Last year’s Oscar hopeful, Anne Hathaway, took to the stage this morning in the heart of Tinsel Town to bestow upon us the ten nominations for the best films of the year along with some of their corresponding awards including best actor and best actress. The Hurt Locker (as expected) was the front runner of the morning, garnering nine nods, including best picture, best director (Kathryn Bigelow) and best actor in Jeremy Renner. So too went Avatar with nine nominations as well. Close behind, it looks like Quentin Tarantino should soon get some much deserved love with eight nominations for Inglourious Basterds.
It’s unfortunate that I don’t see any nods for Where the Wild Things Are. Not one. The beasts deserved at least a set design or cinematography nomination. Blasphemous. While it looks like the only major surprise was the nomination of The Blind Side for best picture (which many thought might go to Invictus or maybe even The Road), everything else was pretty much as predictable as Old Faithful.
So take a look at the nominations below. See anything interesting (Penelope three years in a row!)? Who was snubbed (Marion Cotillard)? What is getting undeserved attention (Harry Potter)? And what in the hell is The Secret of Kells?
BEST MOTION PICTURE
An Education
A Serious Man
District 9
Up
Up in the Air
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
The Blind Side
DIRECTOR
Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)
James Cameron (Avatar)
Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)
Lee Daniels (Precious)
ACTOR
Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
George Clooney (Up in the Air)
Colin Firth (A Single Man)
Morgan Freeman (Invictus)
Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)
Woody Harrelson (The Messenger)
Christopher Plummer (The Last Station)
Matt Damon (Invictus)
ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)
Carey Mulligan (An Education)
Gabourey Sibide (Precious)
Helen Mirren (The Last Station)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mo’Nique (Precious)
Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air)
Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air)
Penelope Cruz (Nine)
Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart)
ANIMATED FEATURE
Up
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Coraline
The Secret of Kells
The Princess and the Frog
ART DIRECTION
Avatar
Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
The Young Victoria
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon
COSTUME DESIGN
The Young Victoria
Bright Star
Coco avant Chanel
Nine
Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Cove
Food Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America
Burma Vj
Which Way Home
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Last Truck: The Closing of GM Plant
The Last Campaign of Gvernor Booth GardnerSendak
Rabbit a la Berlin
Music by Prudence
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
EDITING
The Hurt Locker
Avatar
District 9
Precious
Inglourious Basterds
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The White Ribbon
A Prophet
The Milk of Sorrow
Ajami
The Secret of Her Eyes
MAKEUP
The Young Victoria
Il Divo
Star Trek
ORIGINAL SCORE
Michael Giacchino (Up)
James Horner (Avatar)
Marco Beltrami & Buck Sanders (The Hurt Locker)
Hans Zimmer (Sherlock Holmes)
Alexandre Desplat (Fantastic Mr. Fox)
ORIGINAL SONG
“Take it All” (Nine)
“The Weary Kind” (Crazy Heart)
“Almost There” (The Princess & the Frog)
“Down in New Orleans” (The Princess & the Frog)
“Loin de Paname” (Paris 36)
SOUND EDITING
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
Avatar
Up
Inglourious Basterds
SOUND MIXING
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
Avatar
Transformers 2
Inglourious Basterds
VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar
Star Trek
District 9
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Up in the Air
An Education
Precious
District 9
In the Loop
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
Up
The Messenger
LIVE ACTION SHORT
The Door
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants
Kavi
Instead of Abracadabra
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
French Roast
The Lady and the Reaper
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death
Reading the Best Picture nominees I totally understand why they changed it to ten, there trying to give every demographic something to root for. District 9… The Blind Side… Up… I kind of like that though, it makes things interesting.
And WTF?!? No Colore Non Vedenti for Best Live Action Short?!?!? ;D
Fuckin fanboys. *Sigh*
No WTWTA… nothing. Uber lame. On the plus side…
YAY PENNY! Three noms in three straight years!
I am quite happy with the Love for A Serious Man and the screenplay nod for In The Loop.
Kinda of surprised that yea, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE deserved a bone of some kind. Would have liked to see Spike Jonze push out Lee Daniels and WTWTA push out THE BLIND SIDE for best pic. Ah Well.
Yeah, too bad Cruz’s nom is for the WRONG FILM. :p And no Cotillard? No Rockwell? No WTWTA?
But I’m not that disappointed. Glad to see love for An Education and Carey Mulligan. And Up in the Air, which got all the nominations I expected but somehow seems like a dark horse candidate at this point (when I thought it’d be an easy leader).
Who here has actually seen The Blind Side? I might go watch it just so I have better grounds to ridicule it for the next month.
Everyone who has seen that movie has raved about it. Bullock is cleaning house. I’m not so quick to dismiss it anymore. Award show after award show don’t just throw lavish praise upon a movie for no reason unless you spend $500 million.
Yes, Marion Cottilard (supporting actress, Public Enemies) is sorely missed.
@Jandy, “And Up in the Air, which got all the nominations I expected but somehow seems like a dark horse candidate at this point (when I thought it’d be an easy leader).”
Ditto!
A foreign language film got a nom for something other than Best Foreign Film or Best Picture? When did the Academy realize they could do that?
Also congrats to The Secret of Kells for the nom. The Animated category is freaking awesome.
Honestly this is one of the better sets of nominations that the Academy has done in some time.
Predicted winners:
The Hurt Locker
Kathryn Bigelow
Jeff Bridges
Christoph Waltz
Sandra Bullock
Mo’Nique
Up
Yeah, I’m really going out on a limb with my Oscar ballot this year.
Films I have to see to say I “saw them all” (except docs and shorts):
The Blind Side
Invictus
Lovely Bones
Last Station
Julie & Julia
Secret of Kells
Princess and Frog
Harry Potter (fuck that)
Bright Star
Coco Chanel
Ajami
The Secret of her Eyes
Il Divo
Paris 36
Man, last year I saw everything. This year doesn’t look like I’m going to make it (nor do I really want to with some of these) by Award show time next month.
Predicted winners:
Picture: Up In The Air
Dir. Kathryn Bigelow
BA Jeff Bridges
SA Christoph Waltz
BA Meryl Streep
SA Mo’Nique
AF Fantastic Mr. Fox
FL The White Ribbon
ASP: Up In The Air
OSP: Inglourious Basterds
Doc: Which Way Home
Score: James Horner (Avatar)
Man, I hope you’re right with Fox! That would be awesome. You really think it will beat out Pixar?
Oops. My bad on Penny. Not three years in a row. Volver was a 2007 nom, not 2008. Still.
And she should’ve been nominated for Elegy last year.
What about Vicky Cristina Barcelona? That was 2008, wasn’t it? And she won, IIRC.
I just shifted The Hurt Locker, In the Loop and Julie & Julia to the top of my Netflix queue. The others are all still in theatres. Bah. I’d like to see The Princess and the Frog, and I’m sure Precious is great but I kinda want to have seen it but I’m not that motivated to go see it, if that makes sense. And I’m now perversely interested in The Blind Side but I really REALLY don’t want to pay money for it. Meh.
Who Should Win (note many of these are not even nominated!)
Picture: Inglourious Basterds
Dir. Quentin Tarantino
BA Matt Damon (The Informant!)
SA Christoph Waltz + Peter Capaldi (tie!)
BA Melanie Laurent
SA Vera Farmiga
AF Fantastic Mr. Fox
FL The White Ribbon
ASP: Up In The Air
OSP: Inglourious Basterds
Doc: Collapse
Score: Clint Mansell (Moon)
Jandy – I saw THE BLIND SIDE yesterday. Serious tear jerker thought it’s not deserving of a best pic nod. I love Bullock and she’s great but if the field were stronger, I don’t think she would have made the cut either. It’s a feel good film and it does the job well.
I’m still saying that Up in the Air is going to win Best Picture. I’d be very pleased if Inglorious Basterds won.
And damn, I was really hoping that Moon would get a nod somewhere, that Rockwell might be able to sneak in for a surprise nomination, but oh well. I’m just glad The Hangover didn’t get nominated for Best Picture, like many speculated.
I’m with you on that first sentence completely Jonathan. I’m still expecting an UP IN THE AIR upset for Best Picture, but yea, I’d be tickled pink (“WE HAVE A BINGO!”) if IB or A Serious Man takes it in an ‘upset’.
Marina: Confirm or Deny – Is The Blind Side just Erin-Brokovich-lite?
Erin-Brokovich-lite – Assuming the comparison comes from the blond-apparent-bimbo making good? Seems like an odd comparison and no, it’s not.
I’ve heard a lot of quiet love cropping up for The Blind Side so I’m thinking Bullock is going to take it.
Foreign Language films do on occasion get noms in other categories, although it’s usually writing/directing/actress lead role – this is the first time I’ve seen it for cinematography but dang it’s a awesome looking film.
Chiming in for the love of In the Loop! Well deserved.
I don’t think Where the Wild Things Are is a surprize non-nom. Maybe for score, but can’t imagine much else.
And holy noodly 4 nods for D9? That just floors me – although it’s the same # as Star Trek!
It’s funny how they expanded the Picture noms to 10 and it seems chances are slim to none that something other than Hurt Locker or Avatar would win!
@ Shannon on WTWTA… really? Do you say that from a personal standpoint or just past Oscar predictability? If I had my druthers, at the very least I’d have WTWA nominated for (* = win):
art direction *
costume design
Adapted screenplay
But yeah, I think it should be up for best picture and director as well. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Karen O. was nom’d for best score, though I see why she wasn’t so I”m not too upset about that one. But I might argue that WTWTA has better visual effects than Star Trek.
I know very little about the Blind Side other than the Sandra Bullock buzz. From the plot summary on IMDB it sounds like a crappy TV movie, but if people are really behind it I’ll give it a try. Don’t know when it’ll come out over here though, there’s very little interest in American football in the UK.
I’m with Drew on the Best Pic list, I quite like the idea of more entries, it makes it at least seem like more of a fight. It seems clear that it’ll be between Hurt Locker and Avatar, but fingers crossed for an upset.
Hell yeah to the In The Loop nod, but it’s a travesty that Peter Capaldi isn’t up there too.
I also would have liked to see (500) Days of Summer get in there for original screenplay.
@ there’s very little interest in American football in the UK.
how do you guys feel about retards and white people?
Andrew, I think WTWTA’s score was disqualified. There are a lot of weird rules about scores and songs, something to do with the number of songs eliminating the score and the way the songwriters were credited eliminating the songs from the “Original Song” category. I don’t remember the details. Stupid, I think. It was definitely one of the best scores of the year.
lol, transformers didnt even get a sfx nod
Well, the London NFL game annually sells out in a couple of minutes, so I assume there is some interest. But yeah, The Blind Side is not reaching theatres many places outside of North America. Perhaps it will now with an oscar marketing campaign, personally I think it’s pretty hilarious that it’s nominated for Best Picture. I think it was Goon who coined this term, and I introduced it to film buddies and we still consistently use it about the movie, “My Pet Black Man”.
I hope the danes win, and if they don’t, I hope Tarantino wins.
I noticed the lack of Transformers as well, I thought it would be the only challenger to Avatar originally, but I re-watched District 9 recently, and was more impressed with the movie overall and the effects too, so I remember hoping they would nominate that. I definitely think Transformers has way better FX than Star Trek though, but I wonder if the academy is just so put off with the unapologetic ignorance and porno-aesthetic that they just don’t want the movie near their awards.
I looked up ‘blind side my pet black man’ and it appears Gawker is also using this term, but they call it My Pet Black Person
I like my version better, because you can incorporate it into the My Pet Monster theme music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXVL0Ca2bPY
That would be pretty fucking amazing if somebody did that.
lets try
(note – any racism is of course satire)
My pet black man!
on me he does depend!
My pet black man!
a black man of a friend!
hes big and black and scary
but a friendly black man too
my pet black man!
Black man I love you!
hes always blocking field goal kicks
but i know thats ok
but hes just having loads of fun
in his own black man way
he loves to munch on Pringles
he’ll even eat the CAN
if this sounds gross please understand HES MY BEST FRIEND
my pet black man!
my very best bestest friend!
my pet black man!
a black man of a friend!
BLACK MAN OF A FRIEND!
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Boy, that Mansell score for “Moon” was pretty great wasn’t it? That would’ve been a nice surprise.
The one surprise for me was the song from “Paris 36″ (or when I saw it at TIFF, “Faubourg 36″). It was an enjoyable musical that should’ve been more than it was, but which contained a couple of great moments. My surprise is not because the song didn’t deserve it, it’s that anyone had even heard of the film in the first place.
Finally saw The Hurt Locker last night and thought it was pretty damn good. The shaky-cam doesn’t work for me in a couple of spots when it focuses on some elements or does a quick zoom, but otherwise there’s some remarkable tension buildup and really solid scenes. I’ll be OK when it wins Best Picture.
Actor – Bridges
Actress – Bullock
Sup Actor – Waltz
Sup Actress – Mo’Nique
Doc – Food Inc
Foreign – The White Ribbon
Holy crap – Bob you just disproved my theory that no one *saw* this Paris 36 film! Ah, wells….
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen got a sound mixing nod. Sigh.
re: WTWTA, I think like The Road, it did not as well as people expected, has been out for a bit but a bit to long to be at the forefront of people’s minds and really seemed to only resonate to fans of the book. But those three together and that is why I’m not surprized. I don’tre remember anything about disqualified score, I guess they have different parameters than other awards shows for that.
Man, the music guidelines (both score and song) always sound like people have trouble jumping though all the hoops to get qualified!
With Oscars I always cheer for the nominations I’m happy about but rarely get upset if something doesn’t get nominated. Been disappointed to many times in the past that now I just an emotional distance from it all.
I heard about the score disqualification thing mostly on music blogs, not on movie ones – Pitchfork had a news piece on WTWTA and The Lovely Bones’ scores being ineligible here.
I never saw it stated precisely why WTWTA was disqualified, but they point to this part in the rule book: “[S]cores diluted by the use of tracked themes or other preexisting music, diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs, or assembled from the music of more than one composer shall not be eligible.” Karen O and Carter Burwell wrote the score, but perhaps not collaboratively enough to merit the Academy’s exception: “two composers function as equal collaborators in producing the score, each contributing a substantial amount of original music for the film.” Or perhaps they considered it too “diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs.”
Mansell’s score should be here. It’s a beauty as is Cave’s The Road but alas.
Of the ones listed, the only one I loved was Sherlock Holmes. The movies is mediocre at best but it’s a fabulous score.
Oh and super soft spot for Giacchino’s Star Trek score.
OUTLAW VERN on The Blind Side’s Nomination vs. Invictus and the sigh…er… signs of the times:
“In the first Oscars of the Obama administration there are two best picture nominees about black people – but they’re both about teaching them how to read. They didn’t nominate INVICTUS, the one about the leadership genius of a black man. They chose the white lady inspiring the black kid to sports glory with her words over the black leader inspiring the white man to sports glory with his words.
I mean, you know… just an observation. There are other movies I’d want to see nominated before INVICTUS, but I liked it better than BLIND SIDE and PRECIOUS, and it’s interesting to me that it’s the one that was overlooked. I guess to be honest I don’t expect people to talk much about any of these five years from now. But I’d pick Clint’s movie as the one more representative of the times we’re living in. What are you gonna do, I guess. People love to see black kids get tutored, according to these nominations.
(Or depicted as aliens, come to think of it.)
And here’s another thing to keep in mind: 2 (two) of this year’s best picture nominees, THE BLIND SIDE and UP IN THE AIR, have a major turning point scene based around Young MC’s song “Bust a Move.” Actually, I haven’t seen AN EDUCATION yet so it’s possible there are three, but most likely two “Bust a Move” scenes nominated for best picture. Think about that.”
I haven’t seen either Invictus or Blind Side. I bet Precious is better than either of them.
But what Vern is saying is that voters should vote for the more politically correct film rather than the movie they think is actually better? Hmmm.
Can’t argue with the “Bust a Move” theory though. heh.
Which white people were represented sympathetically in Precious? The only white person I can remember was the councilor, who was incompetent and underhanded.