No. 12: Oscar Nominees: And the Winner is......

LOST! Okay no, that's tonight. And not up for an Academy Award (yet). But don't forget to tune in to ABC at 8/7c for a one-hour show recap, followed by the two-hour final season premiere at 9/8c. :D

2010 Academy Award Nominees

Best Visual Effects:
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek


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


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


Best Makeup
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria


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


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


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


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


Best Original Song
"Almost There" from The Princess and the Frog - Randy Newman
"Down in New Orleans" from The Princess and the Frog - Randy Newman
"Loin de Paname" from Paris 36 - Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas
"Take it All" from Nine - Maury Yeston
"Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart - Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Best Original Score
Avatar - James Horner
Fantastic Mr. Fox - Alexandre Desplat
The Hurt Locker - Marco Beltrami and Beck Sanders
Sherlock Holmes - Hans Zimmer
Up - Michael Giacchino

Best Animated Short
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 - Nicholas Schmerkin
A Matter of Loaf and Death - Nick Park

Best Live Action Short
The Door - Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
Instead of Abracadabra - Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellstrom
Kavi - Gregg Helvey
Miracle Fish - Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
The New Tenants - Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Best Documentary Short
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 - Steve Bognar and Julia Reichert
Music by Prudence - Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
Rabbit a la Berlin - Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Best Documentary Feature
Burma VJ - Anders Ostergaard and Lise Lense-Moller
The Cove
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

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

Best Animated Feature
Coraline - Henry Selick
Fantastic Mr. Fox - Wes Anderson
The Princess and the Frog - Ron Clements and John Musker
The Secret of Kells - Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey
Up - Bob Peterson and Pete Docter

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


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


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)

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

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

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)

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


Best Picture
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
Up
Up in the Air


And now the commentary...


Best Picture
I (Hayley) have seen a few of these, and would like to see all (except perhaps District 9--really not my jam). We all knew Avatar would be on this list...so yeah. The Blind Side was very good--but I don't know if it would get my vote for Best Picture. I really want to see The Hurt Locker--I've heard nothing but praise for James Cameron's ex. QT's latest has been on my list since before it came out, naturally, but  I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I like the Coens, so while I don't know much about A Serious Man, I hope to knock it out in the next month. Precious I heard was good, but I don't know how much I want to cry, so that's a little iffy. Up was incredible--favorite Pixar ever (even a little more than WALL-E, I must admit), but I doubt it will beat out these critical/cinema favorites for Best Picture. Heard good things about Up in the Air; it sounds like something I'd enjoy (love GC, impressed by Anna Kendrick's new real role!).
A Question: WHERE WAS STAR TREK?? J.J. Abrams may not have created a whole new world here, but he did revive the Star Trek franchise without upsetting the Trekkies. And it was awesome.
A Comment: I was kinda disappointed to not see The Hangover on this list. Yes, it's probably a little too comedically raunchy for The Academy, but it's hilarious, clever, and well-done. With the expanded list of 10 nominees, you'd think they'd try to branch out a little bit. But anyway, American loved it and they're making a sequel, so that's all that really matters. ;)
Best Director
Not a lot here I'm familiar with... I will laugh if Bigelow beats out Cameron like she did in the Golden Globes.....but James did a marvelous job. :)
Best Actor
I haven't seen any of these movies, unfortunately, but I like George Clooney, Colin Firth, and Morgan Freeman. :)
Best Actress
I saw two of these: Sandra Bullock really went out of her apparent "comfort zone" for this, and I think she did a splendid job. Meryl Streep was good in Julie & Julia, but I didn't really like the movie. So Sandra is my pick.
Best Supporting Actor
Love Matt Damon...Stanley Tucci looked marvellously creepy in The Lovely Bones.
Best Supporting Actress
Not Penny's biggest fan...but since I haven't seen Nine, my opinion on the matter is rendered void. I'd like to see Anna Kendrick win for "breakout" or something, but I doubt that. She should be ecstatic for the nomination, really, after the Twilight fiasco.
Best Original Screenplay
Again, I think Up was fantabulous, but up against The Hurt Locker, QT, and the Coen brothers, I kind of doubt it'll measure up. (Yes, as a matter of fact I did use multiple "up" idioms on purpose.)
Best Adapted Screenplay
I haven't seen any of these movies, but I think I'd be good at doing this. Just sayin'.
Best Animated Feature
Lovelovelove Up...I'm thinking Pixar will take this one again. My roommate has Coraline, which I've heard is fantastic, but we haven't gotten around to watching it yet. Disney went retro with The Princess and the Frog, and it really paid off, but I don't think in the form of a "Best Animated" win,  not with Up hanging around.
Best Original Score
I've always liked James Horner, but I felt like his Avatar score got pretty greatly overshadowed by the movie. Not really his fault, and maybe if I listened to the whole score on its own I'd love it. It added something to the film, but I really couldn't say what, because I don't remember it. I am, without a doubt, Hans Zimmer's biggest fan. I loved Sherlock Holmes, it was great. Maybe not his best, but great. I was recently made gleefully aware of Michael Giacchino (nominated for Up, but he's also done Star Trek, The Incredibles, and Lost), and he gets my vote for this year, hands down. (Also, I think he will actually win. He got Grammys and a Golden Globe for this one, too.)
Best Original Song
I loved every song in The Princess and the Frog (it would seem this Mr. Randy Newman's got a good thing going). I think "Almost There" is my favorite of those two nominated, and may win. I haven't heard the others....
Best Art Direction
I've seen Avatar and Sherlock Holmes...both were quite good. I've a feeling Avatar will take yet another home, however.
Best Cinematography
Avatar and HBP: again, both good, but let's imagine for a moment Harry Potter beating out James Cameron for this one. Could you get that mental picture? That's what I thought.
Best Film Editing
There's a chance someone else could beat out Avatar here, but I couldn't say, since that's all I've seen of these nominees.
Best Visual Effects
My prediction. Three guesses.

(I realize not all the categories received commentary--that's b/c I don't know anything about them and therefore don't have an opinion, at least not one I'll be sharing.)

Quick rundown:
Avatar: 9
The Hurt Locker: 9
Inglourious Basterds: 8
Precious: 6
Up in the Air: 6
Up: 5

Ignored completely: The Road, Where the Wild Things Are, The Hangover

So based on this list, my list of movies to watch for February 2010:
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Up in the Air
A Serious Man


(Not including guilty pleasures coming out in theaters, namely Percy Jackson & Valentine's Day, both next weekend. :P)