We interrupt one of my compulsions for another...

I am obsessed with the Oscars. Every year it rivals my love for baseball...

And no I don't get bored by the ceremony.
No I don't think it should be abolished.

I love it every year.

Often I don't agree with the results, but that's not the point. It is one of my big nights of TV watching in the year and I ALWAYS see the big nominees.

So tomorrow morning at some ungodly hour in the morning, the Oscar nominations will be announced. And almost as nuts as the early hour will be the fact that for the first time since the 1944 ceremony (when Casablanca was award the Oscar for Best Picture of 1943) there will be 10 nominations for Best Picture.

This is partly to kick start other smaller movies box office appeal... and partly to ensure that bigger grossing fare gets a big nomination, making the elitist Oscars seem less elitist.

Of course the big winner is probably going to be Avatar, which needs a boost in the box office the way the Yankees need to add payroll.

But before the new batch of Oscar nominated films are announced, I am going to make my predictions for the nominees.

These are the films I think WILL, not the ones I think SHOULD be nominated.

Let's list...

BEST PICTURE

Avatar
The Blind Side
Crazy Heart
District 9
(500) Days of Summer
Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Single Man
Up in the Air

BEST DIRECTOR

Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Neill Blomhamp - District 9
James Cameron - Avatar
Lee Daniels - Precious
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterns

BEST ACTOR

Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
George Clooney - Up in the Air
Robert Downey Jr. - Sherlock Holmes
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker

BEST ACTRESS

Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Helen Mirren - The Last Station
Gabourney Sidibe - Precious
Meryl Streep - Julie and Julia

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
Anthony Mackie - The Hurt Locker
Christopher Plummer - The Last Station
Stanley Tucci - Julie and Julia
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air
Diane Kruger - Inglourious Basterds
Melanie Laurent - Inglourious Basterds
Mo'Nique - Precious

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Avatar
(500) Days of Summer
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Up

BEST SCREENPLAY ADAPTATION
Crazy Heart
An Education

Precious

A Single Man
Up in the Air

And yes because I am insane I will list out the other nominees as well.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Ponyo, Up

BEST ART DIRECTION
Avatar, District 9, Inglourious Basterds, The Lovely Bones, Nine

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, The Lovely Bones, Nine, Up in the Air

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
An Education, Inglourious Basterds, Nine, The Young Victoria, Where the Wild Things Are

BEST EDITING
Avatar, (500) Days of Summer, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Up in the Air

BEST MAKE UP
Avatar, District 9, The Road, Star Trek, Where the Wild Things Are

BEST MUSIC SCORE
Avatar, The Informant!, Sherlock Holmes, Up, Where the Wild Things Are

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Avatar, Brothers, Crazy Heart, Nine, Where the Wild Things Are

BEST SOUND
Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Nine, Public Enemies, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

BEST SOUND EFFECTS EDITING
Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Up

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar, District 9, Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, 2012


I don't know about Documentary short and feature and live action and animated short... and neither do you.

I have Avatar leading the pack with 11 nominations.
I predict that PIXAR will once again be snubbed a Best Picture nomination, this time for Up. But they'll be the odds on favorite to pick up a statue for Animated Feature.

Clint Eastwood's Invictus will be shut out totally.
Star Trek will be shut out of the major awards.

And yes, I predict Kevin O'Connell will get his 21 nomination for Best Sound. He's never won.
And seeing he will be nominated for Public Enemies and not Avatar or The Hurt Locker... he's kinda screwed.

Let's compare these predictions with the actual nominees tomorrow morning and see how I did.


And take a look at my Oscar rants from 2005 while we are at it.