Oscar 2010: The List

Well, the older I get and the more I look at life in general, and more specifically the complete and utter triviality of the Academy Awards, the less interested I become in watching. Add to this the fact that this year's line-up of nominees has very few films I am pro-actively enthused about, and this looks like the second year in a row I will deliberately skip a viewing of the ceremony.

If we can get a working signal on our television set and a few friends want to come over for popcorn and pizza, I might do it just for the fun of having a few friends over, but otherwise, here is the generally uninspiring list of nominees for the 2009 film year.

Best Picture:
An Education
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Best Director:
Avatar – James Cameron
The Hurt Locker – Kathryn Bigelow
Inglourious Basterds – Quentin Tarantino
Precious – Lee Daniels
Up in the Air – Jason Reitman

Best Actor:
A Single Man – Colin Firth
Crazy Heart – Jeff Bridges
The Hurt Locker – Jeremy Renner
Invictus – Morgan Freeman
Up in the Air – George Clooney

Best Actress:
An Education – Carey Mulligan
The Blind Side – Sandra Bullock
Julie & Julia – Meryl Streep
The Last Station – Helen Mirren
Precious – Gabourey Sidibe

Best Supporting Actor:
Inglourious Basterds – Cristoph Waltz
Invictus – Matt Damon
The Last Station – Christopher Plummer
The Lovely Bones – Stanley Tucci
The Messenger – Woody Harrelson

Best Supporting Actress:
Crazy Heart – Maggie Gyllenhaal
Nine – Penelope Cruz
Precious – Mo'Nique
Up in the Air – Vera Farmiga
Up in the Air – Anna Kendrick

Best Original Screenplay:
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

Best Adapted Screenplay:
An Education
District 9
In the Loop
Precious
Up in the Air

Best Animated Feature:
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

Best Art Direction:
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

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

Best Costume Design:
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Best Film Editing:
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

Best Original Score:
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

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

Best Makeup:
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Best Visual Effects:
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Best Sound Editing:
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

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

Best Foreign Language Film:
Ajami
El Secreto De Sus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
A Prophet
The White Ribbon

Best Documentary Feature:
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
Which Way Home
The Most Dangerous Man in America

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

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

Best Live Action Short:
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants