The Academy Award nominations came out yesterday and there weren’t a ton of surprises. Although I admittedly missed many of the smaller films, 2009 wasn’t exactly a banner year for great film-making, at least when it came to the major studio fodder. Avatar was cool for what it was, Inglourious Basterds was good times for all, Up in the Air turned Jason Reitman into a “I’m seeing everything this guy makes for the next 20 years” director and The Hurt Locker was truly amazing until the last 20 minutes. Other than that, sure, there were some good flicks here and there, but not a lot of stuff I’ll be talking about in 20 years.
We’ll have a big-time breakdown by Robert Cotto with all his nomination thoughts up shortly, but I figured I would at least throw out all the nominees in the nine categories I pay attention to below. You can find alll the others here if you’re into sound editing and stuff done by freedom-hating non-Americans for some reason. Traitor.
Leave your picks in the comments below.
As we all know, the Oscars are a good idea in theory and often start off well — but by the time the night is over, the whole thing usually just feels like a tragic car crash. (via ManEggs)
Best Picture
- Avatar
- The Blind Side
- District 9
- An Education
- The Hurt Locker
- Inglourious Basterds
- Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire Lee Daniels
- A Serious Man
- Up
- Up in the Air
Best Director
- James Cameron (Avatar)
- Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
- Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)
- Lee Daniels (Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire)
- Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)
Actress in a Leading Role
- Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
- Helen Mirren (The Last Station)
- Carey Mulligan (An Education)
- Gabourey Sidibe (Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire)
- Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)
Actor in a Leading Role
- Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
- George Clooney (Up in the Air)
- Colin Firth (A Single Man)
- Morgan Freeman (Invictus)
- Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)
Actress in a Supporting Role
- Penélope Cruz (Nine)
- Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air)
- Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart)
- Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air)
- Mo’Nique (Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire)
Actor in a Supporting Role
- Matt Damon (Invictus)
- Woody Harrelson (The Messenger)
- Christopher Plummer (The Last Station)
- Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)
- Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
Best Original Screenplay
- The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
- Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
- The Messenger (Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman)
- A Serious Man (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen)
- Up (Bob Peterson, Pete Docter. Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy)
Best Adaptated Screenplay
- District 9 (Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell)
- An Education (Nick Hornby)
- In the Loop (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche)
- Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (Geoffrey Fletcher)
- Up in the Air (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner)
Cinematography
- Mauro Fiore (Avatar)
- Bruno Delbonnel (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)
- Barry Ackroyd (The Hurt Locker)
- Robert Richardson (Inglourious Basterds)
- Christian Berger (The White Ribbon)
