Sunday, March 7, 2010

Oscars Tonight

Oscars tonight, friends. If you know me, which sure as you are reading this blog, you probably do, then you know tonight is the culmination of six months of non-stop movie watching and following of every twist and turn in the Oscar race.

As with last year, I will be live-blogging the event from my friend Ryan’s living room where we will be eating lasagna and drinking home-made beer in celebration of nothing in particular. So, check back here every so often throughout the night for my thoughts.

An afternoon of re-watching Inglourious Basterds has me pulling for an upset for that film (though, if I had my druthers, the Coens would take the award for A Serious Man). If you don’t follow the race closely, I could tell you what to look for, but where would the fun be in that? It is much more fun to hope that what we like will, against all odds and logic, prevail.

In that spirit, the following are the awards as I would like to see them turn out, despite the unlikelihood. Keep in mind, these are not predictions.

Best Picture: A Serious Man

Best Director: James Cameron for Avatar, his dedication to bringing the planet of Pandora to life for the planet Earth is among the greatest achievements by a single individual in the history of filmmaking

Best Actor: Colin Firth for A Single Man, the most nuanced and affecting turn by any of the year’s lead actor nominees

Best Actress: Carey Mulligan for An Education, though the story lets her down in the end, Mulligan gives the most fully realized performance of the group and shows that her future is a bright one indeed

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds, “That’s a bingo!”

Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique for Precious, another character derailed by flaws in the story, the actress gives everything she has to the role and it comes out in the performance

The rest:

Original Screenplay: A Serious Man
Adapted Screenplay: Up in the Air
Cinematography: The White Ribbon
Editing: The Hurt Locker
Art-Direction: Avatar
Sound Editing: Avatar
Sound Mixing: Avatar
Original Score: Sherlock Holmes
Original Song: “The Weary Kind,” from Crazy Heart
Make-up: Star Trek
Costume Design: Coco Before Chanel
Foreign Language Film: The White Ribbon
Documentary: The Cove
Animated Feature: Up
Visual Effects: Avatar
Animated Short: Logorama
Documentary Short: China’s Unnatural Disaster
Live-Action Short: The Door

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