Oscar Picks

Post date: Feb 6, 2010 1:29:45 AM

Due to my lack of knowledge about the differences between sound editing and mixing, my failure to see many foreign films, shorts, or documentaries, and general apathy toward the awards for musical scoring, you're going to notice some categories missing in this list. That's OK. At least I'm being honest instead of going out on a limb and picking a movie without really being informed. You can find the full list of Oscar nominees here. BEST PICTUREYou saw this coming: Inglourious Basterds, hands down. It's a movie for people who love Spaghetti Westerns. It's a movie for people who love WWII dramas. It's a movie for people who love lots of dialogue. It's a movie for people who love mind-bending action sequences. It's a movie for people who love movies, period. This is an instant classic, and if there is justice in the Academy, it will win Quentin Tarantino the Best Picture glory that has eluded him thus far. On a side note, I was really impressed with the Academy's picks in this, the first year of the awards reverting to the 10-nominations model of old. It would have been nice to Moon up there, and I think District 9 and The Blind Side could be discarded, but 80% ain't bad.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

I'm not terribly excited about my choices in this category, but I would give it to George Clooney in Up in the Air. Jeremy Renner came close in The Hurt Locker, but I don't think he has the kind of inner complexity or psychological struggle as Clooney's character. Which is a big step for Clooney, who usually comes off as kind of a flat character whose motives you can spot from a mile away.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLEThe most impressive acting of the year, in my book: Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds. His performance as the weaselly detective sniffing out lies is what really propels the movie to Top 10 of the Decade status. I'm not even sure why Stanley Tucci was considered here. Sure, he did a decent bit of work as the creeper in The Lovely Bones, but it didn't exactly blow me away or show me anything I haven't seen before. ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLEI thought An Education was good, but I don't quite understand the buzz about Carey Mulligan. For me, this is an easy pick: Gabourey Sidibe, the film rookie in Precious, takes the cake (but probably shouldn't eat it too (lulz)). The film's writing was good, but what made it really special was the leading ladies' authentic acting. Which leads me to . . . ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLEMo'Nique, as I said in my review, really wowed me as the title character's ignorant, selfish, and abusive mother. The performance was so raw, so powerful, so stomach-churning. I hope we get to see her do something like this again. ANIMATED FEATURE FILMHats off to Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) for bringing us Coraline. I'm digging this new brand of animated features that are not quite children's movies. There's nothing really wholesome or Wonder Bread about it, which I'm all for. It's high time that "animated" and "for-children" became uncorrelated concepts.

I'm not sure if psychedelic is the right word, but Coraline is definitely trippy -- visually in

ventive in a way that more reserved animated movies are typically not. I will admit, though, that I haven't seen Fantastic Mr. Fox, so I wouldn't be too broken up if Coraline lost to that . . . Unlike when Ratatouille beat Persepolis. That was a travesty. ART DIRECTIONTo give this to any film but Avatar would be a sham. No, it was not the best movie of the year, and hell no, it didn't deserve all of those Golden Globes (What were the awards voters thinking?). For all the effort and millions poured into the project, the plot wasn't even that great, and the acting was simply unimpressive. But the scenery . . . my god, the scenery. It was truly something to behold. Kudos to James Cameron for growing up an angry nerd with a wild imagination; it really paid off in his vivid depiction of Pandora. CINEMATOGRAPHY

I had to roll this one around in my mind for awhile. I could change my mind on this in an hour or two, but at the moment, I'm going with The Hurt Locker. Shaky, documentary-style camerawork is not an original concept at this point, but I think Barry Ackroyd uses the technique here for maximal effect.

Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq War picture amplifies its tense moments with arresting camerawork: we see individual grains of dirt kicking up from a bomb explosion in slow motion; long distance firefights, seen through the perspective of binoculars and a sniper rifle scope; the view from inside the bomb disarmer's spaceman suit. Avatar and Inglorious Basterds are beautiful works, but there aren't as many moments in those films that made me think, "Wow, look at what they did with the camera."

DIRECTING

If this award went to the director that achieved the most surprisingly good performances out of his actors, I would have to pick Lee Daniels for Precious. However, it doesn't, and I'm not. As a proponent of auteur cinema, I believe that the winner of Best Picture and