Academy Award Nominations

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

Ok, I'm trying to keep breathing, but I just want to scream-- The Blind Side, really? The freaking Blind Side is a best picture nominee. Out of all the scenarios in the world, I couldn't see it actually happen. Everything else is fine, really it's fine, good to great films all of the above, except one. I've been hearing murmers about it being a possibilty, but I couldn't believe it until I saw with my own eyes. And now I want to stab my own eyes to stop the pain. Why, Academy must you do this to ME?


BEST DIRECTOR

• Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
• James Cameron, Avatar
• Lee Daniels, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
• Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
• Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

All predicted by just about everyone. I approve however.


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

Again, all predicted, I approve with the boring exception of Mr. Freeman. I'm proud the Academy didn't get all Invictus in our faces, but out of the five performances above, which do you remember the least?


BEST ACTRESS

• Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
• Helen Mirren, The Last Station
• Carey Mulligan, An Education
• Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
• Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Again, all predicted-- damn you Sandra Bullock and your cute-ness-- I'm not buying it; what did you do?


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Matt Damon, Invictus
• Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
• Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
• Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
• Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

It's been these same five names all season, and really I thought if anything was gonna change it would be Matt Damon's work which isn't all that interesting....just saying!


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Penelope Cruz, Nine
• Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
• Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
• Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
• Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire

The biggest shock is Maggie Gyllenhaal, who I thought was fairly dull in Crazy Heart, robbing a slot deserving to either Julianne Moore in A Single Man or one of the Inglourious Basterds gals. Nothing against Gyllenhaal, I adore her, and think she should have at least two nominations already (for Secretary and Happy Endings), but I resent her inclusion here, with what is her least spectacular part. Surprised Cruz was able to stay afloat since Nine all but died months ago-- they must really like her?


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• The Hurt Locker- Mark Boal
• Inglourious Basterds- Quentin Tarantino
• The Messenger- Alessandro Caman & Oren Moverman
• A Serious Man- Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
• Up- Bob Peterson, Pete Doctor & Thomas McCarthy

This is good and bad thing-- everything up there is good-- really happy The Messenger sneaked in (it's a wonderful movie), however sad it took away (500) Days of Summer, which had it's only Oscar chance slip away. BOO!


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• District 9- Niell Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell
• An Education- Nick Hornby
• In the Loop- Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Rouche
• Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire- Geoffrey Fletcher
• Up in the Air- Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner

I really need to see In the Loop now!


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

• Coraline
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• The Princess & the Frog
• The Secret of Kells
• Up

What the hell is The Secret of Kells and what's it doing in Ponyo's place?


BEST DOCUMENTARY

• Burma V.J.
• The Cove
• Food, Inc.
• The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg & the Pentagon Papers
• Which Way Home

BEST FOREIGN FILM

• Ajami (Israel)
• El Secreto de Sus Ojos (Argentina)
• The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)
• Un Prophete (France)
• The White Ribbon (Germany)

BEST ART DIRECTION

• Avatar- Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg & Kim Sinclair
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus- Dave Warren, Anastasia Massaro & Caroline Smith
• Nine- John Myhre & Gordon Sim
• Sherlock Holmes- Sarah Greenwood & Katie Spencer
• The Young Victoria- Patrice Vermette & Maggie Gray

Where's Inglourious Basterds here? Why does the Academy always ignore David Wasco's work-- he's a freaking genius.


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Avatar- Mauro Fiore
• Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince- Bruno Delbonnel
• The Hurt Locker- Barry Aykroyd
• Inglourious Basterds- Robert Richardson
• The White Ribbon- Christian Berger

You know what would have been cooler: Where the Wild Things Are!


BEST COSTUME DESIGN

• Bright Star- Janet Patterson
• Coco Before Chanel- Catherine Letierre
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus- Monique Prudhomme
• Nine- Colleen Atwood
• The Young Victoria- Sandy Powell

I knew Bright Star would get in here, too bad it didn't get in anywhere else-- that movie is soooo pretty. I would argue that Jane Campion makes 19th Century England even more dreamy than Pandora.


BEST FILM EDITING

• Avatar- Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua & James Cameron
• District 9- Julian Clarke
• The Hurt Locker- Bob Murawski & Chris Innis
• Inglourious Basterds- Sally Menke
• Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire- Joe Klotz

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

• Avatar- James Horner
• Fantastic Mr. Fox- Alexandre Desplat
• The Hurt Locker- Marco Beltrami & Buck Sanders
• Sherlock Holmes- Hans Zimmer
• Up- Michael Giacchino

I know I must sound like a broken record, but is James Horner's score really considered that good? I thought it was awful, and frankly took me out the movie more than a couple of times.


BEST ORIGINAL SONG

• "Almost There," The Princess & the Frog- by Randy Newman
• "Down in New Orleans," The Princess & the Frog- by Randy Newman
• "Loin de Paname," Paris 36- by Reinhardt Wagner & Frank Thomas
• "Take it All," Nine- by Maury Yeston
• "The Weary Kind,' Crazy Heart- by Ryan Bingham & T-Bone Burnett

BEST DOCUMENARY SHORT SUBJECT

• China's Unnatural Disaster
• The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
• The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
• Music by Prudence
• Rabbit a la Berlin

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

• French Roast
• Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
• The Lady & the Reaper
• Logorama
• A Matter of Loaf & Death
  

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

• The Door
• Instead of Abracadabra
• Kavi
• Miracle Fish
• The New Tenants

BEST MAKE-UP

• Il Divo
• Star Trek
• The Young Victoria

BEST SOUND MIXING

• Avatar
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Star Trek
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

BEST SOUND EDITING

• Avatar
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Star Trek
• Up

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

• Avatar
• District 9
• Star Trek

Alright, I think I've calmed down slightly, but still The Blind Side, I think I would've been happier if the surprise nominee was The Hangover or The Jonas Brothers 3-D Experience (just kidding about that), but still it's not right. I find it odd that the only nominations it got were Picture and Actress, proving there wasn't any other conceivable place to nominate it. I'm just going to say it: it's the worst best picture nominee in the last 20 years, potentially even longer. Once it's stopped being remembered as a huge moneymaker, and the maturing side of Ms. Bullock, what left to remember about it? I'm not trying to be mean, but am I the only one who saw the freaking thing....it's not that good! Anyway, enough of that...yay District 9! And Inglourious Basterds! And The Hurt Locker! And Up! And Precious! And Up in the Air!

I'm starting to breathe normally again...