# 2009 Oscar Nominations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373 "2010-02-02T13:55:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/1 "2010-02-02T13:55:52Z")
PICTURE _Avatar The Blind Side District 9 An Education The Hurt Locker Inglorious Basterds Precious A Serious Man Up Up in the Air_ ACTOR Jeff Bridges, _Crazy Heart_ George Clooney, _Up in the Air_ Colin Firth, _A Single Man_ Morgan Freeman, _Invictus_ Jeremy Renner, _The Hurt Locker_ ACTRESS Sandra Bullock, _The Blind Side_ Helen Mirren, _The Last Station_ Carey Mulligan, _An Education_ Gabourey Sidibe, _Precious_ Meryl Streep, _Julie & Julia_ SUPP.ACTOR Matt Damon, _Invictus_ Woody Harrelson, _The Messenger_ Christopher Plummer, _The Last Station_ Stanley Tucci, _The Lovely Bones_ Christoph Waltz, _Inglorious Basterds_ SUPP.ACTRESS Penelope Cruz, _Nine_ Vera Farmiga, _Up in the Air_ Maggie Gyllenhaal, _Crazy Heart_ Anna Kendrick, _Up in the Air_ Mo’Nique, _Precious_ DIRECTOR Kathryn Bigelow, _The Hurt Locker_ James Cameron, _Avatar_ Lee Daniels, _Precious_ Jason Reitman, _Up in the Air_ Quentin Tarantino, _Inglorious Basterds_ ORIG.SCREENPLAY _The Hurt Locker Inglorious Basterds The Messenger A Serious Man Up_ ADAPT.SCREENPLAY _District 9 An Education In the Loop Precious Up in the Air_ CINEMATOGRAPHY \*Avatar Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince The Hurt Locker Inglorious Basterds The White Ribbon \* ART DIRECTION _Avatar The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus Nine Sherlock Holmes The Young Victoria_ EDITING _Avatar District 9 The Hurt Locker Inglorious Basterds Precious_ COSTUME DESIGN _Bright Star Coco Before Chanel The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus Nine The Young Victoria_ SCORE _Avatar Fantastic Mr. Fox The Hurt Locker Sherlock Holmes Up_ 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_ SOUND MIXING _Avatar The Hurt Locker Inglorious Basterds Star Trek Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen_ SOUND EDITING _Avatar The Hurt Locker Inglorious Basterds Star Trek Up_ VISUAL EFFECTS _Avatar District 9 Star Trek_ MAKE-UP _Il Divo Star Trek The Young Victoria_ ANIMATED FEATURE _Coraline Fantastic Mr. Fox The Princess and the Frog The Secret of Kells Up_ ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/2 "2010-02-02T14:11:41Z")
I just printed out 5 pages of Oscar nominations from [Oscar.com](http://Oscar.com)’s “Printable” list before realizing that they were LAST year’s nominees. Argh. _knocks together some [oscar.com](http://oscar.com) people’s heads_ I’m so happy that **The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus** got 2 nominations! I mourn the non-nominations of Sam Rockwell and Ben Foster. **A SERIOUS MAN!!** I whooped at that! It was not expected. So A Serious Man and The Blind Side got in over Star Trek and Invictus. I thought I kept on top of things, but I’ve never even heard of **The Secret of Kells** and **Paris 36**! I’ve seen all the Best Picture nominees. In the Top 8 I’ve seen everything except **The Last Station** , which hasn’t opened here yet. In all the other nominees other than Foreign-Language, Documentary and Shorts, I’m only missing Kells, Paris 36, Il Divo, The White Ribbon and Transformers. Geez, I usually work nights, but this week I’m working days, which means I have to leave in about 5 minutes and can’t enjoy the chatter. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/3 "2010-02-02T14:15:25Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I just printed out 5 pages of Oscar nominations from [Oscar.com](http://Oscar.com)’s “Printable” list before realizing that they were LAST year’s nominees. Argh. _knocks together some [oscar.com](http://oscar.com) people’s heads_ Ok, now this year’s nominees are up. I wanted to take them to work with me so I could study them a bit closer. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/4 "2010-02-02T14:21:47Z")
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE _Burma VJ_ _The Cove_ _Food, Inc._ _The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers_ _Which Way Home_ FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM _Ajami_ (Israel) _El Secreto de Sus Ojos_ (Argentina) _The Milk of Sorrow_ (Peru) _Un Prophete_ (France) _The White Ribbon_ (Germany) Tally 9: _Avatar, The Hurt Locker_ 8: _Inglorious Basterds_ 6: _Precious, Up in the Air_ 5: _Up_ 4: _District 9, Nine, Star Trek_ 3: _Crazy Heart, An Education, The Princess and the Frog, The Young Victoria_ 2: _The Blind Side, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Invictus, The Last Station, The Messenger, A Serious Man, Sherlock Holmes, The White Ribbon_ 1: _Bright Star, Coco Before Chanel, Coraline, Il Divo, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, In the Loop, Julie & Julia, The Lovely Bones, Paris 36, The Secret of Kells, A Single Man, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen_ ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/5 "2010-02-02T14:27:04Z")
All I can say is that I’m thrilled Jeremy Renner is up for **The Hurt Locker**! I don’t know what his chances are of winning, but him getting some validation for his fine acting is wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/6 "2010-02-02T14:31:22Z")
Hmm, I’ve only seen 5 of the 10 BP nominees (and I have one waiting at home). I’d better get to work. I have to say I’m not overwhelmed by the Supporting Actor category, although I haven’t seen _Lost Station_. Tucci was good and creepy but who’s gonna vote for a pedophile child killer? ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/7 "2010-02-02T14:35:52Z")
I’m thrilled “District 9” got some recognition ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/8 "2010-02-02T14:47:19Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > I’m thrilled “District 9” got some recognition As am I. Most pre-Oscar predictions I saw thought that “District 9” would be skipped and “Star Trek” would get the non-“Avatar” sci-fi slot. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/9 "2010-02-02T15:01:54Z")
I’m glad to see The White Ribbon and A Serious Man represented, as time goes on, they were my two favorite movies from last year. I’m a little sad that A Serious Man didn’t get a cinematography nomination, it was my favorite in that respect. Also would’ve liked to see a best actor for Stuhlbarg. I’m disappointed by Stanley Tucci getting a nomination. Dont’ get me wrong, I think he’s a fantastic actor, I just really hated his performance in A Lovely Bones (but not nearly as much as I hated that godforsaken movie, almost makes me want to go back and watch Heavenly Creatures just to make sure he can direct a good movie). The best picture noms were exactly as I expected. I nailed all 10 (I’m pretty sure) in that other poll thread (didn’t post, I don’t think). Explain to me how The Blind Side is more than a paint by numbers sports movie? Didn’t hate it, but didn’t love it much either. I also thought Sandra Bullock was a bit of a caricature. Carey Mulligan better win best actress, but they’ll probably give it to friggin Sandra Bullock or some nonsense. I’d also like Helen Mirren, she was good in The Last Station, even if the movie was a bit mediocre. Of those nominated, I hope Tarantino gets best director, that’d be pretty cool. Loved that movie. The Hurt Locker was good (may watch it again today, just bought it on blu ray) but Basterds was better. Costume design has the usual suspects, at least in terms of the types of movies included, but I don’t think mid 20th century movies get the credit they deserve in that respect. Having seen every movie but 1 foreign language, 1 doc, and 4 of the shorts, I’m pretty satisfied with the nominations overall. (even though I’m complaining a lot - it’s what I do…) ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/10 "2010-02-02T15:45:42Z")
One nice consequence of having 10 BP nominees is that _Up_ didn’t get relegated solely to the “Best Animated Feature” ghetto. Not that it is going to win, of course, but it’s nice to see it nominated. First animated movie since 1992 (and second overall) to get a BP nomination. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/11 "2010-02-02T16:00:37Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > All I can say is that I’m thrilled Jeremy Renner is up for **The Hurt Locker**! I don’t know what his chances are of winning, but him getting some validation for his fine acting is wonderful. I was excited to see that too. I’m betting that Bridges will win, but glad Renner got nominated. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/12 "2010-02-02T16:15:59Z")
I feel _9_ should have gotten at least a nomination for best animated feature. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/13 "2010-02-02T16:18:11Z")
Why are there ten Best Picture nominees? What is this, kindergarten? Are we just giving everybody a trophy now? What the hell? I don’t see a clear Best Picture. My personal favorite was _Inglourious Basterds_, but I liked _District 9_ as well. I don’t see _Avatar_ as really being a Best picture other than technically. Maybe _The Hurt Locker_. Jeff Bridges shoul win Best Actor, Merryl Streep best Actress (I do not think Sandra Bullock was that good in _The Blind Side_). Christoph Waltz is probably the biggest lock of the year for completely stealing _Basterds_. Best Supporting Actress, I have no idea. Best Director will probably end up being James Cameron, but I think what’s her face that directed _The Hurt Locker_ might be a dark horse. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/14 "2010-02-02T16:35:07Z")
> [@MilTan](#): > > One nice consequence of having 10 BP nominees is that _Up_ didn’t get relegated solely to the “Best Animated Feature” ghetto. Not that it is going to win, of course, but it’s nice to see it nominated. First animated movie since 1992 (and second overall) to get a BP nomination. Yeah, that’s what shocked me, too. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/15 "2010-02-02T16:47:40Z")
I don’t really think \*Avatar \*has any business being in the Best Picture category either, but I don’t make the rules. I don’t think it’ll win either, but I do think it’ll clean house in the technical award categories its nominated in. I so want Jeremy Renner to win, but I think he’ll lose to Jeff Bridges. Christoph Waltz owns his category. I’ll admit, I haven’t seen the other performances there, but Waltz certainly deserves it. I’d love to see _Inglorious Basterds_ win Best Picture, but I don’t think it will. I do think that Tarantino has a chance at Best Director, though. I don’t think the academy will give it to Cameron again, and I think it’ll be a shootout between Bigelow and Tarantino. I’d give Bigelow the edge here, but I think it’d be close. I’d also really like to see \*Up \*win Best Picture, but the academy weaseled here, I think. By putting it in two categories, they can give it an Oscar regardless, which I think is rather weaselly. They did this to _Life Is Beautiful_ a few years ago. Yes, I want those movies to win awards, but this smacks of stacking the deck to me. Happy to see _District 9_ getting recognition. I also don’t think we need 10 contenders for Best Picture - this seems silly and watered down to me. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/16 "2010-02-02T16:57:32Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > What is this, kindergarten? We’re talking about the emotions of Hollywood here, soo… yes. Crazy Heart was very formulaic but I’ll be rooting for Jeff Bridges. I have a lot of the other top nominees in my Netflix queue but I won’t be seeing most of them for a long while yet. Avatar’s not going to win best picture, I don’t think, but if they hadn’t nominated the thing it would have hurt the legitimacy of the show, such as it is. I’m almost rooting against Precious because the full title is so stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/17 "2010-02-02T17:02:07Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Best Director will probably end up being James Cameron, but I think what’s her face that directed _The Hurt Locker_ might be a dark horse. Actually, I would put my money on Kathryn Bigelow winning for best director, and saying that James Cameron only has a small chance. He did win the Golden Globe for best director, but she won the Director’s Guild Award, as well as a crapload of critic’s awards. The Director’s Guild is significant, since only six times the winner has not gone on to get the Oscar. The whole list of previous winners is shown [here on Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directors_Guild_of_America_Awards). ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/18 "2010-02-02T17:12:16Z")
The more I think about it, the more I have a sneaking feeling that _The Hurt Locker_ will win both for Motion Picture and Director. It’s the only contender that’s anything close to a “prestige” film, at least superficially. At bottom, it’s just a suspense movie with no real political message, but it does have some genuine observations about EOD units in Iraq (the screenplay was written by a journalist who’d been embedded with one), and it works as a serious character study for the Jeremy Renner character, so I think it could end up with a plurality of votes in ten movie field. I still think that _Basterd_ was probably a better film, with some of the very best individual scenes, images, dialogue and acting, but I’m not sure that a Tarantino movie will be seen as “serious” enough to net the big prize. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/19 "2010-02-02T17:17:40Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > Actually, I would put my money on Kathryn Bigelow winning for best director, and saying that James Cameron only has a small chance. He did win the Golden Globe for best director, but she won the Director’s Guild Award, as well as a crapload of critic’s awards. The Director’s Guild is significant, since only six times the winner has not gone on to get the Oscar. The whole list of previous winners is shown [here on Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directors_Guild_of_America_Awards). The fact that a woman has never won for Best Director might work in her favor too. Hollywood loves to give out historic wins. Here’s an interesting bit of trivia – Kathryn Bigelow was once married to James Cameron. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373/20 "2010-02-02T17:20:51Z")
Considering that the Golden Globes and the SAG awards were in lockstep wrt acting awards…and that the SAG voters and Oscar acting voters overlap considerably (I think); picking the acting winners this year is ridiculously easy: Bridges, Bullock, Monique, Waltz. I only went to the movies 4 times last year, and all 4 were nominated. I have excellent taste. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2009-oscar-nominations/527373.md?page=2)