BFCA Goes Wild For Nine, Basterds and Avatar

I am shocked to report that my new membership did not singlehandedly or significantly increase their taste levels, he said sarcastically. A few of the following nominations are hard to justify qualitatively speaking but you can't always get what you want. Again Oscar punditry combined with 'I just unwrapped this gift' excitement seem to have replaced careful consideration of what the year had to offer. But then it does appear as if only about 15 movies truly existed this year. In fact six movies Inglourious Basterds, Nine, Avatar, Up in the Air, The Hurt Locker, Precious and The Lovely Bones account for 48% of all the nominations. Crazy.

Am I just grumpy because they think The Lovely Bones (6 nominations) is better looking and The Blind Side (2 nominations) better acted than the exquisite Bright Star (1 nomination only)? I find those two judgment calls totally unsupportable. The abundant nominations for the garish and messy Bones is actually the weirdest thing here. It's current RT score is 40%... not the sort of critical approval that generally makes you a major awards contender. They even like its visual effects more than most of the movies that the Academy has pushed forward in the f/x semifinals. It's got as many nominations as District 9 which people (generally speaking mind you) love a whole lot more. Is this because Bones spent so long being presumed-to-be a major contender? I'd be shocked if it's Oscar nomination tally goes beyond three nominations and I'm guessing it'll be less than that.

Best Picture

Avatar
* An Education
* The Hurt Locker
* Inglourious Basterds
* Invictus
* Nine
* Precious
* A Serious Man
* Up
* Up In The Air

• Yes, those are my current exact predictions for the Best Picture Oscar nominees. Not intentional! Or maybe it is on the BFCA's part. Heh.

Best Actor

Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart *
George Clooney, Up In The Air * 
Colin Firth, A Single Man * 
Morgan Freeman, Invictus *
Viggo Mortensen, The Road * Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Best Actress

Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria * 
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side * 
Carey Mulligan, An Education * 
Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones *
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious *
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

• Er... I realize Saoirse has a lot of fans in these parts. And I do consider myself one of them. I think she has a huge exciting career ahead and those eyes are just spectacular on camera. But a Best Actress nomination for this? (sigh) I weep for Tilda Swinton and Abbie Cornish who were dealing with very complex characterization. Now, art is its own reward so it's not like they aren't rewarded for and haven't rewarded us with their work. But still. It'd be nice if physical awards sometimes lined up with the intangibles.

Best Supporting Actor

Matt Damon, Invictus *
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger *
Christian McKay, Me And Orson Welles *
Alfred Molina, An Education * 
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones *
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

• Tucci was way better in Julie & Julia. That is all.

Best Supporting Actress

Marion Cotillard, Nine * Vera Farmiga, Up In The Air *
Anna Kendrick, Up In The Air * Mo’Nique, Precious *
Julianne Moore, A Single Man *
Samantha Morton, The Messenger

• This is a good shock. The BFCA normally supports category fraud so I'm happy to see Cotillard appear here where she belongs (Yes, I voted for her)

Best Young Actor / Actress
Jae Head, The Blind Side *
Bailee Madison, Brothers * 
Max Records, Where The Wild Things Are * 
Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones * 
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Road

• This is a good lineup but the inclusion of Jae Head who plays "SJ" in The Blind Side is... well, it's like a weird graft onto a movie list from a laugh track sitcom. One of the people I voted for did not make it: Edie Martin in Bright Star. Such a natural onscreen.

Acting Ensemble

Inglourious Basterds
* Nine
* Precious
* Star Trek
* Up In The Air

• Why do some categories have four nominees, some have five and most have six?

Director

Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker * 
James Cameron, Avatar * 
Lee Daniels, Precious *
Clint Eastwood, Invictus *
Jason Reitman, Up In The Air * 
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

• I think that's your Oscar lineup minus Eastwood of all people.

Original Screenplay

Mark Boal – “The Hurt Locker”
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – “A Serious Man”
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber – “(500) Days Of Summer”
Bob Peterson, Peter Docter – “Up”
Quentin Tarantino – “Inglourious Basterds”

Adapted Screenplay
Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach Fantastic Mr. Fox *
Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell District 9 *
Geoffrey Fletcher Precious *
Tom Ford, David Scearce A Single Man *
Nick Hornby An Education *
Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner Up In The Air

Cinematography
Barry Ackroyd, The Hurt Locker *
Dion Beebe, Nine *
Mauro Fiore, Avatar * 
Andrew Lesnie, The Lovely Bones *
Robert Richardson, Inglourious Basterds

Art Direction
Dan Bishop, A Single Man *
Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, Avatar *
John Myhre, Gordon Sim , Nine * Naomi Shohan, George De Titta, Jr., The Lovely Bones *
David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds Wasco, Inglourious Basterds

• I'm really not trying to be upset about The Lovely Bones but it's not working. Even the art direction bugged me. It felt like it was trying so hard to be 1960s!, rather than looking lived in and organic.

Editing
Dana E. Glauberman, Up In The Air *
Sally Menke, Inglourious Basterds *
Bob Murawski, Chris Innis, The Hurt Locker *
Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron, Avatar *
Claire Simpson, Wyatt Smith , Nine

Costume Design
Colleen Atwood, Nine *
Janet Patterson , Bright Star *
Sandy Powell, The Young Victoria *
Anna Sheppard, Inglourious Basterds * 
Casey Storm, Where The Wild Things Are

Makeup
Avatar
* District 9
* Nine
* The Road
* Star Trek

Visual Effects
Avatar
* District 9
* The Lovely Bones
* Star Trek
* 2012

• With five nominees I was hoping to see at least one that wasn't totally CGI. Didn't Where the Wild Things Are just look incredible?

Sound

Avatar
* District 9
* The Hurt Locker
* Nine
* Star Trek

Animated Feature
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
* Coraline
* Fantastic Mr. Fox
* Princess And The Frog
* Up

Action
Avatar
* District 9
* The Hurt Locker
* Inglourious Basterds
* Star Trek

Comedy

(500) Days Of Summer
* The Hangover
* It’s Complicated
* The Proposal
* Zombieland

TV Movie
Gifted Hands
* Grey Gardens
* Into The Storm
* Taking Chance

Foreign Language Film
Broken Embraces
* Coco Before Chanel
* Red Cliff
* Sin Nombre
* The White Ribbon

Documentary Feature
Anvil! The Story of Anvil *
Capitalism: A Love Story
* The Cove
* Food, Inc.
* Michael Jackson’s This Is It

Song

“All Is Love” – Karen O, Nick Zinner, Where The Wild Things Are * 
“Almost There” – Randy Newman, The Princess And The Frog
* “Cinema Italiano” – Maury Yeston, Nine *
“(I Want To) Come Home” – Paul McCartney, Everybody’s Fine *
“The Weary Kind” – T Bone Burnett, Ryan Bingham, Crazy Heart

Score
Michael Giacchino, Up * Marvin Hamlisch, The Informant! *
Randy Newman, The Princess and the Frog *
Karen O, Carter Burwell, Where The Wild Things Are * Hans Zimmer, Sherlock Holmes

It's so true! Especially during awards season

Most shocking total shut-out: The Last Station (not even Helen Mirren!!!). There was also zero love for early birds like Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Cheri (not even in costumes) or Public Enemies

Well? Speak up.

*