Sean's Oscar Winner Predictions

Having 10 nominations with preferential voting (best to last) makes predicting the best picture a little bit harder. Hurt Locker is definitely a front runner. It has Critics Choice, DGA, PGA, and BAFTA. Its director is all but won the Oscar for Best Director. But with the preferential voting, if you as an Academy Member wanted to see another film win, you could put Hurt Locker last with the thinking it is going to get a lot of number 1 votes. It is Hurt Locker vs Avatar. They will divide the honors as they do many years. And this is how I see the major awards stacking up:

Best Picture: Hurt Locker
Best Director: Kathyrn Bigelow
Best Adapted Screenplay: Up in the Air
Best Original Screenplay: Inglorious Basterds (Hurt Locker maybe)
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique (would love to see Anna Kendrick take this award)
Animated Feature: Up!

I look for Avatar to win in the technical categories:
Best Cinematography
Best Sound
Best Sound Editing
Best Visual Effects
Best Art Direction

The other awards I see as follows:

Best Editing; Hurt Locker (matches Best picture usually)
Best Song: Weary Kind from Crazy Heart
Best Score: Up! (maybe Avatar?)
Best Make Up: Star Trek
Best Costume: Nine (I am crazy I know but the combination of Atwood/Marshall wins. Everybody and their dog is predicting Young Victoria)

Best Foreign Language Film: The White Ribbon
Best Documentary: The Cove (never had a documentary affect me like this film did emotionally. It is entertaining, a technical marvel and emotional)

The shorts category is always anybody's guess and which film has most buzz.

Front Runners:
Documentary Short: Last Truck or China's Unnatural Disaster?
Live Action Short: The Door?
Animated Short: Wallace and Gomit A Matter of Loaf and Death (Nick Park has 2 W&G Oscars) or French Roast? Is Logorama just too much? ( I have seen all them accept Wallace and Gromit)

And finally just fun if I were going to rate the movies for Best picture from best to last here is my list:
Up In the Air (My favorite film of 2009!)
Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
Up!
Avatar
Precious
Serious Man
District 9
An Education (This is my pick as most overrated film of 2009. Did not get it.)
The Blind Side (Bullock is great in the film but this is a Lifetime Channel movie of the week! Come On!)

I may change these a little before the big night. Stay tuned....

Sean Marshall