James Cameron’s “Avatar” may have dominated the box office, but will it rule Sunday at the Oscars?
My first reaction was “yes,” but after taking some time (10 minutes maximum) to look at all the nominees, I’m not so convinced.
Box-office domination doesn’t always mean a film is Oscar-worthy. Anybody remember “Shakespeare In Love”? It beat out the heavily-favored “Saving Private Ryan” to win Best Picture in 1999. I’m still scratching my head on that one.
Knowing that, it’s possible “Avatar” could lose. But this year the academy decided to mix things up a bit and add five more Best Picture nominees. That could change everything, especially knowing the list of pictures up for the top prize.
Competing with “Avatar” for Best Picture are “An Education,” “The Blind Side,” “District 9,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Inglorious Basterds,” “Precious,” A Serious Man,” “Up,” and “Up In The Air.”
See what I mean? This is going to be tough, something not even the keenest Oscar predictors can predict.
I don’t care which film wins, if we’re going to be honest. I think I represent the majority of movie lovers who honestly can wait for the films to come out on DVD. So you can guess where that leaves me considering none of these films have been released to DVD yet.
So for fun, I’m going to wing it and give you my Oscar predictions for the top categories. Mind you – some of my picks will not be judged by the works they are nominated for but more so for past works that maybe were overlooked.
Here we go:
Best Picture: I’m going to cave and go with “Avatar” simply because of its technological achievement and it looks interesting to me.
Best Actor: Nominees include an impressive group: Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, Colin Firth, Morgan Freeman, and Jeremy Renner. Clooney and Freeman are Oscar faves already, and Renner is too new. That leaves Bridges and Firth. Both are excellent, but it’s definitely Bridges’ turn to be recognized. I can’t imagine academy voters not looking at his body of work and giving it to him. Especially knowing he hasn’t ever received the Oscar. It is his time and “Crazy Heart” looks like a great movie.
Best Actress: This category also is filled with great actresses, including Sandra Bullock. She’s up against the Oscar queen herself, Meryl Streep, plus Carey Mulligan, Helen Mirren and Gabourey Sidibe. As a huge Bullock fan, I’m going with Bullock for “The Blind Side.” Again, it’s her body of work and the fact she’s never been nominated. Streep rocks, too, but it’s Sandra’s turn. If any of these nominees could pull a major upset, it would be Sidibe for “Precious.”
