Academy Awards Preview

The 82nd Academy Awards are here to honor the finest in film for 2009. And I hope they actually do.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

I will start by taking on the easiest category. This is the biggest lock of the night. I feel bad for the other nominees in this category for having no chance. Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds is the best performance from the past year. Bet on it.

Winner: Christoph Waltz

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

This category also seems to be a lock, with Mo'Nique sweeping all the major awards leading up to tonight. Though I hate rewarding someone who has done nothing of merit up to this point in her career (Reminder: She was in Phat Girlz), no one else nominated really blew me away.

Winner: Mo'Nique

BEST ACTOR

This is the deepest category of the night, but it seems as though the fifth time will be the charm for Jeff Bridges. Crazy Heart was not a great movie and not his best performance, but he's done enough to earn this as essentially a lifetime achievement award.

Winner: The Dude

BEST ACTRESS

If there was one potentially frustrating category for me, here it is. If Sandra Bullock wins, she will be the first to ever win a Razzie (Worst Actress for All About Steve) and an Oscar in the same year. It proves she is barely trying to do good work. And her performance in "The Blind Side" is perhaps the most overrated from the past decade. It once again shows how shallow the talent pool for female actors is in Hollywood. There is no way Meryl Streep should not win. She's one of the two best actresses in the world (Along with Kate Winslet) and is far superior to anything Bullock will ever do.

Winner: Meryl Streep

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY/BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Tarantino got robbed at the Golden Globes. His take on WWII is easily the best and most original screenplay. I hope the Academy shows him some love here, since the top awards seem to be a two-horse race.

I mentioned he got robbed. This was done by Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, who will win for best adaptation. For some reason there is only one writing category at the Globes. The Hollywood Foreign Press should fix that.

Winner (Best Original Screenplay): Quentin Tarantino
Winner (Best Adapted Screenplay): Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner

BEST PICTURE/BEST DIRECTOR

These two categories are closely contested. Though most of the momentum is with The Hurt Locker and its director Kathryn Bigelow, I think these awards should go to Avatar and James Cameron. He worked on it for four years, and created new technology that changed the possibilities of 3-D filmmaking. He created a new world and new language. And the movie shattered his own Box Office record (Titanic) by taking in over $2.5 billion. Though gross revenue shouldn't give movies like Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel any Oscar buzz, this is on a completely different level. Though I think The Hurt Locker and Bigelow will win, I would vote for Cameron and Avatar.

Footnote: It's an embarrassment that The Blind Side was nominated for Best Picture.

HONORABLE MENTION

The Best Animated Feature category deserves multiple awards this year. Up will win, but Fantastic Mr. Fox, Coraline and The Princess and the Frog could easily win in other years.

DISHONORABLE MENTION

How was Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story not nominated for Best Documentary Feature?

FINAL THOUGHT

I'm curious to see Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin host. Though I doubt they are the best choice, both are great performers. But Steve Martin hasn't been funny since the '80s.

Hugh Jackman did an amazing job as last year's host. Hopefully, they will do the same tonight.