2011 Independent Spirit Awards

So, today the Independent Spirit Awards were announced today, celebrating films which are made under 20 million dollars and are generally financed from outside sources. I’ve never watched the awards, but from what I have read, they don’t particularly lead to Oscar gold (Alan Arkin has been the sole recipient of both awards for supporting actor). That being said, the list looks rather strong, and I say that because I have seen some of these films and they were pretty strong, and some others which have gotten amazing reviews. That being said, here are the nominees and my predictions

BEST FEATURE
127 Hours
Black Swan
Greenberg
The Kids Are All Right
Winter's Bone

My prediction: While I am looking forward to seeing Black Swan and 127 hours, I see this as a competition between Kids are All Right and Winter’s Bone. I’m going to pick Kid’s are All Right because it is my favorite film of the year so far, but if Winter’s Bone wins I won’t be surprised, it is equally strong.

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
Debra Granik, Winter's Bone
John Cameron Mitchell, Rabbit Hole

My Prediction: I would love to give it to Danny Boyle, but I think (or would hope that) Debra Granik for Winter’s Bone wins because I think she really did a good job

BEST SCREENPLAY
Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Winter's Bone
Nicole Holofcener, Please Give
David Lindsay-Abaire, Rabbit Hole
Todd Solondz, Life During Wartime

My prediction: I see this one as being Cholodenko’s and Blumberg to lose, heck I will even say its my Oscar front-runner too

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Everything Strange and New
Get Low
Night Catches Us
The Last Exorcism
Tiny Furniture

No real prediction outside the fact that Get Low was the only one I saw, it was really good though.

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Diane Bell, Obselidia
Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture
Nik Fackler, Lovely, Still
Bob Glaudini, Jack Goes Boating
Dana Adam Shapiro, Evan M. Wiener, Monogamy

Haven’t seen any, so no prediction

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
Daddy Longlegs
Lbs.
Lovers of Hate
Obselidia
The Exploding Girl

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Greta Gerwig, Greenberg
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

My prediction: I would love to see Jennifer Lawrence win, but this is Annette Bening to lose in my opinion, she is fantastic

BEST MALE LEAD
Ronald Bronstein, Daddy Longlegs
Aaron Eckhart, Rabbit Hole
James Franco, 127 Hours
John C. Reilly, Cyrus
Ben Stiller, Greenberg

My prediction: This selection of male leads is interesting to me, I think James Franco will be the one who will be receiving many awards for his role, so I’m giving it to him. On a side note, I am pretty surprised Robert Duvall didn't get nominated

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Ashley Bell, The Last Exorcism
Dale Dickey, Winter's Bone
Allison Janney, Life During Wartime
Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jack Goes Boating
Naomi Watts, Mother and Child

My prediction: Dale Dickey was insanely haunting in her role in Winter’s Bone, she’s my pick

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
John Hawkes, Winter's Bone
Samuel L. Jackson, Mother and Child
Bill Murray, Get Low
John Ortiz, Jack Goes Boating
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

My prediction: Ruffalo and Hawkes are great, but I think Bill Murray did a great job, also I think this was a different side of Murray we haven’t seen yet, so I think he should win

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Adam Kimmel, Never Let Me Go
Matthew Libatique, Black Swan
Jody Lee Lipes, Tiny Furniture
Michael McDonough, Winter's Bone
Harris Savides, Greenberg

My prediction: I thought the grittiness of Winter’s Bone was fantastic; I’m giving it to Michael McDonough

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Marwencol
Restrepo
Sweetgrass
Thunder Soul

My prediction: Never saw any, but I heard great things about Exit Through the Gift Shop so yeah, best of luck

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Kisses
Mademoiselle Chambon
Of Gods and Men
The King's Speech
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

My prediction: King’s Speech has gotten amazing reviews, plus it’s the only one I have heard of that comes to mind, so yeah

ACURA SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Hossein Keshavarz, Dog Sweat
Laurel Nakadate, The Wolf Knife
Mike Ott, Littlerock

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
In-Ah Lee, Au Revoir Taipei
Adele Romanski, The Myth of the American Sleepover
Anish Savjani, Meek's Cutoff

AVEENO® TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Sweetgrass
Jeff Malmberg, Marwencol
Lynn True, Nelson Walker, Summer Pasture

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
Please Give
Director: Nicole Holofcener
Casting Director: Jeanne McCarthy
Ensemble Cast: Ann Guilbert, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Lois Smith, Sarah Steele

My thoughts: heard this is a good film so I think everyone should see this, I mean come on, it’s got Catherine Keener, and she’s awesome

The Independent Spirit Awards air a day before the Oscars, I will try and post the winners when they are announced. That being said, you all should try and watch these movies, because they are amazing.

The American and The Town

Hi everyone,

So, I know I was going to do a blog on fall films in general, but I decided to instead do something else. In the span of a month, I have seen three films (two in one weekend). So I decided, rather than talk about fall films (expect a blog for that sometime later), I will focus my attention to these three rather diverse films.

The first film I saw was “The Town” by Ben Affleck, I say “by” because he directs, writes, stars and produces the film. The movie is about a group of bank robbers in Charlestown, Boston. Once on a heist, they take a prisoner hostage, played by Rebecca Hall (quite aptly, not too over the top). Affleck plays Doug McCray, and his crew (Renner, Slaine, Welliver and Burke) then realize she doesn’t live too far from them, which they find a problem. Affleck checks up on her from time to time, sparking romance amongst the two. We then have Jon Hamm of “Mad Men” plays Special Agent Adam Frawley, who is always one step behind Affleck’s crew.

Not going to lie, Boston is becoming one heck of a sub-genre of films when you have such films as the Departed, Mystic River and Affleck’s own Gone Baby Gone set in Boston this past decade. You’re going to notice this is very much a Ben Affleck film, which isn’t really a bad thing. Sure he has had his fair share of misses as an actor (Daredevil and Pearl Harbor to name a few), but as a director, he is 2 for 2. The action scenes are tremendous and the dialogue is quite intelligent and intense (you will never get a more nerve racking conversation of a 20 dollar bill than from Jon Hamm’s character). The cast is tremendous, even with cameos from Chris Cooper as McCray’s dad. I hold the highest honor for Jeremy Renner (Hurt Locker, 28 Weeks Later), who plays Affleck’s best friend Jeb. Renner takes his character to a whole other level as a robber who would rather die than face prison. I put this on my top ten for best picture, Affleck for Director and writing, film editing (flawless), Jeremy Renner for supporting Actor (my frontrunner) among others. I give The Town a solid A. On a side note: for a trailer, they used the song "Not Afraid" by Eminem. After seeing this movie, that song has been stuck in my head ever since.

Another film I saw was the American, starring George Clooney. It has a simple plot, Clooney is an assassin simply named Jack. He takes a vacation to Italy where paranoia kicks in. Not only that, but he seems to have been followed or tracked down. He falls in love and soon everything starts to get complicated as the story unfolds.

I could go on telling the story, but quite frankly, it’s really as generic as I am telling you now. You get very little background, the characters aren’t very interesting and at the end, I didn’t really have much of an interest. Clooney is good here, but he is nothing special. The fact is, coming off of Up in the Air though, I would expect more from Clooney. I would recommend this if you’re a fan of spy films, but as a rental, it’s no Bourne. I give this movie a C.

Film #3 coming soon

Independent Films are "All Right"

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the long hiatus, writer’s block seems to be my own worst enemy. It has been awhile since my last blog about the Oscars, any many films have been playing since then. All in all, I have seen many films, some ranging from really great to really awful. However, for this blog, I am going to be talking about one of my favorite kinds of movies, independent films, or indie films for short.
Now, for those of you who don’t know, independent films are those which are not funded by production companies. Instead they are financed from “independent” financers, generally the director, writer(s) and producer(s). This generally causes the film to be very low budget which can hurt or help the film. Its good in that it helps the filmmakers make their kind of movie which, some of the time, can really shine (Note: the last three best picture winners (No Country for Old Men, Slumdog Millionaire and the Hurt Locker) all started out as independent films). However, this doesn’t always translate to box office success, which may hurt the film in helping it become a wider release or Oscar buzz (Hurt Locker being one of the very, very few exceptions). That being said, I saw three films within the past month, all of which were independent films, and each brought their own uniqueness which showed why independent films are a force to be reckoned with in the film industry.
The first one I saw was “Winter’s Bone,” and this was a movie that was very limited on cash (they had a budget of 2 million which is about 1/7 of the Hurt Locker, or 1/180 of Inception). That being said, I was quite impressed with the film. It was shot in the Ozarks, of all places, and tells the story of a lower class family whose father put up their house as a bond for his drug arrest. The cast and crew on the film are, to me at least, all unknowns, which plays a huge risk since you don’t know what to expect from the film. For me, the film worked, the story was creative and the scenery looked bleak and dismal, which is a plus giving the tone of the film. The standout here to me, though, was Jennifer Lawrence who played the lead role of Ree Dolly. Her acting was able to carry us through the film and help show hope through all the bleakness and dismal parts the film had to offer. This film is raw, rough to watch at times, and I definitely feel the culture of the south being portrayed in this film. The film received much praise critically, much for Lawrence’s performance and received a Screenplay Award at Sundance, but this doesn’t always translate to Oscar success. Still I give Winter’s Bone a solid A and suggest that you see it if you get the chance, you won’t miss much if you catch it on DVD which might not be too far away since this film started in theaters in June.
Next on my list is “The Kids are All Right” and too be honest I was really looking forward to this one when I first saw the trailer. It tells that story of a family who happen to have lesbian parents (played by the always wonderful Annette Bening and Julianne Moore), as the children (played by “Alice in Wonderland’s” Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson) meet their biological father (played by the great Mark Ruffalo). The film exceeded my expectations in that the film all around was fantastic. I relate it to the Hurt Locker in that Hurt Locker was not a film with a message on the Iraq war instead that it was movie about people in the Iraq war, the Kids are All Right wasn’t a message about Gay marriage rather a film about a family whose parents are gay. The cast is great; Annette Bening’s performance being my personal favorite, and the screenplay was great and very original. It was the only one of the three to get a wide release, so it found an audience but it didn’t necessarily translate to great box office (however, 20 million on a 4 million dollar budget is still good). I recommend renting it once it comes out, trust me, you will not be disappointed. All in all, I give it an A as well, and I think if this movie should be nominated, it should be for its screenplay and possibly Bening’s performance, but that one may be wishful thinking.
Finally, I saw the movie “Get Low,” about an old man, Felix Bush, (played by the terrific Robert Duvall), who asks a funeral director (played by the equally terrific Bill Murray), to have a funeral whilst he is still alive. Now, the story might sound basic, and there were sometimes where the story kind of went into a bit of a lull, but this movie is about old man Felix Bush, and Duvall plays him magnificently. Also, Murray shows his acting chops as well, for this is one of the few times I have seen him play a character while at times a jerk and a drunk, we also feel sympathy for him which I haven’t really seen out of Murray. The film just recently make back budget (7 million) and doesn’t quite look like it will get a wide release, so the chances of it getting Oscar buzz isn’t great. Still, I suggest trying to rent it the time it comes out; I think you will enjoy it. All in all I give “Get Low” an A for Duvall and Murray, if anybody deserves Oscar nominations for acting so far this year, it’s those two (I personally think Murray deserves a win, but I am a sucker for his films).
So, in the end, independent films get straight A’s from me. Now, I might have also suggested renting the films instead of trying to find a theater that is showing it. That doesn’t mean I think less of them, I just think you wouldn’t miss much in the end and I am sure most of you will have some difficulties finding these films. These independent films, as well as the ones that have come before, have shown some of the greatest stories and ideas you can find. They also show that to make a fantastic film, you don’t need a big budget or special effects or even big named actors (although it didn’t hurt “Kid’s”). They may not get the Oscar buzz they deserve (although I am rather hopeful for “Kids”), but even still, independent films show that there is still some really great stories to tell without having to have special effects carry the films, it’s all about the story being told.

Oscar Predictions 2010

Welcome to my very first blog! I decided to rather than start off talking about a movie; I will the upcoming Academy Awards since it’s kind of a big deal in the film industry. Note/Disclaimer: All the opinions that will be stated are that of my own, so please don’t hate it is just my personal opinion, if you have a different opinion that is cool. Also, I have not seen all the movies I will be discussing, so I will be relying on the information I have looked up as far as awards each movie/actor/actress have received as my ideas for them, so yea.

As the 82^nd Academy Awards get closer (March 7^th) there have been a few noticeable changes within the nominations. For starters, the Academy has upped the nominations for Best Picture to 10, which I think is kind of an interesting move. While it does sort of defame the award by widening their range, it also gives them the chance to give other movies a chance that may have been both a box office draw and did well with critics as well. Now whether or not it will make a big impact this time around is unknown to me, I think they utilized the opportunity rather well. But rather than blabber on about the details, I think it is best we just dive right into the nominations

Ok, here we go:

I think I shall start with the technical categories first (editing, mixing, visuals, etc.). Now, I know the behemoth of a movie known as “Avatar” has gained much buzz since its release, but I am not too sure about its chances at the Oscars. While many are quick to note its won as much, possibly even more, awards than most other movies this year, many have failed to note exactly what awards they have been winning. Except for the Golden Globes (which are known to praise box office winners a lot), Avatar hasn’t really picked up any best picture wins in any other award ceremony, they have all been technical wins. That being said, I think Avatar will definitely be winning the visual effects, but it gets a little tricky from then on. I think box office and critical response may give it a little edge yes, but there are some interesting competitors in the other categories. For example, I think Hurt Locker may be a surprise win in cinematography for I really thought that was some strong work. In film and sound editing, sound mixing included, Avatar may have the edge, but I wouldn’t count Hurt Locker out or Star Trek for that matter (I think of Star Trek as the Dark Horse for those categories). I think Avatar and Hurt Locker will be an interesting battle come the awards ceremony.

Now we enter the art and music department, forgive me, but I may get a little hazy in my decisions here. Through the limited research I have done, art direction and makeup categories, they tend to favor the more “artsy” films (I never truly considered Pan’s Labyrinth artsy, but I can see what the Academy was thinking, until they didn’t give it Best Foreign Film, but I shan’t go ranting about that now). That being said, while I like Star Trek, I don’t like its chances in Makeup. I have not seen the other two, but I have hear stuff about Young Victoria and nothing of IL Divo, but from what I have seen of Young Victoria I think it will take it. As far as Art Direction, I think it will be a battle between Young Victoria or Nine, I think Nine has the advantage; Academy generally favors musicals a lot in this category. In music, I think UP will bring back the award that Disney once dominated in its glory years while Pixar has generally been shut out (unless your Monster INC. but that was for song, and I guess the Academy felt Randy Newman was pass due). As for Original Song, the only one I had heard was “The Weary Kind” in Crazy Heart (I came across it on YouTube one day). I think it definitely has a good chance to win, but with Randy Newman also competing against himself in yet another expanded field, you never know.

The animated category, to me, is quite obvious, whereas Documentary and Foreign Language may be a bit tricky. UP has been the determined winner the day it came out, it has the win. Sorry Fantastic Mr. Fox, while I haven’t seen you I am pretty sure you are good, but I don’t think even you can do something only the original Shrek did in 2001 or what Happy Feet did in 2006. While I will always be in for a good surprise, I am just not seeing it this year, despite the academy expanding even that category from 3 to 5. As for Documentary, the two that I think will be the contenders here will be The Cove and Food Inc. I have very little to go on here, but I have heard really good things about both, and I think both stand an equal chance of winning, but I may give a little edge towards Food Inc. because I heard more about it when it was in theaters while The Cove, though I was aware about it, I heard nothing about where it was or when it was in theaters. As for Foreign Language, I am always one to back up a good Spanish film, I had even heard of a really good Chilean film called The Maid which got great reviews and I saw the Mexican film Sin Nombre (Without a Name) which was some really powerful stuff. However, neither got nominated, and though Spanish films are very well represented with two nominees (Peru and Argentina), I think Germany has it this year. The White Ribbon has been winning numerous Foreign Film awards, as well as getting very good critical feedback, I think it is their award to lose just as much as it is Up’s award to lose in animation, we shall see.

Now for the writing categories, these to me are the really hard to choose between than most other categories. I mean when it comes to original, you have Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds and even UP as strong contenders. I am a huge fan of all three films and I believe each have the right to own this one. I think I have to give it to Tarantino on this one for as bloody as the Basterds was, one of the things I liked most about it was its dialogue, which was rather smart if you ask me. So for original screenplay, my hat’s off to the Basterds. Adapted screenplay is also a little tricky for such a diverse choice as well. While the original had war films or films involving war, animated film, and a Jewish family man, this category is a little more spread out. On one side we have a corporate man who lives his day to day life living terminal to terminal, losing track of what really matters in life. Another side there is a beaten, illiterate teen living on the streets of Harlem. In between, you have a school girl messing around with an older man, a messed up situation between the U.S. and Britain, and aliens being sent to internment camps. While I am a huge supporter of District 9, I think Up in the Air has this one, I personally enjoyed the dialogue between Clooney and his two leading ladies (Supporting Actress my behind), I quite enjoyed the scene in front of Lambert between Clooney and Kendrick, but I rather not spoil it. I think this will be an interesting race; I won’t be to upset if I am wrong in this category, but I will stand by my decisions all the same.

And Now for acting, these are pretty obvious ones if you have been following the awards season. While it pains me to say I haven’t seen most of these movies, I don’t think I will see them in time to give a good input, but I have seen bits of different performances and I have done a little information seeking so you can trust me right now on this. The supporting categories are all but locked up in my opinion. Monique’s performance in Precious has been hailed by many as not only a great performance, but also as the best female performance of the year, the statue is hers. If there is an upset it better be Anna Kendrick taking the statue cause I thought she was keeping up with Clooney and did an amazing job. As for the supporting actor, Christoph Waltz owns it hands down. if you need proof watch the opening scene of Inglorious Basterds and you will see why, the guy is amazing. Tarantino said Waltz gave him his movie back; he did that and then some with his performance. As for the leads, while I am not a fan of her, I have heard nothing but good things about Sandra Bullock’s performance to the point where I am now actually interested in seeing it, I think she will beat out her competition (sorry Meryl Streep, may your 17^th nomination will bring you better luck). As for acting, as much as I think Morgan Freeman does a good job being Nelson Mandela or George Clooney does as a corporate worker with little insight of the world around him, Colin Firth also did a good job in A Single Man, I think Jeff Bridges will finally take down the statue after 4 swings and misses (the dude shan’t abide to a loss this time). I have seen only trailers of Crazy Heart, but I think Bridges has done well this year and will earn himself the statue. I would like to give special recognition to Jeremy Renner, out of the 5 he is my personal favorite as far as the acting goes, though I don’t think it is his year. However, I will not be surprised if we hear his name brought up again in the future.

Now for Directing, which has been given the title of “Battle of Ex-spouses” (no one has really called it that directly, but that is really what they play it up to be). James Cameron (Avatar), and Kathryn Bigelow (Hurt Locker), were once married, but they aren’t anymore, but they are competing against each other for Directing. They are both cool about it though, it is just media doing what they can to stir tension into it (shocker, right). Anyways, Bigelow is just the fourth woman to be nominated, and Daniels only the second African American (the other being John Singleton for Boyz in the Hood), then you got Reitman for Up in the Air and Tarantino for his Basterds. Again, I would love to see Tarantino dominate the evening, but I doubt such an event will occur. I think Bigelow will definitely take it down, and hopefully end the shocking idea of women being nominated for Best Director at the Oscars, they have just as much reason to be nominated as men, gender shouldn’t be taken into account when it comes to awards, race neither. That, plus she did one hell of a job with the Hurt Locker, the award is hers.

And now for Best Picture, but first I wish to take a look at the nominees. While I do agree with most of these, some of the a little shocking, I was a little surprised 3 movies did not get nominated (well more so 2, the other one I kind of expected it not to get nominated, but it would be cool to see it be nominated). I thought Star Trek and Invictus had just as much a chance to be nominated as District 9 and UP had (shows what I know, right). Hangover was a bit of a long shot to be nominated, but I was kind of hopeful for it. The Basterds had their ticket since they got nominated at the globes for Best Picture: Drama (not an easy thing to do with what that kind of film). Blind Side was a bit surprising, but I am warming up to the decision now, so kudos to it. I have not heard enough about An Education or A Serious Man to talk about them, but kudos as well to them for the nominations (I have heard good things about Carey Mulligan’s performance though, so congrats to her as well). I am happy to see District 9 being nominated, it shows Sci-Fi has something going for them now in the big categories (Here is looking at you, Children of Men). This finally brings me down to the two front runners, Avatar and the Hurt Locker. While Avatar boasts a Golden Globe win for best picture, Hangover does as well so I don’t know so much about the Globes. I saw it as well, and I am a guy who goes for story first then visuals will follow, and once I get past Dances with Wolves/Pocahontas/Fern Gully references in the film (there are a few of them), the visuals are pretty great. However, as I said earlier, Avatar will do well in the effects categories, it won’t get Best Picture. Having seen Hurt Locker, it was intense, brilliant, amazing; I can just go on and on. Not very many films catch my interest in the way the Hurt Locker did, so I think it will be the big winner this evening.

I think this will be a very interesting awards ceremony for while I think Hurt Locker will be the big winner, it will be hard to determine who the clear cut winner as far as awards is. I think this will be a much divided night, something which doesn’t happen often (When Crash won back in 2005, it tied with 3 other films for most Oscars). Who knows what will truly happen, I guess we will just have to wait until March 7^th to find out. See you there

Reminder: All these opinions are my own, if you disagree that is your own personal opinion as well. I have not seen all films mentioned about, but I have done research beforehand, I am posting this now for I may not be able to watch all before the award ceremony.

Here is the Breakdown of my decisions (along with the other nominees). Winners have * next to them:

Best Picture	Best Director
Avatar The Blind Side District 9 An Education The Hurt Locker * Inglourious Basterds Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire A Serious Man Up Up in the Air	Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker * James Cameron – Avatar Lee Daniels – Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire Jason Reitman – Up in the Air Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Best Actor	Best Actress
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart as Bad Blake* George Clooney – Up in the Air as Ryan Bingham Colin Firth – A Single Man as George Falconer Morgan Freeman – Invictus as Nelson Mandela Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker as Sgt. William James	Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side as Leigh Anne Tuohy * Helen Mirren – The Last Station as Sofya Tolstoy Carey Mulligan – An Education as Jenny Miller Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire as Clarieece "Precious" Jones Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia as Julia Child
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
Matt Damon – Invictus as François Pienaar Woody Harrelson – The Messenger as Capt. Tony Stone Christopher Plummer – The Last Station as Leo Tolstoy Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones as George Harvey Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds as Col. Hans Landa*	Penélope Cruz – Nine as Carla Albanese Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air as Alex Goran Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart as Jean Craddock Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air as Natalie Keener Mo'Nique – Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire as Mary Lee Johnston*
Best Original Screenplay	Best Adapted Screenplay
The Hurt Locker – Mark Boal Inglourious Basterds – Quentin Tarantino * The Messenger – Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman A Serious Man – Joel Coen and Ethan Coen Up – Tom McCarthy, Bob Peterson and Pete Docter	District 9 – Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell from Alive in Joburg by Neill Blomkamp An Education – Nick Hornby from An Education by Lynn Barber In the Loop – Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Ianucci and Tony Roche from The Thick of It created by Armando Iannucci Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire – Geoffrey Fletcher from Push by Sapphire Up in the Air – Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner from Up in the Air by Walter Kirn*
Best Animated Feature	Best Foreign Language Film
Coraline – Henry Selick Fantastic Mr. Fox – Wes Anderson The Princess and the Frog – Ron Clements and John Musker The Secret of Kells – Tomm Moore Up – Pete Docter *	Ajami (Israel) in Arabic and Hebrew – Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani El Secreto de Sus Ojos (Argentina) in Spanish – Juan José Campanella The Milk of Sorrow (Peru) in Spanish and Quechua – Claudia Llosa Un Prophète (France) in French, Corsican and Arabic – Jacques Audiard The White Ribbon (Germany) in German – Michael Haneke*
Best Documentary Feature		Best Documentary Short
Burma VJ – Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller The Cove – Nominees to be determined* Food, Inc. – Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein * The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers – Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith Which Way Home – Rebecca Cammisa		China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province – Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner – Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant – Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert Music by Prudence – Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett Rabbit à la Berlin – Bartosz Konopka and Anna Wydra
Best Live Action Short		Best Animated Short
The Door – Juanita Wilson and James Flynn Instead of Abracadabra – Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström Kavi – Gregg Helvey Miracle Fish – Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey The New Tenants – Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson		French Roast – Fabrice O. Joubert Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty – Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte) – Javier Recio Gracia Logorama – Nicolas Schmerkin A Matter of Loaf and Death – Nick Park
Best Original Score		Best Original Song
Avatar – James Horner Fantastic Mr. Fox – Alexandre Desplat The Hurt Locker – Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders Sherlock Holmes – Hans Zimmer Up – Michael Giacchino *		"Almost There" from The Princess and the Frog – Randy Newman "Down in New Orleans" from The Princess and the Frog – Randy Newman "Loin de Paname" from Paris 36 – Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas "Take it All" from Nine – Maury Yeston "Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart – Ryan Bingham and T-Bone Burnett *
Best Sound Editing		Best Sound Mixing
Avatar – Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle The Hurt Locker – Paul N.J. Ottosson Inglourious Basterds – Wylie Stateman Star Trek – Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin Up – Michael Silvers and Tom Myers		Avatar – Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson The Hurt Locker – Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett Inglourious Basterds – Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano Star Trek – Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson
Best Art Direction		Best Cinematography
Avatar – Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus – Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith Nine – Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim* Sherlock Holmes – Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer The Young Victoria – Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray		Avatar – Mauro Fiore Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – Bruno Delbonnel The Hurt Locker – Barry Ackroyd * Inglourious Basterds – Robert Richardson The White Ribbon – Christian Berger
Best Makeup		Best Costume Design
Il Divo – Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano Star Trek – Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow The Young Victoria – Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore *		Bright Star – Janet Patterson Coco Before Chanel – Catherine Leterrier The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus – Monique Prudhomme Nine – Colleen Atwood The Young Victoria – Sandy Powell*
Best Film Editing		Best Visual Effects
Avatar – James Cameron, John Refoua and Stephen E. Rivkin District 9 – Julian Clarke The Hurt Locker – Chris Innis and Bob Murawski Inglourious Basterds – Sally Menke Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire – Joe Klotz		Avatar – Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones * District 9 – Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros, and Matt Aitken Star Trek – Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Note: some are not marked because some of these categories I could not even give an educated guess due to insufficient information, or a split decision. Documentary is a tie because of a split decision.