OMG, Ewan McGregor is SO gay in real life.

Jim Carrey is so versatile it's unreal. Although hugely successful, he's always been a bit under appreciated when it comes to his talent. Of course by under appreciated, I mean he's never been nominated for a 'big one'. After two Golden Globes ('Man on the Moon' and 'The Truman Show'), Carrey started to undertake challenging roles on a more regular basis. His performance in 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' was a wonderful shock to the system for every Carrey fan, but alas there was still no Oscar nomination. In fact, I'd be interested to know if any actor has been nominated for more Globes without receiving an Academy Award nomination. Astonishing for a performer of his caliber. History aside, if they snub him this year after allowing Sandra Bullock to beat Meryl Streep then my faith in that particular voting body will be well and truly shaken.

'I Love You, Phillip Morris' is apparently a true story. If that is so, then middle-America is even more Bush-ed than I thought. I actually lost count of the amount of times that Carrey's Steven Russell managed to con the legal system into letting him walk out the front door of a penitentiary. Politics or no though, 'Phillip Morris' is a wonderfully original (really) gay comedy about the pursuit of true love and the verging-on-unbelievable lengths a person will go to for their soul mate. The only difference with this story though, is that our smitten lead has a complete disregard for the law.

From credit card fraud to identity theft to embezzlement to forgery, Steven Russell does it all. He experiences the luxurious highs of being a successful conman and the existential lows of life in prison, all while falling further and further in love with the far more openly gay Philip Morris played the incredible Ewan McGregor. As his besottedness grows, so does his superfluousness and before you know it, Governor Dubya has sentenced him to life. The first thing most prison escapees would do upon reaching freedom is head straight for the border with the intention of getting as far away from incarceration as possible. Not Steven Russell. The first thing he does (on more than one occasion) is put on a nice suit and march straight back to that there prison to fetch Philip, the love of his life. In a weird, confusing and super gay way, this is intensely touching to watch thanks in part to the spectacular performances from both Carrey and (especially) McGregor, who is sure to secure a supporting actor nomination, but also to the strength and originality of the story which is both insanely comedic and beautifully dramatic.

The journey from scene setting to climax is nothing short of downright ridiculous. Believe it or not, the movie begins in Georgia where Steven is a policeman married to a woman. I know, right? It's not long though before he is pounding away at a random partner before moving to Miami and buying over-sized sunglasses and under-sized dogs. His life of crime begins there and continues to escalate, escalate and escalate some more all in an effort to satisfy the ones he loves. The difference with Philip is that he is Steven's true love, and never asked for all the wealths Steven constantly goes out of his way to provide. Wanted or not, Steven loves Philip so much that he never wants him to have to work another day in his life even if it means risking life in prison, which to be fair is kind of sweet.

This movie can be graphic, it can be light on it's feet, and it can be heart wrenchingly deep. Not many films can be a lot of things at the same time, but 'Philip Morris' really pulls it off (literally, in some scenes) admirably. Carrey's trademark physical comedy is evident, but not overpowering. It leaves enough space for a memorable dramatic performance from himself, and a potentially statue-winning performance from McGregor. It leaves enough space for a plot buried in emotion and originality, enough space for the best gay comedy since 'The Birdcage' (unless you count 'Brokeback Mountain'. Oh, how I laughed when Heath spit in his hand).

For more views on 'I Love You, Philip Morris', check out Thisfilmison from NME film critic Owen Nicholls.

"Big-e-Low for Cameron" - The Sun (probably)

'The Hurt Locker' brutalized 'Avatar' Sunday night. In fact, I don't remember the camera cutting to Cameron at all during the second half of the broadcast apart from when they announced his ex-wife's name. Crushingly for him, she was sitting but one row in front of him for the duration of this one-sided takedown. As he gazed at the back of her pretty, talented head, 'The Hurt Locker' proceeded to scoop six Academy Awards. Best Picture and Best Director yes, but that was (in my opinion) a foregone conclusion. It also picked up Best Original Screenplay which went to a controversial Mark Boal who (angry military man aside) wrote a script that matched the intensity of the action piece by piece. Personally, I think that Quentin should have been considered for this one. Shows how much I know about how screenplay voting. I thought 'Up in the Air' was going to walk the adapted category. Silly me, right? But, we'll get to that later.

So, not only did 'The Hurt Locker' win Original Screenplay (which 'Avatar' was not ever remotely considered for), it managed to royally tax some of the technical awards which most people would have assumed 'Avatar' to walk away with. Alas, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing both went to the Bigelow pic within seconds of each other. It also picked up the Best Editing award which I figured was a landslide as the entire 'Hurt Locker' experience was based around the precision cuts that kept the film on its toes for an hour and a half. 'District 9' would've been a close second as I'm sure you'll agree. Lowly 'Avatar' (the most successful film of all-time) was reduced to Cinematography (which it shouldn't have won), Art Direction and Visual Effects. Both of those latter two it was totally entitled to thanks to truly stunning stuff from Cameron and his team of movie scientists. It was double trumps though for Bigelow and co. The first female directing award was presented with no stop for the Best Picture statue as Tom Hanks rounded off a long, impressive evening hosted unbelievably well by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.

The Supporting Role categories went as planned. The first award of the night was the easiest to call as Christoph Waltz elegantly accepted his final award of the season for his perfect performance in 'Inglourious Basterds'. Once again, he took to the stage with intellectual grace and poeticly bromanced Quentin Tarantino. Kindly spoken too was Mo'Nique who collected for her role in 'Precious' in which she silenced all her critics within seconds of appearing on screen. Considerably shorter than her Globes speech, she eased up on the Hallmark but still led us to believe that she and her husband are terribly in love. It was nice.

An overlooked big winner on the night was most definitely 'Up' which rightly was awarded Oscar gold for both Animated Feature and Original Score. Michael Giacchino could easily have been nominated twice for his musical contributions to cinema this year, so it was good to see him up there making a meaningful speech. And it's always a good year when Pixar makes the best animated movie. Dreamworks tend to be a tad Fox Network-y if that makes any sense? Solid movie, solid wins.

If the Oscars were about one movie this year, they were about one man. One man who has proved to be one of Hollywood's most consistent talents over the years, but amazingly had never won the big one until last night. That man of course is The Dude. And boy, did he abide.

After a beautiful performance in Scott Cooper's 'Crazy Heart' as the over-the-hill, whiskey-dependent Bad Blake, Jeff was finally able to take a load off (maybe smoke a J) and let the praise roll in. That's not to say that his competition wasn't stiff though. In fact, the Leading Actor category was this year the strongest its been in the last five which makes Bridges' win all the sweeter. Any one of the leading men nominated was a worthy winner, except maybe Morgan Freeman who was outshone in his own movie by Matt Damon. Colin Firth was the main threat for what I understand to be a truly emotive performance in Tom Ford's 'A Single Man', but this prize could just as easily have gone to George Clooney for what Empire described as 'a gift of a performance' in 'Up in the Air'. Renner was an outsider in 'The Hurt Locker', but it's not as if he was there to make up the numbers.

Following a heartfelt tribute from Michelle Pfieffer then, it was finally The Dude's turn. With his first Academy Award nomination coming almost 40 years ago, it was always going to be an emotional moment for everyone involved. I'm actually suprised that Jeff didn't just run on stage and shout 'It's about f*cking time!'. Reserved and humbled, he saved that kind of colourful language for Radio 5 Live and proceeded to make a lovely little speech in which he held high his wife and his parents.

Emotional too was Sandra Bullock who won for her leading role in the wasteful Ameridrama 'The Blind Side'. Having seen the film, I can confidently ensure you that this win was a complete joke. Don't get me wrong, Bullock was good in it. As good as you can be portraying a Southern, conservative mother-of-the-year type. Yeah, it was a career performance for Bullock, but the film really was terrible. On top of that, I didn't ever really picture SaBu as the Oscar-winning type so for her to come out on top for a above-average performance in a mediocre movie was hard to swallow. Carey Mulligan was absolutely stunning in 'An Education', as was Auntie Meryl as Julia Child in 'Julie and Julia'. Apparently Bullock was the frontrunner the whole time, but that certainly wasn't the case in my circles. Is there something we're missing, America? I'll never understand it, I guess. Nor will the millions of film-lovers around the world who know for a scientific fact that Mulligan or Streep should've won. Hell, I'd put first-timer Gabby Sidibe above Bullock having seen both 'The Blind Side' and 'Precious'. No brainer.

Finally, we come to Adapted Screenplay. This was the only real unexpected upset of the night for me. Having won the Globe, the BAFTA and countless other awards for its exceptional writing, this award should have gone to 'Up in the Air'. Hands down. Not only was it Jason Reitman's finest work and the best screenplay of any movie last year, it was one of the best written films I've ever watched. That's a personal opinion of course, but I'm not exaggerating. I loved it from start to finish. So for Geoffrey Fletcher to sneak in and nick it for 'Precious' was heartbreaking. He wrote a brilliant film, no doubt. But, as high as I hold 'Precious', if anything it was the writing that held it back from being truly great. 'Up in the Air' on the other hand offered nothing short of masterful dialogue. The characters were more true and more defined that any character in 'Precious', and it brought a poetic, quirky and involving feel to often overlooked and depressing subject matter. When Fletcher's name was called, my heart sank. The only film that I would have been okay losing to was 'An Education', but the Academy would have never gone for a Brit-flick.

2009 was an astounding year for film, but strangely enough the Oscars were particularly easy to predict. Maybe that's because I saw all ten Best Picture nominees before the awards took place this year. Maybe it's because there was so much quality separating the best from the rest (not so fast, 'The Blind Side'). From the looks of things, 2010 is going to be equally as impressive. Right now though, my money's on 'Inception'. Just you wait.

for more movie news and opinionating, go to Thisfilmison.

FINAL Oscar Predictions (seriously, this is it)

So, just after the nominations were announced I wrote (at length) about who I thought would reign supreme in each catagory. Not much has changed over the last month, apart from I’ve now seen ‘Crazy Heart’ twice and am fully in love with its soundtrack. I have also re-watched ‘Precious’, arthoused it for ‘Un Prophete’ and treated my parents to some great performances in ‘Invictus’. During this period, there have also been many an award ceremony and many a controversy (ie. naughty ‘Hurt Locker’ producers). Needless to say, ‘The Hurt Locker’ has picked up pace winning big at the BAFTAs and (impressively) at the DGAs. ‘Basterds’ winning at the SAGs may have shaken things up a big, but only slightly. At best, it will mean a screenplay win for Tarantino.

Before I get too carried away chatting Oscar, I thought I would pitch in with my final predictions. Alongside my actual prediction you will find an alternate winner as well as who I would personally prefer to take home gold.

I hope you all are able to enjoy the ceremony tonight, and if anyone is online I will be Twittering the whole shabang alongside thisfilmison.com's Owen Nicholls from 0100GMT at www.twitter.com/htimsttam

Without further ado:

Actor in a Leading Role

Winner: Jeff Bridges in ‘Crazy Heart’

Alt: Colin Firth in ‘A Single Man’

My Pick: Jeff Bridges in ‘Crazy Heart’

Actor in a Supporting Role

Winner: Christoph Waltz in ‘Inglourious Basterds’

Alt: None

My Pick: Christoph Waltz in ‘Inglourious Basterds’

Actress in a Leading Role

Winner: Sandra Bullock in ‘The Blind Side’

Alt: Gabby Sidibe in ‘Precious’

My Pick: Carey Mulligan in ‘An Education’

Actress in a Supporting Role

Winner: Mo’Nique in ‘Precious’

Alt: None

My Pick: Mo’Nique in ‘Precious’

Animated Feature Film

Winner: ‘Up’

Alt: ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’

My Pick: ‘Up’

Art Direction

Winner: ‘Avatar’

Alt: ‘Sherlock Holmes’

My Pick: ‘Avatar’

Cinematography

Winner: ‘Avatar’

Alt: ‘The Hurt Locker’

My Pick: ‘The White Ribbon’

Costume Design

Winner: ‘The Young Victoria’

Alt: ‘Coco Avant Chanel’

My Pick: ‘Bright Star’

Directing

Winner: Kathryn Bigelow for ‘The Hurt Locker’

Alt: James Cameron for ‘Avatar’

My Pick: Kathryn Bigelow for ‘The Hurt Locker’

Documentary Feature

Winner: ‘The Cove’

Alt: ‘Food Inc.’

My Pick: ‘Food Inc.’

Editing

Winner: ‘The Hurt Locker’

Alt: ‘District 9′

My Pick: ‘The Hurt Locker’

Foreign Language Film

Winner: ‘Un Prophete’

Alt: ‘The White Ribbon’

My Pick: ‘The White Ribbon’

Make-Up

Winner: ‘The Young Victoria’

Alt: ‘Star Trek’

My Pick: ‘The Young Victoria’

Original Score

Winner: Michael Giacchino for ‘Up’

Alt: Hans Zimmer for ‘Sherlock Holmes’

My Pick: Michael Giacchino for ‘Up’

Original Song

Winner: ‘The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)’ from ‘Crazy Heart’ by T-Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham

Alt: ‘Almost There’ from ‘The Princess and the Frog’ by Randy Newman

My Pick: ‘The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)’ from ‘Crazy Heart’ by T-Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham

Best Picture

Winner: ‘The Hurt Locker’

Alt: ‘Inglourious Basterds’

My Pick: ‘The Hurt Locker’

Short Film (Animated)

Winner: ‘A Matter of Loaf and Death’

Alt: ‘Logorama’

My Pick: ‘A Matter of Loaf and Death’

Sound Editing

Winner: ‘Avatar’

Alt: ‘Star Trek’

My Pick: ‘Avatar’

Sound Mixing

Winner: ‘The Hurt Locker’

Alt: ‘Inglourious Basterds’

My Pick: ‘Inglourious Basterds’

Visual Effects

Winner: ‘Avatar’

Alt: ‘District 9′

My Pick: ‘Avatar’

Writing (Original Screenplay)

Winner: ‘Inglourious Basterds’ by Quentin Tarantino

Alt: ‘The Hurt Locker’ by Mark Boal

My Pick: ‘Inglourious Basterds’ by Quentin Tarantino

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Winner: ‘Up in the Air’ by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Alt: ‘In The Loop’ by Armando Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Tony Roche and Simon Blackwell

My Pick: ‘Up in the Air’ by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Well, there you have it folks. That is EXACTLY what is going to happen. Feel free to post your thoughts and predictions in the replies! If there are upsets to be had, for the life of me I can’t figure out where. Unless Jeremy Renner wins Best Actor and Christoph Waltz walks away empty handed (haha, like that would ever happen), I’d say it’s going to be a fairly straight forward affair! COME ON HURT LOCKER!!