And the Nominees Are...

So Oscar morning dawned and brought with it a few surprises, but mostly lived up to expectations. Comparing my predictions to the actual nominations, I did fairly well:

Best Picture: 8/10
Best Actor: 5/5
Best Actress: 4/5
Best Supporting Actor: 5/5
Best Supporting Actress: 4/5
Best Director: 4/5

In retrospect, 86 percent isn't bad. And mostly I'm pretty happy with the actual nominations. So here we go:

Best Picture
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Analysis: Nine out of ten of these I'm happy with. The Blind Side was certainly heartwarming, but I don't think it deserved to beat out films like A Single Man or even (500) Days of Summer. There goes the Academy for you...


Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Analysis: Exactly as I figured. While some were hoping to see Viggo Mortensen sneak in for The Road or Ben Foster for The Messenger, the nominees matched the SAG Award nominees perfectly. Can't imagine Jeff Bridges won't win, both because he deserves it and it's his fifth nomination in the last 39 years.


Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie and Julia

Analysis: Well, I had hoped that Emily Blunt would make it instead of Helen Mirren. But what can you do? Some prognosticators say the Oscar is now Sandra Bullock's to lose, given the Best Picture nod for The Blind Side. I'd love to see Meryl take this one home. This is her 16th nomination, but she hasn't won since 1982!!


Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Walz, Inglourious Basterds

Analysis: These guys should like each other already, as they were all nominated for the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards. It's great to see Christopher Plummer (who was touted as a nominee in 2005 for Good Night and Good Luck) and Stanley Tucci finally get nominations, although I was hoping Alfred Molina would sneak in for An Education.


Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo'Nique, Precious

Analysis: I'm a big Maggie Gyllenhaal fan, so I'm thrilled to see her get nominated, even though I was hoping Julianne Moore and/or one of the Inglourious Basterds women (Diane Krueger or Melanie Laurent) would get a nod.


Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
James Cameron, Avatar
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Analysis: Well, I thought Lee Daniels might get bumped by Clint Eastwood but I'm thrilled he didn't. Kathryn Bigelow is now only the fourth woman to be nominated for Best Director (behind Lina Wertmuller for Seven Beauties in 1976, Jane Campion for The Piano in 1993 and Sofia Coppola in 2003 for Lost in Translation). And amazingly, Lee Daniels is only the second Black man to be nominated, behind John Singleton for Boyz in the Hood in 1991.

The other nominees, after the jump.



And the other nominees are...


Best Animated Feature Film
Coraline
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of the Kells
Up

Best Art Direction
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

Best Cinematography
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Best Costume Design
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Best Documentary Feature
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsburg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

Best Documentary Short Subject
China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit a la Berlin

Best Film Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

Best Foreign Film
Ajami (Israel)
El Secreto de Sus Ojos (Argentina)
The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)
Un Prophete (The Prophet) (France)
The White Ribbon (Germany)

Best Makeup
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Best Original Score
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

Best Original Song
"Almost There," The Princess and the Frog
"Down in New Orleans," The Princess and the Frog
"Loin de Paname," Paris 36
"Take it All," Nine
"The Weary Kind," Crazy Heart

Best Short Film (Animated)
French Roast
Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y La Muerte)
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death

Best Short Film (Live Action)
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants

Best Sound Editing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

Best Sound Mixing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Best Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
District 9
An Education
In the Loop
Precious
Up in the Air

Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up


Who will win? Stay tuned for March 7!!