Now all 8 of the most important pre-Oscar precursor nominees have been announced — National Board of Review, American Film Institute, Broadcast Film Critics Association, Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild, and Producers Guild of America, Directors Guild of America, and Writers Guild of America. And as you’ll see from the tally below, only one film, The Hurt Locker, has landed on all eight lists. Here’s the final count. N.B. With the Globes, I’m only counting Best Picture, and with SAG, I’m only counting Best Cast.
8: The Hurt Locker (NBR, AFI, BFCA, GG, SAG, PGA, DGA, WGA)
7: Precious (AFI, BFCA, GG, SAG, PGA, DGA, WGA)
7: Up in the Air (NBR, AFI, BFCA, GG, PGA, DGA, WGA)
6: Inglourious Basterds (NBR, BFCA, GG, SAG, PGA, DGA) ineligible for WGA
5: Avatar (BFCA, GG, PGA, DGA, WGA)
4: An Education (NBR, BFCA, SAG, PGA) ineligible for AFI & WGA
4: A Serious Man (NBR, AFI, BFCA, WGA)
4: Up (NBR, AFI, BFCA, PGA) ineligible for GG Best Picture, DGA & WGA
3: (500) Days of Summer (NBR, GG, WGA)
3: The Hangover (AFI, GG, WGA)
3: Invictus (NBR, BFCA, PGA)
3: Nine (BFCA, GG, SAG)
3: Star Trek (NBR, PGA, WGA)
2: Julie & Julia (GG, WGA)
2: The Messenger (NBR, AFI)
1: Coraline (AFI) ineligible for WGA & GG Best Picture
1: Crazy Heart (WGA)
1: District 9 (PGA) ineligible for AFI & WGA
1: It’s Complicated (GG)
1: A Single Man (AFI) ineligible for WGA
1: Sugar (AFI)
1: Where the Wild Things Are (NBR)
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Avatar. Best Picture.
Avatar sucks balls! Inglorious Basterds all the way! Or even The Hurt Locker, anything Besides AVATAR and Up in the Air!
Well, Avatar wasn’t that bad. But I certainly don’t think it should win best picture!!
Especially since the story is a complete rip-off of Pocahantas – but of course egomaniac James Cameron claims it is his own original invention.
Pocahanta, really? OMG, you’re right! How come no one has mentioned this yet?
its a textbook history lesson on 19th century imperialism set 1000 or maybe 2000 years in the future…just with a happy ending…its not original what so ever
District 9 is as equally derivative as AVATAR…
I read somewhere that James Cameron wrote an 80 page script for Avatar in 1994, one year before Pocahontas came out. He then forgot about it because technology was not up to par with what he had in mind. Both Pocahontas and Avatar seem to be influenced by Dances with Wolves.
Pssst! James, buddy. Come here for a sec, but do it very quietly. We’re trying to keep this hush-hush. That Pocahontas cartoon from 1995 is actually based on a true story first recorded over 200 years ago and filmed numerous times. Not many people know though, so don’t spread it around.
i said it before idc if it wins due to its tech(cgi) advancements. but having watched it twice i realised that it truly just a pretty copy cat. dances with wolves, Pocahontas ( most of all) tarzan disney ( animals help fight), ferngully ( trying to destroy ecosystem) FF7 ( we borrow energy from the planet)
By now, all movies have stories somewhat or wholly taken from a story that’s done before. Get over it. When you stop obsessing about where this stories been done before and let yourself see the small subtle changes you may enjoy things a little more.
Are you a complete moron? Pocohantas is a more than 200 year old story.
AVATAR for the win!!!!
Sigh…I have this sinking feeling that the good-but-not-great Avatar is destined to win Best Picture. With 10 nominees this year, the two perceived front-runners (Up In The Air and The Hurt Locker) will lose more votes than usual to the expanded list of competitors, leaving Avatar to gain the momentum and sneak a win, even if it loses at the Globes.
Having finally watched Avatar tonight, I give it props for its technical wizardry but feel otherwise indifferent to it. It’s basically Dances With Wolves in 3D, isn’t it? [And that movie already got its Best Picture win.]
Star Trek has a chance, baby!
As a total movie, STAR TREK was the best written, acted, directed, and edited one I saw all year. It actually totally deserves to be in the running, especially with 10 Best Film Slots. And to jump in the shallow end of the pool, the entire cast was HOT.
Go Inglourious Basterds and Up! My two favorite films of 2009!
I’m seeing Up in the Air this week, I hope it’s good!
And is The Hurt Locker on DVD yet? I still need to see that too.
I believe Hurt Locker comes out in the next few weeks for DVD viewing. I’m trying to get it through Netflix, and I believe they gave me a January 12th date of when it would be available.
I saw Up in the Air this past weekend and was a very good movie, but not Best Picture caliber.
The Hurt Locker comes out on DVD tomorrow 1/12/10.
With 10 slots, I would kind of like The Hangover or 500 Days of Summer to take one of the last slots, along with a screenplay nom.
The Hangover for screenplay? Really? With all of the loose ends and plot holes?
THE HANGOVER??? That criminally overrated piece of juvenile crap, that was allegedly a comedy, but was really nothing but a series of outrageous situations, strung together hastily by a very lazy plot?? I hate when writers think that having raunch and eyebrow-raising moments automatically equals comedy…
The Hangover was the 2nd most overrated film of the year (behind Paranormal Activity).
shakespeare, you’ve used your infinite powers of observation to spout out overly-intelligent gibberish like “avatar sucks balls”. sigh…
Anthony Mackie for a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Christoph Waltz deserves the Award, but Mackie deserves a nomination.
I completely agree with you. Mackie was intense and deserves as much as attention as [the deserved] Renner. “The Hurt Locker” FTW!
Totally agree. He also deserved a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Half Nelson. He’s really an amazing actor. And I really hope that Jeremy Renner gets nominated as well- I’m still fuming about the fact that he got overlooked at the Golden Globes.
Hoping against hope for some bright star showing but I think its go zero chance, except costumes
Finally, Karger, you’re acknowledging what’s been pretty obvious for the past month: at least in terms of precursors, The Hurt Locker is squarely out in front.
i didn’t like where the wild….. at all , in part because i saw it on imax , but in general i didn’t much for the actors running around in those huge costumes- voiced/dubbed by entirely different actors. a valiant effort , but not among the best of the year.
I, for one, think that WTWTA is the underdog here.
I was kinda thinking that myself… wasn’t it just yesterday he was insisting that Avatar is the front-runner?
The Blind Side has at least been nominated for (CCA, GG, SAG), plus the Proposal (GG – if you are going to put down “It’s Complicated, then you need to put this down as well). Do you have something against Sandra – America’s Sweetheart?
The list is of awards/nominations for the film and not the actors. It is not a conspiracy.
I love Sandra!
GGs are irrelevant. ‘Nine’ for best picture? One of the worst ever.
Is it just me or is Dave Karger the only one championing this Avatar-Best-Picture talk? It’s sci-fi, which the Academy is not kind to. Ignore the numbers, based on acclaim, Hurt Locker is the front-runner by a mile.
It is just you. If you pay attention to many of the Oscar prognosticators, you will see that many have placed Avatar as the frontrunner. LA Confidential also won the majority of plaudits leading up to the Oscars in 1997, but lost to Titanic. Box office does matter to the Academy and The Hurt Locker would become the lowest grossing film in modern Oscar history if it won.
If the oscars went according to which films appeared the most times it would be
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
Up in the Air
An Education
Up
Avatar
Invictus
Nine
Which is NOT okay. Nine shouldn’t get nominated due to it being mediocre at best. Trade that with District 9/Star Trek/500 Days of Summer/The Hangover then we have a nominee list that i would be happy with
I meant to say the oscar nominations for best picture
Crossing my fingers for a miracle nomination for either Star Trek or (500) Days
i know but since avatar is also sci-fi its unlikely. im hoping since the acting in star trek was much better than that of avatar it will squeeze in.
Maybe you should spread your legs instead.
The Hurt Locker and District 9 all the way.
Well said!