Predict the Best Picture Oscar noms.

[Sagart]

It's a very simple game. There will be 10 Best Picture nominations this year. They will be announced next Tuesday so we have a week to play.

Play as you want to to - who you think will be nominated, who you think should be; who, in a crazy world, you'd love to see nominated. Just post your Top 10 (and let's keep it to the Best Picture noms, ok?)

Who I think will be nominated
Avatar
Up in the Air
Inglourious Basterds
The Hurt Locker
Precious
Invictus
The Road
District 9
Up
A Serious Man

Who I would love to see nominated

Where the Wild Things Are & Star Trek in place of Avatar & Invictus.

 

[Starbreaker]

Avatar
Star Trek
Up in the Air
Up
Invictus
Inglourious Basterds
The Hurt Locker
Precious
Up
500 Days of Summer

 

[JacksonArcher]

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Up in the Air
Precious
Inglourious Basterds
(500) Days of Summer
District 9
A Serious Man
An Education
Invictus

What I Would Like to See Nominated: Star Trek, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Where The Wild Things Are and Brothers as well as the films that will likely get nominated... The Hurt Locker, Up in the Air, (500) Days of Summer and District 9.

 

[Kira's Mom]

Up in the Air
An Education
Precious
Hurt Locker
Avatar
Inglorious Basterds


I can only think of seven.

 

[CaptainCanada]

1. An Education
2. Avatar
3. District 9
4. The Hurt Locker
5. Inglourious Basterds
6. Invictus
7. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
8. Star Trek
9. Up
10. Up in the Air

 

[chrisspringob]

Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
Avatar
Up in the Air
Precious
An Education
District 9
A Serious Man
Up
Invictus

 

[Gil T.Azell]

All good Noms. how about

The Blind Side

thrown in?

 

[23skidoo]

I don't expect to see Star Trek nominated. Too much competition through the rest of the year, and if they're going to nominate an SF film it'll be Avatar. I don't think Avatar deserves to win (my opinion - beautiful movie, technically epochal, but the story doesn't hold up) but if they don't at least nominate the biggest-grossing movie of all time the Academy will just look silly and out of touch.

Others I expect to see based on press, etc (I personally haven't seen any of these films)

Blind Side
Precious (I refuse to add on that awfully pretentious and awkward subtitle)
Inglourious Basterds (though this might be controversial)
Up (long-shot because there's now an animated film category)
Up in the Air
Hurt Locker

That's 7, including Avatar. I reserve the last 3 predictions for films no one has heard of and/or no one has seen, with the likely winner being one of these if the Academy doesn't take the easy way out and default to Avatar. Everyone's been saying that the 10 nominees will allow more chances for big films like Star Trek to get nominated, but I think it'll work the other way and open the door for more Slumdog Millionaires.

Long-long-longshot nomination that would make me jump for joy: Watchmen.

Alex

 

[cardinal biggles]

Watchmen was good, but it wasn't that good; if Watchmen were to get a nom but Star Trek didn't, I would stage my own one-man riot.

My predictions:

An Education
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
(500) Days of Summer
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up In the Air

Two movies I'd love to see get nominated but I know won't: Adventureland and Up.Up was good enough that it deserves to go toe-to-toe with the other Best Picture nominees, instead of just being yet another no-brainer Best Animated Feature win for Disney/Pixar. The only film that might give Up a run for its money is Coraline. And Adventureland was good, but I just haven't heard any buzz behind it. Even when I mention it to friends, the reaction is usually, "Dude, isn't that chick from Twilight in it? She sucks. I'm not watching that."

 

[CaptainCanada]

The Blind Side isn't getting a nomination; it's not getting any buzz apart from Sandra Bullock's performance.

Looking over the guesses so far, most people agree on about 9 of 10; it's the 10th slot (variously filled with Star Trek, A Serious Man, etc.) that's really being debated.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Inglourious Basterds (though this might be controversial)

Why? I don't know if it deserves to win, but it clearly belongs on the top10 list imo.

 

[Top41]

Avatar is a no-brainer, as is Hurt Locker. I would guess Up in the Air and Precious would get noms as well. Aside from that, I'm not sure I have any guesses--though the ones you guys are putting up look sound.

 

[Cmndr J Crichton]

Best Picture:

Taken
Avatar
Star Trek
Up

Usually they pick at least one blockbuster juggernaut they can't ignore (Avatar) an ensemble musical, or period piece (Star Trek, Fame), and a movie that was created solely to get the Academy's attention (Invictus).

Here's my prediction: Avatar will clean house.

Best Picture:
Avatar

Best Director:
James Cameron

Best Actor:
Sam Worthington

Best Actress:
Zoe Saldana

Best Supporting Actor:
Stephen Lang

Best Supporting Actress:
Sigourney Weaver

Best Costuming:
Avatar

Best visual effects:
Industrial Light and Magic for Avatar

Best Original Score:
James Horner

Best Song:
'I See You' from Avatar
Written by James Horner and Mark Northam

Best Original Script:
Avatar by James Cameron


Aw the heck with it. They should just call it The Oscars Presents: Avatar. Can anyone tell I liked this movie?

 

[Sagart]

Best Picture:

Taken
Avatar
Star Trek
Up

Usually they pick at least one blockbuster juggernaut they can't ignore (Avatar) an ensemble musical, or period piece (Star Trek, Fame), and a movie that was created solely to get the Academy's attention (Invictus).

Here's my prediction: Avatar will clean house.

Best Picture:
Avatar

Best Director:
James Cameron

Best Actor:
Sam Worthington

Best Actress:
Zoe Saldana

Best Supporting Actor:
Stephen Lang

Best Supporting Actress:
Sigourney Weaver

Best Costuming:
Avatar

Best visual effects:
Industrial Light and Magic for Avatar

Best Original Score:
James Horner

Best Song:
'I See You' from Avatar
Written by James Horner and Mark Northam

Best Original Script:
Avatar by James Cameron


Aw the heck with it. They should just call it The Oscars Presents: Avatar. Can anyone tell I liked this movie?

err....

ok.

 

[Mike Farley]

Judging by the never-ending credits if (when) AVATAR wins best visual effects, it's a win for virtually every effects artist in Hollywood.

 

[SiorX]

Best Picture:

Taken
Avatar
Star Trek
Up

Usually they pick at least one blockbuster juggernaut they can't ignore (Avatar) an ensemble musical, or period piece (Star Trek, Fame), and a movie that was created solely to get the Academy's attention (Invictus).

Here's my prediction: Avatar will clean house.

Best Picture:
Avatar

Best Director:
James Cameron

Best Actor:
Sam Worthington

Best Actress:
Zoe Saldana

Best Supporting Actor:
Stephen Lang

Best Supporting Actress:
Sigourney Weaver

Best Costuming:
Avatar

Best visual effects:
Industrial Light and Magic for Avatar

Best Original Score:
James Horner

Best Song:
'I See You' from Avatar
Written by James Horner and Mark Northam

Best Original Script:
Avatar by James Cameron


Aw the heck with it. They should just call it The Oscars Presents: Avatar. Can anyone tell I liked this movie?

err....

ok.

The universe is probably going to reconfigure itself purely to prove me wrong, but Avatar so isn't getting the acting awards.

I'm not sure what ten movies it will be, but I confidently predict that I won't have seen half of them. I pretty much only watch the red carpet footage now.

 

[Kegg]

I wouldn't be surprised if Avatar cleans up the Oscars, but I would be surprised if the acting even gets nominated. It's the technical areas the film is likely to make the difference for its Oscars, like ROTK before it. The screenplay would be eyebrow raising also.

I'd wager Hurt Locker is the one film most likely to win besides Avatar, but what do I know? For a rather mediocre and forgettable entry in Reitman's filmography, though, Up in the Air seems to have surprising legs.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Avatar's not getting any acting nominations; personally, I would give Saldana one, because to the extent that that film worked, it worked because of her, but much like Andy Serkis, her character being CGI'd will be a formidable obstacle.

A screenplay nomination is an outside chance, but the original screenplay award is going to Tarantino or on an outside chance Mark Boal.

Five of the "big eight" Oscars are fairly solidly locked in, I think: Jeff Bridges, Mo'Nique, Christoph Waltz, Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner (Adapted Screenplay) and Quentin Tarantino (Original; this one could also go to Boal, but I don't think it will). Picture, Director, and Actress are still in doubt; Bullock's in the lead for Actress, but it could go to Streep; Picture and Director usually correspond (wait until the DGA awards this weekend; the winner of that has only lost the Oscar six times in 50+ years).

If Avatar wins Best Picture, it might also get Director, and definitely a ton of technical awards (in fact, it will have the most Oscars whether it wins or not because of how its going to dominate technical stuff), but no other big ones.

The Hurt Locker won the Producers Guild Award, which is a pretty good omen; if the producers don't care about its tiny gross, I don't think anybody else would

 

[JacksonArcher]

Wasn't Avatar nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Golden Globes? Anyway, I think it will be nominated.

Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner got the award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Golden Globes. Reitman & Turner are certainly a shoe-in now for Best Adapted Screenplay. I have a feeling Quentin Tarantino might nab the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. It's certainly him or Mark Boal for The Hurt Locker.

I think Sandra Bullock is gaining momentum for Best Actress after winning the Golden Globe and the SAG Award, but it could be an upset like how it was last year for the Best Actor race. Mickey Rourke was getting a lot of acclaim and accolades for his comeback performance in The Wrestler but at the last minute Sean Penn swooped in there and snatched the statuette away from him. Same could happen here with Bullock and Meryl Streep.

The Best Picture and Best Director awards usually correspond but I just remember the year when Ang Lee won Best Director for Brokeback Mountain and then Crash won Best Picture. I can see a similar situation where Kathryn Bigelow wins for The Hurt Locker and Avatar wins Best Picture, or vice versa and James Cameron wins for Avatar and The Hurt Locker wins Best Picture in an upset.

At this point though I consider Cameron & Avatar the front-runners for those awards.

 

[CaptainCanada]

At this point though I consider Cameron & Avatar the front-runners for those awards.

I'm not sure I agree there. They won the Globes, but nobody at the Globes actually votes at the Academy. The Hurt Locker won the Producers Guild Award for best picture, and its membership (or a fraction of it) does vote; particularly if Bigelow wins the DGA award this weekend, that would be pretty heavy auguring for THL. As well, the largest bloc of Academy voters are actors, and Avatar's wins at the Globes got a very tepid reception there.