Movies '09 - The Best, or Award Worthy?

[Olo401]

Yes, there is a difference.. (for example, see the Academy's best picture nominees of 2005)

...but that's just an extreme example. Each year there's the big movies that are popular but normally wouldn't get nominated for anything, technically brilliant movies that would only receive awards in technical categories, and artsy or movement movies that debut in late December and don't get widespread audience yet can pull in the trophies.

That might change this year though, with the expansion of the best picture category to ten nominees. Even with those additional slots, this year really has been an amazing year for science fiction which usually takes a back seat in the main categories. (For the record, I think District 9 has a really good shot at winning best picture, and Watchmen seriously deserves a nod.)

But we're still a couple weeks away from the cutoff, and at least a couple months from the nominations.. so for now it's open season. What's your big name faves, or art house raves?

[Qalbert]

Did someone say "the best"?

[Kwijiboe]

I really don't see The Watchmen or District 9 coming close to a nomination. I mean, George Clooney was in three movies this year, so that only leaves 7 slots available for other films.

Hurt Locker is going to be nominated for sure, but will lose because it doesn't lean politically right or left enough to win the award.

District 9 may be nominated because it has a political message, but I don't expect it to win/be nominated for anything other than technical awards, perhaps writing.

Best Actor - George Clooney vs. George Clooney vs. George Clooney vs. Guy that deserves award (Frank Langella made Nixon look good last year, and LOST - However, he was in supporting actor category). George Clooney walks away with win.

Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz definitely is my favorite

Best Actress/Supporting - I have not seen Precious, but I'm hearing that they are Oscar favorites, and boy does Hollywood like fat black women.

Best Director - I'm thinking it will be Kathryn Bigelow for Hurt Locker. However, she is a woman. No woman has ever won the Director Oscar, but three have been nominated. This makes me think that she will win.. she has a political edge.

[Jaybar]

I always look forward to Best Musical Score and Original Song. They are typically always spot on with the nominations (don't agree all the time with the winner, but music is a lot more touchy than film for me).

I haven't been able to see any of the top movies this year (or contenders). I want to think Watchmen might get nominated for their score, but that's very debatable. Seeing how Slumdog pulled away with both music categories, I wouldn't doubt one of the Christmas debut films gets nominated (i.e. "best for last" deal).

I would LOVE to see Jackie E. Haley get nominated for Best Supporting Actor at least. He did such a fantastic job portraying Rorschach from comic to film.

[Brill Weave]

Zombieland will make a clean sweep of the awards shows.

[antihero]

Jennifer's Body for every single one

[Headspace]

I'm sorry, but if the Academy doesn't nominate every piece of Avatar for every award, it will be an absolute failure.

[Qalbert]

^sarcasm?
I see it winning a bunch of technical stuff, but score was nothing special, and as a whole, while enjoyable, was far from best picture

[Olo401]

I really don't see The Watchmen or District 9 coming close to a nomination. I mean, George Clooney was in three movies this year, so that only leaves 7 slots available for other films.

Hurt Locker is going to be nominated for sure, but will lose because it doesn't lean politically right or left enough to win the award.

District 9 may be nominated because it has a political message, but I don't expect it to win/be nominated for anything other than technical awards, perhaps writing.

Here's why I think Watchmen would be nominated for BP even if there was still only five slots - Haley's performance as Rorschach was great, and the adapted screenplay are AMAZING (and will probably WIN an award). Add in the technical stuff and it could get Zack Snyder a nod for Best Director (and usually Best Director pairs up with Best Picture).

I haven't seen D9 or Avatar yet to know how good they are first-hand, but my understanding is that D9 is excellent and has that political bend that the Academy likes, and Avatar's visual effects are awesome but the story is kinda outdated and falls flat.

Getting out of all the sci-fi madness, Hurt Locker is definitely right there as is Up In The Air (it's a good movie with or without Clooney tbh). Others I think will be up there are Inglorious Basterds, Nine, Bad Lieutenant and The Road.

[Vandole]

d9, avatar, and the hangover better win something.

[Tyche]

Up

[Kwijiboe]

Animated movies have their own category.. kinda lame, because Pixar just wins it no matter what. Pixar/animated films can't compete against other movies for best picture.

I also thought "Up" was a lower quality film than previous pixars. :/ I think they hamfisted conflict into that movie when they came up with the bad guy.

[Kwijiboe]

Love this BG community. We can have 250+ pages about a single anime show and can only barely get to the second page in a thread about the best movies that came out in 2009. NFL pages don't even go that high, and that is where a lot of the spammers take a break from pokemon breeding (MMMMMM) to come out to play.

NERDS.

[Kyo]

NERDS.

lol

[Weeks]

People seriously think District 9 is going to win awards?

If they'd clumsily inserted a 45 minute blatant allegory about racism into the beginning of Transformers 2 would people be clamoring for a best picture nomination for it too? The difference between the two movies is that Bay didn't run out of money to blow shit up with so he didn't have to pretend his movie was anything else.

[Deftscythe]

I thought paying attention to awards shows was something only old people and the nominees themselves did.

[Titanss]

Saying Watchmen will get nominated is like saying Sin City should of got nominated, that shit just isn't happening.. it's the Oscars man..(ya they're bother killer movies) maybe for a tech award, but Picture no way

anyway look for movies like Up in the Air (ya that clooney movie) and Invictus. MAYBE Sherlock Holmes will grab something, I figured that's why they wanted it out before the year ended. Precious will be one and ya I dunno i'll add more as i think of them

[Tyche]

Love this BG community. We can have 250+ pages about a single anime show and can only barely get to the second page in a thread about the best movies that came out in 2009. NFL pages don't even go that high, and that is where a lot of the spammers take a break from pokemon breeding (MMMMMM) to come out to play.

NERDS.

Meh, NFL threads average 50 pages a week. Bleach ain't got shit...Then again, the gist of it is about Dallas, so it's largely unimportant. I wish I could ban Cowboys talk, it would make the threads so much better, and significantly shorter.

[Headspace]

Meh, NFL threads average 50 pages a week. Bleach ain't got shit...Then again, the gist of it is about Dallas, so it's largely unimportant. I wish I could ban Cowboys talk, it would make the threads so much better, and significantly shorter.

Ahem.

[Brill Weave]

Honestly I think the guy who played Rohrshach should at least get a best supporting actor nod. He was fantastic. No fucking around now. Looking at the movies that came out last year these are the ones I can see getting nods right off the bat.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince & Avatar for special effects or something along those lines.

Up, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Coraline will go head to head for the animated movie awards.

Notorious and the Soloist will be up to satisfy the black contingent.

The Hurt Locker will get a slew of nods but I think Invictus might squeak in there as well.

Michael Jackson's This Is It will get something I'm sure.

I'm not going to be surprised to see Where the Wild Things Are or 500 Days of Summer get some recognition either.