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The 82nd Academy Awards

Gold Standard

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

MARCH 8, 2010: I missed eight categories out of 24, so that's not too bad. Better than some years for me. I was very pleased, however, that my bad guesses were in favor of The Hurt Locker. This was the first time in Oscar history that more awards went to the great, small film rather than the big, stupid, audience-pleaser. Not to mention that Kathryn Bigelow made history last night, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer lady. Unfortunately, the awfulness of the foreign film category continues as they ignored Michael Haneke's best film and awarded an Argentinian film I have not yet seen. But it was directed by Juan Jose Campanella, who was previously nominated for Son of the Bride; Argentina has so many great filmmakers, and this guy is arguably the most boing. (Nevertheless, I'll need to see the film before I pass judgment.) Overall, I was happier with this lot of Oscars than I have been in years.

Here's the breakdown of the winners:
6 Oscars: The Hurt Locker
3 Oscars: Avatar
2 Oscars: Crazy Heart, Precious, Up
1 Oscar: The Blind Side, The Cove, Inglourious Basterds, The Secret in Their Eyes, Star Trek, The Young Victoria
The shorts: Logorama, Music by Prudence, The New Tenants

FEBRUARY 2, 2010: Not too many surprises here this year. The Academy made good on their new list of ten best picture nominees, and they managed to use the space for four excellent films, five mediocre ones and one bad one. I was happy to see some of my favorites, like The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and Bright Star in there with a couple of token nominations, and for the most part only Avatar came away with too many. Editing? James Horner's awful score? Oh well.

As for the actors, Colin Firth, Jeremy Renner, Sandra Bullock, Carey Mulligan, Gabourey Sidibe, Stanley Tucci, Christoph Waltz, Vera Farmiga, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Anna Kendrick, Mo'Nique and -- believe it or not -- Christopher Plummer -- have their first nominations this year. Jeff Bridges has his fifth nomination, and Woody Harrelson has his second nomination. Neither have ever won. Of the previous Oscar winners, George Clooney has his third acting nomination (plus two more for writing and directing) Morgan Freeman has his fifth nomination, Helen Mirren has her fourth nomination, Meryl Streep has her sixteenth nomination, Matt Damon has his second acting nomination (plus one win for writing) and Penelope Cruz has her third nomination.

Here's the breakdown of nominations:
9 nominations: The Hurt Locker, Avatar
8 nominations: Inglourious Basterds
6 nominations: Precious, Up in the Air
5 nominations: Up
4 nominations: District 9, Nine, Star Trek
3 nominations: An Education, Crazy Heart, The Young Victoria, The Princess and the Frog
2 nominations: The Blind Side, A Serious Man, Invictus, The Last Station, The Messenger, The White Ribbon, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Sherlock Holmes, Fantastic Mr. Fox
1 nomination: A Single Man, Julie & Julia, The Lovely Bones, In the Loop, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Bright Star, Coco Before Chanel, Il Divo, Paris 36, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Coraline, The Secret of Kells, A Prophet, Burma VJ, The Cove; Food, Inc.; The Most Dangerous Man in America

Watch this space for upcoming predictions, personal choices, and lists of overlooked films.

Nominees	Jeff's Take & Results
Best Picture Avatar 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	The Winner: The Hurt Locker My Prediction: Avatar My Vote: The Hurt Locker Unfairly Overlooked: Bright Star
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	The Winner: Jeff Bridges My Prediction: Jeff Bridges My Vote: Jeremy Renner Unfairly Overlooked: Nicolas Cage, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans; Matt Damon, The Informant!
Best Actress 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	The Winner: Sandra Bullock My Prediction: Sandra Bullock My Vote: Meryl Streep Unfairly Overlooked: Abbie Cornish, Bright Star
Best Supporting Actor Matt Damon, Invictus Woody Harrelson, The Messenger Christopher Plummer, The Last Station Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds	The Winner: Christoph Waltz My Prediction: Christoph Waltz My Vote: Christoph Waltz Unfairly Overlooked: Christian McKay, Me and Orson Welles
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: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire	The Winner: Mo'Nique My Prediction: Mo'Nique My Vote: Penelope Cruz Unfairly Overlooked: Samantha Morton, The Messenger
Best Director Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker James Cameron, Avatar Lee Daniels, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire Jason Reitman, Up in the Air Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds	The Winner: Kathryn Bigelow My Prediction: Kathryn Bigelow My Vote: Kathryn Bigelow Unfairly Overlooked: Jane Campion, Bright Star; John Woo, Red Cliff; Sam Raimi, Drag Me to Hell
Original Screenplay Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman, The Messenger Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, A Serious Man Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Thomas McCarthy, Up	The Winner: The Hurt Locker My Prediction: The Hurt Locker My Vote: Inglourious Basterds Unfairly Overlooked: Greg Mottola, Adventureland
Adapted Screenplay Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell, District 9 Nick Hornby, An Education Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, In the Loop Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air	The Winner: Precious My Prediction: Up in the Air My Vote: In the Loop Unfairly Overlooked: Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach, Fantastic Mr. Fox; Henry Selick, Coraline
Cinematography Mauro Fiore, Avatar Christian Berger, The White Ribbon Bruno Delbonnel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Barry Ackroyd, The Hurt Locker Robert Richardson, Inglourious Basterds	The Winner: Avatar My Prediction: Avatar My Vote: The White Ribbon Unfairly Overlooked: Christopher Doyle, The Limits of Control; Lance Acord, Where the Wild Things Are; Roger Deakins, A Serious Man
Film Editing Avatar District 9 The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire	The Winner: The Hurt Locker My Prediction: The Hurt Locker My Vote: The Hurt Locker Unfairly Overlooked: A Serious Man
Art Direction Avatar The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Nine Sherlock Holmes The Young Victoria	The Winner: Avatar My Prediction: Avatar My Vote: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Unfairly Overlooked: Red Cliff
Costume Bright Star Coco Before Chanel The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Nine The Young Victoria	The Winner: The Young Victoria My Prediction: The Young Victoria My Vote: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Unfairly Overlooked: Red Cliff
Makeup Il Divo Star Trek The Young Victoria	The Winner: Star Trek My Prediction: Star Trek My Vote: Star Trek Unfairly Overlooked: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Original Score James Horner, Avatar Alexandre Desplat, Fantastic Mr. Fox Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders, The Hurt Locker Hans Zimmer, Sherlock Holmes Michael Giacchino, Up	The Winner: Up My Prediction: Sherlock Holmes My Vote: Fantastic Mr. Fox Unfairly Overlooked: Marvin Hamlisch, The Informant!
Original Song "The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart, T-Bone Burnett, Ryan Bingham "Loin de Paname" from Paris 36, Reinhardt Wagner, Frank Thomas "Take It All" from Nine, Maury Yeston "Down in New Orleans" from The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman "Almost There" from The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman	The Winner: The Weary Kind" My Prediction: "The Weary Kind" My Vote: none Unfairly Overlooked: "All Is Love" from Where the Wild Things Are, Karen O. and the Kids
Sound Mixing Avatar The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds Star Trek Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	The Winner: The Hurt Locker My Prediction: Avatar My Vote: The Hurt Locker Unfairly Overlooked: Red Cliff, Zombieland
Sound Editing Avatar The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds Star Trek Up	The Winner: The Hurt Locker My Prediction: Avatar My Vote: The Hurt Locker Unfairly Overlooked: Red Cliff, Zombieland
Visual Effects Avatar District 9 Star Trek	The Winner: Avatar My Prediction: Avatar My Vote: Avatar Unfairly Overlooked:
Animated Feature Film Coraline Fantastic Mr. Fox The Princess and the Frog The Secret of Kells Up	The Winner: Up My Prediction: Up My Vote: Coraline Unfairly Overlooked: Ponyo, $9.99, Sita Sings the Blues
Foreign Language Film Ajami (Israel) The Milk of Sorrow (Peru) A Prophet (France) The Secret in Their Eyes (Argentina) The White Ribbon (Germany)	The Winner: The Secret in Their Eyes My Prediction: The White Ribbon My Vote: The White Ribbon Unfairly Overlooked: 35 Shots of Rum, Police, Adjective, Summer Hours, The Beaches of Agnes
Documentary Feature Burma VJ The Cove Food, Inc. The Most Dangerous Man in America Which Way Home	The Winner: The Cove My Prediction: Food, Inc. My Vote: Food, Inc. Unfairly Overlooked: The Beaches of Agnes, Anvil: The Story of Anvil
Documentary Short 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	The Winner: Music by Prudence My Prediction: n/a My Vote: n/a Unfairly Overlooked:
Animated Short French Roast Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty The Lady and the Reaper Logorama Wallace and Gromit in 'A Matter of Loaf and Death'	The Winner: Logorama My Prediction: Logorama My Vote: The Lady and the Reaper Unfairly Overlooked:
Live Action Short The Door Instead of Abracadabra Kavi Miracle Fish The New Tenants	The Winner: The New Tenants My Prediction: The Door My Vote: Instead of Abracadabra Unfairly Overlooked: