine
Mo’Nique – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by
Sapphire
Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
Predicted: 3 for 5
This was difficult. I had Cotillard in for Cruz. I
guess the category confusion cost her that spot. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a
welcome surprise. She has deserved at least two nominations already (Secretary,
Sherrybaby), and she finally
breaks through. Good for her. She gets to join the rest of them who are
going to lose to Mo’Nique.
Preliminary Prediction: Mo’Nique
Original Screenplay
A Serious Man
Inglourious Basterds
The Hurt Locker
The Messenger
Up
Predicted: 4 for 5
I had
(500)
Days of Summer making it, which got completely shut out, sadly. I
cannot be too angry, though.
The
Messenger is one of the best films of the year, and one that only
gets better with time. I love its nomination. But this is still between
The Hurt Locker and
Basterds.
Preliminary Prediction: Inglourious Basterds
Adapted Screenplay
An Education
District 9
In the Loop
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Up in the Air
Predicted: 4 for 5
Yeah, I had
Invictus in there, which looks foolish now. I wasn’t a huge fan of
In the Loop, but I can
welcome its nomination here. It was very witty writing, even though the
film as a whole is a bit annoying.
Up in the Air has this in the
bag, though. It will be the film’s lone win, and a chance for them to
award Reitman.
Preliminary Prediction: Up in the Air
Cinematography
Avatar
The White Ribbon
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Inglourious Basterds
The Hurt Locker
Predicted: 4 for 5
I had
Nine
getting in instead. I knew
Harry Potter would show up somewhere, but I never thought
Cinematography. Oh well. Cool bunch. I love that
The White Ribbon got some
love.
Preliminary Prediction: Avatar
Art Direction
Avatar
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
The Young Victoria
Predicted: 4 for 5
I had
Inglourious Basterds getting in here instead of
Sherlock Holmes. I should
have known, though. That was probably the best element of that film.
Preliminary Prediction: Avatar
Costume Design
Bright Star
Coco avant Chanel
Nine
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
The Young Victoria
Predicted: 3 for 5
I had
Basterds and
The Last Station
in for
Coco avant Chanel and
Imaginarium. I guess they
didn’t like the
Basterds
artistic achievements as much as its techs. But wow they love their
period pieces. Good for
Imaginarium. I was afraid they would ignore it completely.
Preliminary Prediction: The Young Victoria
Sound Mixing
Avatar
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
The Hurt Locker
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Predicted: 3 for 5
I had
Up
and
District 9 getting in for
Transformers and
Basterds. Pixar is almost
always mentioned here, but not this time. Another Avatar win.
Preliminary Prediction: Avatar
Editing
Avatar
District 9
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
The Hurt Locker
Predicted: 4 for 5
Wow,
Precious is now a serious contender for the top prize. I had
Up in the Air getting in
instead.
Preliminary Prediction: The Hurt Locker
Sound Editing
Avatar
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
The Hurt Locker
Up
Predicted: 3 for 5
I had
Transformers and
District 9
making it instead of
The Hurt
Locker and
Basterds. This
is now fairly surprising that
District 9 got in Best Picture without these technical nominations.
Preliminary Prediction: Avatar
Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek
Predicted: 3 for 3
Yeah, there was no possibility that this wasn’t the
final 3.
Preliminary Prediction: Avatar
Makeup
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria
Predicted: 1 for 3
I had
The
Road and
District 9. The
latter’s snub is terrible. I never would have guessed
The Young Victoria. That film
had a nice showing, though. Surprising that Blunt didn’t make it with
these nominations. Never heard of
Il Divo. No comment there…
Preliminary Prediction: Star Trek
Song
“The Weary Kind” – Crazy Heart
“Loin de Paname” – Paris 36
“Take It All” – Nine
“Almost There” – The Princess and the Frog
“Down in New Orleans” – The Princess and the Frog
Predicted: 1 for 5
Yeah, never been good at this category. I had the
songs from
Everybody’s Fine,
Where the Wild Things Are,
Avatar, and the inferior song
from
Nine, which had been
getting love all along. At least they chose the right one. Never heard
of Paris 36. Two for Disney?
Ok. I am just pissed that
Where
the Wild Things Are got shut out completely.
Preliminary Prediction: Crazy Heart
Score
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Sherlock Holmes
The Hurt Locker
Up
Predicted: 2 for 5
I had
Where
the Wild Things Are,
A Single
Man, and
The Informant!.
Good for
Fantastic Mr. Fox.
It had a lovely score.
Sherlock
Holmes continues to surprise. Did
The Hurt Locker
even have a
score? This is like that puzzling
Michael Clayton nomination in this category.
Preliminary Prediction: Up
Documentary
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
Food, Inc.
The Cove
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and
the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home
Predicted: 2 for 5
I don’t know too much about this category either.
It is always screwed up. I had
Beaches of Agnes,
Every
Little Step, and
Facing Ali.
No real comments.
Preliminary Prediction: The Cove
Foreign Language Film
Roussoun
The White Ribbon
The Secret in Their Eyes
The Milk of Sorrow
A Prophet
Predicted: 2 for 5
I hate this category. I don’t even understand the
rules. I had
Baaria,
Letters to Father Jacob, and
Mother predicted. Can’t say
too much about it otherwise.
Preliminary Prediction: A Prophet
Animated Feature
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up
Predicted: 4 for 5
Wow…never heard of
The Secret of Kells. I
thought that was
Cloudy with a
chance of Meatballs’s spot. Weird. Go Pixar!
Preliminary Prediction: Up
Overall predictions: 78/106 (74%). Without the last
5 categories: 67/81 (83%). On the Big 8 categories: 39/45 (87%). Not
terrible for a first time predicting every category.
So, there it is. We know for a fact that the Best
Picture race is between
The Hurt
Locker and
Avatar, which
led with 9 nominations apiece. But we knew that already, didn’t we?
Bullock’s support is stronger than we thought. Pixar finally got its
Best Picture nomination. We had a bunch of nominations come out of
nowhere. Worst of all, perhaps, is that
Partly Cloudy, the magical
animated short that accompanied
Up in theaters failed to get nominated in its category. It was so
food that it nearly brought me to tears. Anyway, this should be an
interesting Oscar season. There will likely be at least a couple
surprises at the ceremony. Like, I have a feeling that
The Cove might be vulnerable.
Foreign Language Film is always a tossup. Maybe a surprise in Best
Actress? If Streep and Bullock battle it out, Sidibe or Mulligan can
sneak in, depending on the BAFTA voting and such. If one of them takes
it, then watch out. That shot Swinton and Cotillard into the race back
in ’07, and they ended up winning. Definitely stay tuned for The 2nd
Annual Oscar Challenge coming up. Should be a good one. Just pick
Avatar everywhere eligible
and you’re gonna be fine…
|