Have you watched Avatar? Have you any doubts on its nomination on Best Picture for the Academy Awards? Have you any doubts that it will win?
Tell me whether you are thinking on the same line as me or you're just me. Eh?
But no, Avatar didn't won. Despite its gross of more than $2 billion - come on! billion! Money exists in that amount! -, James Cameron, the director, lost to his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow in her movie The Hurt Locker.
So why did the most amazing movie that I ever watched in my entire life didn't won Best Picture?
A week before the Academy Awards, web search about the films nominated for the category of Best Picture soared sky-high. I read somewhere that Avatar will be beaten by The Hurt Locker. Why? Because the The Hurt Locker possessed all prerequisites of winning the Best Picture Award - a nomination in Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. Maybe these are the factors that thinned the prospect of winning Best Picture for Avatar. Well, an exception to that rule is Titanic, which won Best Picture without even being nominated in Best Original Screenplay. Well, sometimes history doesn't repeat itself.
These are the films that were nominated for Best Picture.
Avatar (my pick)
Director : James Cameron
Description : Yes, here's Cameron again with a mega-movie. Avatar knocked Titanic off the top spot of highest grossing film of all time after its 12-year reign. And in case it didn't occur to you, Titanic's director is Cameron, too. He's the King of the World. The movie took home 3 out of 9 awards where it was nominated - Art Direction, Cinematography, and Visual Effects. The story takes place in the year 2154 on Pandora, a lush, Earth-like moon of the planet Polyphemus in the Alpha Centauri star system. Jake Sully, played by Sam Worthington, delved deep into the Na'vi - the people of Pandora - in order to provide intelligence to the military. He ended up falling in love with Neytiri, a Na'vi, and fighting his own people.
The Hurt Locker (Academy Award voters' pick T.T)
Director : Kathryn Bigelow
Description : This movie took home the Best Picture award - and in case you don't know, it's the most anticipated and important award on the Academy Awards. And in case you don't know also, Bigelow is the ex-wife of James Cameron. Funny thing is that they sat beside each other during the Awards night. This film won 6 Oscars - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing. The movie centers on the early stages of the post-invasion period in Iraq in 2004. Sergeant First Class William James, Sergeant J.T. Sanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge, the main characters, were part of the U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit.
The Blind Side
Director : John Lee Hancock
Brief Description : Sandra Bullock. Some said that she don't have a chance to take home the Best Actress award, but she did. The movie - which is based on the 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis, features Michael Oher and the adversities he encountered on his journey to being one of the most coveted prospects in the National Football League.
Precious
Director: Lee Daniels
Description: The film centers on a 16-year old Claireece Precious Jones who suffers from different forms of abuse from her parents and her fight to the improvement of her life and her children. An adaptation by Geoffrey S. Fletcher of the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire, the film has received awards and nominations including three Golden Globe and Screen Actor Guild nominations, and 6 Oscar nominations where it won Best Supporting Actress by Mo'Nique.
District 9
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Description: The film is about a stranded alien population, a man named Wikus van de Merwe, and an alien named Christopher Johnson. Wikus is a Multinational United field operative who accidentally sprayed a fluid that Christopher gathered for over 20 years which would allow him to reactive their mother ship.
An Education
Director: Lone Scherfig
Description: An Education is a British coming-of-age drama film based on the memoir of Lynn Barber, a journalist. Jenny Miller, a schoolgirl, met David Goldman, with whom she had a relationship. When Jenny found out the dark sides of David and his buddy Danny, she initially thought of leaving the relationship, but still she stayed. Aside from Best Picture, the movie also received nominations on Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Inglourious Basterds
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Description: Inglourious Basterds is a war film that tells the story of a young French Jewish cinema proprietor and a Lieutenant Aldo Raine and his Jewish Allied soldiers, both of whom planned to assassinate the Nazi Germany political leadership. As to its perfomance in the Academy Awards, it took home one out of eight nominations. Christoph Waltz' performance in the movie earned him Best Supporting Actor.
A Serious Man
Directors: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Description: A comedy film that tells the story of an ordinary man with the name of Larry Gopnik who is trying to fathom and search for balance in the world. Larry encountered a variety of troubles in his family, his finance, and his job. These situations prompted Larry to make decisions like accepting the bribe of one of his student's father. Among the nominees for Best Picture, BBC News called it "one of the less talked about nominees". Aside from Best Picture, it has been nominated for Best Original Screenplay.
Up
Director Pete Docter
Description: Up is a computer-animated family-oriented adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The movie was also nominated on Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, and won Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score. The story features Carl Fredricksen, who fulfilled a promise with his late beloved Ellie - a promise that involves moving their house to a majestic waterfall cliff in Paradise Falls. Because of a court trouble, Carl was forced to use tens of thousands of helium balloons to make the house float, accidentally catching Russell on the porch. As they head to the Paradise Falls, they encountered Charles Muntz, Carl's idol explorer. After a series of events involving the three, Carl finally fulfilled his promise to Ellie and, at the same time, gained Russell that treated him as father.
Up in the Air
Director: Jason Reitman
Description: A comedy-drama film, it is a fiml adaptation of the 2001 novel of the same name written by Walter Kirn. The story is about a corporate downsizer Ryan Bingham, his travels, his isolated life and philosophies along with people he meets along the way.The movie received nominations from Best Actor, Best Director, Best Picture ,two Best Supporting Actress, and Best Screenplay – Adapted.
Though all these films deserved to be recognized, only one was chosen to take home the gold for Best Picture. And that is not Avatar, it is The Hurt Locker.
Here is a complete list of all who won in the Academy Awards.
Best Picture - The Hurt Locker
Best Actor - Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
Best Actress - Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
Best Supporting Actress - Mo'Nique (Precious)
Best Animated Feature Film - Up
Best Art Direction - Avatar [yay!]
Best Cinematography - Avatar
Best Visual Effects - Avatar [no doubt]
Best Costume Design - The Young Victoria
Best Direcor - Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
Best Documentary Feature - The Cove
Best Documentary Short - Music by Prudence
Best Film Editing - The Hurt Locker
Best Foreign Language Film - The Secret in Their Eyes
Best Makeup - Star Trek
Best Original Score - Up
Best Original Song - 'The Weary Kind' (Crazy Heart)
Best Animated Short Film - Logorama
Best Live Action Short Film - The New Tenants
Best Sound Editing - The Hurt Locker
Best Sound Mixing - The Hurt Locker
Best Adapted Screenplay - Precious
Best Original Screenplay - The Hurt Locker
(bold means films nominated for Best Picture)
Bottom line: The Hurt Locker owns them all.
Congratulations to all winners! And to all the nominees, too. All of you did a fantastic job. Hope you'll never stop bringing us wonderful films. Kudos to you all!
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