'Avatar,' 'The Hurt Locker' lead Oscar nominations
It might be premature to predict what the winner of the 2009 Academy Award for best director will say during an acceptance speech, but don't be surprised if it goes something like, "I'm queen of the world!"
Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq war drama "The Hurt Locker" faces off with "Avatar" - a science-fiction thriller directed by her ex-husband James Cameron - as both films head into the final stretch of Academy voting with nine nominations each.
Both Bigelow and Cameron are up for best director, and their movies are vying for best picture in a Hollywood showdown ripe with all the elements of a classic Katharine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy movie script.
The last time Cameron directed a feature, he received the best director Oscar for "Titanic," and belted out the memorable megalomaniacal comment, "I'm king of the world! Whoaaaaaa!"
Academy voters bask in the glow of importance, and that may be the key to tilting the odds in favor of a well-crafted action war drama over a well-crafted action anti-war fantasy.
The nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards were announced Tuesday morning from Los Angeles with all the heart-stopping suspense of a "Friends" episode during its 20th broadcast.
The expanded 10 nominees for best picture held no big surprises. "Avatar," "The Hurt Locker," "Inglourious Basterds," "Precious" and "Up in the Air" were gimmies.
"Star Trek" didn't make the list, even though the Producers Guild of America, a harbinger for the best picture category, nominated it as the best of 2009.
Instead, Sandra Bullock's fact-based white savior opus "The Blind Side" nabbed a nom for best picture, plus, as expected, best actress for front-runner Bullock. (Neither of those films deserves the nod when the innovative romance "(500) Days of Summer" got left out.)
Like Walt Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" did in 1991, Pixar's animated "Up" broke through to net a best picture nod, plus did a little double-dipping since it also received a best animated feature nomination.
"A Serious Man," "District 9" and "An Education" also received best picture nods.
The biggest dis?
Michael Moore's left-leaning documentary "Capitalism: A Love Story" failed to grab a nod with its clever, merciless attacks against American monetary values. Perhaps the dis isn't so surprising given that there are few industries as fiercely capitalistic as Hollywood studios. (The ones who make up the Academy.)
The 82nd annual Oscars will be broadcast live on ABC on March 7. Let's hope the ceremony generates more shock and awe than Anne Hathaway and Academy President Tom Sherak supplied during Tuesday's nominations announcements.
I'll have the Daily Herald predictions for winners in the March 5 issue of Time out!
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<li><a href="/story/?id=355873">List of nominations <span class="date">[02/02/2010]</span></a></li>
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