Well this is the last of the pre-Oscar blogs and I am going to talk about the two remaining movies up for best picture, some other worthy notes and finally, my predictions.
“A Serious Man” written and directed by the Coen brothers was one of my least favorite films of the year’s ten nominated for the top prize. Their unique style has been proven with gems like “The Big Lebowski”, “Burn after Reading” and “No Country Old Men”, all of which are films I admire. But “A Serious Man”, in my opinion, lacked the tonal color necessary to remain consistently interesting. I felt the story was weak and a little boring at times despite some very good performances by Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind and Sara Lennick. Maybe I need to see it again, but I think I can wait.
A big surprise this year was the sci-fi action thriller “District 9”. In addition to best picture, it is up for three other awards including film editing, visual effects and best adapted screenplay. I thought it was a very entertaining film with an excellent performance by Sharlto Copely. Expanding the category this year has made it possible for a film like this to get the recognition it deserves, but I don’t think it will take home any trophies.
Some final thoughts – if you didn’t see “The Last Station” with Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren, you should. They are both up for awards in their respective categories and gave
outstanding performances. This film could have been in the top ten. I felt Amy Adams was snubbed this year for her role in “Julie & Julia” and I didn’t care much for Matt Damon in “Invictus”. Lastly, I think Stanley Tucci’s performance in “The Lovely Bones” is worth a mention.
Well, I think I’ll wrap it up here and leave you with my predictions. As I had stated earlier, I have my own scoring system which includes categories for who should win, who will win and my sentimental favorites. To score me you would look at who I predict WILL win. If you would like to play along, send your predictions to jmoniello@gmail.com . Thanks for letting me share… enjoy the big night!
I remain, John
| Should Win | Will Win | SF | Did | Should Win | Will Win | SF | Did | ||||
| Best Picture | Directing | ||||||||||
| Avatar | X | Avatar | X | ||||||||
| Blind Side | The Hurt Locker | X | |||||||||
| District 9 | The Reader | ||||||||||
| An Education | Inglourious Bastards | X | |||||||||
| The Hurt Locker | X | Up in the Air | |||||||||
| Inglourious Bastards | X | Film Editing | |||||||||
| Precious | Avatar | X | X | ||||||||
| A Serious Man | District 9 | ||||||||||
| Up | The Hurt Locker | ||||||||||
| Up in the Air | Inglourious Bastards | X | |||||||||
| Precious | |||||||||||
| Best Actor | Costume Design | ||||||||||
| Jeff Bridges | X | X | Bright Star | ||||||||
| George Clooney | Coco Before Chanel | ||||||||||
| Colin Firth | X | Dr.Parnasus | |||||||||
| Morgan Freeman | Nine | ||||||||||
| Jeremy Renner | The Young Victoria | X | X | X | |||||||
| Supporting | Art Direction | ||||||||||
| Matt Damon | Avatar | X | X | X | |||||||
| Woody Harrelson | Dr.Parnasus | ||||||||||
| Christopher Plummer | Nine | ||||||||||
| Stanley Tucci | Sherlock Holmes | ||||||||||
| Christoph Waltz | X | X | X | The Young Victoria | |||||||
| Best Actress | Adapted Screenplay | ||||||||||
| Sandra Bullock | X | District 9 | |||||||||
| Helen Mirren | An Education | ||||||||||
| Carey Mulligan | X | X | In the Loop | ||||||||
| Meryl Streep | Precious | X | X | ||||||||
| Gabourey Sidibe | Up in the Air | X | |||||||||
| Supporting | Original Screenplay | ||||||||||
| Penelope Cruz | The Hurt Locker | ||||||||||
| Vera Farmiga | Inglourious Bastards | X | X | X | |||||||
| Maggie Gyllenhaal | The Messenger | ||||||||||
| Anna Kendrick | A Serious Man | ||||||||||
| Mo’Nique | X | X | X | Up | |||||||
| Cinamatography | Sound Editing | ||||||||||
| Avatar | X | X | X | Avatar | |||||||
| Harry Potter/Half Blood | The Hurt Locker | X | X | X | |||||||
| The Hurt Locker | Inglourious Bastards | ||||||||||
| Inglourious Bastards | Star Trek | ||||||||||
| The White Ribbon | Up | ||||||||||
| Original Score | Sound Mixing | ||||||||||
| Avatar | X | X | X | Avatar | |||||||
| Fantstic Mr.Fox | The Hurt Locker | X | X | X | |||||||
| The Hurt Locker | Inglourious Bastards | ||||||||||
| Sherlock Holmes | Star Trek | ||||||||||
| Up | Transformers/Revenge | ||||||||||
| Best Animated | Best Song | ||||||||||
| Coroline | Almost There | ||||||||||
| Fantstic Mr.Fox | Down In New Orleans | ||||||||||
| Princess & The Frog | Loin de Paname | ||||||||||
| Secret of Kells | Take It All | X | X | X | |||||||
| Up | X | X | X | The Weary Kind | |||||||
| Visual Effects | Best Foreign Film | ||||||||||
| Avatar | X | X | X | Ajami | |||||||
| District 9 | El Secreto | ||||||||||
| Star Trek | Milk of Sorrow | ||||||||||
| Makeup | Un Prophete | X | X | X | |||||||
| Il Divo | The White Ribbon | ||||||||||
| Star Trek | X | ||||||||||
| The Young Victoria | X | X | |||||||||
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