BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (get the full chart here)
However, this isn’t the last of the controversy (I say “controversy” with a smile, mind you) as I am also keeping Matt Damon’s performance in Invictus at the #3 slot, a move that many pundits don’t necessarily agree with. It seems my bubble selections such as An Education stars Peter Sarsgaard and Alfred Molina, Alec Baldwin in It’s Complicated and, of course, Woody Harrelson dominate the other ballots. Oh, yeah, and McKay shows up on none of them. Am I kidding myself? Most likely, but like I said… I’ll do the campaigning for him. Sometimes standing up for someone and being wrong is more important than being right. This is one of those situations.
Oh, and I still have Christoph Waltz winning for Inglourious Basterds.
BEST DIRECTOR (get the full chart here)
Bigelow has been racking up the end of year awards being named Best Director by 13 film critic groups as tallied by Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere, which tells me the same mojo working in Streep’s favor is working overtime in favor of Bigelow.
On my prediction chart she edges out ex-hubby James Cameron (Avatar), Jason Reitman (Up In the Air), Clint Eastwood (Invictus) and Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds). See any problem with those picks?
BEST ACTOR (get the full chart here)
Right now Jeremy Renner has picked up some critical steam for his performance in The Hurt Locker as he nudges out Daniel Day-Lewis and his performance in Nine. Is Day-Lewis’s Oscar prowess something that will loom so large over the Academy they can’t help but nominate him? Or, will The Hurt Locker‘s year-long storm of compliments prove to be too much?
BEST PICTURE (get the full chart here)
After debuting to rave reviews at the Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals in September 2008, it was quickly decided to hold off releasing it until June 26, 2009 and not release it late 2008 for an Oscar run. I can only assume this was due to the fact they didn’t want to compete with Slumdog Millionaire, but it was a bit of a curious decision considering they ended up releasing it in only 535 theaters at its widest and have done very little to market it.
Nevertheless, it’s held strong for about 16 months now and has been named by ten film critic’s groups (Austin, Association of Women Film Journalists, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Las Vegas, LAFCA, NYFCC, Oklahoma and San Francisco Film Critics) and I just can’t see that kind of support being ignored and not seconded by the Academy.
Right now it looks like a Golden Globe win for Up in the Air or a box-office slaughter by Avatar are the only two things that could dethrone Bigelow’s intense Iraq drama and right now I just don’t see it happening, and with that said I will leave you with the following…
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