So you get a ballot in the mail for the Oscars. Who would you vote for Best Picture? And how would you rank (1-10 in order of preference) the 10 nominees?
I’ve only seen Up and Avatar, but I can’t imagine myself not voting for the animated feature, if it’s there on the list.
For who I think will actually win, my money (were I a betting man) is on The Hurt Locker, based on its near-universal praise, and the genuine manner in which people praised it.
Up in a cakewalk. Easily the best film of the last few years.
Second place goes to District 9, which explored similar themes to Avatar with greater complexity, superior storytelling, more nuanced characters, and better visual effects for the money.
Also, better explosions and flying pigs.
In my dreams “Up” still has an outside chance to be the spoiler and win.
Inglorious Basterds
District 9
Avatar
Up
Those are the ones I’ve seen, and I guess I’d rank them in that order. It’s tough to rank them though, since they were all good. And my rankings are really subjective, based on overall viewing experience, so I probably wouldn’t make the best judge anyway. In fact, I might vote for Avatar if I was being objective, based solely on its technical achievements. Its by-the-numbers plot takes it down a couple notches for me personally though. Anyway, IB is my favorite of the four.
I expect Avatar to win best picture.
Seen 'em all:
- A Serious Man
- Up in the Air
- Inglourious Basterds
- The Hurt Locker
- An Education
- District 9
- Avatar
8 Precious: blah blah - Up
- The Blind Side
I thought Up was one of the weaker Pixar movies, quite frankly. It had some good parts but the second and third act just lost me.
I’ve seen 7 of the 10. Here’s how I’d rank the 7 that I’ve seen:
- The Hurt Locker
- Up in the Air
- An Education
- Avatar
- Up
- Precious
- Inglourious Basterds
I had a tough time between Up in the Air and Hurt Locker as my #1.
“The Hurt Locker,” if for no other reason than to stick it to Cameron. 
Coraline
From the movies I’ve seen:
-
Inglorious Basterds. The writing, acting, direction, cinematography, suspense, grit, violence, emotion, etc. It’s got everything I’d expect a Best Picture to have.
-
District 9. I’m glad it got nominated, but there’s some strong contenders here. If Basterds wasn’t on the list, I’d have to put this at the top. A huge surprise both for science fiction, and films in general. Tons of re-watch value.
-
The Hurt Locker. Intense and emotional, but kinda heavy. Not much re-watch value for me… but that’s just my tastes. Loved the movie though.
-
Avatar. This wins points in a lot of areas for me. But none them scream “Best Picture”. I understand the nomination, and entirely expected it. I’m a fan of the movie, despite all the hype that surrounded it, and its derivative core story. I admire this movie from an epic technical and visionary standpoint, but not much else. However, I’ll be part of my Blu-Ray collection the day it’s released. Major re-watch value.
-
Up. I’m a shill for Pixar. Loved the movie, but it ranks below their three or four best films: Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Toy Story 2, and Wall•E. However, it’s great to see a feature animation get a Nom.
I’ve seen 9/10 of the films (haven’t seen An Education), and District 9 is definitely my favorite (I’m pissed about 500 Days of Summer getting totally snubbed). If it was made with humans rather than aliens in the victim’s role, it easily would win (although would probably be much less interesting to me).
My ranking:
- District 9
- Inglorious Basterds
- The Hurt Locker
- Up in the Air
- Avatar
- Precious
- The Blind Side
- A Serious Man
- Up
I’ll rank the one’s I’ve seen so far:
- Up in the Air
- The Hurt Locker
- Up
- District 9
- The Blind Side
- Avatar
I’ll be seeing Basterds soon and have a feeling it will be in the top 3. I’d like to see And Education and A Serious Man but I doubt I will get to before the Oscars. I don’t really have any desire to see Precious, it looks way too depressing… but I might someday.
“WALL-E” should have won Best Picture LAST year.
Strange - for me WALL-E and **Up **both struck me as movies that looked amazing and had a couple of truly beautiful scenes, but completely failed to engage me in any real way. **Up **was the better of the two by a wide margine, but it seemed so much longer than it really was, and the talking/flying dogs felt like they didn’t belong in the same universe.
I still don’t get all the praise for Up. Personaally I tought the Fantastic Mr. Fox was a better animated movie.
I just hope Avatar doesn’t win, not because I don’t think it is a good movie, I just don’t think it is good enough.
I’ve seen all but “Up” and “Precious”; I’ll be very happy if “Inglorious Basterds,” “The Hurt Locker,” or “Up in the Air” win – for this poll, I voted for the latter. Of the others, if anything but “Avatar” wins, I’ll be pretty happy (but significantly surprised if “District 9” wins – not disappointed, just surprised).
“Avatar” being nominated was a foregone conclusion; while it has jaw-dropping SFX and is a kick in the pants to watch (in 3D), I was really underwhelmed by the story and it’s by no means worthy of a Best Picture Oscar – of the movies I’ve seen (and I’ll see the other two before Awards night), I’ll be most disappointed if it wins.
I also don’t get the hype for Up at all. WALL-E was brilliant. Up was an old guy with some balloons, and a bunch of fake-sentimentalism that was forced down my throat so hard it was impossible to take seriously. Oh yeah, and talking dogs. WTF.
Then again, I’m also apparently the only person on earth who thought Ratatouille sucked.
I very much enjoyed “Up,” but think “WALL-E” was an outright masterpeice - the best animated film ever made, in my humble opinion.
But hey, to each their own!
Ranking what I’ve seen:
1. District 9 - Though I didn’t like it as much as my friends did when I first saw it, it certainly grew on me. I was annoyed by what I thought were some plot holes and thought the racism angle was a bit heavy-handed. Looking back and thinking some more (and discussing it some more), I’ve found most of the plot holes are more unexplained than actual fallacies… and there are some greatly subtle parts to the racism themes. Not Best Picture quality, but out of the 4 I’ve seen, it’d be my pick.
2. Avatar - It was good, but I felt it was basically a “turn your brain off and enjoy the pretty pictures” movie. The themes of the movie felt a bit juvenile (it really is Pocahontas IN SPACE) and there’s a bit too much Mighty Whitey going on for me. But hey, cool effects and world design.
3. Up - I love Pixar, but this might be my least favorite movie they’ve done. Loved the idea and setup, but it seemed just a bit on the short side for content. Just barely edged out by Avatar.
4. A Serious Man - I came out of this movie debating with my friends whether we had wasted our money or not. Surprised this even got nominated.
I’d be happy if Inglorious Basterds, District 9 or The Hurt Locker win it. I wouldn’t be surprised if Avatar wins, but personally I wouldn’t vote for it for Best Picture (maybe Best Director, as well as the technical categories).
I wonder if the change to having ten nominees will affect the result. Since there’s only one vote, I wonder if vote splitting might affect the outcome more than when there’s fewer nominees. The winner will probably be different than it would be if they had a runoff voting system.