The 82nd Academy Award Nominations: Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Star Trek, District 9 Lead the Way!
It is quite early in the morning, even here in the Central Time Zone. But so many of us in the movie world were up early, watching as Anne Hathaway unveiled the nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards, which will take place 33 days from now on March 7th at 8pm EST. The show will be co-hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, and will celebrate 2009 in film
Among the biggest winners today though, are those major science fiction films from the year 2009. Not just James Cameron’s Avatar (which leads with 10 nominations), but also J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek (4 nominations) and our own favorite, Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 (4 nominations). The overwhelming critical favorite of the year, Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker earned 9 nominations, coming in just shy of Avatar.
Overall, it is a year of the expected, with only a few surprises. Among the (delightful) surprises: Pixar’s Up being nominated for both Best Picture and Best Animated Feature; Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) nominated for Best Actor; Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds earning 8 nominations; Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus earning two nominations; and (in my mind), the original song category – it is nice to see that the Academy didn’t nominate that horrible Leona Lewis song from Avatar.
Alas, the punditry, predicting and analysis begins now and will last for 33 more days. For now though, I’d say it’s a pretty good list:
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
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
James Cameron, Avatar
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
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
Penélope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo’Nique, Precious
Best Original Screenplay
Avatar
Inglourious Basterds
The Hurt Locker
A Serious Man
Up
The Messenger
Best Adapted Screenplay
Up in the Air
Precious
An Education
District 9
In the Loop
Animated Feature Film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up
Foreign Language Film
Ajami
The Secret of their Eyes
The Milk of Sorrow
A Prophet
The White Ribbon
Documentary Feature
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food Inc
The Most Dangerous Man in America
Which Way Home
Achievement in Music (Original Song)
The Princess and the Frog, “Almost There” – Music and Lyrics by Randy Newman
The Princess and the Frog, “Down in New Orleans” – Music and Lyrics by Randy Newman
Paris 36, “Loin de Paname” – Mucis by Reinhardt Wagner, Lyric by Frank Thomas
Nine, “Take It All” – Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
Crazy Heart, “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” – Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
Achievement in Music (Original Score)
Avatar, James Horner
Fantastic Mr. Fox, Alexander Desplat
The Hurt Locker, Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
Sherlock Holmes, Hans Zimmer
Up, Michael Giacchino
Achievement in Film Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Achievement in Cinematography
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon
Achievement in Art Direction
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria
Achievement in Costume Design
Bright Star
Coco before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria
Achievement in Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek
Achievement in Sound Editing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up
Achievement in Sound Mixing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Achievement in Makeup
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria
Documentary Short Subject
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit a la Berlin
Animated Short Film
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death
Live Action Short Film
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants
Related Topics: Avatar
