2010 Academy Awards -- The Movies

N.B. I am dispensing with the pictures to denote my selections and what I believe will be the Academy's choices. I will instead highlight titles in red to indicate my preferences. The picture of Khaled refuses to shrink down to icon size -- funny how a set of zeroes and ones can take on the personality of the represented individual.



Best Original Screenplay


This is clearly the most underrated of Oscar categories (with apologies to John Bailey and the rest of the balding, overpriced sound mixing world).

• The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal) -- Finally, something creative about Iraq (with apologies to the entertaining Three Kings). This script focuses on people in an impossible situation and the way they handle it (and themselves). I am pulling for Inglorious Basterds, but would not be at all surprised if this won.
  



• The Messenger (Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman) -- What happened with this movie? 10 nominations for Best Picture and this is left off?!? Yes, I readily admit having a soft spot for movies filmed in NJ and particularly with scenes near our house, but this truly was a wonderful film. The characters develop from what seem to be hard stereotypes at the beginning to complex, difficult individuals you can sympathize with at the end. There are a range of moments: laugh-out-loud; cringe; discomfort; tears. It was distributed in limited release (it hasn't even cleared $1MM in box office) and not properly promoted. I even think Ben Foster deserved a Best Actor nod ahead of Clooney. One of three clear sleepers of the year, along with District 9 and In the Loop.
  



• A Serious Man (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen) -- A typical Coen Brothers film, which is to say, this is unlike other things you've seen. A brilliant, off-beat story. If you loved The Blind Side, this might not be for you, but a deserved nod here.




• Up (Bob Peterson, Pete Docter and Tom McCarthy) -- Best story in the animation space since The Lion King. The first 20 minutes of Up are as moving as any picture of the last five years. A real surprise.




• Inglorious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino) -- This is my pick and should win. It is always a risk to take well known historical events and completely twist them, but this was well thought out. Unpredictable and consistently entertaining.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Aka "taking credit for someone else's work". Didn't this almost get me thrown out of college (sorry, George -- I thought you'd fall into the "imitation is the sincerest form of" something or another that would've permitted me to get a decent grade for imitating a manual Xerox machine)? Yes, I get that a book is not dialogue, but puh-leeze -- the creativity was in the original thinking, no?

• An Education (Nick Hornby) -- I loved the movie, but this is Lolita. Let Nabokov rest in peace.



• Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher) -- Nah. This movie was all about acting and directing.



• Up in the Air (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner) -- I genuinely enjoyed this movie, as anyone who has traveled for business would. No statue, though.



• In The Loop (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Ianucci and Tony Roche) -- This movie is the reason to pay attention to the Screenplay categories (last year's evidence: In Bruges). Very clever, very funny. I laughed aloud more at this presentation than any other this year. James Gandolfini's in it and proves that, even without the accent and the wife-beater t-shirt, he's still Tony Soprano. The rest of the cast is stellar (Peter Capaldi should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor ahead of Matt Damon; Anna Chlumsky is back -- remember the cute little kid from My Girl?) If you enjoy BBC comedy (see Yes, Minister), you'll love this movie.

District 9 (Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell) -- Blew me away. I expected Independence Day in South Africa and got a very different movie. Yes, there were aliens. Yes, there was a giant spaceship that hovers over a city. But this was a political/race-relations film. I desperately want this to win a major award, but I am prepared to be disappointed.

Best Picture

The World Series Ring of Oscars (f-ing Yankees....still stings). We save this one until last so that East Coast productivity is at its lowest on Monday morning (and those of us with Tivos can act smug...same reason we drive hybrids).


The Academy expanded (or, more correctly, returned) to 10 movies this year in a bald-faced attempt to get us to spend more scarce $$ on movies in a crappy economy. I'm out an additional $45 (plus salty snacks) so it seems I've been played like a cheap fiddle...again.

• A Serious Man -- An enjoyable movie, but not the Coen Brothers' best. In a year of 5 noms, it doesn't make the cut.



• Up in the Air -- A wonderful movie that doesn't belong in this category. Clearly an expansion winner.



• Inglorious Basterds -- The violence may put some people off, but this was an amazing movie. Should win for Screenplay. I am not a Brad Pitt fan (save his wonderful performance in 12 Monkeys) but thought he was great in this movie. Of course, he was completely overshadowed by Christoph Waltz.



• Up -- Great to see an animated picture get in here (two in 20 years -- Beauty and the Beast is the only other one. Still can't believe The Lion King didn't get a nod over Quiz Show.) It won't win (it did fall into a few animated film cliches) but it was a wonderful movie.



• The Blind Side -- I enjoyed this more than I expected to, thanks to a great performance from Sandra Bullock and a heartwarming true story. It almost fell apart when the real-life college football coaches had way too big a role (the cameos worked; the dialog with Nick Saban and Lou Holtz was nails on a chalkboard ). This movie feels out of place in a category with District 9, Hurt Locker, Precious and Basterds.

• An Education -- Yes, I said it was a Lolita clone (from a storyline perspective) but it was an amazing movie. Good production, good nomination.



• District 9 -- Clearly one of my favorites. It will fall short because of the sci-fi components, but this was a great story, wonderfully filmed and acted. You actually feel emotion for aliens who look like perambulatory crustaceans. It won't win, but it could.



• Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire and Unsuccessfully Trying to Create a New Category for Longest Movie Title -- Tough movie to watch, but truly creative (the fantasy scenes Precious uses to take herself out of the unbearable situations in her life were brilliant). I expected it to be a tear-jerker, but it was more cringe inducing. You find yourself pulling for Precious as if she were a good friend. It may win, but probably won't because no one is bold enough to put a crack addict on the screen in 3D yet.



• Hurt Locker -- Finally, a serious movie about Iraq that's not a documentary. It left the politics and moralizing aside (for the most part) and focused on the situation and the people. Brilliant. In a year when the King of His Own World is taking a break, this gets a statue (and I'm pulling for Katrhyn Bigelow to get a Directing statue).



• Avatar -- I'll admit it: I was enthralled with the technology. In 3D, it was absolutely amazing. But lots more movies are coming out with this technology and plenty of theaters have a permanent capability, so this will become fairly standard fare for certain productions. Take away that element, and it's just a good movie, not a great one. It definitely deserves a nom, but it won't (IMHO) deserve the statue it's going to take home in this category.