Well, the academy released the Oscar nominations for this year’s Academy Awards.  Again, some surprises, some not so surprising.  I usually like to take a look at the most popular categories and give you some of my thoughts on the decisions.  Looking back, I see I’ve done this recap since 2007 (for the 2006 movie year).  Here are those articles:

2010
2009
2008
2007
2006

Normally, by now, I’ve posted my Movie Board articles telling you guys what my favorite/least favorite movies of the year are.  However, I’m still catching up on Oscar eligible movies, so I’ll have those up in a few weeks.  I have my preliminary list, but there are some good ones I need to see just to be sure.

Anyway, back to the Oscar nominees for this year.  You can find the full list of nominees at Oscars.org.  Now, let’s take a look at the “money” categories and judge how the Academy did this year.

Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in “A Better Life” – What?  Who?
George Clooney in “The Descendants” – Man, Clooney no longer does the “one for you, one for me” formula.  He pretty much just does whatever the hell he wants to do.  How else do you explain The American or Men Who Stare At Goats?  I miss the Clooney from Ocean’s 11, Goodnight and Good Luck and Intolerable Cruelty.  I’m not having as much fun with the current version.
Jean Dujardin in “The Artist” – This movie actually doesn’t sound that bad, but I have yet to see it.
Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” – Looks amazing.  Really want to see this movie.  Oldman is great in pretty much everything.
Brad Pitt in “Moneyball” – Again, I really want to see this but have not yet had the opportunity.

Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn” – This movie doesn’t look great.
Jonah Hill in “Moneyball” – Props to Jonah for dipping his toes into the dramatic pool.
Nick Nolte in “Warrior” – I hear this movie is great, but I can’t support a Nolte nomination.  For anything.
Christopher Plummer in “Beginners” – Meh.
Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” – This movie looks amazing.  But I’m reluctant to see it because as a new dad, I feel the heavy father-son relationship at the center of this plot will completely undo the macho-man hold on my emotions and cause me to bawl like my wife at cheesy cell phone commercials.

Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs” – Close may be fantastic in this, but it just “feels” tailor made for the Oscars.  Like they were trying to get Close a nomination.  Julie Andrews did gender bending first in Victor/Victoria.  Close’s makeup in this just looks like posturing for an Oscar. See also Nicole Kidman’s makeup in The Hours and Charlize Theron’s in Monster.
Viola Davis in “The Help” – Better movie than I expected and Viola was great in it.
Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” – Really, really good movie.  Hard to watch, but very good.  Rooney Mara is also great in it.
Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady” – I imagine this is good.  I want to see it.
Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn” – Not a fan of Michelle Williams.

Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist” – Looks good. I will see it when I get the chance.
Jessica Chastain in “The Help” – Jessica is deliciously bad in this movie. The perfect antagonist.
Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids” – Wow. I’m very surprised by this. Don’t get me wrong, Melissa completely deserves this nomination, but the Academy rarely recognizes these types of movies (ie, straight up comedies). Mark this down.
Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs” – No.
Octavia Spencer in “The Help” – I love Octavia. She is hilarious and was great in The Help.

Directing
“The Artist” Michel Hazanavicius – Okay, I’ll see it.
“The Descendants” Alexander Payne – Meh.
“Hugo” Martin Scorsese – I really want to see this movie. I love Scorcese and I love that this is such a departure for him. I’ve been surprised how many “end of the year” lists this tops.
“Midnight in Paris” Woody Allen – Ditto for this. This movie has topped many year end lists. So much so that I actually finally watched it this past weekend. I’m not a fan of Woody Allen, at all, but this movie is really good. It’s sweet, funny and charming. I really liked it. I especially like that Allen no longer puts himself in the middle of his movies.
“The Tree of Life” Terrence Malick – I don’t get Malick. At all.

Best Picture
“The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer – I’m becoming more and more interested in this the more awards it gets.
“The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers – I continue to say, “Meh”.
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer – Crying or not, I’ll eventually have to watch this.
“The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers – Really good. But best of the year?
“Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers – I really must see this ASAP.
“Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers – Really good. I can support this nom.
“Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers – Watching this very soon.
“The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined – *shakes head*
“War Horse” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers – I’m baffled by this movie. War Horse? Seriously? Why wasn’t Spielberg nominated for Directing?

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash – No.
“Hugo” Screenplay by John Logan – Yes.
“The Ides of March” Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon – This looks good.  I’m surprised it got no other noms.
“Moneyball” Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin – No wonder the movie looks good it was written by Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin.  More proof that I need to see it.
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan – Yes, this looks good as well.

Writing (Original Screenplay)
“The Artist” Written by Michel Hazanavicius – This looks good. I can’t argue.
“Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig – Wow. Kristen Wiig is now Oscar nominated Kristen Wiig. I’m really surprised the Academy put this here. It’s just not traditionally a movie that gets nominated for its screenplay.
“Margin Call” Written by J.C. Chandor – Wow, really? I saw the trailer for this, and there’s a ton of well known actors, but it looked like a showier version of Boiler Room.  Or a more serious The Informant!
“Midnight in Paris” Written by Woody Allen – By all means. This was a very clever script that I enjoyed.
“A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhadi – Never heard of this.

This is what I wait all year for.  The reason I saw 50+ movies last year.  The Oscar nominations.

I’ve been doing this review of the Oscar nominations for about 5 years now. Check out my Oscar nomination reviews from 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2007.  I’ve clearly shown that I know more than the Academy.  So let’s see what I think of the nominations this year.  I’m only going to look at the “money” categories because no one really cares about sound mixing unless they are actually a sound mixer.

Best Actor
Javier Bardem in “Biutiful” (Roadside Attractions) – Dammit.  Where the f**k did this movie come from?  I saw 50+ movies last year and I’ve never heard of this.
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit” (Paramount) – Yes.  Agreed.  Well done.
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing) – Just watched this. It deserves all the praise it’s getting.
Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company) – This is one of those I know I should see and my wife will want to see, but I’m like…”I’ll pass.”
James Franco in “127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight) – Apparently this movie is NOT a prequel to the 1993 Renny Harlin classic, Cliffhanger, starring Sylvester Stallone.  And Franco does NOT play a younger version of Sly’s Gabe “Mountain” Walker.  I don’t know about you, but that adjusts my expectations to somewhere below…zero.

Supporting Actor
Christian Bale in “The Fighter” (Paramount) – I didn’t like this the first time when it was called The Wrestler.
John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions) – I totally thought this was porn when I first read the title.  I was like, “Go Academy!”  Nope.  It’s about a small girl who searches for her druggie dad who put the family trailer up for his bail.  Sounds all lovely and depressing.  My friend Dr Mike’s wife will love it.
Jeremy Renner in “The Town” (Warner Bros.) – Yes, I couldn’t agree more.  This movie is great and Renner is fantastic in it.
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features) – So both Hawkeye (Renner) and The Incredible Hulk (Ruffalo) from the upcoming Avengers movie are nominated for Supporting Actor awards. That’s pretty awesome. Oh, and Batman. Forgot Bale was up there too.
Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company) – This movie got a lot of nominations.  I know my wife is going to want to watch it.

Best Actress
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features) – Lesbian couple, raising teenagers, Oscar noms, blah, blah, blah.
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole” (Lionsgate) – A couple’s son dies, they drift apart.  The Academy loves these depressing dramas.
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions) – Kid searches for trailer park druggie dad.  Not porn.  Touching.
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight) – Lots of angry lesbian sex between Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.  Of course I want to see this.  Too bad it was filmed by Darren Arnofsky who totally ruined similar sex scenes with Jennifer Connelly in Requiem for a Dream.
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine” (The Weinstein Company) – Supposedly a very sexy picture. However, I don’t think I would agree because Michelle Williams is not sexy.

Supporting Actress
Amy Adams in “The Fighter” (Paramount) – Amy Adams, however, is very sexy.  And almost makes me want to see this movie.  However, Mark Wahlberg as the lead brings me back to not wanting to see it.
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company) – Wow, Carter is actually in a movie that isn’t directed by Tim Burton nor is she playing some creepy, weird character.
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter” (Paramount) – Everyone in this movie not named Mark Wahlberg is nominated for an Academy Award which includes both female leads and the supporting male (Christian Bale). I believe this is the Academy’s way of telling Mr Wahlberg he needs to reunite with the Funky Bunch. And I wholeheartedly agree.
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit” (Paramount) – Yes!  Totally agree.
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom” (Sony Pictures Classics) – What?

Best Animated Film
“How to Train Your Dragon” (Paramount) Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois – Yes, fantastic movie.  I didn’t expect this to be as good as it was.
“The Illusionist” (Sony Pictures Classics) Sylvain Chomet – No idea.
“Toy Story 3” (Walt Disney) Lee Unkrich – Great movie.  I fully expect this to win.

Best Director
“Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight) Darren Aronofsky – I do not like this guy’s movies.
“The Fighter” (Paramount) David O. Russell – Man, the director got the nod, too?
“The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company) Tom Hooper – At first I thought the director was Tobe “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” Hooper.  Obviously, I read that wrong.  But I got pretty excited for a second there.
“The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing) David Fincher – Wow, I forgot David “Fight Club” Fincher directed Social Network.
“True Grit” (Paramount) Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – Coen’s do it again.  This time with a good movie.

Achievement in visual effects
“Alice in Wonderland” (Walt Disney) – I actually enjoyed this movie when I fully didn’t expect to.  Visually it’s stunning and the story is a lot of fun.  I have no problem with this nom.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” (Warner
Bros.) – This movie ruled.
“Hereafter” (Warner Bros.) – The Clint Eastwood movie?  Got a visual effects nomination?  Did they feel bad about leaving him out of Best Director?
“Inception” (Warner Bros.) – Phenomenal.
“Iron Man 2” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment,
Distributed by Paramount) – Regardless of what you feel the story was, the visual effects were awesome.

Adapted screenplay
“127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight) Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy – Damn right this is an adapted screenplay. It steals everything but the AWESOME from Stallone’s 1993 movie Cliffhanger.
“The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin – Can’t argue this.  Sorkin is great.
“Toy Story 3” (Walt Disney) Screenplay by Michael Arndt Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee
Unkrich – Surprised this is here.  Don’t get me wrong, the story is good, but the Academy rarely taps an animated movie as best adapted screenplay.
“True Grit” (Paramount) Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – YES.
“Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions) Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne
Rosellini – NO.

Original screenplay
“Another Year” (Sony Pictures Classics) Written by Mike Leigh – ???
“The Fighter” (Paramount) Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric
Johnson Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson – Continuing the Academy’s “gentle insistence” that Mark Wahlberg do something else besides act.
“Inception” (Warner Bros.) Written by Christopher Nolan – Yes.
“The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features) Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg – The lesbian movie?  Really?
“The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company) Screenplay by David Seidle – Of course.

Best Picture
Black Swan – I can get behind hot, lesbian ballerinas getting it on.  Even being directed by Arnofsky.
The Kids are Alright – …but not middle aged lesbians raising teenagers.
The Fighter – The “Reunite The Funky Bunch” campaign continues…
Inception – I just learned my dad hated this movie.  I must be adopted.
King’s Speech – I’m Colin Firth, I’m English and everyone loves me.
127 Hours – FYI, I’m apparently NOT a prequel to Cliffhanger.
The Social Network – Surprisingly good for something that everyone calls “The Facebook Movie”.
Toy Story 3 – Soooooo good.
True Grit – I really hope this wins.  I really, really do.
Winter’s Bone – I’m the exact opposite of porn.

My Movie Board 2010

You can see previous years’ Movie Boards here.

Now let’s see what movies I felt were a waste of my valuable time in 2010.

In no particular order.

Sex and the City 2 – Yes I saw this.  My wife loved this show.  She has the full box set of DVDs she watches nearly every summer.  I watch the show every once in a while with her.  It’s not awful.  I can’t watch too much of it at once, but I don’t hate the show.  It can be pretty amusing at times.  I even went to see the first movie with her, and enjoyed it.  So I expected at least some light humor and to be mildly entertained.  Instead, I HATE THIS F***ING MOVIE.  Hate it with all the fiery hatred in the bowels of Hell.  They should have stopped at the last movie.  The Samantha character is RIDICULOUS.  At 60, they are still trying to make her the fiery sex bomb and it doesn’t work anymore.  She looks old.  And her antics are cringe inducing.  The Carrie character, who was never my favorite anyway, is off the charts irritating in this one.  Why anyone would go out with, or stay married to her is beyond me.  This movie was worse than terrible.  It was offensive.  If there’s a part 3, I will not see it.  But judging from the box office, there won’t be a part 3.  So there is a God.

The American – F**k movie studio marketing departments.  F**k. Them.  They totally played this as a European Bourne Identity.  However, it’s more like those old, slowly paced ’70s action movies everyone remembers loving but when they watch them now, realize how goddam boring they are.  I think I was more pissed at the bait and switch than this being a bad movie.  If I had known what I was in for and adjusted my expectations, I think I might have enjoyed this.  I say MIGHT.  It is a very European style movie with long boring shots, minimal dialogue and some nudity.  I just went in expecting something completely different and I totally blame the marketing departments of the movie studio.  They can suck it.

The Last Airbender – Wow, this movie looked awesome, didn’t it?  I started watching the original cartoon based on this movie’s first trailer.  And the cartoon is AWESOME.  Seriously.  Watch it.  It’s really fantastic and I’ve only seen the first season.  I don’t know how M Night s**t the bed on this one.  It was all laid out in that first season.  The entire story, the emotional beats, the action.  The first three seasons of the cartoon could have been three sick movies.  But then M Night had to happen and I’m pretty sure we’ll never see this story on the big screen again.  Part of the problem was the casting.  None of the actors really fit the parts.  Well, the main kid fit, but he couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag.  All of the actors.  They weren’t awful, but they weren’t good, either.  The movie’s effects looked beautiful though.  But watch the cartoon and skip this flaming pile of monkey poo.  I’ll be surprised if M Night directs another movie after his last two terrible movies.

Grown Ups – I am totally the audience for this movie.  I enjoyed Sandler in Bedtime Stories.  Click was good too.  Hell, I even enjoyed Paul Blart for God’s sakes.  This movie was tailor-made for me.  And I didn’t like it.  Not one bit.  Oh, don’t get me wrong, I chuckled at a few parts, but overall, I was extremely disappointed.  Even for this movie, many of the jokes were telegraphed and/or completely obvious from a mile away.  Plus, again, many of the funniest jokes were ruined by the trailer.  WTF, trailer guys?!  A movie like this lives and dies by the funny bits and watching them all in the trailer, you don’t really need to see the movie.  Disappointment.  That’s pretty much all I came away with after this movie ended.

Those were the worst movies I saw last year. Now, here are some other bad movies I think you should stay away from.

Skyline – Wow. Not good. The movie starts with like 6 characters but four of them get killed off. That’s not the problem, the problem is that the movie spent a good 30 minutes building back story for the people that died. Why? Then, just as the movie starts getting fairly good, BOOM!…….End Credits. The entire first hour could have been cut to like 15 minutes. Seriously, the last 2 minutes looks like the movie is about to amp up into this awesome alien battle and then the end credits roll. I was so pissed.
Robin Hood – Ridley Scott, Russell Crowe and Robin Hood. What’s not gonna be awesome about that? Am I right?  Well, it’s not awesome.  It’s kinda f***ing boring. The whole “Robin Hood” thing doesn’t really happen until the end, plus this movie doesn’t add anything that the Kevin Costner version didn’t add. While Russell Crowe was more bad ass as Robin Hood, the Costner Robin Hood was a lot more fun.  And Russell played it more like Maximus Hood. And as much as I love Cate Blanchett, she was miscast in this. So disappointing. I really wanted to love this.

First off, let’s take a look at this year’s Movie Board.

My Movie Board 2010

According to it’s all-knowing whiteness I saw 52 movies this past year.  Very close to last year in which I saw 53 movies.  I was on a tear throughout the summer, way ahead of my pace for last year, but the pace slowed to a crawl in September with the birth of my son.  However, I rallied and was able to get my movie viewing total back up over 50.  Actually, the number of movies I saw was probably closer to 60 as I also saw movies like True Grit (the original), Death Trap and Harry Brown, but they were all released before 2010.  And this list is for movies released within the calendar 2010 movie season.

Anyway, from this list I’ve culled my favorites.  And here they are in no particular order.

Inception – Mind bending.  Best way to describe this movie.  Leo is great in this.  I think I prefer this movie to Shutter Island.  I’d definitely watch Inception again before watching Shutter Island.  Sure, some of the dream mechanics are a little…ill defined.  Sure, Ellen Page’s character actually going into the dream made little to no sense.  But I enjoyed it all the same.  Fun and interesting story, action and a cliff hanger ending that usually SERIOUSLY pisses me off but didn’t here.  I love that rotating hallway fight sequence.  So awesome.

Salt – I was blown away by this movie.  It’s brutally AWESOME.  The action is intense.  I was not expecting the action and suspense in this movie to be as balls out awesome as it is.  Angelina is great and Liev Shreiber is also great (as usual).  So ridiculously good.  It’s like a female Bourne Identity.  I seriously think this is nearly as good as the first Bourne Identity (not the last one, the first one).

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I – I have seen every one of these movie in the theater.  And dammit if every one of these movies hasn’t gotten better and better.  Prisoner of Azkaban is phenomenal, Goblet of Fire is pretty good, but then Order of Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince are nothing short of spectacular.  And this movie just continues that awesomeness forward.  However, many people I know have been saying they were disappointed with this one.  I think it’s all expectations.  This movie is much darker than any other of the movies.  Plus, it covers the section of the book where Ron leaves and Harry and Hermione are running/searching for horcruxes alone.  Many people thought that storyline was boring in the book but I loved it.  It shows just how difficult a time they had and just how cut off from the rest of the wizarding world they really were.  Makes what happens later mean more.  I love this movie and I can’t wait to watch the next one.  Oh, yeah, since this is a Part I, it sets up a lot of the story for Part II, which may throw people off also.

Toy Story 3 – Wow.  Pixar did it.  AGAIN.  They managed to bring back your favorite characters, add interesting new ones and craft a story that makes you laugh and cry.  The last scene in this movie had me BALLING.  Like. A. Baby.  What a fantastic movie.  I can’t recommend it any higher.

The Town – Ben Affleck you magnificent bastard.  I never think I’m going to like your movies and then I pop them in the Blu-Ray and BAM! I’m smacked upside the head with dark, intensely awesome stories.  What a one-two punch is Gone Baby Gone and The Town.  They almost seem like they exist in the same world.  Affleck and Renner are fantastic in this.  See it.

So those are, for me, the BEST movies of 2010.  They entertained me the most.  So, now, I want to talk about a few Honorable Mentions.  These movies aren’t really in the BEST category, but they are certainly worth your time.  A solid 3.5 out of 5.0 stars.

A-Team – What a great cast. The story on this is kind of all over the place, but the cast and the chemistry within the cast is fantastic. So much fun. I really enjoyed it. I almost put The Losers in this list because I also really enjoyed it, but it’s a very similar movie to A-Team and I would watch this movie again before I watched The Losers again.
How to Train Your Dragon – I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed this movie. I went in with little expectations and was totally drawn in by the funny characters and wonderfully designed environment.
Sorcerer’s Apprentice - I really didn’t know what to expect with this one.  Nic Cage is hit or miss.  He really almost lost me with Bad Lieutenant.   But the S/FX in this movie were awesome and the story was a lot of fun.  Lots of humor, too.  I gotta recommend it.  Hopefully I’ll be seeing Nic Cage’s Season of the Witch this week.  It looks awesome, but, it was filmed like 2 years ago and shelved, so it could be terrible.
The Other Guys – This has kind of taken on a life of it’s own with my wife and I.  I initially was disappointed after watching it, but I found myself quoting it over and over again.  That “I’m a peacock, let me fly” bit has been said to death in my house talking about my newborn son.  I don’t know if the idea of this movie is funnier than the movie, but I know that I keep quoting it.
Iron Man 2 – Many people thought this movie fell flat.  I disagree.  I thought it was several different kinds of awesome.  That suitcase armor?  Hello, BAD ASS.  The War Machine armor? Also, BAD ASS.  Robert Downey, Jr was again the highlight as Tony Stark.  I didn’t like Mickey Rourke.  But I loved Sam Rockwell.  I was so-so on Scarlet Johanssen but I loved Don Cheadle.  And the story?  Meh.  I liked the idea that the ARC reactor was poisoning Tony, but the “new element” reveal at the end was confusing and ham fisted.  Overall, it was a pretty awesome movie.  That final battle with the military drones was great.  Not as good as the first, but, for me, worth it.

The Academy Awards are almost upon us. This year the Oscars will be broadcast on Sun, March 7 at 8pm EST. The ceremony will be co-hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.

The Oscar nominations for this year were released on Tuesday, Feb 2.  I do this every year, I go through the nominations for the biggest categories and see how much I agree with the Academy. More often than not, I don’t agree at all.

See my thoughts on last year’s Oscar nominations here.

See the Oscar noms for 2007 here.

You can see all the nominations on the official Oscar website.  So, without further ado, here are the nominations.

BEST PICTURE
Avatar – I can see this in Visual Effects, but not Best Picture. It’s a good movie, it’s just not a great movie.  And by that I mean it’s not the best written movie in the world and it’s AT LEAST 30 minutes too long. The mineral the corporation is mining in the movie is called Unobtainium. They actually say it in the movie. COME ON!
The Blind Side – Think about this: The Blind Side has a shot at being the BEST PICTURE OF 2009. Don’t get me wrong, I like this movie, but BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR?! No.
District 9 – On my list of top 5 movies of 2009. Of course, there’s no way in Hell this is going to win, but it’s good to see it here.
An Education – Yeah, didn’t see it.  Nor have I heard of it.  Well, played, Academy.  Well.  Played.
The Hurt Locker – I don’t normally like war movies. I hear great things about this, so I may have to suck it up and give it a watch.
Inglourious Basterds – An exception to my war movie rule. In my top 5 movies of 2009.
Precious – I see why this is nominated.  I really do.  I just never want to watch it.
A Serious Man – The Coen’s are weird, dude.  I’ve only enjoyed 3 of their movies.  EVER.  And I’ve only watched one of those three movies more than once.  I’m not exactly itching to see this.
Up – I really did enjoy this movie, but, again, I’m not sure it deserved a BEST PICTURE OF 2009 nomination.
Up In The Air – I love George Clooney.  I knew this was going to be high on Academy voters’ lists.  And I still have no desire to watch it.

BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges, CRAZY HEART – Bridges wasn’t nominated for The Men Who Stare At Goats?  RIGGED!  I’m kidding.  Of course, I’ve never even heard of this movie.
George Clooney, UP IN THE AIR – Another missed opportunity for The Men Who Stare At Goats.
Colin Firth, A SINGLE MAN – Love Colin Firth.  Unless this is a sequel to Love Actually, then I’m not interested.
Morgan Freeman, INVICTUS – I have a man-crush on Matt Damon and I love Morgan Freeman.  That still does not make me want to see a movie about rugby…and apartheid.
Jeremy Renner, THE HURT LOCKER – Again, I hear Renner is great in this.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon, INVICTUS – Yay, Matt!  I’m still not going to see this movie.
Woody Harrelson, THE MESSENGER – WTF is The Messenger?!  Harrelson should have been nominated for Zombieland.  There, I said it.
Christopher Plummer, THE LAST STATION – What?
Stanley Tucci, THE LOVELY BONES – Nice nom for Tucci.  He was good in this sequel to What Dreams May Come.
Christoph Waltz, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS – Waltz better win this.  From what I see here, he PWNS this category.

BEST ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock, THE BLIND SIDE – Sandra Bullock was really good in this.  I concur, Academy.
Helen Mirren, THE LAST STATION – Never heard of it.
Carey Mulligan, AN EDUCATION – Or this.
Gabourey Sidibe, PRECIOUS – I hear she’s great.
Meryl Streep, JULIE & JULIA – This was a really good movie.  I’ve been loving Streep lately.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, NINE – No.
Vera Farmiga, UP IN THE AIR – I loved this chick in The Departed.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, CRAZY HEART – Crazy Heart again.  I’m not sure how much enthusiasm I can muster for a movie about a broken down country music singer who finds redemption in a journalist at least 10 years his junior.
Anna Kendrick, UP IN THE AIR – In all of the trailers, I totally thought this chick was Amy Adams.
Mo’Nique, PRECIOUS – I hear good things.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Coraline – Based on a book by Neil Gaiman who also wrote Stardust.  I really need to see this movie.
Fantastic Mr Fox – I am reluctant to watch a movie by the director of Magnolia and The Life Aquatic.
The Princess And The Frog – Disney returns to 2-D cell animation.  WANT. TO. SEE.
The Secret Of Kells – Never heard of it.
Up – Meh.  This movie is good, and I see why it’s here, but I didn’t just love it like I loved The Incredibles or A Bug’s Life.

BEST DIRECTOR
AVATAR, James Cameron – Really, Academy?  Really?
THE HURT LOCKER, Kathryn Bigelow – Like I said, I’ve still not seen it, but seeing how many noms it’s getting I may have to pick it up.
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, Quentin Tarantino – Loved this movie, but Quentin is the dark horse in this category.
PRECIOUS, Lee Daniels – Okay.
UP IN THE AIR, Jason Reitman – Got it.

BEST WRITING (Adapted Screenplay)
DISTRICT 9, Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell – For me, this is the winner.  It won’t actually come away with the trophy, but it should.
AN EDUCATION, Nick Hornby – Did Nick Hornby sing lead vocals for The Range?  Nick Hornby and The Range, right?
IN THE LOOP, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche – If District 9 is the dark horse, this is probably the darker horse.  I love this movie and would love to see it win…but it won’t.  Hilariously vulgar British political comedy.
PRECIOUS, Geoffrey Fletcher – What a shocker.
UP IN THE AIR, Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner – We meet again.

BEST WRITING (Original Screenplay)
THE HURT LOCKER, Mark Boal – Again, haven’t seen it, can’t really say.
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, Quentin Tarantino – I hope Quentin gets at least one trophy for this movie.  It totally deserves it.
THE MESSENGER, Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman – No.
A SERIOUS MAN, Joel & Ethan Coen – Like I said, I don’t just love the Coens.
UP, Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter. Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy – This was a cute movie.  I think Zombieland should be in this category but I doubt the Academy would nominate a movie with zombie in the title.

Those are the big categories for the Oscar nominations. To see all the nominations go to the Official Oscar website here. And watch the Oscar telecast on Sunday, March 7 at 8 EST. It’s going to be a good show as it’s co-hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin!

Anything missing?  Yes, Star Trek is missing.  It did get several nominations in Visual Effects (which will be won by Avatar…rightly so) and a bunch in the sound categories.  But that’s it.  Nothing in the “showtime” categories.  That is a shame.  I would also liked to have seen Taken get some more love from the Academy. Maybe some for State of Play, with Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck. But, at this point, I’m just reaching.

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