Oscars 2010: Getting Down To It

The Golden Globe Awards nominations announcement is a week from tomorrow, which means that the Academy Awards announcement is a month from that. Even if the butter is spread too thin this time around, the predictions are getting down and dirty. Online critics see “Avatar,” “Invictus,” and “Nine” this week, which means big things are starting to shape up for this race to the finish line. It’s been an incredible year for cinema, and it’s getting more difficult to analyze by the minute.  “What could happen” is slowly turning into “what will happen,” even with some films unseen.  It has caused me to make a possibly ruinous decision: I will no longer be predicting winners until the nominations are released.  It is proving too hard to predict.  Nominations are much easier, but winners are tricksy.  Quite a few have already crafted their Top Ten of 2009, something I probably won’t be doing until late January or early February.

Best Actor in a Leading Role:

Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney, “Up in the Air”
Matt Damon, “The Informant!”
Colin Firth, “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman, “Invictus”

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:

Alfred Molina, “An Education”
Christopher Plummer, “The Last Station”
Peter Sarsgaard, “An Education”
Stanley Tucci, “Julie & Julia”
Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”

Best Actress in a Leading Role:

Helen Mirren, “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan, “An Education”
Saoirse Ronan, “The Lovely Bones”
Gabourey Sidibe, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Meryl Streep, “Julie & Julia”

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

Penélope Cruz, “Nine”
Judi Dench, “Nine”
Anna Kendrick, “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Julianne Moore, “A Single Man”

Best Animated Feature Film:

“Coraline”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“Monsters vs. Aliens”
“The Princess and the Frog”
“Up”

Best Art Direction:

Rosemary Brandenburg and Nathan Crowley for “Public Enemies”
Terry Gilliam, Anastasia Masaro, Caroline Smith, Shane Vieau, and Dave Warren for “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
Jess Gonchor and Nancy Haigh for “A Serious Man”
John Myrhe and Gordon Sim for “Nine”
Sandy Reynolds-Wasco and David Wasco for “Inglourious Basterds”

Best Cinematography:

Barry Ackroyd for ”The Hurt Locker”
Dion Beebe for “Nine”
Bruno Delbonnel for “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
Greig Fraser for “Bright Star”
Robert Richardson for “Inglourious Basterds”

Best Costume Design:

Colleen Atwood for “Nine”
Janet Patterson for “Bright Star”
Sandy Powell for “The Young Victoria”
Monique Prudhomme for “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
Anna B. Shepard for “Inglourious Basterds”

Best Director:

Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, “A Serious Man”
Lee Daniels, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Rob Marshall, “Nine”
Jason Reitman, “Up in the Air”

Best Documentary (Feature):

“The Beaches of Agnes”
“Burma VJ”
“The Cove”
“Food, Inc.”
“Mugabe and the White African”

Best Film Editing:

Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey for “Star Trek”
Chris Innis and Bob Murawski for “The Hurt Locker”
Sally Menke for “Inglourious Basterds”
John Refoua and Stephen E. Rivkin for “Avatar”
Claire Simpson and Wyatt Smith for “Nine”

Best Makeup:

“Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant”
“District 9″
“Star Trek”

Best Music (Original Score):

Mark Bradshaw for “Bright Star”
Alexandre Desplat for “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
Michael Giacchino for “Up”
Marvin Hamlisch for “The Informant!”
James Horner for “Avatar”

Best Music (Original Song):

“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog”
“I See You” from “Avatar”
“(I Want to) Come Home” from “Everybody’s Fine”
“Take It All” from “Nine”
“The Weary Kind” from “Crazy Heart”

Best Picture of the Year:

“Avatar”
“Bright Star”
“An Education”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Invictus”
“Nine”
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
“Up”
“Up in the Air”

Best Sound Editing:

“Avatar”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Star Trek”
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

Best Sound Mixing:

“Avatar”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Nine”
“Star Trek”
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

Best Visual Effects:

“Avatar”
“District 9″
“Star Trek”

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay):

Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach for “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
Geoffrey Fletcher for “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Nick Hornby for “An Education”
Anthony Minghella and Michael Tolkin for “Nine”
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner for “Up in the Air”

Best Writing (Original Screenplay):

Mark Boal for “The Hurt Locker”
James Cameron for “Avatar”
Jane Campion for “Bright Star”
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen for “A Serious Man”
Bob Peterson for “Up”

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~ by theteencritic on December 8, 2009.