For we the movie fanatics of the world, the Academy Awards are just as exciting as the Super Bowl. Many of us throw or attend Oscar parties, and even go so far as to print out that ballot and lock our picks into place.
Over the past few years, this and a lot of other awards shows have kind of lost their flare. It has become apparent that deciding nominees and voting for winners is not about who is the best and who is most deserving, but about what has the best side-story and what the popular names and titles are. This massive flaw is hard to swallow, and the appeal of the whole event is bordering on non-existent.
To help bring more appeal to the game, the folks behind the Academy Awards chose to make a few changes in the format of the show. The biggest of these alterations was of course changing the amount of Best Picture nominees from 5 to a whopping 10, which meant that all of the deserving but not-so-traditional contenders (The Dark Knight) could get their chance to be underdog heroes.
Continue reading on for more and to check out the full list of this year’s nominees!
With the announcement of today’s nominees, it was quickly apparent that some of the nominees were ones that absolutely would not have been there if not for the additional 5 spots. The question is: which are deserving and which are there for image?
To be specific, two titles nominated for Best Picture will stand right out. One is The Blind Side, and the other is District 9. Since the day that The Blind Side came out and there were blurbs on the TV spots saying that star Sandra Bullock was Oscar-worthy, I found it impossible to believe. Since then, she’s gone on to win multiple awards, including the Golden Globe before pulling down that impossible nomination today. Now with the movie getting dubbed one of the ten Best Pictures of the year, is this deserved, or is it part of the novelty? On the other hand, there stands District 9. The movie from director Neil Blomkamp and producer Peter Jackson has seen nothing but glowing praise since its release, but there’s no way it would have been honored with this nomination if there were only the 5 spots.
For me personally, I’ve expressed my disgust at the entire Bullock disgrace too many times and there’s no need to do it again. Let’s just say I’ll be pulling for an awards queen like Meryl Streep or Helen Mirren to take this one home just for integrity purposes. The thing that really has me steamed is the above-mentioned and Bullock-related Blind Side nomination. I’m not going to say that it’s a bad movie — CLEARLY it is solid little flick. But I will say this: when the hell did We Are Marshall and Remember the Titans become Oscar contenders?
I’ll leave the rest of the pros and cons to you the readers. Here is the full list of nominees; share your thoughts in the comments!
Best Picture
* Avatar James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
* The Blind Side Nominees to be determined
* District 9 Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
* An Education Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
* Up in the Air Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers
* The Hurt Locker Nominees to be determined
* Inglourious Basterds Lawrence Bender, Producer
* A Serious Man Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
* Up Jonas Rivera, Producer
* Precious Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
Best Director
* James Cameron Avatar
* Kathryn Bigelow The Hurt Locker
* Quentin Tarantino Inglourious Basterds
* Lee Daniels Precious
* Jason Reitman Up in the Air
Actor in a Leading Role
* Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart
* George Clooney in Up in the Air
* Colin Firth in A Single Man
* Morgan Freeman in Invictus
* Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker
Actress in a Leading Role
* Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side
* Helen Mirren in The Last Station
* Carey Mulligan in An Education
* Gabourey Sidibe in Precious
* Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia
Actor in a Supporting Role
* Matt Damon in Invictus
* Woody Harrelson in The Messenger
* Christopher Plummer in The Last Station
* Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones
* Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds
Actress in a Supporting Role
* Penélope Cruz in Nine
* Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air
* Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart
* Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air
* Mo’Nique in Precious: Based on the Novel “˜Push’ by Sapphire
Best Original Screenplay
* The Hurt Locker Written by Mark Boal
* Inglourious Basterds Written by Quentin Tarantino
* The Messenger Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
* A Serious Man Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
* Up Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy
Best Adapted Screenplay
* District 9 Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
* An Education Screenplay by Nick Hornby
* In the Loop Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
* Precious Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
* Up in the Air Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Animated Feature Film
* Coraline Henry Selick
* Fantastic Mr. Fox Wes Anderson
* The Princess and the Frog John Musker and Ron Clements
* The Secret of Kells Tomm Moore
* Up Pete Docter
Art Direction
* Avatar Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg, Kim Sinclair
* The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro, Caroline Smith
* Nine John Myhre, Gordon Sim
* Sherlock Holmes Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
* The Young Victoria Patrice Vermette, Maggie Gray
Cinematography
* Avatar Mauro Fiore
* Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Bruno Delbonnel
* The Hurt Locker Barry Ackroyd
* Inglourious Basterds Robert Richardson
* The White Ribbon Christian Berger
Costume Design
* Bright Star Janet Patterson
* Coco before Chanel Catherine Leterrier
* The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Monique Prudhomme
* Nine Colleen Atwood
* The Young Victoria Sandy Powell
Documentary (Feature)
* Burma VJ Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
* The Cove Nominees to be determined
* Food, Inc. Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
* The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
* Which Way Home Rebecca Cammisa
Documentary (Short Subject)
* China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
* The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
* The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
* Music by Prudence Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
* Rabbit à la Berlin Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra
Film Editing
* Avatar Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
* District 9 Julian Clarke
* The Hurt Locker Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
* Inglourious Basterds Sally Menke
* Precious Joe Klotz
Foreign Language Film
* Ajami Israel
* El Secreto de Sus Ojos Argentina
* The Milk of Sorrow Peru
* Un Prophète France
* The White Ribbon Germany
Makeup
* Il Divo Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
* Star Trek Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
* The Young Victoria Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore
Music (Original Score)
* Avatar James Horner
* Fantastic Mr. Fox Alexandre Desplat
* The Hurt Locker Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
* Sherlock Holmes Hans Zimmer
* Up Michael Giacchino
Music (Original Song)
* “Almost There” from The Princess and the Frog Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* “Down in New Orleans” from The Princess and the Frog Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* “Loin de Paname” from Paris 36 Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
* “Take It All” from Nine Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
* “The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
Short Film (Animated)
* French Roast Fabrice O. Joubert
* Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
* The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte) Javier Recio Gracia
* Logorama Nicolas Schmerkin
* A Matter of Loaf and Death Nick Park
Short Film (Live Action)
* The Door Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
* Instead of Abracadabra Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
* Kavi Gregg Helvey
* Miracle Fish Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
* The New Tenants Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson
Sound Editing
* Avatar Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
* The Hurt Locker Paul N.J. Ottosson
* Inglourious Basterds Wylie Stateman
* Star Trek Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
* Up Michael Silvers and Tom Myers
Sound Mixing
* Avatar Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
* The Hurt Locker Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
* Inglourious Basterds Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
* Star Trek Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
* Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson
Visual Effects
* Avatar Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
* District 9 Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
* Star Trek Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton
Sandra Bullock all the way, you know it.
And I’ve been saying it all day, where the fuck is Star Trek?!?!?!?!
Comment by Empress Eve — February 2, 2010 @ 10:04 pm
Not a fan of this years nominations. Too much Avatar. Screw that movie. Star Trek was better. And no Moon? I knew it was coming but I am so sick of seeing films that don’t rely on big sets and big names not getting any attention. Whatevs. The movies are still around to be enjoyed.
Comment by Joseph — February 2, 2010 @ 11:01 pm
i knew it was bound to happen, we had such a good year with there will be blood, no country, diving bell etc….this year is just SHITE!
hell, none of these movies would’ve been nominated against those others.
and district 9? ugh.
Comment by mo — February 2, 2010 @ 11:49 pm
yeah i agree with a portion of what you said, but there is no way Watchmen would be nominated. It was a completely faithful adaption of the comic, and flawlessly executed….but. Watchmen was not a great MOVIE. If I wasn’t in love with the book, and hadn’t had every page burned into my mind while watching it, I probably would have turned it off asking what is this crap. Watchmen was for the fans of the comic and not for critics or the general public, who both hated it for the most part.
Comment by jon — February 3, 2010 @ 2:08 pm
The oscars are gay.
Comment by scrotumbagmonkeyflicker — February 4, 2010 @ 9:59 am
Oscars continue to be a farce as they have been for so long. its a shame the golden globes have gone that way too.
Least this time though they are movies people have herd of. Like last years, slum dog millionaire; no one herd of it until it was up for an award. All it is, is advertising and what movie studio is paying more for the oscars.
Comment by Justin Smith — February 4, 2010 @ 11:23 am