The Oscar Nominations: More movies! Less Interest!

Well, the 2009 Oscar nominations were announced this morning and as usual, there was a mix of good, bad and some true "WTF" choices. As you know by now, the field for Best Picture has been expanded to ten movies from five. This is the first time in over six decades that there have been ten films up for the top prize, and this retro move is a desperate attempt by an ancient ceremony to pull more viewers in to the annual broadcast. That facet is cemented by several of the choices for Best Picture nominees: "The Blind Side" (which my dear friend Terry has nicknamed "Thanks, White Lady!"), "District 9", "Avatar" and "Up", a blockbuster that actually deserved its nomination. Whether this expansion pulls more viewers in on March 7th or simply makes the unbearably long show even longer has yet to be seen.

So, what was I happy about this morning's nomination news? Considering how shitty 2009 was overall for American cinema, a surprising amount.

BEST PICTURE:

Pixar's "Up" is the first animated film since "Beauty and the Beast" to be up for Best Picture, and it's certainly worthy of that nomination. Jason Reitman's "Up in the Air", the British drama "An Education" and Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" are also worthy of a nod, but it is the nomination for Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq War drama "The Hurt Locker" that I am truly excited about. After Bigelow won the DGA award last week and the film won the Producers Guild Award for Best Picture, it looks like that the little indie that could might go all the way.

As for the other nominees, I'm a bit befuddled by the nomination for the very overrated Coen Brothers comedy "A Serious Man", which is only up for Best Picture because the Academy couldn't see fit to nominate "Star Trek" (one sci-fi flick too many?). I really enjoyed Neill Blomkamp's "District 9", but I would rather of had "Trek" be the second sci-fi film in the running for Best Picture. "Avatar" and "The Blind Side" are nominees earned only by their runaway box office successes, while "Precious" is the other little indie film that could, although the enthusiasm for that film peaked far too soon for its own good.

BEST DIRECTOR

The nominees played out exactly as I expected: James Cameron (Avatar), Lee Daniels (Precious), Quentin Tarantino (Basterds), Jason Reitman (Up in the Air) and Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker). Glad to see Reitman, Tarantino and Bigelow in the running, could care less about Cameron's nod (I haven't seen "Precious" yet so I can't comment on Daniels' work). In the end, my money is on Bigelow, and it will be a truly great moment to see the first woman deservedly win Best Director.

BEST ACTOR

Also known as "The 2009 Jeff Bridges Award". It's great to see Bridges finally get some awards love, this time for his performance as an alcoholic Country singer in "Crazy Heart". George Clooney also got a nomination for his terrific work in "Up in the Air". Morgan Freeman got a respective nomination for his turn as Nelson Mandella in Clint Eastwood's "Invictus" while Jeremy Renner was bestowed his first nomination for his career-making turn in "The Hurt Locker". Colin Firth rounded out the category with his celebrated turn in "A Single Man".

BEST ACTRESS

I was very happy to see Carey Mulligan nab a nomination for her terrific performance in "An Education" as well as Meryl Streep for his great work as Julia Childs in last summer's "Julie and Julia". As mentioned earlier, I haven't seen "Precious" but I'm more than certain that Gabourey Sidibe's work in the film is more than worthy of a nomination. I also haven't seen "The Last Station", but is there any doubt about Helen Mirren's performance? Didn't think so.

That leaves Sandra Bullock and her work in the sleeper smash "The Blind Side". She won a Golden Globe award and the Screen Actors Guild award, so there is a pretty good chance she will be winning the Best Actress award as well. Come on, Academy. Give it to Carey Mulligan. After all, she didn't star in the likes of "Speed 2" or "All About Steve". That has to count for something.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR/ACTRESS

Since the only performances that I saw in the Best Supporting Actress category were the ones from "Up in the Air", I'd have to say that I was happy to see both Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga get nominations. I doubt either will win, though. I think Mo'Nique will win for her work in "Precious", but you never know.

In the Supporting Actor category, I was very happy to see Christoph Waltz get nominated for his work in "Inglourious Basterds" (That is a bingo!) and will be even happier when he wins the award on March 7th. What I can't fathom are the nominations for Stanley Tucci in the atrocious "The Lovely Bones" and Matt Damon for his work in "Invictus". If Tucci was to be nominated for a performance, it should have been for his solid supporting turn in "Julie and Julia" and instead of Damon, Anthony Mackie should have been nominated for his excellent turn in "The Hurt Locker". Hell, for his final scene alone he deserved a nomination.

At the very least, at least the Academy saw fit not to bestow "Avatar" with nominations for its acting (do you nominate a computer program or the actor beneath the animation?) or writing. I'm still reeling from the notion that Cameron got a Writer's Guild of America nomination for Best Original Screenplay (define 'original', people).