Oscars Preview and Predictions

If only Shutter Island had come out a little sooner, Boston Movie fans would likely have a dog in the hunt. The show is actually being hosted by a pair of actors whose longevity just so happens to include multiple works from Boston. I'm not sure who is getting top billing so alphabetically, Alec Baldwin had a fantastic role in one of Boston's biggest movies The Departed and also filmed here for the production of Malice. His co-host Steve Martin has worked a number of Boston filmings including Housesitter, Pink Panther 2, and The Out-Of-Towners. The two will tagteam hosting the Oscars on March 7th. And the nominees are... a few more than usual! Best Picture is including ten nominations, who has time to watch all those movies?? Not me. But that won't stop me from making predictions on instinct and randomness! Best Picture Avatar District 9 Up Up in the Air Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire A Serious Man Inglorious Basterds The Blind Side An Education The Hurt Locker It really almost has to be Avatar... half a billion dollars earned at the box office should be enough to get it Best Picture. Performance by an actor in a leading role * Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight) * George Clooney in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) * Colin Firth in "A Single Man" (The Weinstein Company) * Morgan Freeman in "Invictus" (Warner Bros.) * Jeremy Renner in "The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment) Toss-up between Freeman and Bridges... Let's get Crazy Hearted and go with Jeff Bridges! Performance by an actor in a supporting role * Matt Damon in "Invictus" (Warner Bros.) * Woody Harrelson in "The Messenger" (Oscilloscope Laboratories) * Christopher Plummer in "The Last Station" (Sony Pictures Classics) * Stanley Tucci in "The Lovely Bones" (DreamWorks in association with Film4, Distributed by Paramount) * Christoph Waltz in "Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company) Happy if either Boston star walks with it. Saw an interview with Woody this week saying he thought his chances of winning were under 1%... so Matt Damon wins! Performance by an actress in a leading role * Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side" (Warner Bros.) * Helen Mirren in "The Last Station" (Sony Pictures Classics) * Carey Mulligan in "An Education" (Sony Pictures Classics) * Gabourey Sidibe in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate) * Meryl Streep in "Julie & Julia" (Sony Pictures Releasing) No idea! None! I mean everyone talked up Blind Side and Precious, but then you got Meryl Streep who's old, been around, so I don't know. Just rolled some dice, Helen Mirren takes it! Performance by an actress in a supporting role * Penélope Cruz in "Nine" (The Weinstein Company) * Vera Farmiga in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) * Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight) * Anna Kendrick in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) * Mo'Nique in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate) Doubt they'd give a win to one of two from the same flick... think Crazy Heart was good enough for Maggie to win, I'm picking her. Best animated feature film of the year *"Coraline" (Focus Features) Henry Selick *"Fantastic Mr. Fox" (20th Century Fox) Wes Anderson *"The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney) John Musker and Ron Clements *"The Secret of Kells" (GKIDS) Tomm Moore *"Up" (Walt Disney) Pete Docter I loved Coraline, I hope it wins. Achievement in art direction * "Avatar" (20th Century Fox) Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair *"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (Sony Pictures Classics) Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro Set Decoration: Caroline Smith *"Nine" (The Weinstein Company) Art Direction: John Myhre Set Decoration: Gordon Sim *"Sherlock Holmes" (Warner Bros.) Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood Set Decoration: Katie Spencer *"The Young Victoria" (Apparition) Art Direction: Patrice Vermette Set Decoration: Maggie Gray Avatar, easily. Achievement in cinematography *"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) Mauro Fiore *"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (Warner Bros.) Bruno Delbonnel *"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment) Barry Ackroyd *"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company) Robert Richardson *"The White Ribbon" (Sony Pictures Classics) Christian Berger Avatar, again Achievement in costume design *"Bright Star" (Apparition) Janet Patterson *"Coco before Chanel" (Sony Pictures Classics) Catherine Leterrier *"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (Sony Pictures Classics) Monique Prudhomme *"Nine" (The Weinstein Company) Colleen Atwood *"The Young Victoria" (Apparition) Sandy Powell Have yet to see any of these, hadn't heard about most of them, but that Victorian charm is big in the theater circles so we'll take The Young Victoria Achievement in directing *"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) James Cameron *"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment) Kathryn Bigelow *"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company) Quentin Tarantino *"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate) Lee Daniels *"Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) Jason Reitman I'm a big Tarantino fan, loved his movie but it won't be him. Up in the Air had to awesome a cast to give this much credit to the director. They'll give it to Cameron. This was another Titanic, and that did pretty well!!! That pretty much wraps up the major categories, to see full lists and details on the event, visit the Oscars homepage.