It's that time of year again. No, not college basketball silly. It's Oscar time! I did my best to see the major players this year. Okay, maybe I only did 68% of my best. Close enough for me. I still haven't seen Avatar but I think I got the gist by living in L.A. and having ears. I've kept myself educated thanks to Google Reader and sites like this one. Don't get your hopes up, but the hosts could be genuinely funny for once. I heard that this is the last year Barbara Walters will do her traditional pre-show interviews. So much to get excited over! Who knows, they might even hand out some awards.
Best Original Screenplay strikes me as a particularly strong category this year. I've seen four out of the five nominated films and they all had phenomenal scripts. I'm happy to see A Serious Man get its just recognition. Toned down and restrained compared to what we're accustomed to getting from the Coen brothers, I found it to be one of their most refined films yet, harnessing all of their infectious energy in a much denser package than we've seen in the past. That being said, if I had a vote, it would be going to Up. Yes, it's a sentimental pick, but that sentiment is a product of the story that moved me the most out of all the movies I saw this year. If it happens to win, you can justify it as the statue Pixar deserved last year for Wall-E.
It seems inevitable at this point that we will have to live with the phrase "Academy Award Winner Sanrda Bullock." I didn't see The Blind Side (shocker) but I'm going to go out on a limb and assume Sanrda Bullock does not have the chops to upstage Meryl Streep, who is continuing her sheer destruction of the Best Actress race with her third nomination in four years. I expect her to lose again because Oscar voters are guaranteed to fall for the "a-list actress puts it all on the line by not phoning it in and making a movie that isn't criminally awful" angle (see: Zeta-Jones, Catherine; Paltrow, Gwyneth; Witherspoon, Reese). So it goes.
With any luck, Sunday will prove to be a very historic night in the history of cinema. It's an embarrassment that a woman has never won Best Director. Worse yet, Kathryn Bigelow is only the fourth woman to ever be nominated. She is a strong favorite to take it down for her incredible work with The Hurt Locker. I put off seeing it until this week and I'm glad I caught it before the awards are handed out. To oversimplify things beyond recognition, The Hurt Locker is basically a character study wrapped up in a war drama, which is about as easy to direct as a $500 Million 3-D epic. Just kidding, it's way harder when you push your actors to give serious performances where the audience can see their real skin tone.
I think the real threat to history is the possibility of another storybook moment: the confirmation of Quentin Tarantino as one of the most significant figures of his generation. Inglorious Basterds has only gotten better since I first saw it. And you can never, ever count out the Weinsteins when they have a contender. Avatar and The Hurt Locker might be dominating the headlines but Inglorious Basterds is lurking, ready to swoop in if the frontrunners take each other out. Truth be told, I think it's worthy of either of the top awards. Tarantino took what could have been a frantic mess of a movie and turned it into a cohesive, well-executed and downright fun flick. Win or lose, I think it's the 2-D movie we'll remember best and talk about the most in a decade.
(Picks after the jump)
Best Picture
Winner: The Hurt Locker
Rooting for: Inglorious Basterds
Dark horse: Inglorious Basterds
Best Director
Winner: Kathryn Bigelow
Rooting for: Kathryn Bigelow
Dark horse: Quentin Tarantino
Best Actor
Winner: Jeff Bridges
Rooting for: The Dude
Dark horse: Jeremy Renner
Best Actress
Winner: Sandra Bullock
Rooting for: The field
Dark horse: Gabourey Sidibe
Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Christoph Waltz
Rooting for: Christoph Waltz
Dark horse: Woody Harrelson
Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Mo'Nique
Rooting for: Mo'Nique
Dark horse: Vera Farmiga
Best Cinematography
Winner: Avatar
Rooting for: The Hurt Locker
Dark horse: Inglorious Basterds
Best Original Screenplay
Winner: Inglorious Basterds
Rooting for: Up
Dark horse: The Messenger
Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: Up in the Air
Rooting for: Up in the Air
Dark horse: District 9
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