Oscar Predictions

ITS THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN

The Oscar nominations are out and here are a list of major nominees with my own two bits about the movies I have watched. I’ve obviously not watched them all so this is a very subjective post. And since no nominations are ever fun without some predictions here are some of my own too.

Best Picture

(This year the Academy extended this list from 5 to 10 nominees but strangely the Best Director list is still just 5. The other 5 movies probably directed themselves)

Avatar

The Blind Side

District 9

An Education

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Precious

A Serious Man

Up

UP in the Air

‘Avatar’ now officially being the highest grossing movie in the world and path breaking in its technology looks like the obvious winner but in The Hurt Locker it has a movie that is one of the finest dramatic movies of the year. It is about the gulf war but at the same time its more than that. Much more than that. But if sheer quality were to be rewarded it’d have to be UP but it’ll probably get its award in the animation category.

Who should win: The Hurt Locker
Who will win: Avatar

Best Director

James Cameron, 'Avatar'

Kathryn Bigelow, 'The Hurt Locker'

Quentin Tarantino, 'Inglourious Basterds'
Lee Daniels, 'Precious'

Jason Reitman, 'Up in the Air’

For Tarantino, Daniels & Reitman the nomination is the award. This is a straight fight between Bigelow and Cameron.
If he’s the self declared “King of the World” then she too is the “Ex-Queen of his World” (she’s his ex wife). He may have gotten the Golden Globe but more importantly she won the Director’s Guild (which has hardly ever predicted a wrong Oscar winner coz most of the Oscar voters are the same). So…

Who Should Win: Kathryn Bigelow
Who Will Win: Kathryn Bigelow

This way husband and ex-wife can share the awards and Oscar will be happy too.

Best Actor

Jeff Bridges, 'Crazy Heart'

George Clooney, 'Up in the Air'

Colin Firth, 'A Single Man'

Morgan Freeman, 'Invictus'

Jeremy Renner, 'The Hurt Locker'

Jeff Bridges is Hollywood royalty. Not the flashy A-List type but the silent beloved type. A great actor, he’s never won before and as Oscar is wont to do, this may end up being the consolation Oscar for all his previous work. Not that this is any less a performance.

Jeremy Renner (if you’ve watched The Hurt Locker) is so naturally good that it is not a performance at all. Pitch perfect is the only way to describe it.

As is Clooney’s performance but he’s done this so often and all so well that he’ll have to probably play a very, very nasty character before he can be given an Oscar.
Not to completely rule out Morgan Freeman.
He’s a Hollywood thespian, he’s playing a living legend (Mandela) in Invictus and for crying out loud, in the past he’s even played God. Twice.


Who Should Win: Jeremy Renner
Who Will Win: Jeff Bridges (unless God votes for Freeman)

Best Actress

Sandra Bullock, 'Blind Side'

Helen Mirren, 'The Last Station'

Carey Mulligan, 'An Education'

Gabourey Sidibe, 'Precious'

Meryl Streep, ‘Julia and Julia”

Streep’s won it many times before. Mirren just won recently for the Queen and frankly how can you possibly top The Queen. Mulligan & Sidibe are new. Once again the nomination is the award for them. However Hollywood sweetheart Sandra Bullock did a 180 degree turn to play this character in The Blind Side and there is no way anyone’s stopping her this year.

Who Should Win: Sandra Bullock.
Who Will Win: Sandra Bullock.

Best Supporting Actor

Matt Damon, 'Invictus'

Woody Harrelson, 'The Messenger'

Christopher Plummer, 'The Last Station'

Stanley Tucci, 'The Lovely Bones'

Christoph Waltz, 'Inglourious Basterds'

Damon like his buddy Clooney is again very likeable in Invictus but nothing he hasn’t done before. Plummer is again a beloved Hollywood elder and infact I cant believe he’s still alive. In these Avatar and 3D times he seems practically B&W. But starting with the Best Actor at Cannes there really will be major upset if Waltz doesn’t win. His Colonel Hans Landa was like watching someone being killed in slow motion by drowning in chocolate. Smooth and yet terrifyingly creepy.

Who Should Win: Christoph Waltz
Who Will Win: Christoph Waltz

Best Supporting Actress

Penelope Cruz, 'Nine'

Vera Farmiga, 'Up in the Air'

Maggie Gyllenhaal, 'Crazy Heart'

Anna Kendrick, 'Up'

Mo'nique, 'Precious'

I watched Precious at the Abu Dhabi Intl Film Festival last September and quite a few people (remember this is a strictly censored country) walked out of the hall when Precious was being screened without cuts. Monique lets loose quite a few times during the movie and everytime it’s a torrent of physical and verbal abuse of the kind that will turn your ears blue. You may have heard of a power house performance but this one is like a hurricane. I doubt anyone else even stands a chance. The only way Monique is going to lose this is if she continues to behave like a loose cannon on talk shows etc. As talented as she is and as good as the performance was, the bitch has no humble bone is her big fat body.


Who Should Win: Monique
Who Will Win: Monique

Best Animated Feature Film

'Coraline'

'Fantastic Mr. Fox'

'The Princess and the Frog'

The Secret of Kells'

'Up'

Seriously, who are we kidding. If you have to bet, this is the one to bet on. If UP doesn’t win it’ll be a fricking sensation. Its in the Best Picture shortlist for heavens sake.

P.S. What is this "Secret of Kells" ? I didnt even know there was a movie like that.

Best Original Screenplay

'The Hurt Locker'

'Inglourious Basterds'

'The Messenger'

'A Serious Man'

'Up'

I’d love to say any one of the other 4 but how more original can you get than Hitler and the entire Third Reich being shot, burnt alive and blown to bits in a cinema, by a French girl and her negro boyfriend assisted by some ‘glouriously’ accented Americans.




Let me know what your predictions are... Maybe we can even start a pool.



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