2010 Oscar Nominations

Well, it is that time of the year again...Oscar time!!!


The 2010 Oscar nominations have been announced. What is surprising is there are 10 nominees for Best Pictures. Surprises for me in that category are District 9 and Up. I didn't think animated films would ever be chosen for Best Picture ever since they created the Best Animated Film category. But there it is, Up nominated for two different categories. However, it is more likely to win the Best Animated Film category than the Best Picture category. District 9 didn't even show up as a blip in the Golden Globes, so it will be interesting how they fare.

The Best Visual Effects should be a toss-up since all three nominees were very good in that category: Avatar, District 9, and Star Trek.

For some reason, the number 9 was very important last year. Three movies included the number in the title: the animated film 9, District 9, and Nine.

Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep were two very busy ladies in 2009. Bullock was in three movies: The Proposal (nominated for a Golden Globe for movie in a comedy), All About Steve, and The Blind Side (Golden Globe winner for movie in a drama and now nominated for an Oscar).

Meryl Streep was busy with Julie/Julia and It's Complicated for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe in a comedy...Yes, she was nominated for both movies in the same category and beat herself when she won for Julie/Julia. Of course she is nominated for an Oscar for Julie/Julia.

Two movies had the word "up" in its title. The animated film Up about an old man who fulfills a lifelong dream by traveling to South America in a house lifted by balloons. Coming along for the ride was a boy trying to get a badge helping the elderly. The other movie, Up in the Air tells the story of a man who's work takes him all over the country and who's life style is challenged when a new female executive challenges that life.

Again, the most unusual thing about the Oscars this year is the fact the Best Picture category has 10 movies nominated. The most it has ever been nominated in recent years (seems that in past years, the most nominations in the Best Picture category are 12). Well, that's because the Academy decided last year to double the nominations in the category in order to allow box office hits the opportunity to garner the top award. The Academy didn't like the fact that so many small independent films were getting the top honors in recent year...well, there is a reason for that...independents are coming up with better stories something that Hollywood doesn't seem to be producing in recent years. You would've hoped that Hollywood would have taken up the challenge from independents and created some interesting stories instead of remaking old movies and TV series. Nonetheless, here we are with 10 nominations in the Best Picture category.

Which ones are your choices for the golden statue?


Best Picture
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

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

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

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

Best Supporting Actress
Penélope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo’Nique, Precious

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
James Cameron, Avatar
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

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

Best Adapted Screenplay
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche, In the Loop
Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell, District 9
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Nick Hornby, An Education
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

Best Animated Film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

Best Foreign Language Film
El Secreto do Sus Ojos (Argentina)
Un Prophete (France)
The White Ribbon (Germany)
Ajami (Israel)
The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)

Best Art Direction
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

Best Cinematography
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Best Costume Design
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Best Documentary
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

Best Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

Best Makeup
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Best Score
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

Best Song
“Almost There,” The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman
“Down in New Orleans,” The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman
“Loin de Paname,” Paris 36, Reinhardt Wagner & Frank Thomas
“Take It All,” Nine, Maury Weston
“The Weary Kind,” Crazy Heart, T-Bone Burnett & Ryan Bingham

Best Sound Editing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

Best Sound Mixing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Best Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Best Documentary Short
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit à la Berlin

Best Animated Short
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death

Best Live-Action Short
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants