Groucho

Many Oscar voters tend to try and right "past injustices" by awarding people who they think should have won in a prior year. I can see a lot of voters, especially younger ones, ranking Inglourious Basterds high on their list as "retribution" for Pulp Fiction's loss.

Ash Ketchum

Fixed.

conscience

Exactly. Also Day-Lewis and Nicholson already had Oscars (along with Cage and Caine). Bridges has not.

hardercore

Kill Bill 1 wasn't deserved of any nominations in my view. Vol. 2, perhaps: for Carradine and Thurman but maybe little else. Basterds is growing on me as Tarantino's best film.

Burgundy LaRue

It looks like Bridges will walk away with it, but Hollywood loves Clooney and the Oscar he has is in a supporting role. Same goes with Freeman and the supporting nod. No one has the Oscar in a lead role. That could be enough to cause a split, but probably won't.

But I could see the rationale that Clooney has at least 10-15 good years left and should be able to crank out 3-4 Oscar-caliber performances in that time. Renner will get the Ryan Gosling treatment--good on the strong performance young chap, now do it on a consistent basis. Firth falls into the 'be happy for the nomination' category. Freeman just rounds out things this time. So it looks like a Bridges win.

I can see something surprising happening with the Lead Actress lineup--maybe. Bullock looks good for it, but if enough voters think Streep is overdue for another trophy, then who knows.

Pushing the show back to March may play a factor. Give voters enough time to watch and pick apart movies/performances and it becomes more of a crap shoot. We'll see.

Drexl

Well, Renner isn't that young, at 39. It seems like he was 10 years younger in the movie, doesn't it? But, of course he's new to the awards thing.

Numanoid

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that isn't gaga over Up the way it seems most are. My girlfriend and I both agreed that it was only a "meh" movie after all was said and done. Like Cars before it (still haven't watched Wall-E yet), I have no interest in ever seeing it again.

hardercore

That's part of it, yes, but the director and oftentimes the script will indicate actual camera movements and visual ideas. I feel like, at least for the Academy's sake when they are voting for Cinematography, they are thinking largely of lighting, and composition. Hence, Christian Berger's very austere work in The White Ribbon gets the nod over a film like Watchmen -- it's impressive in how the 'plainness' of the cinematography serves story and thematic purposes.

Howie2000

39 is actually on the young side compared to the usual Best Actor nominee as there is a bit of a bias against younger actors getting nominations for leads as compared to young ingenious who are regularly embraced for best actress nominations.

Howie2000

I would say luckily for Bridges though his competition is Freeman butchering a faux South African accent,Clooney playing Clooney,Renner and Firth solid as usual but not a performance that grabs people. Had Viggo Mortensen snuck in over Renner or Freeman in the 5th slot I fully think he could have pulled an upset his performance was that powerful in The Road.

Greg MacGuffin

Screenplays very rarely indicate camera directions.

hardercore

One of these days, this schtick about Clooney just playing himself is going to end. His Ryan Bingham is my second favourite lead performance behind Michael Stulhbarg.

Just because acting is on occasion subtle, doesn't make it any less acting. The best actor oscar doesn't need to go to a role of Daniel Day-Lewis-in-There-Will-Be-Blood-eqsue histrionics every year.

Bridges has a long history of being passed over and a lot of good sentiment going his way, so he will win. I don't begrudge him that, and when I eventually see Crazy heart I may even feel that way myself. But that hasn't stopped a good majority of critics agreeing that Clooney gave a great performance.

hardercore

My bad. I know alot of writer-directors (say, The Coens) might put the odd note in regarding camera angles, shot lengths and occasionally movements because they'll eventually be responsible for those choices anyway. Point being is that I feel when Academy voters are thinking of Cinematography, camera movements and the technicalities of shooting aren't foremost in their minds, rather it's what they can see in the lighting and composition of the finished film.

DonnachaOne

Not directly, no. But a well-written one definitely guides the mind's eye when reading.

bluetoast

Of course if one is both the writer and director there will be more camera movements in the script, since they're writing with two jobs in mind.

hapgilmore

Who cares if the script indicates it or not (which I'm sure it didn't include camera angles or movements)? Zack Snyder and the director of photography pulled it off flawlessly and should be recognized for the achievement.

Doctor Gonzo

Time to add some drama and excitement to your Oscar viewing.

Over at The Auteurs, they are running an Oscar pick em' contest with the top winners splitting a grand prize of $10,000

- make those picks count: http://www.theauteurs.com/oscars

hardercore

I saw that, but every year the shorts are a crapshoot.... I wonder if anyone will actually get 24/24. It'd be different if the highest scorers all split the prize, but it seems as if you need to get all winners correct.

Brent L

Amen, it's one of the stupidest things that people seem to say way too often.

Daytripper

I saw both "The Prophet" and "The White Ribbon" today and while the latter what a beautifully shot and extremely well acted film, NO WAY was it better than "The Prophet". I highly recommend both though, with a slight warning about "Ribbon". It's quite possibly the slowest movie I've ever seen. I've read so many places online where people found it boring. It's definitely worth a look. "The Prophet" is an extremely intense and gritty film. Very powerful. I hope it wins the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. And I think "The White Ribbon" deserves to win for Cinematography.

Brent L

Daytripper, have you seen The Secret in Their Eyes yet?

Daytripper

Not yet. Better?

Brent L

It was my favorite film, period, of all of 2009. I haven't seen The Prophet yet though. I started a thread about it a while back but I don't think anyone replied to it yet. I know this doesn't matter at all, but it has a higher score than The Prophet and White Ribbon on IMDB right now also, so it's not just me that really, really liked it.

Daytripper

Thanks. I'm on it. It's the next film I will seek out! Thanks for the tip

Brent L

No problem. Let me know what you think after you give it a watch.