Oscar noms...

I'm sure lots of you participate in Oscar pools...certainly my friends and I do. But this year I'm going to share my picks with a larger crowd (i.e. I'm going to post them below) because I feel the people in my life deserve to know what I think about my choices, and to find out in controlled little text blocks that don't involve yelling and expletives like "Avatar."

Ooo...sorry.

Let us begin with the final category of the night...Best Picture: and the nominees are: A*****, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up and Up in the Air.

I am happy to report (though I am supremely ashamed to admit one) that I have seen all the Best Picture nominees this year. I firmly believe that although TheFFFurbelow! curator Matt may be correct when he says that, "it is only going to be A[*****] versus The Hurt Locker" when Oscar time comes, that the race should consist of a tie between Precious and The Hurt Locker. While I recognize that some of the included films were unique and eye catching, I think that these two are the only ones that have true achieved something in their storytelling. It has been pointed out to me that the recipient of the Director's Guild Award usually recieves the Best Picture Oscar. We can only hope.

Best Actor nominees include: Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart, George Clooney for Up in the Air, Colin Firth for A Single Man, Morgan Freeman for Invictus and Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker.

While I love Jeremy Renner (he was in a quickly cancelled cop show called The Unusuals this season) and Morgan Freeman is...well...Morgan Freeman (frankly I think he phoned it in), I do believe this category to be down to Mr. Bridges vs. Mr. Firth. Who will come out on top? I'm not entirely sure however having seen A Single Man and the truly remarkable performance he managed in the film, my vote goes with Mr. Firth. Will he win? Unlikely, but my vote is Mr. Da--er Mr. Firth all the way. In the rain...with....oh dear.

The prize for Best Actress though, seems like an exercise in the absurd with a few notable exceptions: Ms. Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side (love her, didn't love her in this), Helen Mirren for The Last Station, Carey Mulligan for An Education, Gabourey Sidibe for Precious and finally La Meryl for Julie and Julia.

Side Note: I've just realized that I'm doing pretty well this year, I've seen most of the movies nominated! And now to continue...

This category for me begins and ends with Gabourey Sidibe. She deserves it, she deserves it, she deserves it. Will she get it? It's a tough year...and Sandra Bullock and her camp are campaigning. I suppose anything's possible but the trend follows: Golden Globe = Oscar and Meryl took the GG without so much as flinching. I haven't seen Julie and Julia, or The Last Station but I promise to watch them before the Oscars and have an informed opinion. For now though it's Gabbe all the way and for the record: it's a TOUGH year!

Best Supporting Actor strikes me as a little funny...but perhaps that's because I've not seen most of the performances that were nominated. Matt Damon for Invictus, Woody Harrelson for The Messenger, Christopher Plummer for The Last Station (saw him as Ceasar at Stratford a few years back...brilliant), Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones and Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds.

I have only seen two of the performances listed above however having seen Inglorious Basterds I can tell you...Christoph Waltz scared the living daylights out of me! He's absolutely incredible in this movie. Maybe he's sweeping the awards shows for a reason.

Best Supporting Actress is a category I'm very interested in and it has to do with Mo'Nique. Nominated for Precious she joins Penélope Cruz for Nine, Vera Farmiga for Up in the Air, Maggie Gyllenhall for Crazy Heart and Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air.

I think that Mo'Nique deserves to win and I actually think that she will. It so rarely happens that I almost don't want to jinx it but it's very much the type of race that seems already decided. I understand the nominations for the other women (haven't seen Crazy Heart so I can't comment on Maggie) but I don't actually think that having the hottest body on the planet (honstly, you could bounce quarters off of Vera's ass) or the most convincing irritating crying fit (sorry Anna) is a reason to nominate someone for an Oscar. I'm not even going to justify the "N" word with a blurb. Penélope I'm ashamed of you.

As a long-time fan of Kathryn Bigelow I'm very pleased to see her nominated in the Best Director race for The Hurt Locker. She is up against insufferable blow hard and director of that-which-will-not-be-named Mr. James Cameron along with Lee Daniels for Precious, Jason Reitman for Up in the Air and Quentin Tarantino for Inglorious Basterds.

While I adored Up in the Air and Precious hit all the right notes, I'd really like to see KB win this year. I have been a fan of her work and I think that The Hurt Locker represents her strongest film to date. While I will buy that QT is a strong director (BIG fan of his previous efforts and have an associate who spent a week with him and swears he's just as into films as he seems to be) I just can't get behind Inglorious Basterds as a whole; even if parts of it are incredibly compelling. In the end I'm concerned that James Cameron will prevail and while I have, in the past enjoyed his movies, I think that for this one he should stand a better chance of being taken out back and put out of his misery than win the most celebrated of bald men. Just sayin'...

Best Original Screenplay brings together many of the films mentioned above for yet another category of fun-filled antics. The Hurt Locker, The Messenger, A Serious Man, Up and Inglorious Basterds were named and while I did enjoy a few of the films I think that based upon the fact that many of the scenes in The Messenger were (from what I understand) improvised I would have to say the cleverness of A Serious Man wins out in my brain.

With regards to Best Adapted Screenplay I desperately want to once again weigh in on the Precious side of things, though I quite enjoyed the scripts for Up in the Air and thought that District 9 was remarkably interesting as an item of social commentary. However in the end I think that nominee An Education gets my vote for absolutely superb dialogue and an ending that completed the story without really doing much of anything to change the lead character's path in life. Now as for final nominee In the Loop? I think I'll watch the original BBC series instead.

Though not surprised by the nominees for Best Animated Film I have to say I am surprised that Wes Anderson didn't also get a director's nomination for Fantastic Mr. Fox. His star-studded stop animation adventure is in good company with the likes of Coraline, The Princess and the Frog, The Secret of Kells and Up. For this category I cannot claim to be an expert, however I have a sneaking suspicion (even though I've only see two of the film) that it will indeed be Fantastic Mr. Fox though if Up won I would be just a happy; I enjoyed it a lot.

I'll shy away from the other categories (like Best Foreign Film) because I haven't seen any of them. I suppose there's still time. Time to watch all the films I haven't yet enjoyed from this year. Ah the list grows long, and I grow weary by steady beats. Alas. Alack. I am to slumber.

Think about your own choices and let me know!