Oscar Watch: Predicting the Nominees

It's about that time. By this point next week, the nominations for the 82nd annual Academy Awards will have been announced. Regardless as to what happens February 2nd, I am positive that this will be a slate of Oscar caliber films to remember for years to come. The real story for me is, will The Hurt Locker bring home the gold, or will Avatar continue its rampage to give James Cameron another Oscar for both directing and producing.

The PGA weighed in the other night, shockingly going with The Hurt Locker over far bigger scaled pictures, which bodes extremely well for the film's Best Picture chances. Of course, today's post is not about who will most likely win March 7th, in actuality it is nothing other than my final predictions as to who the nominees will be come next Tuesday.

Based upon where I live, the Foreign Language and Doc categories are an accumulation of word I've heard and read from other critics across the net, so I'm placing my bets on their same horses for the most part, though I did make some amendments of my own in these categories, not many but a few. Now I will clarify, this isn't who I think should be nominated as a whole, but who I think will be nominated (if you want the ones I think should be in there, look back at my Best of '09 retrospectives). So as it is said in show business, on with the show:

Best Foreign Language Film
The White Ribbon (Germany)
A Prophet (France)
Ajami (Israel)
The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)
The Secret in Their Eyes (Argentina)

Best Documentary Feature
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Beaches of Agnes
Mugabe and the White African
Under Our Skin

Best Animated Feature Film
Up
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
Ponyo

Best Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Best Make-up
Star Trek
District 9
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Best Sound Mixing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
District 9
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Best Sound Editing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
District 9
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Best Original Song
"I See You (Theme from Avatar)," from Avatar
"The Weary Kind," from Crazy Heart
"Cinema Italiano," from Nine
"Down in New Orleans," from The Princess and the Frog
"All is Love," from Where the Wild Things Are

Best Original Score
Hans Zimmer, Sherlock Holmes
James Horner, Avatar
Michael Giacchino, Up
Alexander Desplat, Fantastic Mr. Fox
Marvin Hamlisch, The Informant!

Best Film Editing
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
Avatar
Nine
District 9

Best Art Direction
Nine
Avatar
Inglorious Bas**rds
The Lovely Bones
Sherlock Holmes

Best Costume Design
The Young Victoria
Sherlock Holmes
Nine
Bright Star
Inglorious Bas**rds

Best Cinematography
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Avatar
Nine
Inglorious Bas**rds

Best Adapted Screenplay
Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach, Fantastic Mr. Fox
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
Neil Blomkamp & Teri Tatchell, District 9
Damien Paul, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" By Sapphire
Nick Hornby, An Education

Best Original Screenplay
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, (500) Days of Summer
Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
James Cameron, Avatar
Bob Peterson & Pete Docter, Up

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" By Sapphire
Julianne Moore, A Single Man

Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, Inglorious Bas**rds
Alfred Molina, An Education
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones

Best Actress
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" By Sapphire

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Morgan Freeman, Invictus

Best Director
James Cameron, Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarrantino, Inglorious Bas**rds
Neil Blomkamp, District 9

Best Picture
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
An Education
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" By Sapphire
District 9
Up in the Air
Star Trek
Up
Inglorious Bas**rds
Invictus

So I've rolled the dice a bit on a few of these, but none of the films I've rolled the dice on aren't out of the realm of possibilities. While some find it impossible for three sci-fi films to get the Best Picture nod, all I can say is it happened with the PGA, so it's not only possible, but it might just happen. We'll see come next Tuesday which of these I got right, and which of them I got horribly wrong. Till then.