And the best picture Oscar goes to...?
It's now just a couple of weeks before the Oscars award ceremony schmoozes onto the small screen, with all the glitz and glamour and botox that money can buy.
It's time to think about how you're going to win the office sweepstakes.
While we all have our own favourites, it's really about trying to get your mind into the thinking of the nearly 6000 members of the Academy eligible to vote for the best of the best. It's not just famous actors and directors that make up the Academy but techies and producers you've never heard of. Anyone who has won an Oscar or been nominated is usually invited to join the Academy.
This year, one of the most interesting categories is Best Picture, which has swelled to include 10 nominees: Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air.
As of now, the only ones New Zealand hasn't seen in our cinemas is The Blind Side, for which Sandra Bullock is nominated for Best Actress for the first time, and The Hurt Locker, the first successful film about the Iraq war, which - if it wins the best director gong - could make Kathryn Bigelow the first woman to win the big prize.
The race for best picure, however, seems to have narrowed to two frontrunners - the big-budget, game-changing 3-D extravaganza Avatar (directed by Bigelow's ex-husband Jim Cameron) versus the low-budget war film The Hurt Locker.
So while the field is open to five more films than usual, it seems to really be a two-horse race.
I know The Hurt Locker has been screening overseas for a while and is already available on DVD in many places, so plenty of people will have already seen it.
Here's your chance to have your say -
Which film do you think will win the Oscar out of the ten nominated: Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air?
And maybe more importantly, which film truly deserves to win?
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I'm picking Avatar will get best pic, not because it's any good (which it isn't), but because it's exactly what Americans like - space Americans in space getting their American military arse kicked by downtrodden American-sounding blue aliens in their American-ideal-of-beautiful world.
Personally, I'd give my vote to District 9 first, with Up a very close second.
Avatar will not win best picture. It's arguable that it wasn't the best picture, with widespread criticism of the storyline and mixed reviews of the acting. However in terms of technical achievement, it is indisputably the best on offer. What is really interesting is the fact that Avatar in 3D (as it was intended) is a far superior experience to Avatar in standard format. As a cinematic experience, Avatar in 3D is incomparable, and therefore qualifies it to be in with a shot at best picture. Remember kids, Star Wars "borrowed" a bunch of its plot too, and I don't hear you complaining about that...
I'm with Niri on this one, as good as Avatar was special effects wise, the storyline has been used before and overall, if it wasn't for the brilliant effects pulling me into the movie, I probably would have found it mediocre. That being said I haven't seen many of the other nominees, of the ones I have seen I'd be happy to see Inglorious Basterds, District 9 or Up get best picture.
I read an interesting quote recently that compared District 9 to Avatar.
"Last summer in “District 9” — which joined “Avatar” this week on the list of best-picture nominees — Jake was prefigured by Wikus van de Merwe (played by the excellent South African actor Sharlto Copley), a fellow toiler in the private-sector military-industrial complex who starts out on a mission to forcibly relocate some tall, skinny aliens and ends up turning into one of them."
I wouldn't be surprised if Precious threw a curve-ball and won.
Though I'm backing the Hurt Locker (though I still haven't seen The Blind Side, An Education, Inglourious Basterds or Up yet).
Pete #5
youre way better awesome than eric okay
The Hurt Locker is fantastic. Should definitly top Avatar in the best picture and directing categories. Although Avatar does deserve special effects awards. Also hope Michael Giacchino wins best original score for Up - brilliant work yet again.
"Basterds" is The best. Virtual revenge for the Holocaust.
At the end of the day the Oscars is just a popularity contest, it actually has very little to do with how good a film is. The only reason the Best Picture category was extended was to enable the films that are actually deserving of consideration (i.e. District 9 type films) to get a look in beside the ones which are populist choices (I loved Inglorious Basterds, but its not even in Tarantino's top 3, let alone a yearly top 10).
The hurt locker is a cert. So much noise over females never winning the best director award that shes gonna win the top 2 for sure.
I still fail to see how District 9 is anything other than average.
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My money is on The Hurt Locker to win best picture - along with nods for screenplay and direction. Whether it is deserving... I guess that depends on the criteria we're using to judge, doesn't it? Still, I'm one of the few that didn't enjoy Avatar, so I may be a little biased.