2010 Best Picture Contenders
Are 'Star Trek,' 'District 9' and 'Avatar' on the list? You bet they are
2010: The year Oscar lives dangerously
It's no exaggeration to proclaim the advent of the new 10 nominations rule has completely changed the Oscar race. Films that wouldn't have had a stone's throw of being seriously considered when there were only five nominees now have excellent chances to forever engrave the magic words: "Best Picture Nominee" on their DVD box, Blu-ray packaging or iPhone download receipt.
The goal of the change, of course, was to make sure critical and commercial blockbusters such as last year's "The Dark Knight" and "WALL-E" weren't ignored by sometimes too discerning Academy members. Things haven't completely worked out in the Academy's favor this year as the number of truly quality commercial hits isn't as large as you'd hope. Making matters worse are films that could have potentially sneaked in such as "Public Enemies" and "Funny People" aren't strong enough to make even a broad contenders cut. Still, looking at the pool of candidates it wasn't hard to find 29 legitimate contenders for Oscar 2010. And yes, they even include some popular summer flicks such as "Star Trek," and "District 9" as well as this December's highly anticipated "Avatar."
Take a gander at the pros and cons of this year's pool of potential nominees and share your thoughts below.
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September 30, 2009 at 1:28PM EST Reply to CommentApollo 13 wasn't science fiction! It was science fact!
arash
September 30, 2009 at 3:24PM EST Reply to CommentThey like this
spencer
September 30, 2009 at 6:07PM EST Reply to CommentWhat about SIN NOMBRE? Next to THE HURT LOCKER, the most powerful film of the year.
Yonatan
October 1, 2009 at 8:37AM EST Reply to CommentTitanic won "only" 11 Oscars, not 12.
Y And, about Amelia-
October 1, 2009 at 9:09AM ESTMira Nair was nominated as the director for Foreign Language nominee Salaam Bombay! (India, 1988).
Gabriel Yared won his Oscar for The English Patient (1996), not Cold Mountain (2003).
October 1, 2009 at 4:07PM ESTThat Werewolf Guy
October 1, 2009 at 10:46AM EST Reply to CommentI always wonder why people think that "more Best Film nominations" automatically means "now with popcorn movies". I think it's pretty clear that they will just nominate the kind of movie, that would have usually been nominated. Only that there are now five more of them.
Remember: It's still the same jury!
storymark Unless you are part of the academy, that is just as much of a guess as those who think it's so they can include the popcorn flicks.
October 8, 2009 at 8:53PM ESTGiven the tumbling ratings, I think the odds of seeing some of those flicks in there, movies that general audiences have ACTUALLY SEEN, is highly likely.
But it's just a guess.
DSTAR
October 5, 2009 at 4:02PM EST Reply to CommentHavent managed to see that many of this years contenders. Maybe i will see more of them as leak online and the like. Definitely going to check out the hurt locker though, the opinion of it seems to be high. Am intrigued to see how precious and Mr fox turn out. I probably have more to say on it when i see more.
Chuck
October 5, 2009 at 7:05PM EST Reply to CommentPuh-leez, nothing Drew Barrymore has done since 'E.T.' deserves Oscar consideration, other than Best Use of the Television Medium to Promote Oneself.
bob
October 9, 2009 at 8:17AM EST Reply to CommentOff the top of my head, some songs from 'Nine.' My Husband Makes Movies, Folies Bergere, Be On Your Own.
Since when does something have to be familiar to be good?
Leon
October 14, 2009 at 11:48PM EST Reply to CommentCongratulations to the sloppy, sub-par, ignorant author of these 29 poorly spelled & constructed pieces. You managed to NOT fuck up a mere seven of them! I'd say "better luck next time", but you should probably think about a career change - toll booth collector, perhaps. At any rate, so long as you're correcting your numerous factual, spelling and syntax errors, these should keep you busy for a while:
1) "at the the helm" - repeated word
2) "James Cameron last film" - no possessive apostrophe
3) "preformed very respectively at the box office" - mis-spelled word plus incorrect word
4) "Kenneth Turran" - mis-spelled
5) "It's weak year" - missing word
6) "big screen adaptation off a Tony Award winning musical" - mis-spelled word
7) "features six (!) Academy Award winning actors in its cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench and Nicole Kidman." - only five names listed
8) "received mixed reviews to be kind and few had." - nonsensical sentence
9) "Vicky Christina Barcelona" - mis-spelled title
10) "former nominees Catherine Keener" - unnecessary plural
11) "Besides the fact its science fiction you can't ignore its also "Star Trek."" - missing apostrophes [twice] in contraction of "it is"
12) "E.T. The Extra-Terrestial" - mis-spelled
13) ""The Thin Red Line," was received seven nominations" - unnecessary word
14) "there has only been one year when either British-set period drama or flick with English actors didn't make the final five" - missing word [twice]: missing an "a" before "British" and an "a" before "flick"
15) "its completely in French" - missing apostrophe in contraction of "it is"
16) "even better than its recent precessors" - mis-spelled word
17) "acclaimed children's novel by Ronald Dahl" - mis-spelling of Roald Dahl's first name
18) "vocal talent such as George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Adrien Brody, Michael Gambon, Brian Cox and Jason Schwartzman" - repetition of name
19) "Fahrenheiht 9/11" - mis-spelled title
20) "to over come that hurdle" - unnecessary space between "over" and "come"
21) "post-apocolyptic novel" - mis-spelled
22) "the indie road the buzz out of Sundance" - mis-spelling of "rode"
23) "a shoe in" - mis-spelling [and missing hyphen] of "shoo-in"
24) "stars as a widower who decided to go" - change of tense within sentence [present to past]
25) "Gabriel Yared won for "Cold Mountain"" - Yared won for "The English Patient"
26) "the Coens latest" - missing possessive apostrophe
27) "Saroise Ronan" - mis-spelling of Saoirse Ronan's first name.
IndyB God Leon, you don't have to be so mean. I think the choices are really good and I'm personally opting for 'Inglorious Basterds.'
October 26, 2009 at 11:51PM ESTJohn D.
October 23, 2009 at 7:50PM EST Reply to CommentIf you don't think it is going to be a contender, why is it on this list?
jezza
October 27, 2009 at 6:30PM EST Reply to CommentThere might be too many biopics this year and they will all probably start to split the biopic vote (between Amelia, Public Enemies, Bronson, The Young Victoria, Bright Star, Invicius, Julie & Julia, The Damned United and even Notorious). As a result they might just shut each other out. Star Trek and District 9 may split the sci fi vote. Up and Fantastic Mr Fox may split the animation vote.
My dark horse is The Hangover in case these split votes actually happen.
VPD
December 21, 2009 at 2:19PM EST Reply to CommentAvatar should be on top
aaron Avatar is stupid.
February 21, 2010 at 8:17PM EST