2010 Oscar Picks

Ty Hampton
The Critic

-- It’s that time of year again – award season. And there is no greater award ceremony for measuring the quality of films over the past year than the Oscars. This Critics Corner Review Academy Awards special edition is my predictions on who will take home the hardware on March 7th and my runner-up nods.

Best Picture
Predicted Winner: “Up in the Air”
- This was the most charming, intelligent, and insightful film of the year that packed a lot of heart and a terrific ensemble cast performance on top of stylistic direction from “Juno” filmmaker Jason Reitman.
My Runner-Ups: “The Hurt Locker” and “A Serious Man”
- Although “Hurt Locker” was a very well-directed, well-acted realistic glimpse into the daily terror that is modern warfare in the Iraqi dessert, it just didn’t resonate with me like “Up in the Air.”
The Coen brothers’ newest dark comedy “A Serious Man” takes us on a ride through the life of a man on an existential breakdown, struggling to find the truth and meaning in life on the verge of tragedy. A virtually unknown cast and a limited big screen audience that only extended to New York and Los Angeles are the only main hold-ups keeping this film from being yet another big Oscar win for the Coens.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Predicted Winner: “Up in the Air”
- For all the same reasons this wins best picture, it also must win best adapted screenplay as the film’s writing was what separated it from a monumental impact film like “Avatar.”
My Runner-Ups: “District 9” and “An Education”
- Remember these names – Neil Blomkamp and Carey Mulligan. District 9 was director Blomkamp’s first English-language big screen hit with the production backing from none-other-than Lord of the Rings filmmaker Peter Jackson. District 9 was top to bottom – screenplay, shooting, acting – the best true sci-fi “alien” film I have seen in a long, long time (yes, that’s right Avatar – your 3-D and effects were awesome, true, but film-wise you just don’t have the chops).
Mulligan is the standout star of the British film, An Education, as well as a stirring reflection of a young Audrey Hepburn. Her on-screen chemistry alongside Peter Saarsgard as a young 20-something actress playing an 18-year-old girl pursued by an older, cultured man shows a true maturity to Mulligan.

Best Original Screenplay
Predicted Winner: “A Serious Man”
- The Coens are a two-headed genius. Put them together and this screenwriter/director/producer team can spin your head around with talent until you no longer know what’s what. This display of mastery rings true again with their newest dark comedy, A Serious Man.
A complex plot dealing with Jewish-American traditions, superstitions, folklore, and existentialism are at the center of a plot about a man who is at a crossroads in his life – on one side lays imminent crisis, on the other the previously unthought and unknown.
This movie is (to me) foreign, alienating and makes the audience feel down right miserable for the protagonist, but that is exactly what the Coens intended. Putting the view smack-dab in the shoes of a film’s main character and feeling what he feels – attaching some level of emotionality to them – is an honest testament to film writing done with great detail and absolute mastery.

My Runner-Ups: “Hurt Locker” and “Inglourious Basterds”
- The story to the Hurt Locker is both compelling and thrilling, but more than that it is eerily realistic. That sort of authenticity can only be captured by either: a.) somebody who has actually been there (in Iraq) or b.) someone with an extreme obsession for research.
Quentin Tarantino is responsible for some of the wackiest, most creative film created in the modern era and this alternative spin to the classically cliché’ war movie genre is a continuation of his genius. Although I didn’t enjoy it as much as Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs – Inglourious Basterds still probably comfortably slides into the latter spot of my top-three Tarantino films list.

Best Director
Predicted Winner: Kathryn Bigelow “The Hurt Locker.”
- Whenever an indie film has as big a splash as the Hurt Locker has (or see an indie film called “Slumdog Millionaire”) a lot can, and should, be attributed to the director. Directors are the godfather filmmakers behind the scenes, pulling all the right (or wrong) strings to make or break a film. The quarterbacks who win the big game.
Over the years Kathryn Bigelow has had a couple of big screen hits to her name (“Near Dark”, “Point Break”, and “Strange Days”) but the Locker is far and away her most mature and intense work.

My Runner-Ups: Jason Reitman “Up in the Air” and Quentin Tarantino “Inglourious Basterds.”
- Reitman’s formalistic shots that put us into the heart and soul of his characters were a key element to the aesthetic of Up in the Air, my favorite of the best picture nominees. And Tarantinos auteur filmmaker prowess is definitely on display in Basterds, showing why film is still a true venue for not just entertainment, but art. I actually liked Tarantino and Reitman’s work better than Bigelow’s in this category, but I feel like it’s her year and I’d put my money on her table for Oscar night.

Best Actor
Predicted Winner: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
- Bridges is a great actor whose Oscar win is far overdue. In Crazy Heart, his performance oozes with soul and the feel of a classic master of the silver screen. All I can say is it’s about time, and if anyone else wins this category it’s an absolute crime.

My Runner-Ups: Jeremy Renner and George Clooney
- Renner and Clooney both had help in their films which demonstrated a great ensemble cast to make their movies great. Still, both leading men dominated in their roles and will be hard-pressed to match that kind of career paramount moment.

Best Supporting Actor
Predicted Winner: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”
- You may not know his name or any other movie he’s ever been in (probably not as he’s an Austrian actor), but Christopher Waltz’s performance as the “Jew Hunter” was in my opinion the best performance of any actor or actress in a leading or supporting role. Unfortunately his was a supporting role, but I liken his legendary villain performance to that of Javier Bardem’s in “No Country for Old Men” a couple of years back.
His maneurisms, voice, rhythm and overall delivery was pitch perfect and down right creepy at times as an embodiment of all the evil the Nazi regime represented. Waltz plays a character you love to hate, but can not take your eyes off of. Bravo!

My Runner-Ups: Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
Stanley Tucci is one of those truly versatile actors that can play utter opposite characters with each role they take on…and thrive off of that. Tucci seems to get a lead role, but his characters stick with you. No one could play the meticulous neighborhood serial killer Mr. Harvey from this nightmarish tale with such calm and cold-blooded tact than a talent like Tucci and he was, unfortunately, the only redeeming acting performance in the Lovely Bones.

Best Actress
Predicted Winner: Carey Mulligan, “An Education”
- This 24-year-old actress is one to watch for years to come, while I think she deserves top honors for her breakout performance in An Education. The sophistication and class of Audrey Hepburn with an undeniable dash of innocence and youth that is refreshing. Give her the hardware! She deserves it.

My Runner-Up: Meryl Streep “Julia & Julia”
- Whenever Ms. Streep decides to grace the stage these days, you can count her in on an Oscar race. She’s an iconic talent that has set the bar for actresses of this era.

Best Supporting Actress
Predicted Winner: Anna Kendrick “Up in the Air”
- Clooney was great as the lead in Up in the Air, but his performance was magnified by its parity to another great showing at the hands of Anna Kendrick. Also 24 years of age, Kendrick is another true newcomer with her only other recognizable roles being in the Twilight and New Moon films. After seeing Up in the Air, we’ll forgive her for that though.

My Runner-Up: Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Just as Kendrick added to Clooney’s role in their film, I would say the duo of Gyllenhaal and Bridges was right up there as well. Bridges performance over shadows Maggie’s, but that’s her role in the film, and even as it is she plays it with great strength.

Best Art Direction, Best Cinematoraphy, Best Visual Effects
Predicted Winner: “Avatar”
- What can I say, Avatar was the most visually and mechanically stunning film I have probably ever seen…ever. It had a decent storyline but the acting was lacking in some areas. These are why I think it won’t, and shouldn’t, win best picture or any of the other bigger award categories.
Entertainment wise alone though, Avatar was the best of the year. Still that doesn’t speak to the long term quality of the film. Look at some of the best special effects films of all time. They are popular for a decade and then their film tricks begin to look dated and archaic and, let’s face it, the acting and writing is rarely there. Avatar has tendencies toward this same category of film.
Packing wildly entertaining punch after punch, but not enough to be an academy award winning film in any of the major categories.

Best Animated Feature Film
Predicted Winner: “Up”
- This is a romance, a drama, and an adventure film tied into one. Oh yeah, and did I mention it’s an animated film. The best animated film since Wall-E, maybe even better. Either way, far and away takes this category.