As previously promised, here are my own personal 2009 Oscar nominations. Again, these are not necessarily the films and performers that I expect to see nominated on Tuesday. Instead, there are my own personal preferences. These are the Oscar nominees (and winners) if Jeff was solely responsible for selecting them. Obviously, this means that I limited my choices only to the eligible films that I've actually seen. For example, I have yet to see either The Last Station or The Messengerand, as a result, probable nominees such as Helen Mirren and Woody Harrelson were not considered for these imaginary Oscars.
A list of the eligible films that I did see (along with a short review of each) can be found here.
My nominees for 2007 can be found here while 2008 can be found by clicking here.
And now, on to the Imaginary 2009 Academy Award nominations!
(The winner in each category are preceded by an asterisk and are listed in bold type.)
Best Picture
Adventureland
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
District 9
An Education
The Hangover
The Informant!
Inglorious Basterds
*A Serious Man
Up in the Air
Where the Wild Things Are
Yes, that's right. No Avatar. NoInvictus. No Hurt Locker. No Precious. These films, which undoubtedly will receive nomination on Tuesday, have all helped to make 2009 the year of the overrated movie. It's sad that even with 10 nominees, it appears that the Academy is again on the verge of ignoring the best films of the year. As for my own Oscars, the award goes to A Serious Man with An Education, Up in the Air, District 9, and Inglorious Basterds as very close runner-ups.
Best Actor
Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart
Nicolas Cage for Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Matt Damon for The Informant!
Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker
*Sam Rockwell for Moon
For me, the best actor race comes down to Cage and Rockwell with Rockwell ultimately winning because, if for no other reason, he has never truly received the recognition he deserves.
Best Actress
Sasha Grey for The Girlfriend Experience
*Carey Mulligan for An Education
Saoirse Ronan for The Lovely Bones
Maya Rudolph for Away We Go
Gabourey Sidibe for Precious
Five great performances but honestly, it's really no contest. Mulligan wins in a walk.
Best Supporting Actor
Christian McKay for Me and Orson Welles
*Peter Sarsgaard for An Education
Paul Schneider for Bright Star
Christoph Waltz for Inglorious Basterds
George Wyner for A Serious Man
I was tempted to give the award to the unheralded Wyner, who delivers a very compelling monologue about halfway through A Serious Manand is exactly the type of character actor who, in a perfect world, would be regularly awarded for his work. However, in the end, I have to give the award to Sarsgaard as the charmingly immoral older man who seduces Carey Mulligan in An Education.
Best Supporting Actress
*Vera Farminga for Up In The Air
Anna Kendrick for Up In The Air
Melanie Laurent for Inglorious Basterds
Mo'Nique for Precious
Rosamund Pike for An Education
Farminga wins because she managed to take a role that, at first glance, seems to be a pure fantasy and turns that fantasy into a real, vulnerable human being.
Best Director
Joel and Ethan Coen for A Serious Man
Werner Herzog for Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Jason Reitman for Up in the Air
Lone Scherfig for An Education
*Quentin Tarantino for Inglorious Basterds
I'm tempted to just declare a five-way tie but ultimately, I have to give the imaginary Oscar to Tarantino. Inglorious Basterds represents his best work since Pulp Fictionand, honestly, it's hard to think of any other filmmaker who could have made the film work anywhere near as well as he did. Forget Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz. Tarantino is the true star of Inglorious Basterds.
Best Original Screenplay
Adventureland
Funny People
The Hangover
Inglorious Basterds
*A Serious Man
Again, it's tough to pick just one winner but ultimately, I have to go with A Serious Man with both Adventureland and The Hangover tied for second place.
Best Adapted Screenplay
District 9
An Education
The Informant!
*Up in the Air
Where the Wild Things Are
It's hard to choose between District 9, An Education, and Up in the Air. In the end, Up in the Air wins because it surprised me more consistently than any of the other nominees.
Best Editing
District 9
*The Hangover
Inglorious Basterds
A Serious Man
Up in the Air
The Hangover wins here because so much of good movie comedy is a matter of perfect timing. And The Hangover had perfect timing throughout.
Best Cinematography
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
The Road
*A Serious Man
Where the Wild Things Are
And the winner is ... A Serious Man.
Best Art Direction
*Adventureland
District 9
An Education
Inglorious Basterds
The Young Victoria
The award goes to Adventureland for not only making us believe that Adventureland existed but also making us regret that we never got a chance to visit it.
Best Sound Mixing
2012
Avatar
*District 9
The Hurt Locker
A Single Man
District 9 is, for me, the obvious winner here.
Best Sound Editing
Avatar
District 9
*The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Star Trek
I was not a huge fan of The Hurt Locker but at its best, it did leave you feeling as if death was lurking behind every corner. It was a movie in which you felt as if you not only had to watch every shadow but you had to listen for every footstep. That's why it wins the Imaginary Oscar.
Best Costume Design
Me and Orson Welles
Nine
Public Enemies
A Serious Man
*Where The Wild Things Are
Where the Wild Things Are wins for not only faithfully recreating the Wild Things but also for allowing the Wild Things themselves to truly become unique characters.
Best Original Score
An Education
*The Informant!
Invictus
A Single Man
Where the Wild Things Are
The Informant's deceptively jaunty score was almost as important a character as Matt Damon.
Best Visual Effects
Avatar
*District 9
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Star Trek
Watchmen
What? No Avatar? Look, Avatar will win the real Oscar. For my imaginary Oscars, I'd rather reward films that aren't, essentially, crap. Add to that, District 9 accomplishes the same thing as Avatar (i.e. making us believe that the aliens on screen are real) and it does it without a whole lot of "look-at-me!" showing off. That's why, in my world at least, the winner is District 9.
Best Makeup
District 9
The Imagnarium of Dr. Parnassus
The Road
Star Trek
*Zombieland
The award goes to Zombieland because I just like the idea of Zombieland being enshrined forever in the history of the Academy Awards.
Best Original Song
"Cinema Italiano" from Nine
*"Running Out of Empty (Making a Home For Ourselves)" from Lymelife
"Smoke Without Fire" from An Education
"Stu's Song" from The Hangover
"The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart
Traditionally, the Best Song category seems to honor the worst, most bombastic songs possible and I imagine that this year's Oscar will go to whatever it was that Leona Lewis was singing at the end of Avatar. However, in my world, the Oscar will go the the haunting theme song from Lymelife. Incidentally, I was originally planning on nominating U2's Winter from Brothers but, honestly, I could not bring myself to give any nominations to that terrible movie. For that reason, I nominated Stu's Song from The Hangover instead. Besides, who wouldn't want to see Ed Helms performing that at the ceremony?
I didn't see nearly as many films as you, but I'm glad to see you loved A Serious Man as much as I did. Easily the best film of the year. I don't agree with all your choices, but I definitely concur with that one.
Posted by: Shannon | March 01, 2010 at 07:25 PM