![\"Oscars](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/oscar.jpg\" "\\"CB056255\\"")
<\/a>This year\u2019s 82nd annual Academy Awards on March 7 will undoubtedly be remembered as the time that the film institution allowed ten Best Picture nominations into the running. Plus there will be two \u2013 count \u2019em two \u2013 hosts for the first time ever in the personas of Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s a good thing actors don\u2019t get nods for Best Voice Mail Left to Their Children, otherwise ole Alec would be pulling double duty as host and nominee. And a note to Steve Martin: Leave the banjo at home, please \u2013 we don\u2019t need a thumb strummin\u2019 tribute to celluloid.<\/p>\n
Something the crazy kids at the Oscars should change is clapping during the \u201cIn Memoriam\u201d segment of the show, which shouldn\u2019t be a popularity contest for the dearly departed. I mean who\u2019s to say that Brittany Murphy\u2019s untimely demise wasn\u2019t as important as some of the behind-the-scene folks who keep the Hollywood machinery working? I\u2019m just sayin\u2019. I think the clips should be shown in silence\u2026so there\u2019s my two cents worth.<\/p>\n
Now go grab yourself a bucket of popcorn and get ready to gnaw on the kernels of truth about who stands to take a little golden naked man home (no, not Ryan Seacrest \u2013he\u2019ll be wearing a tux during his red carpet duties for E!), and who will just be honored to have been a nominee. Yeah, right.<\/p>\n
Best Actress <\/p>\n
This year\u2019s pack of females is a mixture of new faces and seasoned pros, and I don\u2019t mean new faces as in they \u201cvisited their doctor\u201d recently for a (nudge to the wink) \u201ccheck-up.\u201d What I\u2019m simply suggesting is that up-and-comers are going head-to-head with madams of the screen.<\/p>\n
Great, now I made them sound like prostitutes out to shank their female pimps! Let\u2019s just look at the who\u2019s who for the title of Best Actress.<\/p>\n
Playing a real-life person usually equates Oscar gold, so it\u2019s no surprise that Sandra Bullock\u2019s turn as Kathie Lee Gifford in \u201cThe Blind Side\u201d is being heralded. What\u2019s that you say? She portrayed a real suburban mom named Leigh Anne Tuohy? That\u2019s just crazy talk \u2013 their hair is so similar! Why, it\u2019s uncanny!<\/p>\n
Meryl Streep also played it truthfully as cookbook author extraordinaire Julia Child to snag her 16th nomination for \u201cJulie & Julia\u201d; as did Helen Mirren as Sofya, the wife of War and Peace author Leo Tolstoy in \u201cThe Last Station.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabourey Sidibe is the title character in the mouthful named film \u201cPrecious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.\u201d As an abused teenager, Sidibe\u2019s role calls for her to contend with and overcome horrific circumstances in her life, which do not include acting alongside Mariah Carey and her best supporting moustache.<\/p>\n
Another youngin\u2019, Carey Mulligan, had her own set of behind-the-scenes dilemmas to deal with when she co-starred with Peter Sarsgaard (gesundheit!) in the 1960s coming-of-age tale \u201cAn Education.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the winner is: Better break out that bridesmaid’s dress, Meryl, it looks to be Sandy\u2019s year if you go by other wins at the SAG and Golden Globes \u2013 although Streep won for comedy and Bullock for drama at the latter event. Wouldn’t it be cool if it were a tie? There hasn’t been one of those since 1968, when Babs Streisand tied with her nose, I mean, with Katharine Hepburn.<\/p>\n
Best Actor<\/p>\n
For some reason George Clooney is up for another Oscar for \u201cUp in the Air\u201d! It\u2019s all smoke and mirrors, people \u2013 he\u2019s the same in every movie. Plus he derailed the \u201cBatman\u201d movies for almost a decade, and I take umbrage with him for that.<\/p>\n
Someone who benefited from his failure as the Caped Crusader was Morgan Freeman, who went on to co-star in the latest batch of bat flicks, and now he is nominated for starring as Nelson Mandela in \u201cInvictus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colin Firth (best not to say his name if you have a speech impediment) plays a homosexual during the 1960s who is mourning his lover\u2019s death, while Jeremy Renner is a bomb diffuser (Look out! He\u2019s holding \u201cGhosts of Girlfriends Past\u201d in his hands!) in \u201cThe Hurt Locker.\u201d Jeff Bridges rounds out the performances with his take on the washed-up country-western singer genre in \u201cCrazy Heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the winner is: My initial answer is anyone but Clooney! But it looks to be Jeff Bridges\u2019 year \u2013 let\u2019s just hope he remembers to thank recent \u201cCelebrity Rehab\u201d star Mindy McCready for informing his acting choices for the role. <\/p>\n
Support Systems<\/p>\n
Matt Damon, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Plummer, Christoph Waltz and Stanley Tucci (plus his toupee) are all up for Best Supporting Actor, while Mo\u2019Nique, Pen\u00e9lope Cruz, Maggie \u201cwhy the long face?\u201d Gyllenhaal and \u201cUp in the Air\u201d cast mates Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga (served best with chicken or veal) vie for Best Supporting Actress.<\/p>\n
And the winners are: Christoph Waltz for his turn as a Nazi officer in \u201cInglourious Basterds,\u201d although Damon might get the pity vote for gaining 35 pounds for \u201cThe Informant!\u201d and then not being nominated for said roll, I mean, role. Mo\u2019Nique seems a shoo-in, but Academy voters did crown Cruz a winner in this very category last year.<\/p>\n
Best Director<\/p>\n
\u201cAvatar\u201d\u2019s James Cameron has become one of the most bankable directors in Tinsel Town, and his knack for helming successful projects is light years away from his first effort, \u201cPiranha 2: The Spawning.\u201d Still, I hope he doesn\u2019t stay on his recent trend of making a film every decade \u2013 otherwise, we may never get to see the sequel to \u201cTitanic.\u201d<\/p>\n
His ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow, is the fourth woman to be nominated as Best Director in Oscar history for her work on \u201cThe Hurt Locker.\u201d If Quentin Tarantino wins for \u201cInglourious Basterds,\u201d the success will likely go to his forehead. Lee Daniels (\u201cPrecious\u201d\u2026which I think is based on a novel) and Jason Reitman (\u201cUp in the Air\u201d) are also contenders.<\/p>\n
And the winner is: James Cameron is truly one of my all-time favorite directors and has done much to re-shape the way films are made and viewed. But I love when history is made at the Oscars, so I want Bigelow to snag the coveted prize. You go, girl! I mean, female director-type person.<\/p>\n
Top Ten Films<\/p>\n
I was so happy that \u201cUp\u201d and \u201cDistrict 9\u201d were added to the longer list of nominees this year.<\/p>\n
Two war films, \u201cInglourious Basterds\u201d (uh, that\u2019s spelled wrong) and \u201cThe Hurt Locker,\u201d are competing with one another, along with \u201cThe Blind Side,\u201d \u201cPrecious,\u201d \u201cA Serious Man,\u201d \u201cUp in the Air,\u201d \u201cAn Education\u201d and a little art house film few people have heard of called \u201cAvatar.\u201d I think it might be French or something.<\/p>\n
And the winner is: \u201cUp\u201d was the best film, in my opinion, but it most likely will take home the Best Animated Feature Film prize. \u201cAvatar\u201d is the one to beat this year.<\/p>\n
Hopefully this year\u2019s proceedings won\u2019t drag on for hours and hours, and there will be some upsets with those who have been predicted to win \u2013 it just makes it more fun when there is an element of surprise involved. And that\u2019s entertainment!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Tim Parks This year\u2019s 82nd annual Academy Awards on March 7 will undoubtedly be remembered as the time that the film institution allowed ten Best Picture nominations into the running. Plus there will be two \u2013 count \u2019em two \u2013 hosts for the first time ever in the personas of Steve Martin and Alec […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":243242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Oscars Wild","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}