Man, I haven't even filled out my Oscar ballot yet. Then again, it's not exactly like filling out your bracket for March Madness. It's even harder to get excited for Best Short Film, Live Action than it is for Kansas vs. the play-in game winner.
Where to begin... I haven't seen any of the Best Documentary nominees, though I'm sure that will change at some point. Food, Inc. is on Netflix Instant Viewing so I'll probably watch it eventually, and one of the other films may catch my eye too. The only problem is that they aren't always released on DVD right away and I lose interest. I liked A Matter of Loaf and Death but it's one of the lesser Wallace and Gromit shorts so there is likely a more deserving nominee in the animated short category. Haven't seen any of the foreign language films, go figure.
Best Animated Feature Film. Up would have to be a lock to win; if it's the only animated film included amongst the Best Picture nominees, it's ostensibly the best animated film. It's no Wall-E, but it's another solid Pixar film. Coraline looked great, and I'm all for more stop-animated films, but its story was a little lacking. I haven't seen any of the other nominees. My personal favorite is actually Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which exceeded all of my expectations. And yes, I do think it's better than Up.
Chalk one up for Avatar for best special effects. For all of its faults, it deserves every technical nomination it gets.
I have heard precisely zero of the nominees for best song. The past few winners have been solid, though. "Jai Ho," "Falling Slowly," and even "It's Hard Out There for a Pimp" were stellar choices.
Nothing really sticks out for best score, so I'll give the nod to Michael Giacchino for Up even though I preferred his work on Star Trek. Other scores of note: Christopher Young's work on Drag Me to Hell, Adrian Younge for Black Dynamite, and Mark Mothersbaugh for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
Browsing through more of the technical awards... hard to get worked up about any of these. Sherlock Holmes got a few nominations. Were any of 2009's blockbusters more forgettable?
Up in the Air is all but assured of winning best adapted screenplay, although the description of the book on Wikipedia sounds more interesting than the movie was. I'm championing In the Loop - my pick for the best film of last year - although it has no chance of winning. Is there any part of that script they can actually air on network television? Best original screenplay I'd give to Inglourious Basterds out of default. Funny to see Up nominated when everyone acknowledges that its best part, and arguably the best scene of the year, is the wordless montage of the protagonist's marriage at the beginning.
The acting awards are all virtual locks but I can hardly comment on them. Nothing to say about Mo'Nique since I haven't seen Precious, but Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga were the best thing about Up in the Air by far. I've seen none of the films involved in the Best Actress race so no argument from me on whether Meryl or Sandy should win. I haven't seen Crazy Heart - sensing a pattern here? - either but Jeremy Renner was good in The Hurt Locker, whereas George Clooney was content to play Danny Ocean for a fourth time in Up in the Air.
With Best Supporting Actor, I've only seen the movie with the odds-on favorite, but at least I can think of other performances I enjoyed. Christoph Waltz sunk his Austrian teeth into his role in Inglourious Basterds and is 99.9% guaranteed a well-deserved win. But I would have loved seeing Fred Malamed get recognition for his role as Sy Ableman in A Serious Man, or Tom Noonan as Mr. Ulman in The House of the Devil. I'd proverbially listen to both of those guys read the proverbial phone book. And although other members of In the Loop's ensemble cast stand out more, nobody was more odious than David Rasche.
Now the one for all the marbles, Best Picture. (If I may talk about snubs for a second, besides In the Loop of course, I thought Star Trek was a lot of fun and would certainly be worthy of a spot) Precious and An Education are on my Netflix queue. I have no interest in seeing heroic rich white people rescue impoverished illiterate black athletes in The Blind Side. That leaves 7 out of 10, which isn't bad. Up in the Air was decent but not spectacular. It wasn't even the best movie with "Up" in the title. Speaking of Up, it's good but I feel its inclusion is partially to atone for last year's snub of Wall-E. District 9 and Avatar are two sides of the same coin, except one is just as good as the other, isn't as cliched, and was produced for a tenth of the cost. That leaves the two war movies, The Hurt Locker and Inglourious Basterds. The former isn't as fresh in my memory, but it was very good and I wouldn't be angry if it won (it's certainly preferable to Avatar). However, I have to give the edge to Inglourious Basterds.
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