“Knowledge may be power, but as the history of the post-1968 left in this country suggests, it can also be an excuse for factionalism, impotence, despair.” — Manohla Dargis. We were over this for awhile, let’s not fall back on it.
So, I have offered these each of the last two, with varying levels of success. I even tried liveblogging last year. I didn’t see everything I would have liked to this year, but I will do what I can all the same.
Best Picture
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air
Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
James Cameron, Avatar
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress
Penélope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo’Nique, Precious
Best Adapted Screenplay
Neil Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, District 9
Nick Hornby, An Education
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell and Armando Iannucci, In the Loop
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
Best Original Screenplay
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, A Serious Man
Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, Up
Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Prediction: Inglorious Basterds
Best Animated Film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up
Prediction: Up
Best Foreign Film
Ajami
El Secreto de Sus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
A Prophet
The White Ribbon
Prediction: A Prophet
Best Art Direction
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria
Prediction: Avatar
Best Cinematography
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon
Prediction: The Hurt Locker
Best Sound Mixing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Prediction: The Hurt Locker
Best Sound Editing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up
Prediction: Avatar
Best Original Score
Avatar, James Horner
Fantastic Mr. Fox, Alexandre Desplat
The Hurt Locker, Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
Sherlock Holmes, Hans Zimmer
Up, Michael Giacchino
Prediction: Up
Best Original Song
“Almost There” from The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman
“Down in New Orleans” from The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman
“Loin de Paname” from Paris 36, Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas
“Take It All” from Nine, Maury Yeston
“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from Crazy Heart, Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
Prediction: Crazy Heart
Best Costume Design
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria
Prediction: The Young Victoria
Best Documentary Feature
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home
Prediction: The Cove
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
Prediction: The Last Truck
Best Film Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
Prediction: The Hurt Locker
Best Makeup
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria
Prediction: Stark Trek
Best Animated Short Film
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death
Prediction: A Matter of Loaf and Death
Best Live-Action Short Film
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants
Prediction: The New Tenants
Best Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek
I held this for a long time in hopes that I could see more films, but I should have known that once winter break was over that wasn’t going to happen. At any rate, these are my ten for 2009:
Up in the Air, Inglorious Basterds, An Education, A Serious Man, The Hurt Locker, Up 500 Days (of Summer), Adventureland, The Messenger, Where the Wild Things Are, Lymelife
In something like that order, with Goodbye, Solo being a very close eleven. I felt this year has a larger number of very good films, if not one runaway classic, hence the closeness of the films.
“Only connect.” — EM Forster.
“But I should scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of annihilation. Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting.” — Bertrand Russell
“Real love, it finds you somewhere with your back to it” — “Real Love,” Beach House.
“If Sean were an animal, he would be a slow loris.” — Emily Simpson
“You can’t want to marry every girl you make out with on a dance floor.” — Renise Washington
“You’re right back where you started from / I see it in your eyes / Now you’re giving up the gun” — “Giving Up The Gun,” a pop masterpiece from Vampire Weekend’s new Contra.
“Stick up for yourself, son / Never mind what anybody else done” — “Ambling Alp,” Yesayer.
[video]
“You don’t move me anymore / And I’m glad that you don’t / ‘cause I can’t have you anymore” — “ONE,” Yeasayer. Odd Blood, for a four-song stretch, is as good as anything you’ll hear in 2010.