Archive - The 82nd Annual Academy Awards: 2010 Oscar Picks

As promised earlier in the week, here is an archive post of my picks for last year's Oscars. This was originally posted in a note on facebook because I had not started this blog yet. Picks for this year's Oscars will be posted either later tonight or tomorrow morning. The 83rd Annual Academy Awards will be held tomorrow night. Just in case anyone is counting, 5 of my 7 picks were correct (I botched the scripting categories).


So I did this a couple of years ago in a blog on myspace and apparently skipped doing it last year for whatever reason, but these are my picks for who/what films should win at tonight's Oscars.

I'm only going over the biggest categories as I really haven't seen any of the foreign films, documentaries, or short films. I'm also going to skip the editing/art direction/music because, to be perfectly honest, I just don't have the technical knowledge to really be able to make a decision. At this point, they are all excellent or they would not have been nominated right?

The categories and nominees are listed below with my pick for the winner and a quick thought about my pick. I'm not going to get into TOO much detail here. I've already left reviews for most everything I've seen on here through flixster.

Here we go!

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air

I've seen: All of them

My Pick: The Hurt Locker - This probably doesn't surprise anyone. The Hurt Locker has been my pick since I saw it over the summer. And it continues to be my pick after seeing all ten nominated films. How a movie like The Blind Side gets a nomination in this category over a film like Invictus or even Star Trek beats the hell out of me.


Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), George Clooney (Up in the Air), Colin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman (Invictus), Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)

I've seen: All of them

My Pick: Jeff Bridges - After seeing Up in the Air, I was ready to go with Clooney here, but then I saw Crazy Heart. Clooney's going to win one of these bad boys eventually.


Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side), Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Carey Mulligan (An Education), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire), Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)

I've seen: The Blind Side, An Education, Precious (I'm not going to continue typing that lengthy title, we all know who wrote the novel by now).

My Pick: Sandra Bullock - I've never been a big Sandra Bullock fan, and despite hearing great things about her performance, she's the reason it took me so long to finally see The Blind Side. Excellent performance that has somehow managed to get the film nominated for Best Picture. Watch out for Carey Mulligan in the future though.


Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Matt Damon (Invictus), Woody Harrelson (The Messenger), Christopher Plummer (The Last Station), Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones), Cristoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)

I've seen: Invictus, Inglourious Basterds, The Messenger

My Pick: Cristoph Waltz - This might be as close to a lock in my mind as you can get. Waltz's turn in Inglorious Basterds was scary good. Maybe one of the best villains ever. I'm Not sure how Best Supporting Actor ends up being the category that I've seen the fewest films from though.


Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Penelope Cruz (Nine), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart), Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), Mo'Nique (Precious)

I've seen: Up in the Air, Crazy Heart, Precious

My Pick: Mo'Nique - when I saw Precious, I kept looking and waiting for the great performance I had read all about. As the film went on, all I could think was 'she's just playing an angry woman, nothing special here'. Then you get to the last ten minutes and the sit down meeting with the social worker. That's when this performance pays off.


Best Achievement in Directing: Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), James Cameron (Avatar), Lee Daniels (Precious), Jason Reitman (Up in the Air), Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)

I've seen: All of them

My Pick: Kathryn Bigelow - If she could take this home and The Hurt Locker can't snag Best Picture, I'd probably still be happy - it would make her the first female to win the award for best director.


Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker), Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds), Oren Moverman, Alessandro Camon (The Messenger), Joel and Ethan Coen (A Serious Man), Bob Peterson, Pete Doctor (Up)

I've seen: The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, The Messenger, A Serious Man, Up

My Pick: Quentin Tarantino - Got to get in a little Tarantino love.


Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published: 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)

I've seen: District 9, An Education, Precious, Up in the Air

My Pick: Up in the Air - I admit, I'm picking solely on which film of the batch I thought was the best. I haven't read any of the source material for any of these films (and have only seen the short that District 9 was based on).


And that gets us into all of the technical/sound/documentary/animated/short awards that I either don't know much of anything about and/or haven't even seen. Avatar is easily my pick for Best Achievement in Visual Effects and the same can be said for Up in the Best Animated Feature Film of the Year category.

As much as I enjoyed Avatar, I'm a little scared that it is going to dominate tonight based upon it's otherworldly success at the box office. What James Cameron achieved with that film is nothing short of amazing. It's looks and sounds great, but haven't we seen that story a hundred times in the sci-fi/fantasy genre? That is why I can't go with it for something as large as Best Picture.

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