Who's Oscar® worthy in 2010?

This year’s Academy Awards®, the 82nd, is unusual for two reasons: firstly, there are ten films nominated in the Best Picture category instead of the traditional five; and secondly, it sees ex-husband and ex-wife go head to head with the two most nominated films this year – James Cameron for Avatar and Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker. The tabloids will have fun making up hilarious headlines involving the tussle between these two, but hopefully it won’t be much of a contest.

Despite Avatar’s somewhat unexpected win for Best Drama at the Golden Globes® last month, there is one good thing about it – having already been rewarded, James Cameron may not get another chance to clutch a golden statuette this year. Avatar is undoubtedly an impressive technical achievement and one that will change film production for years to come, much as Peter Jackson’s motion capture Gollum did; it has also surpassed Cameron’s own record by overtaking Titanic to become the highest grossing film of all time. Cameron seemingly has the Midas touch. But it is a crowd pleasing film, one that is entertaining rather than Oscar-worthy. True there have been upsets and unexpected wins before too numerous to mention, but the industry buzz and, quite frankly, respect that’s circling around Kathryn Bigelow as director of Iraq drama The Hurt Locker can’t be ignored. Another one to watch is District 9, produced by Peter Jackson and hailed by many as the best film of 2009.

The Hurt Locker has not only secured a nomination for Best Picture and Best Director, but also for its leading man Jeremy Renner (if you think you’ve seen him before, he played a junkie musician in House, amongst other things). He’s up against some heavyweights, however, such as Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, Colin Firth and Morgan Freeman. Bridges has already scooped a Golden Globe for his portrayal of a washed-up country singer, and he must be hoping that this fifth Oscar nomination bears fruit. Colin Firth is the one most people are talking about, however, for his role as a professor mourning the death of his partner. Firth won the prestigious Best Actor award at the Venice Film Festival, and this is his first Oscar nomination for possibly the performance of his career.

There are a few faces missing from this category, however. One of the problems with the Oscars is, of course, that Academy members have short memories. There is a whole strategy developed around getting a film nominated, involving some heavy duty publicity campaigns, but one of the most important, however, is release dates. Any film that hasn't been released in the few months prior to the announcement of nominations is likely to be forgotten; for example, Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx have been overlooked for their performances in The Soloist because the film released in the US in April 2009. While this was nearly a year ago it still qualifies for the 2010 awards, but it has been forgotten by the time awards season comes around.

Crossing the gender divide, we have two queens of the silver screen, two newcomers, and one actress (Sandra Bullock) who is simultaneously nominated for an Oscar and a Razzie® (the alternative to the Oscars celebrating the worst films of the year). The news is that she will turn up to the Razzies if she wins, making her the first since Halle Berry in 2005. The newcomers on the scene are Carey Mulligan for An Education and Gabourey Sidibe as the title role in Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (a somewhat lengthy title one must admit). These two actresses, and their roles, couldn’t be more different but they share one thing – talent. If Mulligan doesn’t win the Oscar, she’s definitely in with a shot at the BAFTAs®, where she’s up against fellow Oscar nominees Sidibe and Meryl Streep. Streep’s Oscar nominations seem to have become an annual occurrence; this year she’s being recognised for her role as eccentric celebrity chef Julia Child in Julie & Julia. The remaining nominee in this category is Helen Mirren as the wife of Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station. Streep and Bullock won the Golden Globes in their respective categories of ‘Comedy or Musical’ and ‘Drama’, so it’s a hard one to call.

Highlights of the rest include Christoph Waltz, hoping to repeat his success at the Globes as Best Supporting Actor in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, in a category that’s identical to its equivalent at the Globes. Gut instinct also has to go with Mo’Nique as an abusive mother in Precious, whom many are calling the real star of film. While Up is unlikely to win Best Picture, only the second animated film to be nominated in this category since Beauty and the Beast, it surely cannot be beaten to the award for Best Animated Feature, despite the presence of Disney’s 2D comeback film The Princess and the Frog. Also a note about the Best Foreign Language Film, a category which is quite different from that at the Globes – only two films have been nominated for both this year, those being French film A Prophet and Germany’s The White Ribbon. The latter won the Globe, but it remains to be seen whether it can repeat this success. With director Michael Haneke at the helm, however, it wouldn’t be surprising.

The Oscars take place on Sunday 7th March. The Razzies take place on Saturday 6th March. The BAFTAs take place on Sunday 21st February.

**DISCLAIMER**: These opinions are purely subjective. Feel free to voice your own below.

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