"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.

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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!!

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!

FINAL Oscar Predictions (ahead of Nomination Tuesday)

Blogs aplenty to come. I'm happy to announce that I will be writing for NME columnist Owen Nicholls' website for the forseeable future, as well as this blog. His site goes live this week! For now, here are my final Academy Award predictions ahead of Tuesday's announcement. New insertions are highlighted in BOLD. Feel free to share yours!

Best Picture

The Hurt Locker

Star Trek

Inglourious Basterds

Avatar

Up in the Air

Up

An Education

Invictus

District 9

Precious

OUT: Where The Wild Things Are, The Messenger

Best Director

Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker

James Cameron - Avatar

Jason Reitman - Up in the Air

Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

Lee Daniels - Precious

OUT: Clint Eastwood - Invictus

Best Actress

Carey Mulligan - An Education

Meryl Streep - Julie and Julia

Gabby Sidibe - Precious

Helen Mirren - The Last Station

Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side

OUT: Marion Cotillard - Nine

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

Best Supporting Actress

Mo'Nique - Precious

Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air

Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air

Diane Kruger - Inglourious Basterds

Julianne Moore - A Single Man

OUT: Samantha Morton - The Messenger, Penelope Cruz - Nine

Best Supporting Actor

Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

Woody Harrelson - The Messenger

Stanley Tucci -The Lovely Bones

Matt Damon - Invictus

Christopher Plummer - The Last Station

Best Original Screenplay

Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

Joel and Ethan Coen - A Serious Man

Mark Boal - The Hurt Locker

Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber - (500) Days of Summer

Bob Petersen, Pete Docter - Up

Best Adapted Screenplay

Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner - Up in the Air

Nick Hornby - An Education

Geoffrey Fletcher - Precious

Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell - District 9

Armando Iannuci - In The Loop

OUT: Spike Jonze, Dave Eggars - Where The Wild Things Are/Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach - Fantastic Mr Fox

Best Editing

The Hurt Locker

Avatar

Inglourious Basterds

District 9

(500) Days of Summer

OUT: Nine

Best Cinematography

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

The White Ribbon

Nine

Avatar

OUT: The Lovely Bones

Best Art Direction

Avatar

District 9

A Single Man

Inglourious Basterds

Julie and Julia

OUT: The Lovely Bones

Best Sound Mixing

Avatar

The Hurt Locker

Star Trek

District 9

Nine

Best Sound Editing

Avatar

Up

Star Trek

District 9

The Hurt Locker

Best Costume Design

Bright Star

Inglourious Basterds

Coco Avant Chanel

Nine

The Young Victoria

OUT: Where The Wild Things Are

Best Original Score

Michael Giacchino - Up

Carter Burwell and Karen O - Where The Wild Things Are

Marvin Hamlisch - The Informant!

James Horner - Avatar

Abel Korzeniowski - A Single Man

OUT: Hans Zimmer - Sherlock Holmes

Best Song

'I See You' - Avatar

'All Is Love' - Where The Wild Things Are

'Cinema Italiano' - Nine

'The Weary Kind' - Crazy Heart

'Almost There' - The Princess and the Frog

Best Animated Feature

Up

Fantastic Mr Fox

The Princess and the Frog

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

Coraline

Best Visual Effects

Avatar

2012

Star Trek

District 9

Best Makeup

The Road

Star Trek

Nine

Best Foreign Language Film

A Prophet (France)

The White Ribbon (Germany)

Broken Embraces (Spain)

Winter in Wartime (The Netherlands)

Samson and Delilah (Australia)

OUT: Letters From Father Jacob (Finland), White Wedding (South Africa)



BIG blog tomorrow once the nominations are announced. 'Avatar' and 'Up In The Air' blogs up by the weekend...FINALLY!

Britain can still pack a punch, even if the director is Danish.

If you were to read my first blog, you would read that I rate Peter Sarsgaard very highly. The Kiefer Sutherland lookalike has been one of my favourite character actors since 'Boys Don't Cry', and I even forgave him for 'Orphan' which although there is no official list, was one of the five worst films of 2009. Not just in my opinion, but in most people's. Strange to think that the two leads would go on to receive masses of critical acclaim for further performances in 2009. Vera Farmiga will most likely receive an Oscar nomination for her role in 'Up in the Air', while Sarsgaard achieved rave reviews for his role in a lovely little Nick Hornby-penned picture called 'An Education'.

And it is a lovely little picture, not only of Britain on the cusp of the 'swinging sixties' but of teenage naivety in its very purest form. Lone Scherfig's first film in English in seven years, 'An Education' is the story of Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a sixteen year-old A-level student with her sights set on Oxford (or rather, her father's sights) until she meets mysterious playboy David (Sarsgaard) and discovers a plentiful world outside the exam hall.

What is instantly striking about this film is the almost overwhelming amount of near perfect performances. Carey Mulligan is a beautiful revelation as our lead, but the strong support from Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Olivia Williams, Rosamund Pike, Dominic Cooper, Cara Seymour and the always enchanting Emma Thompson really make 'An Education' feel like an iconic British film that will stand the test of time. Even more impressively, Mulligan stands her ground against a who's who of British talent and provides the audience with a character that will more than likely earn her a Best Actress nomination come February. On top of that, I think she'll win!

The character of Jenny is as progressive as the film's themes, almost evolutionary. When we meet her she is a few Latin tutorials away from Oxford, head buried in textbooks although it is evident from the get go that hidden behind her well-disciplined, intellectual front is a penchant for the arts, namely French culture. She is practically forbidden this outlet, until a chance meeting with the suave and sophisticated David changes everything. It is only once David is part of her life that we are able to realise that beneath her mature-beyond-her-years, cultured and ambitious exterior, Jenny is as naive and as vulnerable as any sixteen year-old girl. Easily frustrated and quick to rebel, even quicker to consider trading an Oxford future for her first love, Jenny's sparks of maturity are quickly quashed by David's staggering immaturity and reckless abandon. While their feelings for each other are no doubt genuine, his influence was always going to be innocently negative, and I found myself praying at the halfway mark that he didn't hurt her as it became increasingly evident that his relentless charm would have to at some point wear thin. As his charm increases in monetary value, so does her naivety to the point where she overlooks the fact that he is essentially a thief. From that moment on, it is only a matter of time before Jenny reaches into the glovebox for a French cigarette only to find an empty box.

Watching this relationship develop from a modern perspective is difficult, as the more they fall for each other, the more you can't help but feel that whatever he is hiding is going to crush her. Nowadays, the amount of thirty-somethings chasing impressionable students is hardly suprising, with MySpace and Facebook paving the way for textual grooming. To fully understand this particular relationship however, you have to identify with the era. The period in which the film is set makes it all the more feasable. For example, Jack (Jenny's father played by the often overlooked but always endearing Alfred Molina) is quick to accept David into his daughter's life regardless of his age and Jewish background. Why? Because he has something to offer her. Traditional values (apparently) coupled with obvious financial stability. In short, all a father could ever want for his daughter. How quickly his attitude towards her education changes as soon as the prospect of financial relief reveals itself.

Jenny puts it best when she questions why she has been encouraged to push for an Oxford education when she could have been selling herself in nightclubs, if all her father cared about was fiscal stability in later life. Lest we forget that 'An Education' is set in a time where women were not particularly empowered and were often simply passed from father to husband without much concern for personal development. A prime example of this is Rosamund Pike's Helena, a character you can't help but feel Jenny would grow to resemble should she continue along the path that involves borrowing her clothes.

In 2009, there wasn't a better written film (I'm of course referring to Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner's 'Up in the Air' as a 2010 release) in terms of an identification with its time and with its characters. A true coming of age picture though set in the sixties, this should clear up at the BAFTAs and make a strong statement as a Best Picture contender in March. It will lose out on a screenplay gong to 'Up in the Air' for sure, but will launch Nick Hornby's career as an internationally recognised screenwriter. Anyway, awards don't make a film any better when it's already making straight As in a class of its own.

Top 20 of 2009 + 2010 Academy Award Predictions!

1= The Hurt Locker


1= The Messenger


3. Moon


4. Inglourious Basterds


5. (500) Days of Summer


6. Avatar


7. A Serious Man


8. Fantastic Mr Fox


9. Star Trek


10. Where The Wild Things Are


11. District 9


12. Up


13. An Education


14. The Hangover


15. Broken Embraces


16. Synecdoche, New York


17. Observe and Report


18. Sunshine Cleaning


19. Zombieland


(-). Up in the Air

Best Picture

The Hurt Locker

The Messenger

Inglourious Basterds

Avatar

Up in the Air

Up

An Education

Invictus

Where The Wild Things Are

Precious



Best Director

Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker

James Cameron - Avatar

Jason Reitman - Up in the Air

Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

Clint Eastwood - Invictus



Best Actress

Carey Mulligan - An Education

Meryl Streep - Julie and Julia

Gabby Sidibe - Precious

Helen Mirren - The Last Station

Marion Cotillard - Nine



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



Best Supporting Actress

Mo'Nique - Precious

Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air

Penelope Cruz - Nine

Samantha Morton - The Messenger

Julianne Moore - A Single Man



Best Supporting Actor

Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

Woody Harrelson - The Messenger

Stanley Tucci -The Lovely Bones

Matt Damon - Invictus

Christopher Plummer - The Last Station

OR

Christian McKay - Me and Orson Welles



Best Original Screenplay

Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

Joel and Ethan Coen - A Serious Man

Mark Boal - The Hurt Locker

Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber - (500) Days of Summer

Bob Petersen, Pete Docter - Up



Best Adapted Screenplay

Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner - Up in the Air

Nick Hornby - An Education

Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach - Fantastic Mr Fox

Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell - District 9

Spike Jonze, Dave Eggars - Where The Wild Things Are



Best Editing

The Hurt Locker

Avatar

Inglourious Basterds

Nine

(500) Days of Summer



Best Cinematography

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

The White Ribbon

Nine

The Lovely Bones



Best Art Direction

Avatar

District 9

A Single Man

Inglourious Basterds

The Lovely Bones



Best Sound Mixing

Avatar

The Hurt Locker

Star Trek

District 9

Nine



Best Sound Editing

Avatar

Up

Star Trek

District 9



Best Costume Design

Bright Star

Inglourious Basterds

Where The Wild Things Are

Nine

The Young Victoria



Best Original Score

Michael Giacchino - Up

Carter Burwell and Karen O - Where The Wild Things Are

Marvin Hamlisch - The Informant!

James Horner - Avatar

Hans Zimmer - Sherlock Holmes



Best Song

'I See You' - Avatar

'All Is Love' - Where The Wild Things Are

'Cinema Italiano' - Nine

'The Weary Kind' - Crazy Heart

'Almost There' - The Princess and the Frog



Best Animated Feature

Up

Fantastic Mr Fox

The Princess and the Frog

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

Coraline



Best Visual Effects

Avatar

2012

Star Trek

District 9



Best Makeup

The Road

Star Trek

Nine

Best Foreign Language Film

A Prophet (France)

The White Ribbon (Germany)

Broken Embraces (Spain)

Letters From Father Jacob (Finland)

White Wedding (South Africa)



So, there you have it! Mark my words, these will be pretty much dead on (hopefully). The only real difference I can foresee is the lack of love for 'Where The Wild Things Are', but we'll have to see.

Apologies for the lack of blog reviews recently. Yes, I have been lazy with Christmas/New Years/The Band/illness getting in the way but there will be blogs this month, I promise. I'm going out on tour from Monday so I will have a lot of downtime to write for you.

Happy New Year to all my loyal readers ;) Blogs to come before Valentine's Day (it is awards season after all):

Avatar
Where The Wild Things Are
An Education
The Messenger
The Hurt Locker
Up in the Air
The Lovely Bones
It's Complicated

The Road

Daybreakers

Laters haters!

-M

Me and Christian McKay

Working at a cinema, it's the films that only get a week's run that I tend to rush out and see. 'Taking Woodstock' a good example. A big name director was involved, with an unknown lead, but what looked like a charming story. 'Me and Orson Welles' is much the same, but rather than an unknown lead, it was always going to be about the unknown support. Had Christian McKay's portrayal of Orson Welles not been hailed by critics left and right, I probably would have stayed clear of this, the latest offering from Richard Linklater ('Dazed and Confused', 'School of Rock' and more impressively 'A Scanner Darkly'). I'm still not quite buying Zac Efron post-Disney, and Claire Danes hasn't made a decent movie since 'Romeo and Juliet'. So when all of the reviews pointed me in the direction of the unknown British actor, Christian McKay, there was a slight generation of interest. If nothing else, I would enjoy watching two American 'stars' being upstaged by someone in their first major role.

That pretty much sums up my feelings now that I've seen the film, too. Although I thoroughly enjoyed it overall (the production/costume design was most impressive, as was the screenplay), from the moment McKay appeared onscreen, the focus was on him and no one else. While fellow Brit Ben Chaplin contributes positively to a few scenes, it is all about McKay's interactions with Efron from start to finish. I really couldn't care less about any of Danes' involvement with our two charming leads as she was absolutely useless as the shared love interest.

Before settling in to watch 'Me and Orson Welles', I had already come to the conclusion that I would only be watching for McKay's performance and had almost resigned to the idea that his performance was all that I would enjoy. That's not strictly true, looking back. Although watching the film with that mentality certainly made it easier to look past Efron's Richard and Danes' ever-fickle Sonja, there were definitely some additional winning elements. Technically, it is superb. Linklater has again captured the sheen of the time with a perfect Hollywood gloss, and the relatively simple sets and beautifuly designed costumes (along with McKay) really bring this movie to life. Noticeably, while sparkling throughout, the sets are not as expansive as one would expect, nor do they need to be. Over half the film takes place in Welles' Mercury theatre, and the result is an ensemble cast that feels genuinely close knit. It almost feels as if Linklater has drawn on the directing styles of Welles himself, and transferred them into his own cast, his own film. He enables the viewer to immerse themselves in the theatre to personally endure the tireless preparation that goes into a Welles-directed Broadway show. By the time 'Caesar' opens, you feel like you have been there, rehearsing alongside Welles since day one. You are already familiar with the scenes and the characters, so to watch them deliver with such grace and fluidity makes the climax to 'Me and Orson Welles' all the more gratifying.

Will McKay be nominated for an Academy Award? Absolutely. He came out of nowhere and lit up the screen. From his tone to his mannerisms, Christian McKay is Orson Welles. He manages to capture the charm, the determination, the passion and the arrogance of Welles in his first scene and gives a truly breathtaking performance that will leave a smile on your face long afterwards. Whether or not he can compete against the likes of Christoph Waltz, Stanley Tucci and Woody Harrelson (?) is debatable, but I'm sure a first-time actor like McKay would be over the moon just to be mentioned in the same breath.

A movie that overuses the term 'swell' in the first half, yes, but a wonderful little picture overall. A nice change of pace from the blockbusting 'Avatars' and 'Sherlock Holmes's' the holiday season has graced us with, I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who has ever acted on stage.

OSCARWATCH PT 1.

Right, so, as of today I've seen exactly 100 films that have been released in 2009. Do you really want a list? I think not. Anyway, 100 is enough to, I think, start to put together some relatively educated predictions. I was trying to hold off until I'd seen 'Avatar' and 'Where The Wild Things Are', but seeing as the National Board of Review (NBR) recently honoured the best in film this year, I figured that it is at this point that we can start to approach awards season a little more seriously. I'm a serious man, even if my predictions are up in the air at the moment. Don't shoot the messenger! I'm just trying to give you a bit of an education.

Yeah, you read that right. Banter.

Without further ado, the NBR major category winners:

Best Film: Up In The Air

The more I read about this film, the more I look forward to it. Content-wise, it's current and you just know it's going to be well written. Apparently the ending's a real belter too. I don't know if it's the best film of the year, but I will reserve judgement until I see it. Unfortunately, it will be one of the last BP nominees I see before the winners are announced!

Top Eleven Films (In alphabetical order):

An Education

(500) Days Of Summer

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Invictus

The Messenger

A Serious Man

Star Trek

Up

Up In The Air

Where The Wild Things Are

What an awesome list! Just goes to show what a strong year in film it's been. By the end of the month, I will have seen seven of these. Seven of which I would agree wholeheartedly with being on any 'Best Of 2009' list. I'm especially ecstatic that '(500) Days of Summer' is getting the credit it rightfully deserves, and would be over the moon if it managed to wangle a BP nod, but would settle for a Best Orignal Screenplay nomination. I don't really need to see the other four to know that they're brilliant so will respect this list as it is. I'm still hoping 'Avatar' ends up being criminally good and hops on the awards train late in the day.

Best Director: Clint Eastwood, Invictus

Yeah, I buy this. Mr. Eastwood is one of the best directors alive and I can't imagine a Mandela biopic starring Morgan Freeman being anything less than stunning. My personal preference would probably be either Kathryn Bigelow ('The Hurt Locker'), Spike Jonze ('Where The Wild Things Are'), or maybe even James Cameron (who knows!), but again I'll hold back until I've seen everything. After all, this is only Part One of what is sure to be a barrage of Oscar related posts. Part of the fun of making predictions is updating them!

Best Actor: Morgan Freeman, Invictus and George Clooney, Up In The Air (tie)

I have no trouble believing that Morgan Freeman gives the performance he was born to give in 'Invictus', and apparently The Clooney rocks it like he's never rocked it in 'Up In The Air', but I have a feeling that come February, I'm going to end up siding with Jeff Bridges ('Crazy Heart') and Viggo Mortensen ('The Road'). It's just such a wide open category this year, I'd be happy to see any of these guys win.

Best Actress: Carey Mulligan, An Education

Yes, yes, yes. I was blown away by her performance in the trailer. While 'Julie and Julia' was great on the acting front, Meryl's been nominated like 47 times so she won't win for a movie that would have been average had it not been for the Streep/Adams double punch (She'd want Carey to win anyway), and as good as I'm sure 'Precious' is, it can't be that hard for an obese, black girl to play an obese, black girl (just like it's not terribly difficult for Michael Stuhlbarg to play a Jew). Sorry, Gabby Sidibe, but I'm pretty sure a strong screenplay strengthened your performance somewhat, just like it strengthened performances from Mo'Nique (spare me) and Mariah Carey. So, Carey for the win. Mulligan that is, obviously.

Best Supporting Actor: Woody Harrelson, The Messenger

I love Woody. Please, do not get me wrong. However, there is nothing Woody Harrelson could ever do to outact Christoph Waltz. I'm stoked for 'The Messenger', I really am. Apparently Ben Foster is brilliant too, I really can't wait. Never the less, Christoph Waltz's performance in 'Inglourious Basterds' is probably the best performance by anyone in anything this year. He played a quad-lingual, Jew-murdering Nazi colonel that you couldn't help but love. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as an audience we are not meant to gleefully chuckle everytime a character like that comes onscreen. Simply put, it's got to be Waltz over Woody every single time. There's talk of late surges from Stanley Tucci ('Julia and Julia' and/or 'The Lovely Bones) and Christian McKay ('Me and Orson Welles'), but as it stands I'm not backing anyone other than Waltz.

Best Supporting Actress: Anna Kendrick, Up In The Air

I'm going to go ahead and buy this too. As much as I despise the Twilight series, there's no denying Anna Kendrick is quite the talent. Early reviews declare that she upstages Clooney and blows Farmiga away, so I'm going to go ahead and believe the hype and pencil in Kendrick as a frontrunner. Mo'Nique can't stand a chance against this type of talent, surely.

Best Foreign Film: A Prophet

Well, yeah. It was either going to be this or 'The White Ribbon'. Will definitely try and see both before March.

Best Documentary: The Cove

Easy. I'm still bummed about 'Anvil: The Story of Anvil' though.

Best Animated Feature: Up

No brainer.

Best Ensemble Cast: It’s Complicated

Not so sure about this, even though it's not an Oscar category. Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin and Meryl are all fantastic, especially in lighthearted comedies, but are you seriously trying to tell me that they outclassed the casts of 'Nine' and 'An Education'? I think not.

Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

If it was by a leading actor, then I totally agree. Overall though, I think that once again, it's gotta be Christoph Waltz. Tarantino plucked him out of the depths of German cinema and made him a star overnight, literally. He won 'Best Actor' at Cannes for a supporting role for crying out loud! Maybe I'm biased.

Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

Okay, I'll give her this one. She'd better follow up with something else amazing, though!

Spotlight Award for Best Directorial Debut: Duncan Jones, Moon, Oren Moverman,The Messenger and Marc Webb, (500) Days of Summer (tie)

Yes, yes and yes again! Nice to see Duncan Jones winning something for 'Moon', and equally nice to see Marc Webb picking up some sort of gong for what was (personally) my favourite movie of the year (notice I didn't say 'best film').

Best Original Screenplay: Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man

Twas all a bit Jew-y, but another excellent bit of writing from the Coens. Blew 'Burn After Reading' out of the water, that's for sure. I still think '(500) Days of Summer' should pip it to the post though, it was neither 'Fargo' or 'The Big Lebowski'.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up In The Air

Yep.

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award: Wes Anderson, The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Oh, sweet! There I was thinking 'The Fantastic Mr. Fox' would get completely overlooked and here we have Wes Anderson picking up a special achievement award! There is some justice. Now, if we could only get the Academy voters to be bold and give it an adapted screenplay nod.

Top Ten Independent Films (In alphabetical order):

Amreeka

District 9

Goodbye Solo

Humpday

In The Loop

Julia

Me And Orson Welles

Moon

Sugar

Two Lovers

Another interesting list. More justified love for 'Moon', which is encouraging. It would really be something if it managed a few nominations for some major awards. 'District 9' and 'In The Loop' were both excellent as well, and I have a sneaky suspicion that the latter may end up getting a few more major nominations than you would expect for a expletive-filled Brit flick. 'District 9' will continue to be underrated, even though it was one of the more impressive and thought-provoking films to be released this year.

I will be seeing 'Me and Orson Welles' this week, if only for what I'm sure will be a knockout performance from Christian McKay, so will report back on that one in the near future. And, I have still not seen 'Two Lovers'! I missed it in the spring so will have to catch it on DVD, but from what I've seen and read, it to is deserved of making onto more than a few Top 10s.

Food for thought, I hope. In the next week I'll be watching and reviewing a few more heavyweights, so bear with me. 'Where The Wild Things Are' will be blogged on Friday, with 'Avatar' the following Thursday (or even Wednesday night if I can't hide my giddiness).

Stay tuned for 'The Box', and thanks for reading! It's nice to write a more informal blog for once.

A movie about a concert, without the concert.

It's good to know that Ang Lee is one director who isn't afraid of fresh challenges. Lest we forget, he followed the abysmal 'Hulk' with the brilliant 'Brokeback Mountain' and ended up winning his first Oscar. A director's first post-Oscar film is always going to be met with great expectation, and rightly so. 'Brokeback Mountain' was near perfect film-making, so you'd expect Lee to play to his strengths with the follow-up. 'Taking Woodstock' does just that, however the new territory that Lee explores (comedy) is a touch hit and miss.

Whether 'Taking Woodstock' is a comedy or a period piece is to be debated. Established comedy writer/actor Demitri Martin plays Elliot Tiber, the central character who wrote the book in 2007 on which the film is based, but the core of the film lies with the brilliant supporting cast which includes Imelda Staunton, Liev Schreiber and Emile Hirsch (not to mention Eugene 'American Pie' Levy). While all of their characters provide sporadic laughs throughout, the film resonates as a story of motivation and self-discovery rather than a hippie-comedy as implied by the trailers. That it is based on a book which is based on one man's account of a true story provides comic limitations from the get go, and in places the comedy really does feel like an afterthought.

What I appreciated about 'Woodstock' was the wonderful use of an ensemble cast, and the intertwining relationships within. There are definite shades of 'Brokeback' in that respect. Martin is impressive in his first lead role, and it is Elliot's selfless effort to help out his debt-stricken parents coupled with his own coming-of-age that makes this film memorable. What it isn't, however, is truly memorable. Even with a cross-dressing Liev Shreiber, a stoney, 'Nam-scarred Emile Hirsch and a wonderfully Jewish Imelda Staunton, 'Taking Woodstock' still lacks something that I can't quite put my finger on. My gut tells me that it's the total absence of live music. Yeah, I know it's not a concert film, but seeing as Lee only takes Elliot as far as the top of the hill, you can't help but feel slightly underwhelmed. Wouldn't you have loved to have been able to bump into Hendrix, Joplin, maybe Joe Cocker? Even if Lee thought the inclusion of musical icons would have been parodical, surely he could have thrown Joe Cocker into the mix!

Maybe I'm being over critical. The collective performances were enough to carry the film, even if the script was somewhat weak. Ironically, Ang Lee's choice of writer (James Schamus) is tragically that of 'Hulk' (as well as most other Lee films apart from 'Brokeback'), his last film in English. Why Lee persists with Schamus is beyond me. He is a talented film-maker no doubt, but screenwriting doesn't seem to be his strong point. Although Schamus is Oscar nominated (for shared writing duties), Lee only tends to get nominated for things when Schamus is not the lead screenwriter. Call it loyalty I guess.

One person who does make Schamus' average script seem better than it is is Imelda Staunton. The Oscar-nominated, British veteran owns every scene she's in, providing the biggest laughs as well as the most character depth. Her Eastern-european/New York accent is flawless and she is almost physically unrecognisable as Elliot's stubborn mother, Sonia. In any other Oscar year, she would probably have achieved a Best Supporting Actress nod for her role, but will most likely recieve a snub with 'Up In The Air' and 'Precious' offering a possible total of four BSA nominations.

Speaking of awards, this film probably won't win any. 'Brokeback' and 'Crouching Tiger' this ain't. While being a quirky, well-acted and beautifully depicted tribute to the greatest concert of all time, it just doesn't offer enough in terms of individual caliber. The soundtrack could have been mindblowing, but it isn't. There could have been live music, but there wasn't. Ang Lee makes it easy to appreciate the effort that went into the organisation of the Woodstock festival, but the lack of actual festival scenery left me unable to feel like a part of it.