It’s that time of the year.  On March 7th the 82nd Academy Awards will happen.  I have to say I’m not a big awards show person.  They’re boring, and to be honest I really could care less.  Although when something I like wins (very rare) I do find it to be satisfying.

The following are my Oscar picks for this years awards, some followed by commentary.  My first pick will be in bold, my second will be italic (if I have one).  I base this totally on personal preference.  I’m not doing any analysis of what I think will win based on historical records, etc.  I’m picking what movies I think are deserving of some praise.  I’m also skipping some categories where I either haven’t seen any nominees, feel like I’ve seen too few to have a say, or just don’t care.  Here we go.

Performance by an actor in a leading role

• Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
• George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
• Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
• Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
• Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

I’m picking Clooney because I genuinely enjoyed him in Up In The Air.  I haven’t seen A Single Man or Crazy Heart, but Freeman has done much better than Invictus which was pretty much made just so he could get this award.  Second choice is Renner because The Hurt Locker was just so good.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

• Matt Damon in “Invictus”
• Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
• Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
• Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
• Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

This was a hard one, but yet easy at the same time.  I think Woody Harrelson was the highlight of The Messenger and does deserve an award for that performance, but he’s just up against some slightly better competition.  Stanley Tucci is incredibly creepy in The Lovely Bones and added a lot to the movie.  But in my mind there is no way Christolph Waltz should lose.  The man completely stole Basterds.  His character is incredibly memorable and he plays every second just perfectly.  From his opening monologue I was thinking “this guy deserves an Oscar for this” and I still believe that wholeheartedly.

Performance by an actress in a leading role

• Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
• Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
• Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
• Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
• Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

I will admit that An Education is the only film in this category I’ve actually seen.  However Carey Mulligan is just so brilliant in it that there is no way she shouldn’t win.  I mean the entire movie really is on her shoulders and she owns that role.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

• Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
• Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
• Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
• Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
• Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

I was conflicted here.  I think that both of the Up in the Air ladies did great jobs but Anna Kendrick brought something extra to the role and the film as a whole.

Best animated feature film of the year

• “Coraline”
• “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
• “The Princess and the Frog”
• “The Secret of Kells”
• “Up”

I’ve only seen the two movies I picked, although I’m seeing Fantastic Mr. Fox soon, and despite my love of Neil Gaiman and Henry Sellick, Up is just such a superior film in every sense.

Achievement in cinematography

• “Avatar”
• “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
• “The Hurt Locker”
• “Inglourious Basterds”
• “The White Ribbon”

Probably everything here is deserving.  The cinematography on The Hurt Locker really stood out for me though.

Achievement in directing

• James Cameron
• Kathryn Bigelow
• Quentin Tarantino
• Lee Daniels
• Jason Reitman

I’d love to see Jason Reitman win this, he should have for Thank You For Smoking but this year he’s just up against too many other greats.  Bigelow really just owned The Hurt Locker and there is no other director like Tarantino.  Really I’d be happy as long as Cameron or Daniels don’t walk away with this one.

Best documentary feature

• “Burma VJ”
• “The Cove”
• “Food, Inc.”
• “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”
• “Which Way Home”

Adapted screenplay

• “District 9″
• “An Education”
• “In the Loop”
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
• “Up in the Air”

So lots of good choices here.  I’d like to see an Up in the Air win here as well, but District 9 was just so good and as far as scripts go I feel this one is all about An Education.

Original screenplay

• “The Hurt Locker”
• “Inglourious Basterds”
• “The Messenger”
• “A Serious Man”
• “Up”

This one is all about Basterds.  Tarantino can write the shit out of a screenplay and he did it here.  I didn’t pick The Hurt Locker because I feel that script could have been horrible if not for the wonderful direction.

Best motion picture of the year

• “Avatar”
• “The Blind Side”
• “District 9″
• “An Education”
• “The Hurt Locker”
• “Inglourious Basterds”
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
• “A Serious Man”
• “Up”
• “Up in the Air”

OK so there’s a lot of italicized titles up there.  Why?  Because I think every italicized film would be deserving of this award.  I only ultimately chose The Hurt Locker because I feel it just has the better chance of winning.  I also loved Up in the Air but for the best picture there are just so many more great, more deserving films.

Please support our site, and entertain yourself by checking out any of these films you haven’t seen or buying the ones you enjoyed on Amazon’s Oscar Central. You can also rent or buy many of these in the iTunes Movies Store.