The Oscar Contenders

Read Time:4 Minute, 35 Second

Best Picture: Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air
Actor in a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, Colin Firth, Morgan Freeman, Jeremy Renner
Actress in a Leading Role: Sandra Bullock, Helen Mirren, Carey Mulligan, Gabourey Sidibe, Meryl Streep
Directing: Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Up in the Air, Precious

A small note: I thought “Inglourious Basterds” was a facockata aim for Tarrantino to conjure some kind of ‘foreign film’ creds. It sucked! “Up In The Air” provoked realistic contemplation concerning our social morays. “Hurt Locker” kept my attention. “AVATAR” was grand. “Precious” was a seriously important story to be told and to be listened to, I hope you see it. I saw Julia & Julia and I adore Meryl… don’t we all? I haven’t see “The Blind Side” and I want to very much. That’s the my side of movies up…

[My old friend William Morin is a columnist for a weekly Vegas zine where he pubs astrological info and does a ditty about the who what where when how in the community. Bill is an astrologer and psychic who each year pens his predictions for the Oscars. He has a remarkable record of success in it. I thought I would share Bill’s column (permissio) given. So here it is:]

Once again it’s that time of year where people kiss babies (and butt), look their best (or at least try) and practice both smiling and crying on cue. Yes it’s the 82nd annual Oscar ceremony. Oscar still looks great (we all know he’s had more work done than CHER) and is still film lands most sought after prize. The following are my predictions after having polished & charged up my crystal ball:

Supporting Actor: Matt Damon-Invictus, Woody Harrelson-The Messenger, Christopher Plummer-The Last Station, Stanley Tucci-Lovely Bones & Christop Waltz-Inglorious Basterds.
Harrelson & Plummer are extreme longshots, Damon did a fine job & was oh so Buff! Tucci’s slimy evasive murderer would have it any other year, but Waltz has won every major award and shall do so on March 7th. Should win: Damon Will Win-Waltz

Supporting Actress: Vera Farigma-Up in the Air, Maggie Gyllenhaal-Crazy Heart, Anna Kendrick-Up in the Air, Mo’Nique-Precious & Penelope Cruz-Nine.
Co stars Farigma & Kendrick will split their votes, Gyllenhaal’s nomination was a surprise. Cruz already won here last year. That leaves Mo’Nique, who like Waltz has won everything in sight. Should and will win-Mo”Nique.

Actor: Jeff Bridges-Crazy Heart, George Clooney-Up in the Air, Colin Firth-A Single Man, Morgan Freeman-Invictus & Jeremy Renner-Hurt Locker.
Clooney was an early favorite but faded. Freeman has already won. Renner is an unknown but will be back in contention. Firth got splendid reviews in a little seen pic. Bridges late award surge should put him over the top. Will and should win: Bridges. Firth is the dark horse here.

Actress: Sandra Bullock-The Blind Side, Helen Mirren-The Last Station, Carey Mulligan-An Education, Gabourey Sidibe-Precious & Meryl Streep-Julie & Julia.
Mirren won in 2006. Mulligan & Sidibe got rave reviews and will be back as nominees. Streep was the early favorite, until Bullock hit a “home run” with 2 hit films, being named #1 box office draw and givng her best performance ever in Blind Side. This is a nail biter. Streep might still prevail but this is Bullock’s to lose. Should & Will win: Bullock

Director: Kathryn Bigelow-Hurt Locker, James Cameron-Avatar, Lee Daniels-Precious, Jason Reitman-Up in the Air & Quentin Tarantino-Inglorious Basterds. Daniels must make do with a nomination. Reitman is like to mine gold in another category. Tarantino is a warped genius, but not an academy fave. It comes down to the battle of the exes. Bigelow & Cameron were married and are now friendly rivals. Cameron will likely prevail in 2 other categories. Bigelow shall become the 1st woman in academy history to win in this category. Should win-Cameron. Will-Bigelow.

Picture: for the 1st time since 1943 there are 10 nominees. I’m only tuning in on the 5 with Director nominations.
Avatar, Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, Precious & Up in the Air.
Early fave UP, faded in the stretch. Precious may be too much of a downer for academy taste. Basterds is brilliant but twisted (not qualities the academy embraces). Hurt Locker has gotten splendid reviews and many awards but only made $12 million at the box office. Avatar got very good reviews & has made over 2 billion and counting. It’s like last year’s race. David vs Goliath. Then David (Slumdog) beat out Goliath (Benjamin Button). This year I feel the opposite occuring. The Director & Picture awards (which usually go together) will be split. Goliath (Avatar) prevails by a Hair. Should Win-Locker. Will win-Avatar.

Best of the rest: Original Screenplay-Hurt Locker, Adapted Screenplay-Up in the Air, Costumes-Young Victoria, Foreign Film-White Ribbon-Germany, Original Song-Theme From Crazy Heart; Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Cinematogrophy, Art Direction, Music Score & Film Editing-Avatar.

There you have it. Be sure to tune in March 7th at 5:30PM PST to catch the festivities (Red Carpet events begin at 3 PM). Co Hosts Alec Baldwin & Steve Martin should provide plenty of laughs. Be prepared to watch until 9PM or so.

Namaste Rev. Bill

About Post Author

Guest Contributor

Guest contributors are those who provide commentary, advice, or other food for thought designed to entertain and enlighten our readers.
Happy
Happy
0 %
Sad
Sad
0 %
Excited
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
Angry
0 %
Surprise
Surprise
0 %
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of

11 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
14 years ago

Without a shadow of a doubt my favourite Oscar moment came in 1974 when a streaker ran onto the stage as David Niven was presenting.

He said something to the effect of “Isn’t it fascinating to think that possibly the only laugh that man will get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings”

Will Hart
14 years ago

You didn’t like “Inglorious Bastards”, Gwen? Did you like any of Quentin Tarrantino’s other films? Me, I’m totally a fan. What can I tell you? LOL

14 years ago

I’ve seen Avatar. I haven’t seen Precious, but want to. Mr. Bee has District 9 on blu-ray, said it was good, I just haven’t had the time to see it.

I did see 2012 Friday night, and it was a really fun movie – I quite enjoyed it.

Admin
14 years ago

AVATAR! AVATAR! AVATAR!

14 years ago

Oso, you dog! LMAO I cried, clapped inside and cried again with Precious. It’s an important movie. I am so in favor of the message in AVATAR that I am rooting for it to win. I want to see the Blind Side very much. I adore movies. I like me some TV too. Bad when I spend most of my time with a book or online… I just take a day or two a week to watch all the tivo. Bad, huh? Mush brain. Ah, well…

Holte… About all I afford any more is a movie here and there. Funny, how the movies make more when times are bad. I just saw the Time Travelers Wife with the little bat signal. It was good. And OK! at 3am the other night I payperviewed Zombieland. I happen to adore Woody. LYFAO And Holte… I really loved watching AVATAR & 2012. LOL

Admin
14 years ago

LOL LOL!!!

Oso
14 years ago

Holte ROFLMAO!

Oso
14 years ago

My older daughter and I saw Precious. Got teary eyed and laughed out loud, both at the appropriate places. District 9 was great too, only movies I’d seen that got consideration.

BTW I am so sick of being mistaken for George Clooney, this Oscar thing only makes it worse. For accuracy’s sake no one has ever actually vocalized mistaking me for him but I’m pretty sure that’s what they’re all thinking.

Reply to  Oso
14 years ago

OSO – Know what you mean about being mistaken for famous people, folks come to me all the time and say “hey you remind me of that dead guy” at least George Clooney is still alive.

Admin
14 years ago

I don’t know why but although I liked The Hurt Locker I wasn’t blown away by it. I thought Avatar was far more entertaining, by a mile actually. While I appreciated the horror of war I just had a lot more fun appreciating the FX created by James Cameron.

14 years ago

GWEN – My wife and I love movies, but living in a town that only shows blockbusters we have to drive a 100+ miles round trip to see non multi-million dollar productions, so I haven’t managed to see all nominated films for best picture, especially since they upped the considered films to 10.

We have seen, Avatar; District 9; Hurt Locker; Up In The Air; A Serious Man; and Inglourious Basterds, which in most years would have caught all probably nominees. I enjoyed all the films mentioned (my wife did not) but what we agree on is that it is a two-horse race between Avatar and Hurt Locker.

Avatar is a technological masterpiece, (we saw it in 3D), and it must win something for the behind the scenes whizzes, the story is not a new one, but governments and corporations using and abusing indigenous populations is not new either, so an unoriginal story line should not deter voters. Of the films I’ve seen, Hurt Locker should win by a mile, it doesn’t make judgments for or against the war in Iraq, it about the war. Best film for many years. IMO.

Previous post DEAR MADDY AND THE BENIGN BONER
Next post The (British) Empire Strikes Back : American Idiots
11
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x