OSCAR SPECIAL

The Academy Awards are next Sunday so I thought I would give you my picks on who I want to win and who I belive the Academy will pick. I'm not going to do all the categories like Sound Mixing because lets be honest, the only people who care about that are the people nominated.








ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Jeff Bridges in Crazy Hear
George Clooney in Up in the Air
Colin Firth in A Single Man
Morgan Freeman in Invictus
Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker

My Pick: Jeff Bridges
Academy: Jeff Bridges

I have not got a chance to see Crazy Horse yet, but he won the Golden Globe which bodes well for him because the Globe winner normally takes home the Oscar.







ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Matt Damon in Invictus
Woody Harrelson in The Messenger
Christopher Plummer in The Last Station
Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones
Christopher Waltz in Inglorious Bastards

My Pick: Christopher Waltz
Academy: Christopher Waltz

I said after viewing Inglorious Bastards for the first time that he better not only get nominated for and Oscar but win it. I didn't care what else came out and how great they were, I wanted to see him win. Looks like I'll get my wish.







ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side
Helen Mirren in The Last Stalion
Carey Mulligan in An Education
Gabourey Sidibe in Precious
Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia

My Pick: Gabourey Sidibe
Academy: Sandra Bullock

This is a tough one because I don't feel that Bullock was THAT good in The Blind Side. I feel that Sidibe will steal it. But then again there is always Meryl Steep who as a friend pointed out gets overlooked every year.







ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Penelope Cruz in Nine
Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick in Up In the Air
Mo'Nique in Precious

My Pick: Mo'Nique
Academy: Mo'Nique

I hate Mo'Nique, anyone remember Phat Girls, but she had a great performance here and you have to give credit where it is due.








ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

My Pick: Up
Academy: Up

Pixar is hard to beat and I wouldn't be surprised if Fantastic Mr. Fox stole this one, but I'm pretty confident Up has it in the bag.







DIRECTING
James Cameron for Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino for Inglorious Basterds
Lee Daniels for Precious
Jason Reitman for Up in the Air

My Pick: Kathryn Bigelow
Academy: Kathryn Bigelow

I think the only reason Bigelow is going to win is because Cameron has already won this award for Titanic. I hope she does win, however it was a hard choice for me between her and Tarantino. A fun little fact too is that she is James Cameron's ex-wife.....















BEST PICTURE
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

My Pick: Inglorious Basterds
Academy: Avatar

This year it is really hard to pick with 10 pictures in the race. I have actually had to delete this and re-write it a few times because I keep going back and forth to whether the academy will pick Avatar or The Hurt Locker. For me my absolute favorite film was Inglorious Basterds so that is who I would like to see win, but it won't. Avatar or The Hurt Locker is taking this sucker home and my final decision is Avatar BUT I think The Hurt Locker should win.

So those are my choices for this years Oscars. I have to give Avatar credit for the record breaking numbers and everything, but I have a feeling that in a couple of years we will all look back and think about how overrated this film really is. So I hope and do not think it deserves to win best picture or should Cameron win, but it should mop the floor with things like Art Direction, Vissual Effects those sort of things.