BEST PICTURE
Avatar.......................... $596 M
Up............................... $293 M
The Blind Side............... $238 M
Inglourious Basterds...... $121 M
District 9...................... $116 M
Up in the Air................... $73 M
Precious......................... $45 M
The Hurt Locker................ $13 M
An Education.................... $9 M
A Serious Man.................. $9 M
Source: Boxofficemojo.com
Well, there it is. The gambit of expanding the Best Picture list to 10 — ostensibly to steer the Oscars away from films nobody’s seen — isn’t off to
a raving start.
All the talk of box office hits making it to the podium, including rumours of The Hangover and Star Trek, seems to ring hollow when they use those extra picks to throw in a few more “niche” movies, such as An Education or the Coen brothers’ A Serious Man (neither of which grossed more than $10 mil).
As for box-office hits, Avatar would have been in there anyway if it were still a five-pack (along with The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds,
Precious and Up In The Air).
Up and The Blind Side are the only major hits to benefit from the new rules, with dark horse District 9 as a moderate hit that also rode in on them.
Still, hardly a major makeover for the Academy Awards.
BEST DIRECTOR
James Cameron, “Avatar”
Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
Quentin Tarantino, “Inglourious Basterds”
Lee Daniels, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Jason Reitman, “Up in the Air”
Nominees in this category were mostly as expected, with some possible surprise over Lee Daniels’ inclusion as director for Precious. So much attention has gone to the actresses in the movie, you’d think it directed itself.
It is a major event, however, since no African American director has been nominated since John Singleton in 1991 for Boyz n the Hood (and he was the only one previously).
Biggest omission: Clint Eastwood for Invictus. But then, his movie wasn’t nominated either. Which means Hollywood agrees with the critics that
Invictus wasn’t his best, and the goodwill of the old-boys club will only carry you so far.
BEST ACTRESS
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”
You could have predicted most of this category months ago. The biggest question was Sandra Bullock, who, in my opinion, locked her Oscar nomination with her emotional acceptance speech at the People’s Choice Awards. Hers is a rare victory for a “commercial” actor in this category, and a chance for the Academy to thank a moneymaker.
Helen Mirren was a late “comer,” because her histrionic turn as Mrs. Tolstoy in The Last Station was the last movie most Academy Members got to see (it has yet to open in most Canadian markets). But Meryl Streep has had her spot reserved since Julie & Julia opened in August, as has Gabourey Sidibe since the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Carey Mulligan’s tour-de-force performance in An Education also made her an instant lock.
Ultimately, this could be the biggest toss-up category.
BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney, “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth, “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman, “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner, “The Hurt Locker”
Again, absolutely by the bettor’s book.
Jeff Bridges, who is the hands-on favourite to win for his role in Crazy Heart, was the first name announced (for alphabetical reasons, but he was the biggest cinch).
Clooney got nominated basically for playing himself in Up In The Air, something the Academy loves.
And Invictus’s Morgan Freeman has been very publicly rehearsing for the role of Mandela for 16 years, so he was due.
That leaves Oscar newcomers Jeremy Renner and Colin Firth, both of whom were touted (with Firth the closest to being on the bubble).
No major omissions, unless you’re one of those people who think the motion-capture actors in Avatar should have been included.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon, “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson, “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer, “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci, “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”
This is otherwise known as the don’t-bother-preparing-an-acceptance-speech-unless-your-name-is-Christoph-Waltz category.
Waltz got his pre-Oscar trifecta, winning in this category in virtually every city’s critics awards, in industry events such as the SAG
Awards and in the high-profile glitz events such as the Golden Globes.
The one that might make you say “huh?” is Woody Harrelson for The Messenger, but only because we haven’t seen it here yet. Advance word is good.
Hard to argue with the remainder. Matt Damon did a serviceable South African accent in Invictus and bulked up nicely for the rugby role after fattening up for The Informant. Funny, though, that a movie whose two leads are up for best actor and supporting actor wouldn’t get a sniff for best picture and director.
Plummer is worth seeing in The Last Station, if only because he manages to stay standing in front of Mirren’s fury, and Stanley Tucci is truly chilling as the child killer in the flawed The Lovely Bones.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, “Nine”
Vera Farmiga, “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick, “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Again, pretty much by the pre-Oscar tout book, except for Penelope Cruz in Nine. Usually a movie that is both critically reviled and a box-office bomb is Oscar poison. I can only assume that the ubiquitous movie poster of the scantily-clad Ms. Cruz had veteran Academy members reaching for their Viagra.
It also may have been a make-good for Cruz not being nominated for best actress for the much-better Broken Embraces.
A semi-surprise was Crazy Heart’s Maggie Gyllenhaal, who tended to get overshadowed by all the huzzahs over Jeff Bridges’ performance. But let’s face it, the movie was The Wrestler with a country singer. And if Marisa Tomei could get an Oscar nom for playing the suffering girlfriend, a
superior actress like Gyllenhaal deserves it in spades.
The others — Up In The Air’s Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, and Precious’ Mo’Nique — have been a lock for so long, the lock is getting rusty.
Overlooked in my mind was Zoey Deschanel, who made 500 Days Of Summer one of the only honest adult romances I’ve seen in years.
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