2010 Oscars

Well, at this very moment, some dance troupe is doing interpretive dances of the Best Picture nominees, which made us throw up our most recent, past seven meals. So it might be time to catch up on the proceedings, since there's nothing of interest to watch on the live show.
 

Mo'Nique won for Best Supporting Actress, which we loved and thought was very well-deserved. Her acceptance speech didn't make a lot of sense or have a lot of relevance to anything except the voices inside her head, but hey, if there was ever a performance which deserved to win an Oscar, it was hers in "Precious", so good for her!

2010 Oscar Nominations

The 2010 Oscar Nominations were announced this morning, and if you've been following the other awards shows this year, there were no surprises. The winners are pretty much a foregone conclusion as well. The nominees are:

Best Supporting Actress-

Penelope Cruz, "Nine"

Vera Farmiga, "Up in the Air"

Maggie Gyllenhaal, "Crazy Heart"

Mo'Nique, "Precious"

Anna Kendrick, "Up in the Air".

Mo'Nique will win.

Best Supporting Actor-

Christoph Waltz, "Inglorious Basterds"

Matt Damon, "Invictus"

Stanley Tucci, "The Lovely Bones"

Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station"

Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"

Christoph Waltz will win.

Best Actress-

Helen Mirren, "The Last Station"

Meryl Streep, "Julie and Julia"

Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side"

Carey Mulligan, "An Education"

Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious"

Sandra Bullock will win.

Best Actor-

Morgan Freeman, "Invictus"

Jeremy Renner, "The Hurt Locker"

George Clooney, "Up in the Air"

Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"

Colin Firth, "A Single Man"

Jeff Bridges will win.

Best Director-

James Cameron, "Avatar"

Katheryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker"

Quentin Tarantino, "Inglorious Basterds"

Lee Daniels, "Precious"

Jason Reitman, "Up in the Air"

James Cameron or Katheryn Bigelow will win.*

Best Picture-

"Avatar", "The Blind Side", "District 9", "An Education', "The Hurt Locker", Inglorious Basterds", "Precious", "A Serious Man", "Up", "Up in the Air"

"Avatar" or "The Hurt Locker" will win.

 

NOTES:
The acting categories are a lock, there won't be any surprises there; the only real race is in the Director and Best Picture categories. In both categories, it's a toss-up between "Avatar" and "The Hurt Locker".

*Katheryn Bigelow recently won the Directors Guild Award, which is almost always a precursor to an Oscar win, so we're betting on her. And besides, the Oscar members are human after all, and trust us, no one wants to witness another awkward, embarassing "I'm the king of the world!" moment from James Cameron.

Coincidentally, Cameron and Bigelow were once husband and wife.

Oddly enough, Sandra Bullock was also just nominated for a Razzie for Worst Actress of the Year for "All About Steve", making it possible that for the first time, the same person could win awards for Best and Worst Actor in the same year.

This is Morgan Freeman's fifth Oscar nomination, (he won in 2005 for "Million Dollar Baby"), it's Helen Mirren's fourth nom, (she won in 2007 for "The Queen"), it's Jeff Bridges' fifth time out, (he's never won), but they all pale in comparison to the nomination queen, Meryl Streep. This year marks Meryl's 16th nomination! She's won twice, in 1980 for "Kramer vs. Kramer" and in 1983 for "Sophie's Choice".

Jeff Bridges' nominations span the longest period of time, Jeff was first nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 1972 for "The Last Picture Show". He was 22 when he was first nominated, and now he's 60. Now that's a career... and a testament to the power of hanging in there and never giving up!

And speaking of hanging in there, 80 year-old Christopher Plummer made his first movie in 1958. And this is his first-ever Oscar nomination. Good for you, Christopher Plummer!

I Want it Naked, Hard and Golden

On Feb. 2, Anne Hathaway will announce the nominations for the 2010 Academy Awards, and the 2010 Oscar race will hit the closing stretch. Which means it's time for us to make our official predictions.

It's getting easier and easier to do this. Many years ago, there weren't nearly as many awards shows televised, and our 24 hour news society wasn't as celebrity-obsessed as it is now, so come Oscar night, there were many surprises when the envelopes were opened. Not now. By the time the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards, the Producers Guild and the Directors Guild Awards have been handed out, it's almost a lock to know who will win the naked, golden man. Remember that the SAG, Producers Guild and Directors Guild voting members are the same people who vote for the Oscars, so, duh, they give their hands away with those earlier awards shows. So with that said...

Best Supporting Actress:
The "Up in the Air" women will be nominated, and probably Diane Kruger from "Inglorious Basterds", and maybe another long shot, (someone from "Nine"?), but this one's a lock for Mo'Nique in "Precious". You can take this one to the bank. It's done. They've already inscribed her name on the trophy.

(mo'nique in "precious")

Best Supporting Actor:
Somebody from "The Hurt Locker" will get a nomination, and maybe Robert Duvall from "Crazy Heart" for sentimental appeal, and almost certainly Stanley Tucci from "The Lovely Bones", but this one also looks like a sure thing for Christoph Waltz from "Inglorious Basterds". As with Mo'Nique, he's won every award leading up to the Oscars.

(christoph waltz in "inglorious basterds")
 

(sandra bullock in "the blind side")

Best Actress:
The nominations will include Meryl Streep for "Julie and Julia" and Gabourey Sidibe for "Precious", but we hate to say it, this looks like the year for Sandra Bullock from "The Blind Side". It's another "Julia Roberts' Oscar year", which means Sandra will win, not for the strength of her performance, but because Hollywood and the public has had a long-standing love affair with her, but she's alway made light-weight, fluff movies which never garnered critical praise. But this year she put on an accent, changed the color of her hair and acted in some scenes in which her character glared hard at others and acted like a "forceful woman", and the Oscar voters will eat it up. These are the type of award annointments which erode what little credibility the Oscars have left; sentimentality and popular appeal rule the day, instead of critically meaty acting performances. Meryl Streep might surprise, but we doubt it.

Best Actor:As with the Best Actress category, this one's not a lock, but it's looking pretty good for Jeff Bridges from "Crazy Heart". Bridges is another Hollywood favorite who's long paid his dues with little to no glittering hardware to show for it, but in his case, as opposed to Sandra's, by all accounts, Bridges seems to have actually turned in a gritty, meaningful, deserving performance. Plus, as Oscar loves the Julia Roberts/Sandra Bullock roles where nice girls put on push-up bras and kick some ass, Oscar loves it even more when actors grovel in their own emotional vomit as washed-up down-and-outers. Robert Duvall won his Oscar for playing a country singer character very similar to Bridges'. George Clooney will get a nomination for "Up in the Air", but it's most likely Jeff Bridges' year.

(jeff bridges and robert duvall in "crazy heart")

 

Best Picture:
This one, of the major categories, is about the only toss-up. Almost certainly the major contenders will be "District 9", "Up in the Air", "Precious", "Inglorious Basterds", "The Hurt Locker" and "Avatar", but we're not sure who'll take it. We're guessing it might be "Avatar", which would be painful for us considering that we dislike science fiction films, and we certainly hate the egomaniac that is director James Cameron. But Hollywood seems almost afraid not to reward the big, epic, huge money-making crowd pleasers, i.e. "Titanic", "Lord of the Rings", etc. Don't hold your breath, though, "The Hurt Locker" could pull off the upset.