Stephen's Oscar Picks

My pal Stephen Vance provides his choices for the Academy Awards, with lots of comments and a bonus feature!

He writes:

I make a point to see all the best picture nominees every year, and this year was a little more difficult since they doubled the list. It was a very broad list, and in my opinion, although the list is expanded it's still not as strong as the list from the past couple of years. All that being said,

1. Best Picture: Avatar. It may not have the strongest story but it pushed the envelope as far as film making goes and really has set new standards for action and special effects films. (And if it was based solely on best story, I still wouldn't pick Hurt Locker. I'd probably go with Up or Precious.)

2. Best Actor: Jeff Bridges. Simply brilliant work. Perhaps the easiest category to pick. Not just the best of the year, but probably the best work of his career. In fact, Crazy Heart is better than several of the best picture nominees.

3. Best Actress: Meryl Streep. This is the single most difficult category to pick. I personally liked Carey Mulligan in An Education the best, but I don't think she has a shot with the heavyweights. The Blind Side was easily the best work I've ever seen Sandra Bullock do.

4. Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz. He was an absolute delight. Tarantino does such a nice job writing stand out parts for his supporting actors. Honorable mention to Stanley Tucci. He was very very creepy.

5. Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique. All of the performances were pretty good, but Mo'Nique's is the one that stands out. (I'm actually surprised they picked Penelope Cruz as the one out of Nine.)

6. Directing: James Cameron. I'll go with the best picture gets best director theory. My big problem with The Hurt Locker wasn't that the scenes weren't intense and compact, but that it was very slow between big moments.

7. Animated Feature: Up. Out of all the categories, this is the one I've seen the least of, but if big picture sentiment didn't cause me to pick Avatar, I would've picked Up. It was by far my favorite movie of the entire year.

8. Original Song: "The Weary Kind." It's a stand out in the film, and I think the notice Bridges is getting will carry over into this category also.

Bonus: Here's my rank of the best picture nominees.

10. Serious Man (Too artsy for me.)
9. District 9 (Didn't meet the hype.)
8. Hurt Locker (Liked it, but loved the others.)
7. Up in the Air (Good, but not as good as Juno or Thank You For Smoking.)
6. An Education (Brilliant performances, and a very pretty picture.)
5. Inglorious Basterds (Guilty pleasure film of the year. I could watch this one several times.)
4. Precious (Fantastic story and film. I do not want to see it again. It is very difficult to watch.)
3. The Blind Side (Very, very uplifting. And who doesn't love based on a true story?)
2. Up (A legit story in animated format.)
1. Avatar (It blew my mind. I actually thought it was going to stink. Pleasantly surprised.)