With an unprecedented number of films in the running for Best Picture, a couple of funny-as-hell hosts and a good chance a woman could snag directing honors for the first time in Oscar history, the 2010 Academy Awards are shaping up to be one exciting night.\nDuring the past decade, ratings have been consistently slipping. Recent hosts (sorry, Jon Stewart) and winners (like the grim crime drama No Country For Old Men) haven't hit the mark, and viewers have been disenchanted by the dragging, four-hour long spectacle. But thanks to massive worldwide hits like Avatar, as well as Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin tag-teaming to host, March 7 is looking to be a night of rebirth.\nBest Picture and Best Director\nWhen it was announced last summer that the number of nominations for Best Picture would change from the usual five to 10, the president of Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences said the academy would allow for non-traditional films to be thrown into the race. It's an interesting adjustment, resulting in two surprise nominations for Pixar-animated Up and sci-fi flick District 9. At the same time, though, the academy has continued to discriminate against other genres. Comedic blockbuster The Hangover did not receive a nod, nor did several quality foreign films.\nThere are only two pictures that really matter, however. The competition will be a knock-down, drag-out affair between history's highest-grossing movie Avatar and grounding Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker, both of which garnered nine nominations.
Although Locker may come in with an edge after sweeping six prizes at the UK Film Awards in late February, the film has recently received a lot of attention - and not always the good kind. The Washington Post ran a story documenting the film's inaccuracies and embellished plotline, and Nicolas Chartier, one of the film's producers, violated a rule by sending e-mails to multiple academy members, plugging a vote for his film.
Avatar and The Hurt Locker are also the top films contending for Best Director. James Cameron, who won in 1998 for Titanic, will look for a second trophy when he faces off against former wife Kathryn Bigelow. Bigelow is the only female nominee in the category since 2003 after Sofia Coppola got the nod for Lost in Translation. And she is in a prime position to capture the Oscar.\nWhat Should Win: The Hurt Locker (along with write-in nomination The Hangover)\nWhat Will Win: The Hurt Locker
Best Supporting Actor\nThe 2010 competition for Best Supporting Actor has been practically pre-determined. First-time nominee Christoph Waltz, as menacing Nazi officer in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, swept the pre-season trophies. The rest of the nominees are a grab bag of familiar faces, including Stanley Tucci, startlingly creepy as the murderer in The Lovely Bones, and Woody Harrelson as a military man delivering tragic news of soldiers' deaths in The Messenger.\nWho Should Win: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds\nWho Will Win: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress\nMo'Nique's turn as a harrowingly abusive mom in Precious has left critics floored, leaving no room for an upset. Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air, Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart and Penelope Cruz in Nine don't stand a chance against the Precious matriarch.\nWho Should Win: Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air\nWho Will Win: Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Best Actor\nThis one is going to come down to a competition between Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart and Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker. Bridges' film career was reinvigorated after his role as Bad Blake, a washed-up country crooner who attempts to reverse the direction his life is headed. It was a solid role, but because of its similarity to Mickey Rourke's role in 2008's The Wrestler, I'm pulling for Renner. And it doesn't help that I couldn't understand half of Bridges' mumbled lines.
The actor, mostly known for smaller supporting roles, hit gold with his portrayal of Sergeant William James, a reckless bomb diffuser and war addict in Iraq. Despite the film's alleged inaccuracies about the lives of soldiers, Renner's performance is both moving and fulfilling. Bridges has been favored since the start, but I'm calling an upset victory for Renner. Other names in the category include veterans Morgan Freeman, George Clooney and Colin Firth.\nWho Should Win: Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker\nWho Will Win: Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Best Actress\nEvery single performer in this year's Best Actress competition deserves the award. Academy favorites Helen Mirren, who championed this category three years ago for her role in The Queen, and Meryl Streep, a 13-time category nominee and one-time winner, have been chosen again, portraying real-life characters as Sofya Tolstoy and Julia Child, respectively. Newcomers Gabourey Sibide in Precious and Carey Mulligan in An Education engaged the audience with their roles as young girls wise beyond their years. And somewhere in between the mix of old and new falls Sandra Bullock, whose role as Leigh Ann Tuohy in The Blind Side can be summed up in one word: unforgettable. As a suburban Southern mom who adopts a homeless black teen and fosters his career as a football player, Bullock transforms what could have been a superficial role into on-screen brilliance. It's one of the most moving performances I've seen in a while.\nWho Should Win: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side\nWho Will Win: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
