KATHRYN BIGELOW WINS DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA AWARD!!!

The Directors Guild of America made history this past weekend because for the first time ever, they presented their highest honor to a woman. Kathryn Bigelow defeated the likes of James Cameron and Quentin Tarantino to emerge triumphant on Saturday night, establishing herself as the frontrunner to win the Oscar for Best Director. Bigelow's win also signified another guild victory for her film The Hurt Locker, which has no doubt emerged as the critical darling of this year's awards season. The fact that the film did not win the Best Picture Golden Globe represents only a minor stumble in what has otherwise been a very successful Oscar season. Its wins with the Producers Guild and the Directors Guild have no doubt made it the favorite to win the Best Picture Oscar come March. And to be quite honest, it doesn't make any sense.

This awards season was set up so that we could see James Cameron walk away with award after award after award. Many were expecting to see the same kind of love and appreciation for Avatar as they did when Titanic was released twelve years ago. And even though the film has received an onslaught of nominations from various guilds across the nation, it has not turned those nominations into victories so far. Avatar only has Golden Globes for Best Picture and Best Director to its credit. It does not have anything else. It sits alone atop the box-office pedestal, slowly journeying towards the mountain on its way to becoming the highest-grossing film of all time. And even though it is very tempting to pronounce Avatar dead in terms of capturing the Best Picture and Best Director prizes at the Oscars, it cannot be written off yet. Avatar is still the favorite to collect awards from virtually every single technical guild in the nation i.e. the cinematographers, the editors, the sound designers, the visual effects artists, and the film musicians. These are vital components that will no doubt put a thorn in the side of The Hurt Locker and Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar campaign. One thing that will also be very detrimental to The Hurt Locker is the fact that everyone has seen Avatar and no one has seen The Hurt Locker. People will be tuning in on Oscar night wondering if Avatar will be named the Best Picture of 2009, which means that they will expecting it to triumph over any obstacle in its path. And it will be very tempting for the powers that be in the Academy to acquiesce to the demands of the viewing public. So as of right now, the Best Picture race is far from over between Avatar and The Hurt Locker. Yet because of the latter's PGA and DGA wins over the last few weeks, it is fair to say that The Hurt Locker has a comfortable lead in this year's Best Picture race.

If the Oscars were handed out right now, these would be the winners...

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow = The Hurt Locker

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges = Crazy Heart

Best Actress: Sandra Bullock = The Blind Side

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz = Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique = Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

Best Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner = Up in the Air

Best Original Screenplay: Mark Boal = The Hurt Locker

Best Cinematography: Avatar

Best Film Editing: The Hurt Locker

Best Original Score: Up

Best Art Direction: Avatar

Best Costume Design: Inglourious Basterds

Best Sound Mixing: Avatar

Best Sound Editing: Avatar

Best Visual Effects: Avatar

Best Makeup: District 9

Best Original Song: "The Weary Kind" = Crazy Heart

Best Foreign Language Film: The White Ribbon

Best Animated Feature: Up

Best Documentary Feature: The Cove