The Oscar Nominations
Tuesday February 2nd 2010
The nominations are in for this year’s Academy Awards. They are mostly predictable, occasionally surprising and inevitably fascinating. Below you will find the nominations for all the interesting categories (sorry cinematography fans) along with Ultra Culture‘s trademark irreverent analysis. Enjoy!
Best Picture |
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| A Serious Man An Education Avatar The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds District 9 The Blind Side Precious Up Up In The Air |
dir. The Coen Brothers dir. Lone Scherfig dir. James Cameron dir. Kathryn Bigelow dir. Quentin Tarantino dir. Neill Blomkamp dir. John Lee Hancock dir. Lee Daniels dir. Pete Docter dir. Jason Reitman |
Trailer Trailer Trailer Trailer Trailer Trailer s Trailer Trailer Trailer |
Review Review Review Review Review Review s Review Review Review |
| Expanding the Best Picture category to include ten nominees was a very good idea. It’s so fucking cool that stuff like District 9 and Up can sneak in there alongside predictable Oscar nonsense like The Blind Side and An Education. I say congrats.
Should win: Inglourious Basterds |
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Best Director |
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| James Cameron Jason Reitman Kathryn Bigelow Quentin Tarantino Lee Daniels |
Avatar Up In The Air The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds Precious |
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| Nice to see at least one nominee under 45 this year, with 32-year-old Jason Reitman reppin’ it for the kids. It’s also a good year for people who aren’t white males, with Kathyrn Bigelow becoming the fourth woman and Lee Daniels the second black person to get Best Director nominations.
Should win: Quentin Tarantino |
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Best Actor |
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| Jeff Bridges George Clooney Colin Firth Morgan Freeman Jeremy Renner |
Bad Blake Ryan Bingham George Falconer Nelson Mandela Sgt. William James |
Crazy Heart Up In The Air A Single Man Invictus The Hurt Locker |
| Not a bad year for the chaps. Jeremy Renner is just riding The Hurt Locker‘s wave of success and Morgan Freeman isn’t exactly breaking new ground, but there’s a powerful triumvirate in Bridges, Clooney and Firth: all delivering ‘career best’ performances. It’s interesting that none of them are playing titular characters. Depending on your definition of ‘interesting’.
Should win: Colin Firth |
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Best Actress |
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| Meryl Streep Sandra Bullock Helen Mirren Gabourey Sidibe Carey Mulligan |
Julia Child Leigh Anne Tuohy Sofya Tolstoy Claireece Precious Jones Jenny Miller |
Julie & Julia The Blind Side The Last Station Precious An Education |
| A good but by no means exceptional selection of lady performances. There are new faces (Sidibe and Mulligan), old faces (Mirren and Streep) and faces we never expected to see on a list of dramatic acting talent (you can guess) but nothing to get too worked up about.
Should win: Carey Mulligan |
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Best Supporting Actor |
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| Christoph Waltz Christopher Plummer Stanley Tucci Woody Harrelson Matt Damon |
Col. Hans Landa Leo Tolstoy George Harvey Captain Tony Stone Francois Pienaar |
Inglourious Basterds The Last Station The Lovely Bones The Messenger Invictus |
| A good bunch (Stanley Tucci almost made The Lovely Bones watchable) but none of them have got a fucking chance against The Waltz. And I can’t believe Matt Damon robbed Alfred Molina of his nomination, what a cunt. Saying that, he was OK in Invictus.
Should win: Christoph Waltz |
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Best Supporting Actress |
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| Mo’Nique Anna Kendrick Maggie Gylenhaal Vera Farmiga Penélope Cruz |
Mary Lee Johnston Natalie Keener Jean Craddock Alex Goran Carla Albanese |
Precious Up In The Air Crazy Heart Up In The Air Nine |
| Penélope Cruz shouldn’t be up here TBH. Mo’Nique was brills and it’s cool to see Magpie Gylenhaal getting an Oscar nom, but it’s the Up In The Air ladies that deserve to be the real playas this year.
Should win: Anna Kendrick |
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Best Original Screenplay |
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| Inglourious Basterds A Serious Man Up The Hurt Locker The Messenger |
Quentin Tarantino The Coen Brothers Bob Petersen & Pete Docter Marc Boal Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman |
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| Thank fuck Avatar didn’t get anywhere near this category. As it is, we’ve got four very deserving screenplays and The Messenger, which no-one in the UK has seen because they haven’t bothered finding a distributor yet. I’m sure it’s pretty good though.
Should win: A Serious Man |
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Best Adapted Screenplay |
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| Up In The Air An Education Precious District 9 In The Loop |
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner Nick Hornby Geoffrey Fletcher Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell Armando Iannucci & others |
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| Hooray! In The Loop! Hooray! District 9! As perverse as it sounds, Adapted Screenplay could turn out to be one of the more interesting categories this year. It’s like a war between unexpected indie hits and worthy but slightly flawed relationship dramas. I bet Iannucci (and Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell and Tony Roche) can’t believe their luck.
Should win: District 9 |
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Best Film in a Foreign Language |
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| Das Weisse Band La teta asustada El secreto de sus ojos Un Prophète Ajami |
(The White Ribbon) (The Milk of Sorrow) (The Secret of Her Eyes) (A Prophet) (Ajami) |
dir. Michael Haneke dir. Claudia Llosa dir. Juan José Campanella dir. Jacques Audiard dir. Scandar Copti & Yaron Shani |
| I love A Prophet but it’s got to be Haneke’s year. If only because everyone wants to see what he’ll say when he gets up to the podium in front of the establishment he’s spent years rebelling against. The other three haven’t got a chance.
Should win: The White Ribbon |
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Best Animated Feature |
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| Up Fantastic Mr. Fox The Secret of Kells Coraline The Princess & The Frog |
dir. Pete Docter dir. Wes Anderson dir. Tomm Moore dir. Henry Selick dir. Ron Clements & John Musker |
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| Not exactly a surprising selection. Up and Fantastic Mr. Fox are miles ahead of the competition (Coraline isn’t half as good as some people make out) but even WAnderson can’t compete with the Oscar-winning-machine that is Pixar Animation Studios. This is the one category that is 100% a foregone conclusion. And what the fuck is The Secret of Kells?
Should win: Up |
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See you March 7th!