Best Movie of the Year (Drama):
- Avatar (Seen)
- The Hurt Locker
- Up in the Air (Seen)
- Precious
- Inglorious Basterds (Seen)
Although I loved Inglorious Basterds, I think Up in the Air needs to win this category. This movie wouldn't necessarily win if you placed it in another year's category, and it is extremely aided by the country's economic state. The title of the award is Best movie of the year, which is important, and I believe that Up in the Air needs to be seen. George Clooney, Anna Kendrick, and Vera Farmiga all give great performances, with effective roles by Zach Galifianakis and J.K. Simmons. Avatar (**Was not able to see it in 3d) did not live up to the hype in my opinion. Although I was not expecting a great script or characters, it is not acceptable that the most expensive movie in history had a horrible script and bad characters. That and James Cameron's obnoxious politics turned me off. The world is pretty cool though, and is worth a viewing, but definitely not movie of the year potential.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Musical or Comedy:
- Matt Damon (The Informant!) (Seen)
- Daniel Day-Lewis (Nine)
- Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock Holmes) (Seen)
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer)
- Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man)
Matt Damon was solid as usual and it was nice to see him in a goofy comedic role instead of the Bourne-type roles he has been in lately. I enjoyed the movie and I believe the people who don't mind a slower paced film will too. Robert Downey Jr. however deserves this award in my mind. For a character that has been redone over and over, Downey Jr. put a funny and exciting turn on the character, even if it didn't go along with the original character. He was always fun to watch, and was the reason that Sherlock Holmes worked.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role:
- Mo'Nique (Precious)
- Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air) (Seen)
- Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air) (Seen)
- Julianne Moore (A Single Man)
- Penelope Cruz (Nine)
It is kind of awkward picking between actresses in the same movie, especially because they were both great, and I loved the movie. The two have about the same screen time, probably with Vera getting a little more. Vera plays a horny middle aged woman who likes to meet George Clooney in different cities to have a quick hook up, while Anna plays an up-tight Cornell grad trying to save Clooney's company money. Considering that Anna's biggest movie this far was Twilight, and Vera's was the Departed, Vera probably is less intimidated by big-time successful actors such as George Clooney. This being a huge factor, Anna's great performance wins in my mind.
Best Director:
- Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
- Quentin Tarantino (Inglorious Basterds) (Seen)
- James Cameron (Avatar) (Seen)
- Jason Reitman (Up in the Air) (Seen)
- Clint Eastwood (Invictus)
I cannot give Jason Reitman this award, even though I had to give Up in the Air best picture because of what I mentioned earlier. Up in the Air would lose some of its effectiveness if it was not in the present day. I honestly believe that Inglorious Basterds would not. Tarantino's use of languages to create characters and his phenomenal script make him deserving of the award. This movie truly is a combination of strengths from his previous movies. The great script of Reservoir Dogs, the great cast of characters from Pulp Fiction, the entertainment factor of Kill Bill and the maturity of Jackie Brown and Reservoir Dogs all come together to make a great film. This along with the use of language make this Tarantino's best work, and he deserves to win.
Although I am excited to evaluate all of these movies, it means that there will be some poorly made movies coming out in the post-oscar scene. Now is the time to rent a solid film from years past and catch up on some movies that I haven't seen.
