Best Picture Nominees…

Updated on February 2, 2010 By Ken Begg 21 Comments

As noted earlier, the Academy Awards are making themselves even more farcical by expanding the Best Picture nominees to ten movies. Here’re the titles:

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

Nice, actually, to see a (serious) sci-fi film in District 9 getting a nod. It was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, so that’s nice.

Up should legitimately be a REAL contender for Best Picture, but its nomination for Best Picture is a sop. It should win the separate best animated movie award, though.

Have at it…

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  • Ericb

    Distric 9 has a snowball’s chance in South Africa of winning though. It will probably go to Avatar or The Blind Side.

  • MarshallDog

    I only saw 4 movies from last year, and District 9 was one of them. It was OK I guess… I hated the whole documentary thing but I loved the aliens. It is funny that District 9 got nominated for best visual effects and Transformers didn’t. I don’t think any movie is going to beat Avatar in any category- it’s just making way too much money for the academy to ignore it.

  • Blackadder

    Wow, District 9 is literally the only movie on that list that I’ve seen.

  • Eric, I agree, except that it’s Avatar or Hurt Locker.

  • JazzyJ

    I actually hope not Avatar. I was one of the few (the proud!) that defended this movie as a popcorn-flick pleasure film, and I absolutely still stand by that assessment. However, in no way does that mean I think it was the best movie of the year! :-)

    But I hear the money angle being cited, and thinking of Titanic and Lord of the Rings, probably correct. I would love to see The Hurt Locker, An Education, and Precious before picking my favorite, but Up was a GREAT film, with an absolutely devastating first 10 minutes.

  • Foywonder

    It’s a three-way race for best picture between Avatar, Hurt Locker, and Inglorious Basterds. The fact that Tarantino’s movie won the Screen Actors Guild award for best cast makes it a real contender. It would be funny if Up won just to see how many people in the audience slit their wrists that a cartoon won Best Picture. Just keep the camera on director Jason Reitman every single time Up in the Air loses in a category so that we can see the egomaniac make more angry faces.

  • P Stroud

    Avatar? Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.What a joke. Compare 2009 to the list of nominees in 1961. I just picked the year at rsndom but before the hippie takeover of Hollywood:

    Fanny, Joshua Logan, producer (Warner Bros.)
    The Guns of Navarone, Carl Foreman, producer (Columbia)
    The Hustler, Robert Rossen, producer (Twentieth Century-Fox)
    Judgment at Nuremberg, Stanley Kramer, producer (United Artists)
    West Side Story, Robert Wise, producer (United Artists)

    Avatar is now in the same class as Judgment At Nuremberg. Hahahaha snork hahahaha.

    Inglorious Basterds was okay but, best movie? You are right Ken, nominating Up is just a sop. District9 was quite good but if it qualifies as best movie then, well, the movie industry is even worse than I thought

    Okay. I’ll stop now.

  • Ericb

    “It would be funny if Up won just to see how many people in the audience slit their wrists that a cartoon won Best Picture”

    Isn’t Avatar largely a cartoon? Would anyone care about the film if it was made up of people running around in blue make-up?

  • Foywonder

    “Avatar? Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.What a joke. Compare 2009 to the list of nominees in 1961. I just picked the year at rsndom but before the hippie takeover of Hollywood:

    Fanny, Joshua Logan, producer (Warner Bros.)
    The Guns of Navarone, Carl Foreman, producer (Columbia)
    The Hustler, Robert Rossen, producer (Twentieth Century-Fox)
    Judgment at Nuremberg, Stanley Kramer, producer (United Artists)
    West Side Story, Robert Wise, producer (United Artists)

    Avatar is now in the same class as Judgment At Nuremberg. Hahahaha snork hahahaha.”

    The Blind Side is nominated for Best Picture and yet you focus this tirade at Avatar. Avatar’s nomination is all about it making billions. What’s the justification for The Blind Side getting nominated? A great performance by Sandra Bullock, but now a very special Afterschool Special is in the same class as Judgment At Nuremberg.

  • Aussiesmurf

    “Avatar? Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.What a joke. Compare 2009 to the list of nominees in 1961. I just picked the year at rsndom but before the hippie takeover of Hollywood:

    Fanny, Joshua Logan, producer (Warner Bros.)
    The Guns of Navarone, Carl Foreman, producer (Columbia)
    The Hustler, Robert Rossen, producer (Twentieth Century-Fox)
    Judgment at Nuremberg, Stanley Kramer, producer (United Artists)
    West Side Story, Robert Wise, producer (United Artists)

    Avatar is now in the same class as Judgment At Nuremberg. Hahahaha snork hahahaha.”

    Are you saying that the movies aren’t as good, or that the Academy is nominating worse movies?

    If you are criticising the nominations, then have at it. I still agree with the saying that the best critic is still time.

    (And there are still years with strong nominees : I still remember thinking that 1994 was particularly strong : Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Gump, Quiz Show and Four Weddings and a Funeral).

    In any event, I would strongly disagree that the ‘hippies taking over Hollywood’ or whatever the phrase is has made for worse movies. There are many great movies, be it art-house or large budget. The limited focus on only a few movies often glorifies the past movies (where we only focus on the greats) at the expense of whatever average crop of movies is being examined today.

    As William Goldman said of making movies : “Nobody knows anything.”

  • The Rev. D.D.

    I’ve only seen Up, but I have a feeling it’s the best one (although I am interested in seeing The Hurt Locker and District 9). They managed to create a believable, heartrending romance in, what, three minutes (sans dialogue yet)? Hollywood should be ashamed that their most touching romance in recent memory was in the opening sequence to a “children’s movie.” And the rest was great fun as well; I’d put it in the top tier of Pixar’s output (I’d put The Incredibles above it, and Finding Nemo and the Toy Story movies about neck-and-neck).

    I know it’ll never happen, and maybe if I see some of the others I’d change my mind, but frankly I’d love to see Up take it.

  • a josh

    what foy said about avatar and the blind side. however, before seeing the hurt locker, i think up is the best of those films. up’s opening sequence was easily the best stretch of film i’ve seen in a long time.

  • Mr. Rational

    Foywonder: Respectfully disagree. “The Blind Side” is an inspirational true story (okay, true in Hollywood terms), and there’s been no shortage of those nominated for Best Picture over the years. Here’s a list of the ones I could think of off the top of my head, arranged chronologically: “Sergeant York,” “The Pride of the Yankees,” “Spartacus,” “Gandhi,” “Apollo 13,” and “Braveheart.” And if you throw in movies that were based on true stories, add “Rocky” and “Norma Rae” and “Saving Private Ryan” to that list as well. All of them nominated for Best Picture in their respective years, and quite a few winners. So, what’s wrong with “The Blind Side” being similarly recognized?

  • Petoht

    So, what’s wrong with “The Blind Side” being similarly recognized?

    Politics.

    I’m not just tossing out a bugbear here. Almost universally, good and bad reviews of The Blind Side fall along political divisions. The right loves that a Christian family is shown in a positive, non-condescending light; the left hates that it’s rich white people help poor dumb black guy.

    It’s kind of amusing, really.

    To the general topic, I’m putting my money on The Hurt Locker winning. I can’t see them giving the award to Avatar. If they did, then the Academy would be a total joke.

    …oh wait.

  • Mr. Rational

    Petoht: Fair point. I guess I’m betraying my place on the spectrum, then, when I say that although “The Blind Side” wasn’t the best film of the year, and isn’t the best film among the nominees (for my money, that would be “Up”)…if by some insane happenstance it were to win Best Picture, I would finally have reason to show the world my Cheshire Cat impersonation. (Imfelination?)

  • P Stroud

    I am saying that Avatar is ground breaking only in that it is what John Carpenter said could never be, a polished turd.

    But it is most excellent to see that the Academy is now ruled by our horned god.

  • Foywonder

    “Foywonder: Respectfully disagree. “The Blind Side” is an inspirational true story (okay, true in Hollywood terms), and there’s been no shortage of those nominated for Best Picture over the years. Here’s a list of the ones I could think of off the top of my head, arranged chronologically: “Sergeant York,” “The Pride of the Yankees,” “Spartacus,” “Gandhi,” “Apollo 13,” and “Braveheart.” And if you throw in movies that were based on true stories, add “Rocky” and “Norma Rae” and “Saving Private Ryan” to that list as well. All of them nominated for Best Picture in their respective years, and quite a few winners. So, what’s wrong with “The Blind Side” being similarly recognized?”

    The fact that it’s not even an especially good example of even the type of inspirational films you just listed. A great performance by Sandra Bullock in what is otherwise just a glorified Hallmark Channel TV movie. To even lump The Blind Side in the same category as Spartacus or Rocky or Saving Private Ryan is nothing short of comical. The only reason The Blind Side is even nominated for best picture is because it was such a surprise feel-good hit at the box office. At this point I’m amazed Paranormal Activity didn’t get nominated.

  • Mr. Rational

    Fair enough, Foywonder. You’re entitled to your opinion. And for the record, I agree that “The Blind Side” is no “Spartacus.” I also think you’re being very unfair to the film, however…given its subject matter, it wasn’t going to be. And I will contend that it’s a more credible Best Picture nominee than some films that have actually WON the award. (See, e.g., “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Or don’t.)

    Perhaps my feelings toward the film are colored by the fact that I lived in the northern Mississippi area for two years, and took frequent trips to Memphis. So it’s perhaps easier for me to see how faithful to its subject and surroundings the film really is, and may possibly give me an otherwise unwarranted affection for it. But…whatever. I’ve said my piece, and we both know “The Blind Side” won’t win. I just pray it’s not “Avatar.”

  • Foywonder

    The Producers Guild gave their top honor to The Hurt Locker. The Directors Guild gave their top honor to The Hurt Locker. The Screen Actors Guild gave their top honor to Inglorious Basterds. Those are the best indicators of what is going to win Best Picture. Avatar won the Golden Globe for Best Drama. If they had any real credibility then The Hangover (won Best Comedy) would also have been nominated for Best Picture and Pia Zadora would have gone on to win an Oscar. The only wild card in the mix is the Best Picture category being expanded to ten nominations, which could thin out the voting. That could leave the door open for Avatar, but I find it hard to believe it will win no matter how many say it could happen. The big upset waiting in the wings would be for Up to sneak in and win. Given the amount of respect they get for their track record for high quality, a Pixar Best Picture win could conceivably happen.

    Regardless, it’s the Oscars. In the end, Hollywood is all about money. In that case, Avatar has already won and James Cameron is again the king of the world.

  • Inglourious Bastards is garbage. I honestly wish people would finally come around and stop defending Tarantino like he’s worth a damn. It was bad enough in the 90s. And for god’s sake, how anyone could take Eli Roth as an actor, or deal with Brad Pitt’s “accent”, is beyond my comprehension. Total garbage.

    I love that Up and District 9 are nominated, they both deserve it (haven’t seen Hurt Locker yet). Avatar could disappear from existence tomorrow and I would not care one whit. If I had to suffer through over a year of people incorrectly whining about “aliens” in Indy 4, then there is no way in hell I’m going to sit through over two hours of CGI creatures that look like the spawn of Thundercats and Smurfs with fetal alcohol syndrome. Pass.

  • Jimmy

    Wow, I’ve actually seen and enjoyed a number of those movies which is more than I can say for a lot of recent years nominations and probably says a lot about my taste. I’m not sure if they’re best picture material but I’d loved it if Up, District 9 or Inglourious Basterds won.