So the 82nd Academy Awards are March 7th and since I am very excited, I decided to predict the winner for Best Picture. This is always fun. Yay!
With the category expanded to 10 movies, the nominees are:
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Up in the Air
District 9
An Education
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Inglourious Basterds
The Blind Side
To start, it'll be easy to separate the 5 who simply don't have a chance to 5 who would be nominated even if the category hadn't been expanded. The 5 films who simply have to suffice with the nomination is Disctrict 9, An Education, A Serious Man, Up, and The Blind Side. Let's face it, all 5 of these movies don't have the momentum to win this. Let's see why.
District 9 is a great film, no doubt. But if the Academy wants to go with something sci-fi this year, it's going to Avatar. Director Neil Blomkamp should be honored to be nominated for his first picture. An Education and A Serious Man simply don't have what it takes to win, from its small fan base and lack of awards in other shows. Up has its own category to win, Best Animated Feature. And finally The Blind Side. First off, I believe that this shouldn't even be nominated (I don't think it's anywhere as good as "Invictus" or even "The Hangover") and second, this film winning best picture is like saying George Clooney isn't handsome.
So that leaves Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Up in the Air, Precious, and Inglourious Basterds, all great films. Precious is probably the most disturbing and uplifting of the 5, but then again doesn't have what it takes to pull off the upset. Inglourious Basterds is regarded as one of Quentin Tarantino's best films and has a huge fan base rallying behind it. But its lack of awards in award shows prior greatly hurt its chances of winning best picture. Up in the Air was my best film of the year, and as much as I want it to win (badly), I have to face the fact that it probably doesn't have a chance. Jason Reitman (Juno) writes and directs, in my opinion, a classic. But when you look at the two front runners, it's hard to say this has much of a chance. These two are James Cameron's Avatar and Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker. Both are tremendous films, but this is what it comes down to: if the Academy wants a film that has revolutionized the movie industry to win, they'll give it to Avatar. If they want to give the best picture to the real "best picture" in most critics' opinions, then they'll give it to The Hurt Locker. So what's my prediction?
My prediction: The Hurt Locker
