Oscar nominations make me crazy.

Oh, this Oscar business really does rev my engine. Can't get enough. I was literally on the edge of my seat as the announcements were made, but that's partly due to the fact that I was watching it on my laptop and the speakers are fairly muted. So, ready for some heated debate? Some nice and not so nice suprises? I hope so, because 'The Blind Side' is the worst film I've seen to be nominated for Best Picture. But, we'll get to that later. Without further ado, the nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards...

Actor in a Leading Role

• Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
• George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
• Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
• Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
• Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about Jeremy Renner being nominated for 'The Hurt Locker'! After being snubbed at the Globes, this was a fist-pumping moment for me. This was one of the few categories where I correctly predicted every nominee, and rightly so. Although The Dude will surely abide come March, the competition for Actor in a Leading Role is the strongest I've seen in years. My man George was incredibly good in 'Up in the Air', and along with Renner I'd say are the only two potential upsets. No doubt, Freeman and Firth put in top notch performances, career-defining performances, I just can't see them upsetting any of the other three.

PREDICTION: Jeff Bridges in 'Crazy Heart'

Actor in a Supporting Role

• Matt Damon in “Invictus”
• Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
• Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
• Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
• Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

This category was again, self explanatory. No trouble predicting these five prior to today's announcement. And no trouble predicting the winner either. While all of the performances are strong (I've yet to see 'Invictus' or 'The Last Station'), one man reinvented man's approach to acting last year, and that man is Christoph Waltz. Anyone who bets against him is a damn fool. He's won awards across the board from Cannes to the critics associations to the Golden Globes. No one else stands a chance. Now, that truly is a bingo.

PREDICTION: Christoph Waltz in 'Inglourious Basterds'

Actress in a Leading Role

• Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
• Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
• Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
• Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
• Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

This is a catagory I feel quite strongly about this year. Again, I had all the nominees pinned before the announcement, although I only added SaBu last week. Having seen 'The Blind Side', I can tell you that Bullock's outing is over-average at best. Through all the pithy dialogue and white-America cliches, there is no doubt a strong performance by Bullock's standards. Having seen 'An Education', 'Julie and Julia' and 'Precious' though, I can also tell you that her performance is on par with Sidibe's Precious, but doesn't even come close to what Carey Mulligan and Meryl Streep accomplished in their respective roles. Never the less, my prediction is as follows...

PREDICTION: Sandra Bullock in 'The Blind Side'

Actress in a Supporting Role

• Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
• Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
• Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
• Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
• Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Okay, so NOBODY saw Maggie G getting nominated for 'Crazy Heart'. That was a nice suprise. I have every expectation that 'Crazy Heart' is going to be a great movie, and Maggie's nomination excites me even more so. As much as I love Penelope, her nomination was a bit of a suprise. Personally, I thought she was incredible in 'Nine' but with all the bad press her film has been getting, I kind of figured that Diane Kruger or maybe Julianne Moore would have occupied the spot that she now does. Good to see both of the 'Up in the Air' girls in there, deservedly so. Kendrick especially, she really was a treat. However, much like the Supporting Actor shortlist, there is only one performer who is going to be walking away with Oscar gold. Mo'Nique exceeded all expectations and delivered something breathtaking in 'Precious', and although I preferred 'Up in the Air' as a film (story and screenplay), it's gotta be Mo'Nique every time.

PREDICTION: Mo'Nique in 'Precious'

Animated Feature Film

• “Coraline” Henry Selick
• “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
• “The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
• “The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
• “Up” Pete Docter

I guess the question on everyone's minds is, what the hells is 'The Secret of Kells'? Well, it's a lovely Irish story from Buena Vista featuring the voice talents of Brendan Gleeson. Yeah, I'd never heard of it until today either. The trailer looks okay I suppose, but I really enjoyed 'Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs' so was disappointed when it didn't feature in this category. A stronger year than most, with a range of different animation styles. Total walkover though.

PREDICTION: 'Up'

Art Direction

• “Avatar” Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
• “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
• “Nine” Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
• “Sherlock Holmes” Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
• “The Young Victoria” Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

I totally fluffed this one. 'Avatar' was my only correct prediction, and I've got to say I'm suprised not to see 'Inglourious Basterds' or 'A Single Man' here. I was even stretching for 'Julie and Julia' but alas, 'Nine' had to get nominated for something. Great to see some love for 'Parnassus', that was completely unexpected. Interesting to see 'Sherlock Holmes' sneaking in with a few nominations as well. Unfortunately though, this is one of those many categories where the other four nominees kind of just make up the numbers.

PREDICTION: 'Avatar'

Cinematography

• “Avatar” Mauro Fiore
• “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel
• “The Hurt Locker” Barry Ackroyd
• “Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson
• “The White Ribbon” Christian Berger

This is more like it! Foreign films getting proper recognition! I've only seen bits and pieces of 'The White Ribbon', but I've certainly seen enough to know that it definitely belongs in this category. And for some reason, I can't help but feel that 'Avatar' doesn't? I mean yeah, we all got to see the fruits of the Cameron 3D Fusion System, and that was really cool, don't get me wrong. In terms of general cinematography though, I disagree. Cinematography is about capturing a magical moment through a performance, through a physical set, through the way something is lit, through the most beautiful angle, and that is where films like 'The White Ribbon' and 'The Hurt Locker' make their impact. Not through 162 minutes of CGI forestry. That's all very pretty, but it's not real! If 'Avatar' picks this up along with all it's other technical awards, I will be fuming.

Oh, and Harry Potter? Pfft.

PREDICTION: 'The Hurt Locker'

Costume Design

• “Bright Star” Janet Patterson
• “Coco before Chanel” Catherine Leterrier
• “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
• “Nine” Colleen Atwood
• “The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell

More Gilliam love! I like it! HOWEVER, nominating 'Parnassus' means no room for 'Inglourious' and that is something I don't agree with at all. The two period, fashion flicks were a lock, then there's your Royal family movie and the Rob Marshall musical. That's all fine. But with the other 8 nominations 'Basterds' accrued, how it missed out on this one I have no idea. Go figure. Should be an interesting result though. This could go anyone's way, and I'm going to be bold for once.

PREDICTION: 'Bright Star'

Directing

• “Avatar” James Cameron
• “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
• “Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
• “Up in the Air” Jason Reitman

The category you've all been waiting for! Can Kathryn Bigelow ride the wave and on the back of her triumph at the DGAs topple the (self-proclaimed) King of the World and become the first woman to pick up the award for Best Direction? Yes, she bloody well can. Lest we forget that the Globes are voted for by journalists, and that we should try not to take them too seriously when predicting the Oscars. 999,999 times out of a million, the winner of the DGA wins the Oscar, and I would be thrilled if that were the case this year. I give 'Avatar' shit, but that's because it was so poorly written. The music was equally as cringeworthy, but Cameron did direct the hell out of that thing. That is a fact (Quarritch!). 'The Hurt Locker' was just intense filmmaking at it's finest, organic and raw, and deserves every accolade it gets, including this one...hopefully.

PS. Sorry Quentin, Jason. I feel terrible for betraying you :(

PREDICTION: Kathryn Bigelow for 'The Hurt Locker'

Documentary (Feature)

• “Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
• “The Cove” Nominees to be determined
• “Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
• “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
• “Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa

I am familiar with 'Burma VJ', 'Food Inc.' and 'The Cove', and am pretty sure that it's going to be between those three. I'm just upset that there's no love for 'Mugabe and The White African'. That's purely based on bias though as it stars my Godparents' son, Ben Freeth, whose life I have followed intently for the last ten years or so. Never the less, a strong showing of documentaries this year. Could go any way!

PREDICTION: 'Food Inc.'

Documentary (Short Subject)

• “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
• “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
• “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
• “Music by Prudence” Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
• “Rabbit à la Berlin” Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Probably just leave this one for now...

Film Editing

• “Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
• “District 9” Julian Clarke
• “The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
• “Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz

This will be particularly interesting this year. Like cinematography, this isn't a technical category that 'Avatar' will landslide. In fact, now that I think about it, there aren't any! Even in Visual Effects, it could very well be upset by 'District 9'. Editing though, is far more integral to the final product of any film. The editor's job is to make the story work in the best possible way, which means that this category is wide open. I'm talking gaping. So much so that I'm struggling to settle on a prediction, so I'll say this now in defense of what I thought was superb editing...if 'District 9' wins this award, I told you so.

PREDICTION: 'The Hurt Locker'

Foreign Language Film

• “Ajami” Israel
• “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina
• “The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
• “Un Prophète” France
• “The White Ribbon” Germany

This is such a two horse race it's untrue. Thank you for your interest Israel, Peru, Argentina! Any other year, you may have had a shot but this is a total toss up between Germany's 'The White Ribbon' and France's 'Un Prophete'. Now, I was a silly, silly boy and missed 'The White Ribbon' when it passed through my city in the autumn, but I am seeing 'Un Prophete' tomorrow (excited) and have generally read more to do with the gangster epic that the B/W war story. Other award bodies and critics associations are pretty split over the two though, so rather than hastily predict during my post-screening buzz tomorrow, I am going to go ahead and follow my instinct now while I haven't seen either!

PREDICTION: 'The White Ribbon'

Makeup

• “Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
• “Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
• “The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Another nod for 'The Young Victoria' eh? Interesting indeed. 'Star Trek' was a given, but I was sure that 'The Road' would sneak in here. Very suprised to see 'Il Divo'. Perhaps a sign of things to come? Choosing from three is always tough, and I was ready to predict 'The Road' or 'Nine' for the win, so don't expect me to get this one right next month.

PREDICTION: 'Star Trek'

Music (Original Score)

• “Avatar” James Horner
• “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
• “The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
• “Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
• “Up” Michael Giacchino

'The Hurt Locker'? Don't think anyone saw that coming as great as the music is. Awesome to see 'Fantastic Mr Fox' getting some proper recognition here, too. For me though, there's only one winner here and that is Michael Giacchino for 'Up'. The music in 'Up' is just about as perfect and as poignant as a score can be (although, anything's better than James Horner's horrific effort). My dark horse is definitely Hans Zimmer for 'Sherlock Holmes'. I included him in my original predictions, and then removed him last week and replaced him with Abel Korzeniowski for 'A Single Man' (seriously, I'm gutted). Since then I've listened to the 'Sherlock Holmes' end credits music on more than a few occasions and can safely say that it's some of the best scoring of the year. Good ol' Hans.

PREDICTION: 'Up'

Music (Original Song)

• “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
• “Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
• “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

I'm sure everyone's prasing the film lords for the same thing, right? No Leona Lewis! Thank you, Academy, for not recognising what is a truly awful song that sounds more than a little bit like 'My Heart Will Go On', among other songs. Good on yer! This category is particularly interesting because a) 'Take It All' was nominated rather than 'Cinema Italiano'. This could mean 'Nine' upsetting 'Crazy Heart', but I doubt it will. What it does mean though is that we may get to see the wonderful Marion Cotillard recite what I thought was the second best song in the film, and b) two nominations for 'The Princess and the Frog' and Randy Newman. Newman is no stranger to Oscar glory, so to be nominated twice must increase his chances, but I'm still banking on T-Bone to take it home.

PREDICTION: 'The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)' from 'Crazy Heart'

Best Picture

• “Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
• “The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
• “District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
• “An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
• “The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined
• “Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
• “A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
• “Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer
• “Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Expanding to ten nominees is a very clever idea. It gives the Academy an opportunity to show just how trendy they can be. If there had been five slots available this year, rest assured they would have gone to 'Avatar', 'The Hurt Locker', 'Inglourious Basterds', 'Up in the Air' and 'Precious'. That covers the big box-office epic, the low-budget war film, the Tarantino return to form, the hip and current Clooney-fest, and the underdog drama. Any other year, that's how it would have gone. But expand to 10 nominees and you get to rake in the ratings by including the Pixar masterpiece, the Coen Brothers annual offering, the other sci-fi epic, the coming of age Brit flick and last but not least, Sandra Bullock's sappy American box-office smash, 'The Blind Side'. Absolutely unbelievable.

I wasted 90 minutes on 'The Blind Side' on New Year's Eve and as a result, I have never been so taken aback by a Best Picture nomination. I can list you 20 films off the top of my head that were better than 'The Blind Side' without including any of the other Best Picture nominees. Its inclusion is proof that the Academy pays attention to box-office numbers, and for me that is slightly unsettling. What's less unsettling is safely knowing that 'The Blind Side' doesn't stand a chance, and that if the voting results were accessible, it would come dead last.

While 'Up in the Air' has been performing well in the run-up to the major awards, taking home best film accolades from many critics associations for being a truly memorable piece of work, more recently this has turned into a battle between the (again, self-proclaimed) King of the World and his ex-wife. One made the most expensive and most successful film of all time, and the other made Jeremy Renner an Academy Award nominee while accruing only $12m at the US box office. Unless 'Inglourious Basterds' makes a late surge on the back of it's success at the SAGs, it will more than likely be between 'Avatar' and 'The Hurt Locker'. And if 'Avatar' wins Best Motion Picture of the Year, I will quit writing about films. No way, no how. It can't happen. It's not even the best sci-fi film of the year! Let him have the record books, but leave the proper awards for intelligent films that have something a bit more interesting to say.*

*For the record, I quite liked 'Avatar' the first few times I saw it. It's hugely entertaining. It's just not in the same league as 'The Hurt Locker', 'Inglourious Basterds', 'Up in the Air' or 'District 9' when it's comes down to brass tax.

PREDICTION: 'The Hurt Locker'

Short Film (Animated)

• “French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
• “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
• “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
• “Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin
• “A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park

Nick Park has a tendancy to be brilliant. Let's back our British hope!

PREDICTION: 'A Matter of Loaf and Death'

Short Film (Live Action)

• “The Door” Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
• “Instead of Abracadabra” Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
• “Kavi” Gregg Helvey
• “Miracle Fish” Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
• “The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

We'll cross this bridge when we come to it.

Sound Editing

• “Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
• “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
• “Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
• “Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
• “Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Sound editing revolves around creating synthetic sound and the selection of organic sound to represent something that it's not necessarily. This is the kind of technical award where 'Avatar' should be recognised. Again, 60% of the film was CGI remember, so every sound during those scenes had to be crafted in such a way that the audience would accept it as reality. It's about subtlety, and your movie-watching consciousness not feeling the need to question how genuine something is. Saying that, those Thanators had the voice of a T-Rex. And those Direhorses? I can't help thinking about Velociraptors in kitchens. Anyone? Beuller? This award could just as easily go to 'Star Trek' or 'Up', but alas, we've got to recognise Cameron's vision at some point.

PREDICTION: 'Avatar'

Sound Mixing

• “Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
• “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
• “Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
• “Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
• “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Sound mixing is a whole other ballgame. I personally thought that the mix for 'Avatar' was pretty poor. It was way too bass driven and generally a bit too Hollywood to be recognised, in my opinion. The same applies to 'Transformers 2'. The sound of Optimus Prime turning into a lorry is all very cool, but it's hardly an Oscar-worthy accomplishment. 'Star Trek' may well sneak this one, although there would be uproar if any other sci-fi film beat 'Avatar' in any category. I'm going to go with one of our Best Picture nominees though.

PREDICTION: 'Inglourious Basterds'

Visual Effects

• “Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
• “District 9” Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
• “Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

A month ago I would have written off any film challenging 'Avatar' for this award. Now, I'm not so sure. The mo-cap was as impressive, if not more so, in 'District 9'. And the fact that it was superimposed over real-life footage rather than a CGI-environment makes it all the more a threat to upset the almighty 'Avatar'. Don't get me wrong, I still think 'Avatar' will win. The film is based around visual effects more than it is around a story for Pandora's sake! All I'm saying is, even when 'Avatar' wins, just think hard about how much better 'District 9' is overall!

PREDICTION: 'Avatar'

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• “District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
• “An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
• “In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
• “Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

On to my favourite categories. I love the screenplay awards. Good writing is so crucial to a film's caliber and I always enjoy finding out which films are shortlisted for their achievements in screenwriting. This year has been particularly strong in both the original and adapted categories, but even still, there are clear cut frontrunners.

Anyone who knows anything about well-written films would agree with me when I say, 'Hell yeah! In The Loop!' There was an underground buzz for months over whether or not Armando Iannucci would sneak in for his razor-sharp satire, and he's only gone and done it! Of course, he won't win (he's British), but I'll be damned if there's not a tear in my eye when I see Partridge's creator walking down that red carpet.

The way I see it though, there's only one winner here. Although I thoroughly enjoyed what Nick Hornby had to offer in 'An Education', Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner really struck a nerve with the beautifully worked 'Up in the Air'. If it wins, it will be the ultimate consolation for not winning Best Picture (*tear*), as at least its wonderful script will have been recognised. Somehow, Reitman is able to blend comedy and drama with heartfelt emotion and matchless wit in everything he writes. This is no exception. Final answer.

PREDICTION: 'Up in the Air'

Writing (Original Screenplay)

• “The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
• “Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
• “The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
• “A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
• “Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

This screenplay category is far more interesting, especially with the suprise inclusions of 'The Messenger' (in my Top 3 films of 2009 for writing and acting alone) and the deserved but not necessarily expected 'Up'. There are the obvious heavyweights too. Tarantino could very well walk away a winner for his finest screenplay since 'Pulp Fiction', hell, he could win for writing Colonel Landa's character alone. The Coen Brothers make their annual appearance in a Tarantino-esque return to form, 'A Serious Man' being their strongest written work since 'O Brother, Where Art Thou' (cue controversy). Yeah, I loved 'No Country for Old Men' too, it rocked. And yeah, 'Burn After Reading' was seven shades of funny. 'A Serious Man' is a more personal film though. You get to really dive in to the Coen universe in this one, where as I didn't really feel that way about their last two outings, impressive as they were. In spite of all of this, Mark Boal has got to be a front runner too! Again, gaping. I have no clue which way this is going to go! Hopefully I get lucky.

PREDICTION: Quentin Tarantino for 'Inglourious Basterds'

Okay, your turn!