I love award season! I start getting excited when the Golden Globes are announced then the season culminates with a 12-13 hour Oscar day at my house. The Golden Globes were last weekend and they, along with the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which was held last night, begin the road to Oscar for many actors.
So far, award season is going as many do. There are some obvious favorites, even though the Academy Awards nominees won’t be announced until February 2nd.
Let’s look at some of the big awards. Avatar won the Best Motion Picture-Drama Golden Globe, but does that make it a shoe-in? Hard to say. This year, for the first time ever, the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will nominate ten films rather than five for Best Picture. There are some obvious choices that I am sure will be there. Obviously Avatar will be nominated, but my money is also on The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based On The Novel Push by Sapphire, and Up In The Air. You may also see An Education, Invictus, or A Serious Man show up in the nominations. I really don’t know if Up will appear on the Best Picture of Best Animated Feature list, but you can bet it will be on one or the other. Some believe that with this new, higher number of Best Picture nominations, you may see some fan favorites, such as Star Trek, that might not normally appear on the list.
As for Best Actress, it seems as if Sandra Bullock has that locked up for her performance in The Blind Side. The same thing goes for Jeff Bridges’ performance in Crazy Heart. However, I remember my great disappointment last year when Mickey Rourke won what seemed like every award known to man, but lost the Best Actor Oscar to Sean Penn.
What about Best Actress for a Supporting Role? Mo’nique seems to have that one sewn up as does Christoph Waltz (very deservingly) for his performance in Inglourious Basterds, but see the Curse of Mickey Rourke above just in case.
I don’t know what animated films will be nominated, but chances are I will have seen at least a few of them. In my opinion, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Fantastic Mr. Fox are definitely worthy of a nomination, if not win.
As for Best Director, I am afraid that James Cameron will win for Avatar, but personally, I am pulling for Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds. Anyone that has the audacity to re-write World War II is okay in my book.
Watch for the official list of nominees for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards to be announced on February 2nd.
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