Official Oscar Nominees

Oscar noms were announced this morning. One of the most exciting days for a movie lover. Tonight, I'll list the nominees, and let you know who I think will be the lucky winners on March 7th. (These are all copied and pasted from imdb.com)

Best Picture

Avatar (2009): James Cameron, Jon Landau
The Blind Side (2009): Nominees to be determined
District 9 (2009): Peter Jackson, Carolynne Cunningham
An Education (2009): Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey
The Hurt Locker (2008): Nominees to be determined
Inglourious Basterds (2009): Lawrence Bender
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009): Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness
A Serious Man (2009): Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Up (2009): Jonas Rivera
Up in the Air (2009/I): Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman

There were a couple surprises here. I didn't think The Blind Side had any shot here. It was a good movie though, so it's not that bad of a choice. The other surprise was District 9. This movie was worthy of a nomination now that they expanded to 10 nominees, so good job D9. Other than those two, pretty much everyone else were epected to be nominated. My prediction: The Hurt Locker wins. It's really only between The Hurt Locker and Avatar, and I don't see the Academt simply going with Avatar because of the audience/box office factor.

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart (2009)
George Clooney for Up in the Air (2009/I)
Colin Firth for A Single Man (2009)
Morgan Freeman for Invictus (2009)
Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker (2008)

These five men were all expected to be on this list. These are the same five I predicted yesterday. Jeff Bridges wins by a landslide.

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side (2009)
Helen Mirren for The Last Station (2009)
Carey Mulligan for An Education (2009)
Gabourey Sidibe for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)
Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia (2009)

Again, these are the five women I predicted yesterday. This one is a hard choice. Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep have been splitting the awards up to now. The Academy could go either way. Streep has the alum vote while Bullock gets the "finally a good enough performance in a drama" vote. If I had to bet, I'd go with Bullock (they should've given it to Streep last year for Doubt anyway).

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon for Invictus (2009)
Woody Harrelson for The Messenger (2009/I)
Christopher Plummer for The Last Station (2009)
Stanley Tucci for The Lovely Bones (2009)
Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Again, five easy locks for nominations (I predicted all five yesterday as well). Christoph Waltz wins easily. Deservedly, too.

Best Supporting Actress
Penélope Cruz for Nine (2009)
Vera Farmiga for Up in the Air (2009/I)
Maggie Gyllenhaal for Crazy Heart (2009)
Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air (2009/I)
Mo'Nique for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)

There were a couple surprises in this category also. Penelope Cruz hasn't been nominated much this year, but the Academy loves her (and understandably so) so it was a kind-of surprise. The real surprise was Maggie Gyllenhaal. She has been getting no love from awards season, so I did not exprect this at all, but good for her. Mo'Nique will walk away with this prize easily as well.

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker (2008)
James Cameron for Avatar (2009)
Lee Daniels for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)
Jason Reitman for Up in the Air (2009/I)
Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds (2009)

So Clint Eastwood did not get a nom here, which is kind of a surprise. The Academy loves him, but honestly, it wasn't his ultimate best work, so it wasn't a total shock. My pick here is Bigelow, and she should get it since she just won the Directors Guild award last week (and she truly deserves it). If there were an upset though, it would be Cameron for Avatar.

Best Original Screenplay
The Hurt Locker (2008): Mark Boal
Inglourious Basterds (2009): Quentin Tarantino
The Messenger (2009/I): Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman
A Serious Man (2009): Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Up (2009): Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Thomas McCarthy

Solid nominees here. I think Mark Boal will walk away with this one, but Tarantino is very much in the race for it also. Either one could get it.

Best Adapted Screenplay
District 9 (2009): Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
An Education (2009): Nick Hornby
In the Loop (2009): Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009): Geoffrey Fletcher
Up in the Air (2009/I): Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner

I have no clue what In the Loop is, so I'm not gonna consider that a contender. For this, I'm going with Reitman and Turner for Up in the Air. I think this is pretty much a lock.

Cinematography
Avatar (2009): Mauro Fiore
Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (2009): Christian Berger
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009): Bruno Delbonnel
The Hurt Locker (2008): Barry Ackroyd
Inglourious Basterds (2009): Robert Richardson

This could really go to any of these 5, well not HP. I would say the top three for this are Avatar, The Hurt Locker and Inglorious Basterds.

Best Original Score
Avatar (2009): James Horner
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009): Alexandre Desplat
The Hurt Locker (2008): Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders
Sherlock Holmes (2009): Hans Zimmer
Up (2009): Michael Giacchino

This category has 4 previous nominees (and winners). I think Michael Giacchino will get it for Up. The score is fantastic, but I could also see the Academy going with Horner for Avatar (they loved Titanic too).

Best Foreign Language Film
Ajami (2009)(Israel)
Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (2009)(Germany)
El secreto de sus ojos (2009)(Argentina)
Un prophète (2009)(France)
La teta asustada (2009)(Peru)

I think the White Ribbon (the German one). A surprise here was Broken Embraces from Spain not being nominated. It was a very good film, so that was a little bit of a let down.

Best Animated Feature
Coraline (2009): Henry Selick
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009): Wes Anderson
The Princess and the Frog (2009): John Musker, Ron Clements
The Secret of Kells (2009): Tomm Moore
Up (2009): Pete Docter

Up wins easily here. IF there were an upset so, and that's a big if, it would be Fantastic Mr. Fox.

So, those are my pics for major categories. For the full list of nominees, visit www.imdb.com . I hope you enjoyed my thoughts, and I can't wait to see it unfold live on Oscar night, March 7th!