Academy Awards 2010: An Estimation...

Being all hyped up watching Derren Brown guessing the lottery numbers on Wednesday night, I wanted to guess something myself! I just found out today that the 2010 Academy Awards are going to have 10 Best Picture nominees, instead of 5 like every other year. I didn't quite understand why they chose to put more nominees on a year that has shown significantly less good films than any other recent year... But, after a bit of thinking, I remembered that the Academy Awards are never about quality. This is the Academy that has thrown multiple awards in films like Titanic, Return of the King and The Aviator, and no awards in films like Blade Runner (no nominations either here!), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Memento. Anyway...

So, in this blog here, I'm going to guess the 10 nominees for Best Picture on the 82nd Academy Awards, almost four months before this year is over. Also, I'll write a few words for each, kinda explaining why I chose them. Or not... So:

The 10 Nominees for Best Picture will be:

1. The Hurt Locker (U.S. Release Date 26/06/09)
None of the films based in the Iraq war have won any best picture award or nomination and probably because it was too soon. Although there have been some good films (In The Valley of Elah). The Academy was going to have to stop ignoring them at some point, otherwise it would be (too) suspicious, and I think they're gonna grab the chance now, when they actually have a good film. If they're gonna give it somewhere...

2. Away We Go (U.S. Release Date 26/06/09)
This is the only one that I'm not 1000% sure it will be nominated, but I'm confident enough. They intentionally ignored Mendes with Revolutionary Road, and although this film has also things to say, it's not so in-your-face as his previous one.

3. Inglourious Basterds (U.S. Release Date 21/08/09)
Cannes love Quentin. The Academy... well, they like him. And from the fear that he might start throwing away Death Proofs and Kill Bills all over the place, they're gonna give him some nominations for something they (kinda) liked. Or something...

4. Taking Woodstock (U.S. Release Date 28/08/09)
Ang Lee, with no Shrek or explicit sex passes. Woodstock as well, as most of their generation will still have memories. If they don't, they'll pretend they have.

5. Precious (U.S. Release Date 06/11/09)
In a year with 10 nominations, they're gonna have to nominate at least one (truly) indie film. Why it's gonna be this one? Because the only other one that could have any potential was "The Stoning of Soraya M." and it was A) not released in the last 3 months of the year and B) it was about an Arab woman, and this is America god damn it!

6. Nine (U.S. Release Date 25/11/09)
Three main reasons: Daniel. Day. Lewis. Bonus reasons: 6 Oscar-winners as main cast, 1 Oscar-winning director.

7. Invictus (U.S. Release Date 11/12/09)
Clint Eastwood factor. If it's Clint nowadays, and not too challenging (see Gran Torino), it passes the test.

8. The Lovely Bones (U.S. Release Date 11/12/09)
They love Peter Jackson as well, mostly. And heck, they gave Return of the King 11 statues, and this one at least looks like a good film. Plus adapted from a novel, kid murdered and raped, they dig that kind of stuff, trust me.

9. The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus (U.S. Release Date 25/12/09)
Can't say that they really like Terry Gilliam, but as in many other cases, they're gonna have to show they're not discriminating anyone, and this film has also the Heath factor. They can nominate it and later say: "see, we don't hate Gilliam" to the public and "we just voted it for Heath's performance" to their friends. Perfect balance!

10. The Tree Of Life (U.S. Release Date 25/12/09)
Terence Malick here. Minus Pocahondas. Plus Sean Penn. And Brad Pitt, whom they seem to like lately for no apparent reason. They gave him a nomination just for pulling off an accent last year (which, if I'm not mistaken, was his native one!).

Well, here they are! My predictions! I think in some of them I pressed myself to find an obvious reason, while there was just a strong feeling, but I'm not changing my mind. I strongly believe that, if not all, at least 9 of these films are going to be the nominees for Best Picture. Let's wait and see...