Oscar Nominations!

[The Professor]

Best Picture

'Avatar'
'The Blind Side'
'District 9'
'An Education'
'The Hurt Locker'
'Inglourious Basterds'
'Precious'
'A Serious Man'
'Up'
'Up in the Air'

Best Director

James Cameron, 'Avatar'
Kathryn Bigelow, 'The Hurt Locker'
Quentin Tarantino, 'Inglourious Basterds'
Lee Daniels, 'Precious'
Jason Reitman, 'Up in the Air'

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 Actress

Sandra Bullock, 'The Blind Side'
Helen Mirren, 'The Last Station'
Carey Mulligan, 'An Education'
Gabourey Sidibe, 'Precious'
Meryl Streep, 'Julie & Julia'

Best Supporting Actor

Matt Damon, 'Invictus'
Woody Harrelson, 'The Messenger'
Christopher Plummer, 'The Last Station'
Stanley Tucci, 'The Lovely Bones'
Christoph Waltz, 'Inglourious Basterds'

Best Supporting Actress

Penelope Cruz, 'Nine'
Vera Farmiga, 'Up in the Air'
Maggie Gyllenhaal, 'Crazy Heart'
Anna Kendrick, 'Up in the Air'
Mo'nique, 'Precious'

Best Animated Feature Film

'Coraline'
'Fantastic Mr. Fox'
'The Princess and the Frog'
'The Secret of Kells'
'Up'

Best Foreign Film

Israel - 'Ajami'
Argentina - 'El Secreto de sus Ojos'
Peru - 'The Milk of Sorrow'
France - 'Un Prophete'
Germany - 'The White Ribbon'

Best Original Screenplay

Mark Boal, 'The Hurt Locker'
Quentin Tarantino, 'Inglourious Basterds'
Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, 'The Messenger'
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, 'A Serious Man'
Peter Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy, 'Up'

Best Adapted Screenplay

Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, 'District 9'
Nick Hornby, 'An Education'
Jesse Armstron, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, 'In the Loop'
Geoffrey Fletcher, 'Precious'
Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner, 'Up in the Air'

Best Documentary Feature

'Burma VJ'
'The Cove'
'Food, Inc.'
'The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers'
'Which Way Home'

Best Original Score

'Avatar'
'Fantastic Mr. Fox'
'The Hurt Locker'
'Sherlock Holmes'
'Up'

Best 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 

Best Film Editing

'Avatar'
'District 9'
'The Hurt Locker'
'Inglourious Basterds'
'Precious'

Best Cinematography

'Avatar'
'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'
'The Hurt Locker'
'Inglourious Basterds'
'The White Ribbon'

Best Costume Design

'Bright Star'
'Coco Before Chanel'
'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'
'Nine'
'The Young Victoria'

[Cheryl Bailey]

I have not seen Precious but I heard it was excellent. I am anxious to view. As far as Waltz goes I totally agree his performance was out of the ballpark!!!

[Mojo]

Indeed.

[Lester]

The obvious wins are Christoph Waltz, Mo'nique, UP for animated, and Avatar for visual effects.

I did like that In the Loop was nominated for Best Adapted screen play (although I suspect that Up in the Air will win).

[Mojo]

Best Director is one of the harder catergories to choose from, if I had to pick it would be Kathryn Bigelow.

[Cheryl Bailey]

If that is true then you would have to put your money on THE HURT LOCKER for Best Picture. You just have to get in the head of those Academy voters. This is certainly the time to choose a War movie with us fighting 2 wars. The movies reflect the times we live in.

[beeswax]

I admit I haven't seen enough of "the" films to be fully thrilled or indignant about a lot of the nominations/snubs this year. But there seem to be a fair number of "shoulda/woulda/coulda" categories.

Animated feature.

Ponyo?

Cinematography.

Bright Star?

Costumes.

Where the Wild Things Are?

[beeswax]

More from the "woulda/shoulda/coulda" files.

Actor. Viggo in The Road, Sam Rockwell in Moon, Sharlto Copley in District 9?

[beeswax]

Actress.

Robin Wright Penn? (The Private Lives of Pippa Lee) Emily Blunt? (Young Victoria)
Abbie Cornish? (Bright Star) Michelle Monaghan? (Trucker)

[beeswax]

Supporting Actress.

Mélanie Laurent? (Inglourious Basterds)

[beeswax]

Supporting Actor

Paul Schneider in Bright Star? Peter Sarsgaard in An Education?

[Cheryl Bailey]

Beeswax,
I agree that many of really good people were left out. I really thought Michelle Monaghan would have been nominated for Trucker and Abbie Cornish for Bright Star. I know for cinematography Bright Star should have at least had a nod as well as The Lovely Bones. But because critics hated Lovely Bones I'm sure it was not considered. The surprise for me that Penelope Cruz was nominated and Daniel Day Lewis was overlooked for NINE. That is another case where the movie disappointed many people. However, I liked the fact that Lewis did not copy the performance of the actor in 8 1/2 and made the role unique but I guess few people agreed with that assessment.

[Mojo]

I think Sandra Bullock will win for Best Actress. Not much to choose from in this category, seems kinda weak this year.