BEST PICTURE
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

This is easily the best lineup I’ve seen in my years of watching. I LOVED every one of these movies, all for different reasons. I’m especially excited to see District 9 among the bunch.

Winner:  The Hurt Locker.

BEST DIRECTOR
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
James Cameron, Avatar
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air

Glad to see QT’s name up there finally. As well as other director Jason Reitman. But my nod has to go to Bigelow for so artfully tackling a current issue that people seem to be shy of right now. The Iraq war.

Winner: Kathryn Bigelow.

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

This category isn’t very strong this year… why Matt Damon isn’t here for The Informant I don’t know. Renner was pretty fucking awesome in his movie. But he’s a close second. Jeff Bridges blew me away in Crazy Heart and I’m glad to see he’ll finally get what he’s deserved for so long.

Winner: Jeff Bridges

BEST ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

I don’t know why the fuck The Blind Side is popping up everywhere… maybe they saw something I didn’t. I love Meryl, I literaly haven’t disliked a single movie she’s been in… but how awesome would it be if Gabourey Sidibe won for her first role?

Winner: Meryl Streep.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Awesome to see TWO underrated actors in here. Plummer and Tucci. But lets be real. Maybe next time.

Winner: Christoph Waltz. For being a multilingual badass

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

The ladies from Up in the Air were awesome in their small roles. But out of left field came Mo’nique who gave one of the most shocking proformances I’ve seen in years. She should stick to this stuff and give the comedy a rest.

Winner: Mo’nique

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Peter Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy, Up

Give it to Tarantino please. PLLEASE.

Winner: Quentin Tarantino

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell, District 9
Nick Hornby, An Education
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche, In The Loop
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

Winner: Up in the Air.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ajami, Israel
El Secretro de sus Ojo, Argentina
The Milk of Sorrow, Chile
Un Prophete, France
The White Ribbon, Germany

I caught up on these last week. The White Ribbon is so well shot. Find a torrent.

Winner: The White Ribbon.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Princess and the Frog
The Secrets of Kells
Up

Another year, another Pixar award. Though I did like ALL the other films better, this year was a super strong year for the animated film. I personally love Princess and the Frog the most. Meant a lot to me as a black person.

Winner: Up

ART DIRECTION

“Avatar” Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
“Nine” Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
“Sherlock Holmes” Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
“The Young Victoria” Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Avatar just makes leaps and bounds in tech it’s gonna be great seeing it in the future. Though Doctor Parnassus really had my imagination running wild.

CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Avatar” Mauro Fiore
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel
“The Hurt Locker” Barry Ackroyd
“Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson
“The White Ribbon” Christian Berger

Winner: Avatar

COSTUME DESIGN
“Bright Star” Janet Patterson
“Coco before Chanel” Catherine Leterrier
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
“Nine” Colleen Atwood
“The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell

Winner: The Young Victoria

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
“The Cove” Nominees to be determined
“Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
“Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa

Winner: Food Inc.

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
“China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
“The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
“Music by Prudence” Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
“Rabbit à la Berlin” Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

I need to get on these…

FILM EDITING
“Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
“District 9” Julian Clarke
“The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
“Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz

Winner: The Hurt Locker

MAKEUP
“Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
“Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
“The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Winner: The Young Victoria

ORIGINAL SCORE
“Avatar” James Horner
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
“The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
“Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
“Up” Michael Giacchino

Winner: Up

ORIGINAL SONG
“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
“Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Winner: The Weary Kind

ANIMATED SHORT
“French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
“The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
“Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin

“A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park

I LOVE Nick Park’s work, even his underrated Chicken Run. I’m sad to see Pixar’s short Partly Cloudy didn’t get nominated.

Winner: A Matter of Loaf and Death

LIVE ACTION SHORT
“The Door” Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
“Instead of Abracadabra” Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
“Kavi” Gregg Helvey
“Miracle Fish” Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
“The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Didn’t see any of these, so I can’t say.

SOUND EDITING
“Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
“The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
“Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
“Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
“Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Avatar will sweep the tech awards. As it should.

Winner: Avatar

SOUND MIXING
“Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
“The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
“Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
“Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Winner: Avatar

VISUAL EFFECTS
“Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
“District 9” Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
“Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Avatar deserves it. The movie was beyond beautiful

Winner: Avatar