With merely four days before the Pop Culture Super Bowl a.k.a the Oscars, it is time for me to go on record with my predictions. I may actually enter my first ever Oscar pool this year so be sure to come back to this blog after every award on Sunday to see how much money I am hemorrhaging.
The consensus seems to be that this is one of the easiest Oscars ever to predict but I am not too sure about this. I'm just not 100% feeling The Hurt Locker for Best Picture winner whereas I was 100% feeling Slumdog Millionaire last year. Really, who has Slumdog competing with? The Curious Case of Benjamin Button hype died out immediately, Milk and Frost/Nixon were never a factor and all the Weinstein stumping for The Reader couldn't change the fact that nobody liked the film. Slumdog didn't have to go up against the highest grossing film of all time. The Hurt Locker does. And that is why you will find one very, very large deviation on my prediction list from most others.
Here are the predictions. Like last year, the predicted winners are in bold, while my personal choices are in italics.
BEST PICTURE
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air
I am sick of James Cameron making me look like a dumbass. Consequently, if Kathryn Bigelow makes me look like a dumbass then so be it.
DIRECTING
James Cameron - Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels - Precious
Jason Reitman - Up in the Air
How stupid is it to have ten Best Picture nominees when everyone knows that the five Best Director nominees are the real five normal Best Picture nominees? Anyway, Kathryn Bigelow is the only female Director to have a realistic shot of winning this thing. Oscar can't turn that opportunity down.
ACTOR IN A LEADNG ROLE
Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
George Clooney - Up in the Air
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Morgan Freeman - Invictus
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker
I don't know how this became the obvious choice but it did. And I have to roll with it.
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Matt Damon - Invictus
Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
Christopher Plummer - The Last Station
Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz - Inglorious Basterds
This performance is comparable to Heath Leder's in The Dark Knight for me...only even more nuanced. Christoph Waltz may even be more of a mortal lock than Heath was last year. And that's saying something.
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
Helen Mirren - The Last Station
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia
Notice the lack of italics? That's because I haven't seen any of these films. Woops!
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Penelope Cruz - Nine
Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal - Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air
Mo’Nique - Precious
Comedians knocking a dramatic role out of the park is too much for the Academy to resist. I, myself, prefer Vera Farmiga. Mostly because I ALWAYS prefer Vera Farmiga.
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM - Up
CINEMATOGRAPHY - Avatar
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - Inglourious Basterds
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - Up in the Air
ORIGINAL SONG - "The Weary King" - Crazy Heart
ORIGINAL SCORE - Up
VISUAL EFFECTS - Avatar
ART DIRECTION - Avatar
SOUND MIXING - The Hurt Locker
SOUND EDITING - The Hurt Locker
MAKEUP - Star Trek
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM - The White Ribbon
FILM EDITING - The Hurt Locker
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE - Food Inc.
COSTUME DESIGN - The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
BIG WINNERS:
Avatar - 4
The Hurt Locker - 4
Inglourious Basterds - 2
Crazy Heart - 2
Up - 2
In this scenario, Avatar has 9 nominations, 4 wins and a Best Picture Oscar, while The Hurt Locker has 9 nominations, 4 wins and a Best Director Oscar. Ladies and gentleman, I give you the 2010 Oscars: the year with no clear-cut winner!
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