2010 Oscar Nominations, Part Two

2010 Oscar Nominations
Part Two

Continuing down the list of this year's Academy Awards nominations, we see some odd choices in the technical categories. The Academy indeed has a mind of its own, separate from the moviegoing public.

Best Original Score

Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

For some viewers, this is their favorite category. The musical score often has a life of its own that can enhance the mood or even change the entire meaning of a scene. Fantastic's and Up's scores are upbeat and whimsical, Sherlock's is actiony classical, and Avatar's is epic and emotional. I was actually surprised The Hurt Locker was nominated here, as I remember that film not having much of a score, just tone-setters and screeching suspense-builders. My money's on Avatar, or maybe Up.

Best Original Song

"Almost There," The Princess and the Frog
"Down in New Orleans," The Princess and the Frog
"Loin de Paname," Paris 36
"Take It All," Nine
"The Weary Kind," Crazy Heart

This category is a major disappointment this year. Not a single song here is featured on the radio, or is even very well-known. One is from an obscure French musical- and is in French, naturally; one is Marion Cotillard's number from a musical flop; not one but two are from the dreary Disney revamp of traditional animated musicals; and one is a slow country drawl from a little-seen indie. "The Weary Kind" is the only song that isn't cringe-inducing while you listen to it, so it will easily win here. (It also kinda sounds like Bruce Springsteen's "The Wrestler," whose snub last year is already legendary.)

Best Film Editing

Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

This race can sometimes be difficult to predict, as good editing requires that no one notice it. Basterds' nomination is curious, as the film has several long scenes of dialogue that make editing minimal and almost invisible. This award usually squares up with Best Picture (as editing is the way one views the overall film; editing has to be good in order for the film to be good), so it'll either be Avatar or The Hurt Locker, the two current front-runners.

Best Cinematography

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

Some interesting choices here too. Avatar drips of epic camera work, The Hurt Locker's handheld cameras put the viewer in the Iraqi desert with our heroes, Harry Potter has an ashen look to the piece that reflects the dark times these characters now live in, and the foreign film The White Ribbon is in crisp black and white. I'm not sure why Basterds is here either, but I'm glad it is; the more nominations, the glouriouser.

Best Makeup

Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Star Trek is the only one here that makes sense: it features dozens of aliens whose faces all look totally real. (Witness Eric Bana as villainous Nero.) Victoria, I'm guessing is for aging its characters, or possibly just for putting lots of facial hair on all its male actors. The foreign film Il Divo is based on a true story, so it's either for getting its actors to look like real people or for aging them realistically. I think Star Trek will take it. (I really hope it does. This film deserved more Oscar love than it's gotten.)

Best Costume Design

Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

They've got the glamorous period pieces in Bright Star, Coco, and Victoria. Nine is all about the glamour of Hollywood and the movies, and Parnassus is unique fantasy. This award always goes to the costumes which are the most noticable, so it should be either Bright Star or Victoria.

Best Art Direction

Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

These films all benefit from their look, be it establishing a certain time period (Sherlock, Victoria) or creating fantasy worlds in a computer (Avatar, Parnassus). As the film that took the longest to make and thus, is the most detailed, I'm betting on the sci-fi epic Avatar.

Best Visual Effects

Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Only three nominees here despite there being copious amounts of visual-effects films come out this year. Luckily, all three have extremely impressive special effects: Star Trek brought forth a whole new kind of Trek with different looks for aliens, spacecraft, and, yes, planet Vulcan; and District 9, despite largely being made to look like a faux documentary, has incredibly vivid and detailed- not to mention disgusting- visual effects of the aliens. Look at any scene where they interact with humans and you'll think that they're real. Sadly, while these two films are worthy, they will both fall to the mighty Avatar for the creation of a brand-new motion capture technique and totally immersive CGI worlds. The film gets plusses for revitalizing 3-D technology, and making it a true experience separate from the 2-D version.

Best Sound Editing

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

Mix of different stuff here. It will probably go to one of the sci-fi films, Avatar or Star Trek (I naturally give the edge to Avatar) or the animated Up, where all the sounds have to be made from scratch.

Best Sound Mixing

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Still not entirely sure why there are two sound Oscars. Once again, this will probably go to one of the sci-fi films, probably Avatar, although Transformers has some very impressive sound.

Best Foreign Language Film

Ajami
El Secreto de Sus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
Un Prophete
The White Ribbon

I don't know much about these films, only how much buzz they've conjured up. As the only film here nominated in any other category (Cinematography), The White Ribbon will probably take it. It also won the extremely prestigious Palme d'Or award at Cannes. Un Prophete may pull an upset; it's popular with some American audiences.

Best Documentary Feature

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

Some very interesting-looking stuff here offering new perspectives on old subjects. While I'm sure any film is worthy, The Cove is by far the most popular and will win it easily. It's about the slaughtering of dolphins in Japan and how the documentary crew had to break several laws and risk their lives to get the footage of it.

Best Live Action Short

The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants

I don't know much about these films. Kavi looks very dramatic; it's a film about a young slave boy trying to escape.

Best Animated Short

French Roast
Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death

Most notable snub here: Pixar's Partly Cloudy, which ran theatrically in front of Up. Shame on you, Oscar. All of these have impressive animation and unique (if not always funny) storylines. Loaf and Death should win, as the Academy has a love affair with the claymation Wallace and Gromit films. (Two previous shorts and the feature, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, have won Oscars.)

Best Documentary Short

China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit a la Berlin

Sorry, I really don't know anything about these films apart from their titles. The Last Truck sounds relevant enough for the win. If the Academy wants to attract viewers, upgrading to ten Best Picture nominees is a good start, but I would recommend just getting rid of this category altogether.

Well, that's all of them. Look out for more postings concerning Oscar before the ceremony, including my much-anticipated winners predictions. Once again, the ceremony will be at 6:30 pm Sunday, March 7th on ABC, with dual hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. Be sure to watch!