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Will “Avatar” go head-to-head against “The Hurt Locker” come Oscar night? Dann thinks so. |
If things go down as I suspect they will at the 82nd annual Oscar nominations announcement Tuesday morning, it’ll be a battle of the ex-spouses as James Cameron’s science-fiction thriller “Avatar” goes head-to-head for best picture with Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq war drama “The Hurt Locker.”
Those are the two guaranteed leading contenders for the big enchilada.
What will win? “Avatar,” the highest-grossing movie in the history of Earth? Or “Hurt Locker,” the most acclaimed drama by major film critics organizations, such as Chicago’s?
We’ll see when ABC broadcasts the Oscars ceremony live on March 7.
Meanwhile, here are my predictions for the contenders for golden statutes in the top categories.
Best Picture: The can’t-miss nominees will be “Avatar,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Inglourious Basterds,” “Precious” and “Up in the Air.”
As Oscar fans know, Academy bosses have mandated that 10 movies shall be nominated for best picture this year, in an attempt to pump interest in the static ceremony. This is hardly something new.
Ten best picture nominees were common during the ’30s and ’40s. The first Oscars only had three movies in contention for best picture. In 1935, there were 12 films nominated.
So, what will fill the remaining five slots Tuesday?
My guess: “A Serious Man,” “An Education,” “Invictus,” “Star Trek” and “Up,” the guaranteed winner in the animated feature category.
(Note: If Oscar voters see the wisdom in confining “Up” to the animation category, its slot will be filled by “A Single Man” or “District 9.”)
And if the popular over-the-top comedy “The Hangover” actually gets a nod, all bets are off at awards time. (Read more…)
Now that the nominations have been announced lets see how Dann did.
Best Picture – Dann nailed 8 out of 10. Of the other 2, Dann mentioned “District 9” as a possibility but got “Blindside”d on the tenth pick. So 8.5 out of 10.
Best Director – Dann got 5 for 5 in this category.
Best Supporting Actor – Another clean sweep with 5 out of 5.
Best Supporting Actress – Dann only matched 3 of the 5 nominees in this category.
Best Animated Feature – All 3 of Dann’s picks got nominated but he missed a chance at a better score by not including 5 choices.
Out of a possible 30 nominations for the categories that he listed, he matched 24.5 for 82% (B-). Not too bad.