The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker tied Avatar with nine total nominations and is the front runner in many categories. Here are all the nominees and here are our “Best Movies of 2009.”

So, it’s Oscar Tuesday. For the last 17 years, I’ve been rising bright and early to turn on Good Morning America at 8:38am to hear the news. For me, the Oscars are like Super Bowl Sunday or the World Series. I used to play hooky from school if necessary to hear the nominations come out. I would always pray for a snow day that would never come. Some don’t understand. But, for those who do … what a wonderful morning.

The Academy surprised us at the beginning of 2009 with the announcement that it would increase the total Best Picture nominees from five to ten. I’m still convinced that there weren’t ten films worth of Best Picture nominations, but the Academy did almost the right thing with it. It allowed some films that deserved recognition to slide through, where as in other years, they would have been overlooked. So, congratulations to A Serious Man, Up, District 9, and An Education.

As for The Blind Side, you lucked out. This would’ve never happened. And you don’t deserve it.

James Cameron might have broken his own box-office record with Avatar. What we already know is that he will not break the Oscar record this year. And that’s great news. Funny how the front runner of the year usually goes into the Oscars with the most nominations. But, this year, Avatar is tied with The Hurt Locker with nine nominations each. Fitting, considering that this is not only going to be a match of real film vs. animated film, but also ex vs. ex. If we want to technically talk about who the “front runner” is, it’s The Hurt Locker, which has nominations in Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, and Actor. The only two major nominations Avatar possesses are for Picture and Director. No screenplay (thankfully) or acting citations.

Kathryn Bigelow will become the first female to win the Oscar for Best Director for “our” war film. A film that doesn’t take sides, stand on a soapbox, or enter the political realm. Intense, passionate, versatile filmmaking.

The acting categories are clear cut this year.

Best Supporting Actor goes to Christoph Waltz. Waltz is the best thing about Inglourious Basterds. He’s a charismatic, powerful, funny, likable Nazi. What a tough character to pull off. But he makes it look effortless.

Congratulations to Christopher Plummer with his first ever career nomination for his performance in The Last Station at the age of 80. The fact that this is only his first nomination is a travesty, particularly when you consider his scene-stealing turn as Mike Wallace in The Insider. Still, the “sympathy Oscar” is going to Jeff Bridges this year, sir. Sorry.

Best Supporting Actress goes to Mo’Nique. And Mo’Nique not only wins the Oscar, but the award for Best Integrity amongst all of her nominees. Paul Schrader has said that the Oscars are nothing more than just a “PR campaign.” And it’s true. But, Mo’Nique hasn’t bought into that.  She will not participate in panels, interviews and the politics that are the Academy Awards. She wants her performance in Precious to stand for itself. It will.

Best Actor goes to Jeff Bridges. The Dude won his fifth nomination this morning. For almost 40 years, Jeff Bridges turns out top notch performance after performance. Bad Blake is a defining character for him, Oscar win or not, and will be remembered as one of his best. Coming from a Hollywood family (father Lloyd, brother Beau), this would be a nice, justified recognition for the Bridges Family. Rumor has it, George Clooney, who would be his only competition, is voting for Jeff Bridges for the win.

Oddly enough, Crazy Heart also has a nomination for Best Original Song, which was written and performed by Ryan Bingham — but not the same Ryan Bingham that George Clooney portrays in Up in the Air. People love coincidental doppelgangers on Facebook … and now the Oscars.

Best Actress is always a tough call. Meryl Streep broke her own record this morning, garnering her 16th career nomination as an actor. She hasn’t won it since Sophie’s Choice in 1982. She’s overdue. The 2000s were a good decade for her. Unlike her male contemporaries (De Niro, Pacino, Hoffman), she can pick decent scripts and turn them into fantastic films. This is the age of Streep.

Carey Mulligan will be a star. This Oscar nomination is the first of many to come. She is the only great thing about An Education, and although, the film received nominations for Picture and Screenplay, it’s really a showcase for her. Alfred Molina got snubbed again this year. Molina, a consummate actor, always winds up an Oscar bridesmaid. Take note Hollywood, it’s about time to honor this wonderful character actor.

Helen Mirren is Helen Mirren. She’s the British Meryl Streep. She just won for The Queen. Her big quote for this year will be, ”The Last Station was a wonderful experience. It’s just an honor to be nominated.”

Gabourey Sidibe really built her character from the ground up. If you see her in Precious, and if you see her in interviews, it’s a 180. Along with Mo’Nique, these two actors have had Oscar buzz all year long. Sidibe’s win could be the surprise of the evening. If so, it will be well deserved.

Which brings us to Sandra Bullock. OK. So, you had a great year. You made three, count them, three films that got lukewarm reviews and drew huge box office. The Blind Side is clearly the best of the three. But, that’s not saying much. What did you do, Sandra? Sit at home one night, catch Erin Brokovich on cable and say, “Well, if I wear hot dresses, sport a crazy Southern accent, act like a hard-ass and then wrap that up with ‘based on a true story’ with some sort of social commentary, I can win an Oscar!” Well, congratulations. It might have worked. Maybe if you die between now and then, you’ll DEFINITELY win it.

The screenplay Oscar is the true consolation prize for Best Picture. If you go through the list of Best Screenplay winners, you will see that all the movies that SHOULD have won Best Picture that year, but didn’t. Just to name a few: Citizen Kane, Good Will Hunting, Pulp Fiction, Almost Famous, The Usual Suspects, Brokeback Mountain, Chinatown and Network.

Best Adapted Screenplay is Up in the Air. It’s a clear consolation, but well deserved. Jason Reitman is an emerging talent. Kudos to the Academy for its continued acknowledgment of this young filmmaker’s work.

Best Original Screenplay is too tough to call. Personally, A Serious Man would be a nice win. But, the Coens are coming off winning three Oscars each for writing, producing and directing No Country For Old Men. As much as I would like to see the Coens win here (since, it was BY FAR my favorite movie of last year), Quentin Tarantino is very deserving here. Next to Waltz’s powerful performance, Tarantino’s screenplay never has a dull moment. He took the World War II drama, a genre that’s been winning Oscars since The Bridge on the River Kwai, and re-invented it. Tarantino is known for re-inventing genres, but he pulls it off so successfully here that a win for Screenplay would be justified.

In closing, the “biggest snub of the year” award goes to Julianne Moore. She always turns out fine work. Nominated four previous times (Boogie Nights, The End of the Affair, The Hours and Far From Heaven), the Academy failed to acknowledge her work in A Single Man. She can blame Maggie Gyllenhaal for pulling a surprise nomination for Crazy Heart, which was severely unnecessary.

The “best acknowledgment of the year” award goes to the writing team of In the Loop, for such a fast, witty, shocking script about governmental officials in a bid to begin/prevent a war in the Middle East. Would’ve loved to have seen a Peter Capaldi nomination here. But, I can’t be greedy.

Final predications to come on March 7, 2010.

Related Topics: 2010 Academy Awards, Academy Awards, The Hurt Locker

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