OSCARS 2009

Nominations Bring No Real Surprises
I want every single Best Picture race from the past 20 years changed to incorporate the year’s cheesy, “true story” sports melodrama.

Rudy, Remember the Titans, Miracle, Invincible, Coach Carter, Pride, Seabiscuit (wait…), the list goes on. In short, The Blind Side being nominated for film’s top honor is a crock, a complete and utter crock.

Ok I’m done. Now for some highlights:

COOL that The Hurt Locker matched Avatar for most noms= 9 each.

INTERESTING that Avatar didn’t pick up a screenplay nom (same as Titanic)

COOL COOL COOL that The Cove earned a Best Documentary nom

COOL that Inglourious Basterds picked up 8 noms, the most of any QT film

COOL that Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jeff Bridges are doing exactly what Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei did last year

VERY COOL that Kathryn Bigelow is the 4th woman nominated for Best Directed (and could very well be the first winner)

ODD that Up can be nominated for Best Animated Feature AND Best Picture. Why is that? The Cove can’t be nominated for Best Documentary and Best Picture… when are they going to get rid of this Best Animated Feature nonsense?

Basically, even though there are a few surprises in this year’s race… the end result won’t matter. It’s still between Avatar/The Hurt Locker, Bridges/Clooney, Bullock/Streep, Waltz/no body, Mo’Nique/ no body.

The only real surprise I suspect will happen on March 7th is that Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep will spilt the Best Actress vote, giving an Adrien Brody-type win to Gabourey Sidibe.

We shall see.

MY ALTERNATIVE OSCARS

With the "real" nominations just a few days away, I present one of my favorite film traditions: creating my own Oscar list. If I was the sole member of the Academy, which films and performances would I nominate and which would I choose to win? Keep in mind there are 10 Best Picture contenders this year. My winners are in bold.

BEST PICURE
The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
The Cove
An Education
The Girlfriend Experience
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
A Single Man
Up in the Air

BEST DIRECTOR
Kathryn Bigelow- The Hurt Locker
Lee Daniels- Precious
Tom Ford- A Single Man
Jason Reitman- Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino- Inglourious Basterds

ACTOR
Jeff Bridges- Crazy Heart
Nicolas Cage- Bad Lieutenant
George Clooney- Up in the Air
Matt Damon- The Informant!
Colin Firth- A Single Man

ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard- Nine
Charlotte Gainsborg- Antichrist
Michelle Monaghan- Trucker
Carey Mulligan- An Education
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Woody Harrelson- The MessengerChris Messina- Away We Go
Alfred Molina- An Education
Stanley Tucci- The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz- Inglourious Basterds

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Vera Farmiga - Up In The AirMaggie Gyllenhaal- Crazy Heart
Mariah Carey- Precious
Mo’nique- Precious
Julianne Moore- A Single Man

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
(500) Days of Summer
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
Up

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
An EducationThe Informant!
Precious
A Single Man
Up in the Air

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar
The Girlfriend Experience
The Hurt Locker
A Serious Man
A Single Man

SCORE
Avatar
The Cove
A Single Man
Where the Wild Things Are
Up
EDITING
The Girlfriend Experience
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man