The Oscar Nominations

I've decided that Oscar's inevitable rewarding of Avatar is compatible for comparison with Barack Obama getting a Nobel Peace Prize, in which an awards body fading in relevance makes one last desperate grab for popularity by turning shamelessly populist. Did Obama really deserve the nobel peace prize. Hell no, but it made people talk about it again. So Avatar's presence guarantees Oscar more interest but at the cost of its integral soul. Why couldn't they do this last year with the Dark Knight damn it! Liberal pinkos who actually care about quality and stuff would have been fine with that. But on the bright side theyve had enough dignity not to nominate the shockingly bad Avatar credits song. Anyway those in contention for the weakest Oscar race in some time are:

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”

Granted, I've not seen The Blind Side yet, but this does sound like bullshit. District 9 makes me happy, as does A Serious Man.

How Good Am I?
1st set of predictions: 6/10 (passable)
2nd set of predictions: 9/10 (got blind sided by The Blind Side. Sorry)

Best Director
“Avatar” James Cameron
“The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
“Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
“Up in the Air” Jason Reitman

Pretty much as expected really, no real suprises here. It should be Bigelow, but it will be Cameron

How Good Am I?
1st set of predictions ( DEC 1) : 2/5 (yikes)
2nd set of predictions (JAN 22): 4/5 (Good recovery)

Actress
Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

I think Sandra Bullock is fast becoming the favorite here, which by its very nature is hilarious.

How Good Am I?

1st set of predictions (DEC 1): 4/5 (Zing motherfucker)
2nd set of predictions (JAN 22): 5/5 ( You know it)

Actor
Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

Bridges or Firth are the favorites. My money's on Bridges, with Firth to take the Bafta. Seeing a deserving Renner here is pretty satisfying, even if he has absolutely no chance of winning.

How Good Am I:
DEC 1 predictions: 4/5 ( Clearly I'm an intimidating judge of acting prowess)
JAN 22 predictions: 5/5 ( Messing it up!)

Supporting Actress
Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Gyllenhaal is a curveball, as is the absence of Oscar mainstay Julianne Moore, but otherwise business as predicted.

How Good am I?

DEC 1 Predictions: 1/5 ( crash and burn)
JAN 22 Predictions: 4/5 (Respectable save)

Supporting Actor
Matt Damon in “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Waltz. Surely. Woody Harrelson gets a surrogate nomination where they pretend its for The Messenger but its very for Zombieland, what Damon is doing here is beyond me.

How Good Am I?

DEC 1 Predictions: 4/5 (That' how I do.)
JAN 22 Predictions: 4/5 (Consistent Motherfucker)


Adapted Screenplay
“District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
“An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
“In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
“Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

District 9! For writing. Yay. But the big money is on Reitman, as strictly speaking he is still without on Oscar and this a suitably apolgetic way to give him one.

How good am I?

DEC 1 Predictions: N/A
JAN 22 Predictions: 4/5

Original Screenplay
“The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
“Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
“The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
“A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

I'd say either Mark Boal or Tarantino. But the thing is if they don't give this to The Hurt Locker, the film could very well walk away with nothing and that would be an embarrassment. So while in a strictly unpolitical world this would go to Tarantino, I'm going for Boal.

How good am I?

DEC 1 predictions: N/A
JAN 22 Predictions: 4/5

Animated Feature
“Coraline” Henry Selick
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
“The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
“The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
“Up” Pete Docter

Up. End of.

Foreign Film
“Ajami” Israel
“El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina
“The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
“Un Prophète” France
“The White Ribbon” Germany

A Prophet is here! Awesome and deserving. I think Haneke being victorious is more likely but fingers crossed.

Omissions:

Where The Wild Things Are. Absolutely Jackshit. Expected but still immensely irritating.

Michael Stuhlbarg, A serious Man. One of the more interesting performances this year not here. C'est la vie.

Sharlto Copley, District 9. Throwing it out there.

Anthony Mackie, The Hurt The Locker. I like how this great, subtle performance gets entirely ignored, whilst Damon's here for being famous as far as I can tell.

The Road. Zilch and nothing giving.

Neill Blomkamp, seeing District 9 in Best Picture ( Which I predicted, because I'm awesome) was great, but he really deserves to be here as well.