Oscar Nominations 2010

As the more clued-up of you will probably notice, the 'Best Picture of the Year' catagory now has ten nominations as the Academy decided to double the amount of nods in order to give the box office successes a chance to rival the art house releases. But to me such a decision seemed more about attracting viewers to the ceremony's steadily decreasing audience figures rather than being an homage to its past, as officials claimed. As anyone will tell you blockbusters have always done well at the Oscars, 2004 in particular saw The Lord of Rings: The Return of the King become the most successful Oscar winning film in history.


So here they are in full, along with my predictions:



Best actor in a leading role
* Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart - In all his years Jeff has never won an Oscar, it is quite simply his turn.

* George Clooney in Up in the Air
* Colin Firth in A Single Man
* Morgan Freeman in Invictus
* Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker

It is a travesty that Andy Serkis has not even received a nomination for his portrayal of Ian Dury in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll so at the very least he should win a BAFTA.
Similarly it is about time Vincent Cassel won an Oscar and his portrayal of Mesrine would have been a good opporuntity. Sam Rockell deserved a nod too. Why George Clooney and Morgan Freeman have been nominated for playing the same typical roles again is beyond me!

Best actor in a supporting role
* Matt Damon in Invictus
* Woody Harrelson in The Messenger
* Christopher Plummer in The Last Station
* Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones
* Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds - the most talked about and surprising performance of the year is a dead cert.

Best actress in a leading role
* Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side
* Helen Mirren in The Last Station
* Carey Mulligan in An Education - Sandra Bullock is the favourite as she has finally taken up a role worthy of an award win. However, every Oscars ceremony has a big shock and I believe this will be the one as Carey Mulligan's central performance was integral to An Education.


* Gabourey Sidibe in Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
* Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia

Best actress in a supporting role
* Penélope Cruz in Nine
* Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air
* Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart
* Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air
* Mo’Nique in Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire - This performance is head and shoulders above the rest in this category. The Academy may be reluctant to give it due to the harsh nature of the character but I believe Mo'Nique will win it, just.

Best animated feature film of the year
*Coraline (Focus Features) Henry Selick
*Fantastic Mr. Fox (20th Century Fox) Wes Anderson
*The Princess and the Frog (Walt Disney) John Musker and Ron Clements
*The Secret of Kells (GKIDS) Tomm Moore
*Up (Walt Disney) Pete Docter - As much as I enjoyed Coraline, I cannot see this award going to any other film. Just when we all thought Pixar had peaked with WALL-E it pulled this gem out of the bag. The Academy could go for The Princess Frog as it is a return to Disney's 2D musical roots and it is the first American animation to cast a black woman as its lead, but I very much doubt such an eventuality.

Best in art direction:
*Avatar (20th Century Fox) Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg. Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair - A film solely made for its breathtaking special effects is sure to win.

*The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Sony Pictures Classics) Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro. Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
*Nine (The Weinstein Company) Art Direction: John Myhre. Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
*Sherlock Holmes (Warner Bros.) Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood. Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
*The Young Victoria (Apparition) Art Direction: Patrice Vermette. Set Decoration: Maggie Gray
Best in cinematography:
*Avatar (20th Century Fox) Mauro Fiore - I want to see The Hurt Locker win this, but the buzz surrounding Avatar cannot be ignored.

*Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Warner Bros.) Bruno Delbonnel
*The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment) Barry Ackroyd
*Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company) Robert Richardson
*The White Ribbon (Sony Pictures Classics) Christian Berger

Best in costume design:
*Bright Star (Apparition) Janet Patterson
*Coco before Chanel (Sony Pictures Classics) Catherine Leterrier
*The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Sony Pictures Classics) Monique Prudhomme
*Nine (The Weinstein Company) Colleen Atwood
*The Young Victoria (Apparition) Sandy Powell

Best Director:
*Avatar (20th Century Fox) James Cameron
*The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment) Kathryn Bigelow - Even the Academy realises it is time for a female to win.


*Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company) Quentin Tarantino
*Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (Lionsgate) Lee Daniels
*Up in the Air (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) Jason Reitman

Best documentary feature:
*Burma VJ (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
*The Cove (Roadside Attractions)
*Food, Inc. (Magnolia Pictures)
*The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
*Which Way Home (A Mr. Mudd Production)

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 à la Berlin

Best in film editing:
*Avatar (20th Century Fox) Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
*District 9 (Sony Pictures Releasing) Julian Clarke
*The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment) Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
*Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company) Sally Menke
*Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (Lionsgate) Joe Klotz

Best foreign language film of the year:
*Ajami (Kino International)
*El Secreto de Sus Ojos (Sony Pictures Classics)
*The Milk of Sorrow
*Un Prophète (Sony Pictures Classics) - The critical reception surrounding this film I think bodes well.


*The White Ribbon (Sony Pictures Classics)

Best in Makeup Oscars 2010 Nominees:
*Il Divo Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
*Star Trek Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
*The Young Victoria Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Best in music written for motion pictures (Original score):
*Avatar (20th Century Fox) James Horner
*Fantastic Mr. Fox (20th Century Fox) Alexandre Desplat
*The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment) Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
*Sherlock Holmes (Warner Bros.) Hans Zimmer
*Up (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino

Best in music written for motion pictures (Original song):
*"Almost There" from The Princess and the Frog Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
*"Down in New Orleans" from The Princess and the Frog Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
*"Loin de Paname” from Paris 36 Music by Reinhardt Wagner. Lyric by Frank Thomas
*"Take It All” from Nine Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
*"The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from Crazy Heart Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Best motion picture of the year:
*Avatar - I am willing the infinately better Hurt Locker to win, but the highest grossing film of all time will definitely sway the Academy during these times when film piracy rules all

*The Blind Side
*District 9
*An Education
*The Hurt Locker
*Inglourious Basterds
*Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
*A Serious Man
*Up
*Up in the Air

Best animated short film:
*French Roast A Pumpkin Factory
*Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty (Brown Bag Films)
*The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
*Logorama (Autour de Minuit)
*A Matter of Loaf and Death (Aardman Animations)

Best live action short film:
*The Door (Network Ireland Television)
*Instead of Abracadabra (The Swedish Film Institute)
*Kavi A Gregg Helvey Production
* Miracle Fish (Premium Films)
*The New Tenants A Park Pictures and M & M Production

Best in sound editing:
*Avatar Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
*The Hurt Locker Paul N.J. Ottosson
*Inglourious Basterds Wylie Stateman
*Star Trek Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
*Up Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Best in sound mixing:
*Avatar Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
*The Hurt Locker Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
*Inglourious Basterds Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
*Star Trek Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
*Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Best in visual effects:
*Avatar Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones - If Star Trek wins this I'll eat my own hat!

*District 9 Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
*Star Trek Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Best in Adapted screenplay:
*District 9 Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
*An Education Screenplay by Nick Hornby
*In the Loop Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
*Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher - Fletcher's screenplay really brings the harrowing novel to life but I'd still love In The Loop to win even though I know it won't!


*Up in the Air Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

I thought Joe Penhall's faithful adaptation of The Road would have a good chance as it nailed the characters from Cormac mcCarthy's novel, obviously not!

Best in Original screenplay:
*The Hurt Locker Written by Mark Boal
*Inglourious Basterds Written by Quentin Tarantino
*The Messenger Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
*A Serious Man Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - A difficult one to predict this, but in my opinion this is the one film which relied most heavily on its material. Quentin Tarantino has a good shout though.

*Up Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter. Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy


So there we are, if I had it my way Avatar would only win the special effects award, but it just won't happen. The Hurt Locker was the best film of the year, but the political climate surrounding the film industry will not work in its favour. Avatar wasn't even the best sci-fi film of the year, Moon was far better and yet it recieves nothing! Still, with such an astonishing debut, I'm sure Duncan Jones will be back.