2010 Oscar Nominations Predictions

The Oscar show will be this coming Sunday...so time to see who will get the golden statuette.

I've seen quite a few of the movies but not all and in some cases, I might have to make an educated guess.

I will highlight in red my predictions and when the winners are announced, I will highlight in green the winners.

So how well did I do?

--Predictions Come True: 12 which included the major categories of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Animated Film

--Made No Predictions: 4

--Predictions Gone Wrong: 8


Best Picture: Of the ten nominations, the only ones to take seriously are the ones where the Best Director nominations are mentioned (in purple). Up is also nominated in the Best Animated Film category. Up should win Best Animated Film and therefore will not win Best Picture. It is a hard choice to make. Seems like the two top contenders are Avatar and The Hurt Locker. I've seen Avatar, though it was interesting and a blockbuster, I don't think it deserves the Oscar for Best Picture. The Hurt Locker is about war and it is politically correct and Hollywood likes causes and correctness, but then again so does Avatar. The Hurt Locker however does have a female director at the helm (Cameron's ex-wife) and women have only been nominated in the Director's category only three times during the life the award.

Carlos the Critic Says:
So, the winner is.....The Hurt Locker


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: Seems like the top contender for this category is Jeff Bridges. It is likely that he will get the statuette as a reward for his long career. He was nominated four times before (The Last Picture Show, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Starman, and The Contender) and has never taken the prize home.

So, the winner is...Jeff Bridges

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: This could be a tricky one since Sandra Bullock seems to be the top contender. She's never won an Oscar before and so this could be a chance to do so. Of course, there is the perennial Meryl Streep who (counting this one) has been nominated for 16 Oscars and has only won it twice (Kramer vs. Kramer and Sophie's Choice). Some could feel that she is long overdue for another statuette.

So, the winner is...Sandra Bullock


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: This could be up for grabs. Both Damon and Harrelson have been nominated for Oscars before for Good Will Hunting and The People vs. Larry Flynt. Damon is the only one from here that has won an Oscar for writing Good Will Hunting. Christopher Plummer who most will remember as Capt. Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, has never been nominated for an Oscar. This is his first time. He's also had an amazing and long career in movies usually playing bad guys. Stanley Tucci has had a good year. He played Julia Child's husband, Paul Child, in Julie/Julia. Some may vote for him to reward him both movies.

So, the winner is...Stanley Tucci

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: Though there are many very good performances here, the outright winner of this category will be Mo'Nique. Its not unusual for first-timers to win the golden statuette. She won both the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for the role of Precious.

So, the winner is...Mo'Nique


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: The likely favorite in this category is James Cameron. His movie was a big hit and surpassed Titanic's (also directed by Cameron) box office records. However, the category also includes up and coming young director Jason Reitman, African-American director Lee Daniels, quirky Quentin Tarantino, and Kathryn Bigelow (Cameron's ex-spouse). Bigelow is only the third woman to ever be nominated in this category and it is just as rare for an African-American to be nominated as best director. Tarantino, however, has never won an Oscar in this category (his only Oscar was for writing for Pulp Fiction). Tough choice indeed. Traditionally, the winner of this category wins Best Picture.

So, the winner is...Kathryn Bigelow


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: Unfortunately, I haven't seen any of these movies except Up. It is nice to find an animated feature in this category.

So, the winner is...Up


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: The only film in this category that I saw was District 9 which I found very interesting and which I found quite surprising that it was nominated in the Best Picture category. However, I think Precious will take this award due to its strong contention in the Best Director and Best Picture categories.

So, the winner is...Precious


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: due to its showing as a Best Picture nominee, there is no doubt that Up will win this category.

So, the winner is...Up

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


Best Foreign Language Film: haven't seen any of these films so I won't even guess.

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 Ar Direction: All these films look very good, there is no doubt there is very beautiful artwork. In this category, however, Avatar will win it hands down. The artwork is quite distinctive and impressive.

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


Best Cinematography: I only two of the films in this category and it is highly unlikely that Harry Potter will win it. However, Avatar is likely to get this category.

So, the winner is...Avatar


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


Best Costume Design: usually it is won by one of those sweeping historical movies.

So, the winner is...The Young Victoria


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


Best Documentary: I haven't seen any of these movies...when in doubt, go historical.

So, the winner is..The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers


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: I'm a big Star Trek fan and this one of the few categories it was nominated for.

So, the winner is...Star Trek


Best Makeup
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria


Best Score: Only saw two movies from this category (Avatar and Up) and both have very good music to go with the action. Tough call.

So, the winner is...Up

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


Best Song: This is a category that has been dominated by Disney...so much so that it has been nominated twice.

So, the winner is... (either song...does it really matter?) The Princess and the Frog

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: I will be biased and go for the scifi flick.

So, the winner is...Star Trek

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


Best Sound Mixing: I will be biased and go for the scifi flick.

So, the winner is...Star Trek

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


Best Visual Effects: I will be biased and go for the scifi flick.

So, the winner is...Star Trek

Best Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek


Best Documentary Short: Haven't seen any of these movies but will go for the home team since Booth Gardner is a former governor of Washington State and I live in Olympia, WA.

So, the winner is...The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner


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