Every year I do this and every year I come close to a perfect set of predictions. Not bad considering the limited number of films that actually make it through this neck of the woods. This is going to be a fairly long two-parter, so without further adieu, the predictions for this year:
Best Picture
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up!
Up in the Air
The Hurt Locker. Why? I’ve been calling this one for months now, and I’m sticking to my guns, despite what the Hollywood Foreign Press thinks. It’s nice to see District 9 in there, the better of the two ‘alien’ movies in my mind, but The Hurt Locker has been the little movie that could since Sundance ‘09.
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
Jeff Bridges. It would be nice to see Jeremy Renner take this for the sheer upset alone, but I think Hollywood is going to choose Bridges as much for his contributions over the years as for this particular role.
Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julia and Julia
Sandra Bullock. Carey Mulligan was an early favourite, but she seems to have drifted to the sidelines and Hollywood loves their “stars”. From what I have heard, Bullock does a good job, but I’m not sure she would be my pick, even though she is.
Best Director
James Cameron, Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Kathryn Bigelow. This will be the first time a female has won the Best Director award, which means there will be buzz and publicity aplenty surrounding the choice. As long as I don’t have to sit through more self-servicing nonsense from Cameron I’m happy, but this one is all about Bigelow. Point Break and Near Dark were not so long ago...
Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
It can’t not be Waltz. He did a brilliant job and turned what could have been a strictly evil character into a funny, frightening and incredibly unique performance.
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
I’d have to guess Mo’Nique, although I’ve heard wonderful things about the ladies of Up In The Air and Penelope Cruz looks all right dancing around in her underwear. Being where I am though, I haven’t had the chance to see any of these performances yet though.
Best Animated Feature
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of the Kells
Up!
As much as I would like to see Coraline win, being a huge fan of Neil Gaiman's work, I know it’s going to be Up! I think this category was created especially for Pixar, but there is no denying the quality of their work. And Up! Was a wonderful movie, and deserves the win.
Best Screenplay
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Allessandro Camon & Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - A Serious Man
Pete Docter & Bob Peterson - Up!
Quentin Tarantino will win and deservedly so for his most accomplished film to-date. The Coens are always favourites, but this will be Quentin’s award.
Best Screenplay (Adapted)
District 9
An Education
In the Loop
Precious
Up in the Air
A bit of a tough category, but I think this is where Up In The Air will finally get some love. That being said, I would love to see Nick Hornby take the win for An Education.
Best Art Direction
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria
Avatar won’t be shut out and is a shoe in for this award. It would be nice to see Gilliam get some love for the maligned Parnassus, but this is Avatar’s win.
Best 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
I think Richardson by a hair over Ackroyd, although it would be interesting to see Haneke’s bleak (and black & white) White Ribbon win. And the latest Potter film really was nicely filmed, but I’m sticking with Richardson.
Best Costume Design
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria
Again, it would be nice to see Gilliam’s film take this award, but how do you compete against Coco Chanel? My gut is with Nine (although I usually tank this category if there isn’t a Lord of the Rings film in the running).
Part II to follow!
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