Really only five Best Picture nominees

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences was looking to boost the ratings of its Academy Awards® show by doubling the number of Best Picture nominees to ten. But when you look at the list, take away the window-dressing and figure "Up" will win Best Animated Feature, it really does come down to only five Best Picture nominees after all isn't it? The real question is whether the Academy will give the Oscar to Avatar or some art film, and the answer to that is obvious. But who knows with these fogies? If they were going to throw ten flicks into the mix, to win some popular appeal for their windy show, you'd have thought they'd at least throw in The Hangover.

Academy Award ®Best Picture nominees:
“Avatar”
“The Blind Side”
“District 9″
“An Education”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”
“Up in the Air”

Let's cut away the frivolous nominees:
“Avatar”
“The Blind Side”
“District 9″
“An Education”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”
“Up In The Air”

The actual Best Picture nominees:
"Avatar"
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
"Up In The Air"

Oscar® nominations: Ten for Best Picture

The 82nd Annual Academy Award® nominations were announced this morning.

Best Picture
“Avatar”
“The Blind Side”
“District 9″
“An Education”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”
“Up in the Air”

Best Direction
“Avatar” — James Cameron
“The Hurt Locker” — Kathryn Bigelow
“Inglourious Basterds” — Quentin Tarantino
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” — Lee Daniels
“Up in the Air” — Jason Reitman

Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon in “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Animated Feature Film
“Coraline”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“The Princess and the Frog”
“The Secret of Kells”
“Up”

Art Direction
“Avatar” — Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” — Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
“Nine” — Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
“Sherlock Holmes” — Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
“The Young Victoria” — Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Cinematography
“Avatar” — Mauro Fiore
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” — Bruno Delbonnel
“The Hurt Locker” — Barry Ackroyd
“Inglourious Basterds” — Robert Richardson
“The White Ribbon” — Christian Berger

Costume Design
“Bright Star” — Janet Patterson
“Coco before Chanel” — Catherine Leterrier
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” — Monique Prudhomme
“Nine” — Colleen Atwood
“The Young Victoria” — Sandy Powell

Documentary (Feature)
“Burma VJ”
“The Cove”
“Food, Inc.”
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”
“Which Way Home”

Documentary (Short Subject)
“China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province”
“The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner”
“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant”
“Music by Prudence”
“Rabbit à la Berlin”

Film Editing
* “Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
* “District 9” Julian Clarke
* “The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
* “Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz

Foreign Language Film
* “Ajami” Israel
* “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina
* “The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
* “Un Prophète” France
* “The White Ribbon” Germany

Makeup
* “Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
* “Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
* “The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Music (Original Score)
* “Avatar” James Horner
* “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
* “The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
* “Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
* “Up” Michael Giacchino

Music (Original Song)
* “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
* “Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
* “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Short Film (Animated)
* “French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
* “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
* “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
* “Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin
* “A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park

Short Film (Live Action)
* “The Door” Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
* “Instead of Abracadabra” Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
* “Kavi” Gregg Helvey
* “Miracle Fish” Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
* “The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Sound Editing
* “Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
* “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
* “Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
* “Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
* “Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Sound Mixing
* “Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
* “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
* “Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
* “Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
* “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Visual Effects
* “Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
* “District 9” Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
* “Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
* “District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
* “An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
* “In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
* “Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Writing (Original Screenplay)
* “The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
* “Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
* “The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
* “A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
* “Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

Yes, Cloud 9 is linked to Oscar®'s Best Picture!

Hey, we almost let the Oscars® slip away without mentioning the incredible connection between this year's Best Picture, Slumdog Millionaire, and Cloud 9, the hilarious 2006 sports comedy written and produced by our pals at Frozen Pictures. For a couple of years now, we've had an annual list of the eerie one-degree-of-separation between the beach volleyball sex comedy and social satire starring Burt Reynolds and the nominees and eventual holders of the golden statuette ("Michael Clayton star ((and Best Actor nominee)) George Clooney appeared with Cloud 9 costar Paul Rodriguez on the 2003 TV special, Playboy’s 50th Anniversary Celebration. He also appeared as “Joe” in the 1991 TV series Baby Talk, in which Tony Danza, who appears in Cloud 9, supplied the voice of a baby...").

And with our Tabloid Baby research staff has been let loose on other subjects this season, it's been left to our readers to point out the the link between Cloud 9 and Slumdog Millionaire: mainly that Cloud 9 remains a big hit in India! Bollywood giants Shemaroo Entertainment released deluxe DVD and VCD versions of the movie in 2007. Its popularity spread because of favorable comparisons to a Bollywood hit starring Indian superstar Shahrukh Khan (also known as “King Khan”), as a disgraced captain of the Indian hockey team who decides to coach a female hockey team. Wrote Shemaroo:


"The story is much akin to our Bollywood ‘Chak De’. A washed out former star, who is in need of money and an ambition to be fulfilled works towards a get rich plan and starts a volleyball team whose players consist of a group of beautiful athletic strippers. Burt Reynolds efforts in forming the world’s sexiest beach volleyball team with the strippers, is seen as a rib tickling comedy. Eventually though as the girls’ popularity swells, they want to win the crowds with their abilities, and not their bodies where these girls team up and play a match against actual volley ball players."

Cloud 9, of course, was written and produced by Frozen Pictures' Brett Hudson and Burt Kearns, along with Albert S. Ruddy, Oscar®-winning producer of The Godfather and Million Dollar Baby.

And get this: Shahrukh Khan introduced Slumdog at the Golden Globe Awards (where Burt Reynolds took home a Best Actor trophy in 1998) and starred with Amil Kapoor, the Bollywood star who played the TV host in Slumdog, in the 1995 Bollywood classic Trimurti.

We don't make this stuff up...

Oscar blows it again

What's wrong with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences? Every time they have a chance to connect with the general moviegoing audience, they reject that and pass over great popular art in favor of pretentious phony intellectual middle of the road and basically dishonest fare that poses as grand statements. Are Frost/Nixon and The Reader really better movies than The Dark Knight? The Reader? Milk?? Does Richard Jenkins really deserve a nomination more than Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino? There are some really good movies out there that people line up to see, but the Oscar folks obviously answer to a higher power than the public. Expect Benjamin Button to beat Slumdog Millionaire and the singing and dancing Hugh Jackman Oscars show to get even lower ratings than Jon Stewart.

Is Jon Stewart part of Obama "smear" campaign?

Jon Stewart took time from his Academy Awards® joke monologue to point out to 30 million viewers that Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama's middle name is "Hussein" and that his last name rhymes with "Osama"? It came off as less a joke than a Hannityesque political statement attached to a lame punchline; far more blatant, and reaching far more viewers than Tina Fey's girlie Hillary Clinton diatribe on Saturday Night Live. Could Stewart be a Hillary supporter, as well?

Or, in light of the Obama "smear picture," circulated simultaneously by Clinton's camp and front and center on Drudge this morning, could this be part of something bigger-- and uglier?

Jan. 18th, HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher:

Newsweek international editor Fareed Zakaria: I think somebody wrote, “Imagine this Pakistani jihadi, you know, sitting there looking up at Barack Hussein Obama. It’s very tough to say to yourself, you know, I’ve got-- I’ve got to wage a jihad to bring down this guy.”

Maher: Right. He’d probably see “Hussein,” and go, “Hey…” [laughter] All right, so--

Zakaria: Do you know what? Actually, a couple of people in Pakistan actually did tell me-- and these were not militants, these were Pakistani businessmen – but they said, “You know what? I love the fact that somebody with the middle name, ‘Hussein,’ can run for president in America.” I said-- I said to them, “That’s because nobody in America knows his middle name is Hussein.” [laughter] [applause] Wait – wait until the Republicans bring that up in the – in the general election.

Maher: Right, well, wait until the Republican slime machine gets hold of that middle name. [laughter] Trust me, it won’t be quite as cute.

Feb. 24th, Academy Awards® broadcast
before 30 million American viewers:

Jon Stewart: You have to give Barack Obama credit, he’s overcome a great deal. Not just he’s an African-American. Barack Hussein Obama is his name. His middle name is the last name of Iraq’s former tyrant. His last name rhymes with Osama. That’s not easy to overcome. I think we all remember the ill-fated 1944 presidential campaign of Gaydolf Titler.