2010 Oscar Sunday
Oscar Day is here! Since my last Oscar post I've seen District 9, Precious and The Blind Side. I've closed out the Best Director category, which to me includes the only movies that are serious contenders for Best Picture.
District 9 was a very strange movie about an aliens who have inhabited South Africa since the 1980s. They look like giant bugs but are an intelligent life form. The South Africans round them all up and make them live in refugee camps. The parallels to apartheid pretty much hit you over the head – the message is not subtle. The movie had tons of gore and action but it had a pretty good story as well. It was good but not Best Picture caliber.
Precious is about a black high school girl living in Harlem in the 1980s. She is abused by both her parents and has two children as a result of being raped by her father. The message of this movie was don't be too quick to judge – you never know what's going on behind closed doors. It also explored the culture of poverty in ways that will hopefully open people's eyes. This was an excruciatingly hard movie to watch but worth it.
The Blind Side is true story about a wealthy white Memphis family that take in a homeless black teenage boy. Going in, I thought the movie would be totally cheesy but it wasn't. It was really well done and had me teary from beginning to end. If I wasn't already a foster parent, I would become one after seeing this movie.
Both Precious and The Blind Side show how it takes one-on-one help and mentoring to help someone pull themselves up out of poverty. It's not as simple as "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps." Throwing money at the problem doesn't solve it either, it takes people down in the trenches, doing the work.
BEST PICTURE
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Up in the Air
Inglourious Basterds
Up
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
A Serious Man
BEST ACTOR
George Clooney – Up in the Air
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker
BEST ACTRESS
Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Carey Mulligan – An Education
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon – Invictus
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Mo'Nique – Precious
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
Penelope Cruz – Nine
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart
DIRECTOR
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
James Cameron – Avatar
Lee Daniels – Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Jason Reitman – Up in the Air
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Up
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
District 9
An Education
In the Loop
Precious
Up in the Air
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ajami
El Secreto de Sus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
Un Prophete
The White Ribbon
BEST FILM EDITING
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home
ART DIRECTION
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon
