This weekend was not a total loss for Jason Reitman's new film. Up in the Air sported the most Golden Globe nominations out of any other film this year, including nominations for George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, and Anna Kendrick in the acting categories. Clooney also managed to score a Best Actor win with the New York Film Critics' Circle as well. So it is definitely fair to say that there is a lot of love in the industry for Up in the Air so far. And I wouldn't be surprised if it keeps dominating the critics' groups and the major awards shows up until Oscar Night. As of right now, I consider Up in the Air to be the frontrunner for the Best Picture Oscar.
However, it is still too early to tell what kind of noise films like Avatar and Inglourious Basterds will make with all of their nominations. I personally think Inglourious Basterds will fall by the wayside. While it is definitely one of the best films of the year, I think it will be one of those films that scores a ton of nominations but not a lot of victories. It will be reminiscent of Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, a beautiful film with an A-list director and nominated for 10 Academy Awards but did not win a single one come Oscar night. Working in the favor of Tarantino and Inglourious Basterds is the fact that Christoph Waltz is winning virtually every single Best Supporting Actor award so far with the critics' groups. So it is possible that Inglourious Basterds could make a leap in the race. But don't count on it.
The film that will be interesting to watch is James Cameron's Avatar. It premiered last week and has been the talk of Hollywood ever since. They are not only calling it one of the best films of the year, but also one of the most revolutionary films of all time. They refer to it as one of the grandest cinematic accomplishments of our generation and has lived up to the hype of all its pre-release buzz. Avatar has already garnered nominations for Best Picture and Best Director with the Golden Globe and Broadcast Film Critics. It is scoring heavily in the technical categories, which it was expected to do to begin with. But now you really have to start taking this film seriously. If the reviews stay consistent throughout opening weekend, and the film starts raking in massive amounts of box-office revenue, then it is fair to say that Avatar could very well win the Best Picture Oscar for 2009. This will be very interesting to watch during the course of the Oscar season.
The films that are falling off the radar and fast are Precious, Invictus, and Nine. While Mo'Nique is cleaning up in the Best Supporting Actress category, the film did not receive enough love from the critics' groups over the weekend. It did receive Best Picture nods from the Golden Globes and the Broadcast Film Critics. And Gabourey Sidibe is getting well-deserved accolades for her performance in the movie. But I just feel that in terms of winning anything, Mo'Nique is the film's best and only shot at leaving a legacy in the history of cinema. You can tell that the industry isn't really falling head over heels for Invictus either . While Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon have received notices for their acting in the film, we can see that this film is being treated more as an actor's showcase rather than a grand piece of filmmaking. Notice its absence in the Best Picture category with the Hollywood Foreign Press. However, since everyone loves Clint Eastwood, it wasn't surprising to see his name mentioned among the five directing nominees this year. And Nine has completely fallen apart in recent weeks. The film has premiered to less-than-stellar reasons and there is now a massive amount of negative buzz surrounding it. While the film is nominated for Best Picture from the Golden Globes and the Broadcast Film Critics, one can see the lack of support for the film in that it doesn't have a lot of nominations scattered across the board. Nine has virtually nothing beyond the acting categories, except for its original song "Cinema Italiano". There is no directing nomination for Rob Marshall, which is very telling that the film hasn't lived up to expectations with the critics. I still believe the film will score well in the technical categories come Oscar time. However, I'm not sure that it will be among the ten nominees for Best Picture this year.
It's going to be a battle for the Best Actor trophy this Oscar season. Jeff Bridges vs. George Clooney. Are you up for it? The score is tied at 1 right now, with both actors scoring Golden Globe and Broadcast Film Critics nominations. If both keep taking critics' awards at a fairly even rate, this could be the toughest race to predict come Oscar night. The definite frontrunners right now in the acting categories are Christoph Waltz and Mo'Nique. Everything else is up for grabs. The same thing applies to the Best Picture and Best Director races. The Hurt Locker and Up in the Air have gotten off to great starts out of the gate. But trust me, the Oscar race has only just begun. And I have a funny feeling that Avatar is going to be a major player by the time this thing is finished. If I had to predict right now based on what I've seen...
Best Picture: Up in the Air
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow = The Hurt Locker
Best Actor: George Clooney = Up in the Air
Best Actress: Meryl Streep = Julie & Julia
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz = Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique = Precious
Best Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner = Up in the Air
Best Original Screenplay: Mark Boal = The Hurt Locker
Best Cinematography: The Hurt Locker
Best Film Editing: Avatar
Best Original Score: Avatar
Best Art Direction: Nine
Best Costume Design: Nine
Best Sound Mixing: Avatar
Best Sound Editing: Avatar
Best Visual Effects: Avatar
Best Makeup: Avatar
Best Original Song: "Cinema Italiano" = Nine
Best Animated Film: Up
Best Foreign Language Film: Un Prophete
Best Documentary: The Cove
That's all for now...stay tuned for more great stuff
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