Lock, Stock, and Two Film Geeks

Let’s keep this short and sweet.  Here are my (James) predictions for today’s oscar ceremony.  Before I get started, let me list the nominees, across all catagories, for which I am working off first hand knowledge (which is quite a few).

• Avatar
• District 9
• An Education
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• A Serious Man
• Up
• Up in the Air
• Crazy Heart
• A Single Man
• The Last Station
• Julie & Julia
• Coraline
• The Fantastic Mr. Fox
• The Princess and the Frog
• In the Loop
• The White Ribbon
• Sherlock Holmes
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Bright Star
• Star Trek
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Allright, with that done, let’s get started with the nominations.  I’ve underlined the films I think will win, and I’ve italicized the nominees I prefer the most.

Best Picture

• ‘Avatar’
• ‘The Blind Side’
• ‘District 9′
• ‘An Education’
• ‘The Hurt Locker’
• ‘Inglourious Basterds’
• ‘Precious’
• ‘A Serious Man’
• ‘Up’
• ‘Up in the Air’

Best Director

• Kathryn Bigelow
  ‘The Hurt Locker’
• James Cameron
  ‘Avatar’
• Lee Daniels
  ‘Precious’
• Jason Reitman
  ‘Up in the Air’
• Quentin Tarantino
  ‘Inglourious Basterds’

Best Actor

• Jeff Bridges
  ‘Crazy Heart’
• George Clooney
  ‘Up in the Air’
• Colin Firth
  ‘A Single Man’
• Morgan Freeman
  ‘Invictus’
• Jeremy Renner
  ‘The Hurt Locker’

Best Actress

• Sandra Bullock
  ‘The Blind Side’
• Helen Mirren
  ‘The Last Station’
• Carey Mulligan
  ‘An Education’
• Gabourey Sidibe
  ‘Precious’
• Meryl Streep
  ‘Julie & Julia’

Best Supporting Actor

• Matt Damon
  ‘Invictus’
• Woody Harrelson
  ‘The Messenger’
• Christopher Plummer
  ‘The Last Station’
• Stanley Tucci
  ‘The Lovely Bones’
• Christoph Waltz
  ‘Inglourious Basterds’

Best Supporting Actress

• Penelope Cruz
  ‘Nine’
• Vera Farmiga
  ‘Up in the Air’
• Maggie Gyllenhaal
  ‘Crazy Heart’
• Anna Kendrick
  ‘Up in the Air’
• Mo’nique
  ‘Precious’

Best Animated Feature Film

• ‘Coraline’
• ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’
• ‘The Princess and the Frog’
• ‘The Secret of Kells’
• ‘Up’

Best Original Screenplay

• Mark Boal
  ‘The Hurt Locker’
• Quentin Tarantino
  ‘Inglourious Basterds’
• Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman
  ‘The Messenger’
• Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
  ‘A Serious Man’
• Peter Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy
  ‘Up’

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
  ‘District 9′
• Nick Hornby
  ‘An Education’
• Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
  ‘In the Loop%