Sean Diggins
Staff Writer

The 82nd, 2009, Oscars awards will be shown on ABC March 7, 2010, hosted by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. The nominees were anounced February 2 with Avatar and The Hurt Locker receiving 9 nominations, but I still don’t expect it to be a sweep by either of them.

The Nominees for Best Picture are: 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, and Up in the Air.

The Hurt Locker is genuinely the best film of the year and on top of that it is direct by James Cameron’s ex-wife. This could either hurt or help her, but I believe the voters will be ready for a change from Cameron being seen as the king of film. And, really, the only other competition for best picture would be Up in the Air, considering Avatar wasn’t a movie; it was a ride. What puts The Hurt Locker above Up in the Air is its realistic portrayal of the Military, not Hollywood’s Generic message of the military being a terrible institution.

The Nominees for Best Actor are: Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), Colin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman (Invictus), Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), and George Clooney (Up in the Air).

Best Actor is really just a two-man race between Jeff Bridges and George Clooney. These awards are just as political as they are about who actually did a performed better. So, Seeing as Jeff Bridges has been nominated 4 times but never won and George Clooney has won once before for Syriana, I predict Jeff Bridges to win for his performance in Crazy Heart.

The Nominees for Best Supporting Actor are: Matt Damon (Invictus), Woody Harrelson (The Messenger), Christopher Plummer (The Last Station), Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones), and Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds).

Christoph Waltz was able to play a serious character in a very comedic movie. This presents quite a challenge and he pulls it off seamlessly.

The Nominees for Best Actress are: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side), Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Carey Mulligan (An Education), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire), and Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)

Gabourey Sidibe Is going to win this one because this is her first nomination and she puts on the performance of an abused pregnant teenager in movie about addiction and self strength. There really is no competition for this award when an actress plays a role of such confliction.

The nominees for Best Supporting Actress are: Penélope Cruz (Nine), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart), Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), Mo’Nique (Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire)

Again this is the first nomination for Monique and she plays a very corrupted and misunderstood character. Therefore, she really has no competition for this award.

The nominees for Best Director are: James Cameron (Avatar), Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds), Lee Daniels (Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire), and Jason Reitman (Up in the Air).

All of the directing aspects of Avatar were top notch whether or not the actual movie was very good. James Cameron spent 15 years working on this film and all of the photography and character placement in every scene is great, therefore James Cameron will win this one.