And the Oscar goes to (part 2)...

Well we've done Best Picture and the best acting categories so lets go over the directing and screenplay.

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

The Guilds once again go five for five with the nominations for the Academy. All five of these movies are great and the nominees are far and away the best in the field this year. Chances are if there was just five movies nominated for Best Picture these would probably be the five. Tarantino and Reitman both have great movies that also did well in the box office but they are probably the least likely to win. Especially with the chance to make history as Lee Daniels would be the first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Director. But instead it looks like Kathryn Bigelow is the one to beat and thus becoming the first woman to win the best directing award. An added bonus for Bigelow would be the chance to beat her ex-husband James Cameron. Although he may get a thank you in her speech as it was Cameron who suggested that she direct the movie.


Best Original Screenplay
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Pete Docter, Bob Peterson & Tom McCarthy, Up

This may be the tightest race of the major awards. A Serious Man didn't do anything for me but I can understand why the Coen-heads out there liked this movie. While Up may be the most heartfelt story in the running don't expect an animated movie to win the award. I am a little surprised and even a little hurt that The Messenger took the final nomination for screenplay over (500) Days of Summer. Days was an original way to look at the romantic comedy genre and it went unrecognized by the Academy. The Messenger delivers some strong performances and probably locked up the nomination with a surprisingly small amount of dialogue instead letting the visuals tell the story. Mark Boal writes an incredibly tense story and might have the edge because of the movie being a perceived front runner for best picture, but I like Tarantino to take his second statuette. Tarantino likes breaking the screen writing rules and includes intense details in his screenplays to give the actor's a better idea of what he wants. He also has been known to include directing cues which is usually a no-no in scripts but since he is directing the movie it doesn't do any harm. The story is great and he writes incredible characters and interactions. The story can splice easily between comedy and suspense. This is his best chance to win an Oscar this year and if he really believes that this movie is his masterpiece than he'll have to win at least one Oscar as Pulp Fiction was able to do just that in 1994.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche, In the Loop
Neil Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell, District 9
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Nick Hornby, An Education
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

I'm a little surprised that there was no love for Fantastic Mr. Fox. While it had no shot to win for the same reason that Up won't win it would be nice to be nominated. Neil Blomkamp has an outside chance to win with his story of intolerance. But you have to believe that Up in the Air is going to take home the award as the dialogue is sharp and the story is relevant to the times. That being said the next movie I plan on seeing next is In the Loop, it's supposed to be fuckin hilarious. The Academy loves to include those little fuckin indie comedies from the U.K. But since it is from across the pond and most Americans avoid foreign films It would be in-fuckin-credible if this movie won. Its liberal use of the word fuck negates any real chance to win, but fuck that I'm still gonna see it.

Need a reason to watch on Sunday. My good friend Kiel Servideo gives you 5 good reasons to watch. Stay tuned as we get closer to the big day.

The Oscar goes to...

The day is nearing as the Academy will unveil their winners. We'll preview the biggest categories as the date draws near. For now lets get into the acting categories.

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

I have put a lot of importance on the guild awards in past post and that may be due to the fact that 19 of the 20 nominees are from the SAG awards, so apparently the Academy does as well. Morgan Freeman may be on this list because he has been prepping for the roll since birth (I imagine his parents having sex and imaging their future son will look similar to a historic political figure). But his accent blows it immediately, he may have phoned in some of the effort he usually puts in because he thought Nelson Mendela gets the award easy. Meanwhile, Clooney wasn't so much acting as he was playing himself, which is why he was so comfortable in the role. A suave sexy man with confidence and charm who doesn't like to be tied down. This award should go to Jeff Bridges as the down and out performer, making a comeback (sounds eerily familiar to a wrestling movie with Mickey Rourke). The only performance that could play upset is Jeremy Renner who seamlessly flowed throughout the movie from heroic soldier to psychotic junkie looking for an action fix.


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

A lot of great performances in this group. Woody Harrelson does outstanding in The Messenger and Stanley Tucci certainly has paid his dues but this race was over in August when Quentin Tarantino introduced us to the Jew Hunter. Once the first chapter was over you knew Waltz would be nominated. By the end of the movie he had the award well in his grasps. This is the biggest lock of the 4 acting categories.


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

This is the only category that does not sync up with the SAGs as Maggie Gyllenhaal was able to sneak in and take away Diane Kruger's nomination for Inglorious Basterds. Kruger churns out a much better performance in Basterds. It appears Gyllenhaal has Bridges to thank, his performance was so strong it made her look better. Many writers wanted to see Julianne Moore get her fifth career nomination for A Single Man but it didn't pan out for her. Vera Famiga and Anna Kendrick both did amazing jobs in Up in the Air but their shared appearance in this role will split the voters so they're out. Mo'Nique will come out the winner here but not before learning quickly to adapt to the acting circuit. Many of the older members of the Academy tried to keep her from being nominated for not showing up to some of the pre-Oscar events, stating she needed to be paid for her appearances. She has since apologized and been rubbing elbows where elbows need rubbing. In her defense she probably didn't know the importance of showing up to these events and assumed the award was based solely on the performance, silly comedienne.


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

This is the closest race in the four categories. For a while many predicted it would be Maryl Spreep vs. Carey Mulligan but Bullock and those who worked on The Blind Side campaigned hard for her during the nomination selections. That has dropped Mulligan from real contention. Bullock has the edge as her movie is also nominated in the best picture category. Streep is charming as Jilia Child and has been nominated for an Oscar for a record 16 times. But she has not won since 1983 in Sophie's Choice. It would be real nice to see her win for this cute little comedy. Bullock has never been nominated and her campaign for the Oscar has been praising Meryl Streep. Bullock has stated that she believes Streep will win which is brilliant on Sandra's part. Humility is something rarely seen in Hollywood and by praising a legend like Streep she is charming many of the Oscar voters. This is also the first time someone has been nominated for an Oscar and a Razzie in the same year as she sports a similar wig/hair-doo in All About Steve. I want to see Streep with her third Oscar but I think Sandra wins.

For an in-depth look at the Best Actress category check out Kiel Servideo's My Roarin Twenties as we will team up to discuss the Oscar season. Let me hear what you think as well.