Over three months ago, we raised our tomato-shaped anchor and set sail
through the cinematic province affectionately known as Awards Tour. And this
coming Sunday, March 7, we reach journey’s end: the 82nd Annual Academy Awards.
Amidst all the nomination chaos, you, our knowledgeable reader, have been voting
all season long on the movies and stars you thought should take home the
trophies.
Now show your supernatural talents of awards clairvoyance one more time for
the biggest show of them all. Read on to vote in polls for all of the major
categories, along with background on their races so far.
In addition, RT’s Editor-in-Chief Matt Atchity will be attending the Oscars
ceremony, providing live Twitter updates to be found on our
Awards Tour page and of course,
on Twitter. And using your
Facebook account, you’ll be able to share reactions live with RT staffers
and readers during the broadcast.
While RT will be here for your dual screen viewing, we know you’ll be watching
the show with your other friends (we’re not offended). That’s why we’ve whipped
up this snazzy Oscar ballot for you and your “real-life” friends to print and
follow along with during Sunday’s telecast.
So vote now and stay with us during Sunday’s telecast! We’re looking upon you
to collectively predict the winners of the biggest awards at this year’s Oscars!
Will RT users be able to sweep this year’s predictions? All shall be revealed
March 7!
Despite having ten nominees this year for the first time, the race for Best Picture appears to have three clear standouts. Up in the Air got off a strong start this season with Best Feature honors from both the National Board of Review and Washington D.C. Film Critics, but more recently, much attention has been paid to Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker and James Cameron’s record-smashing Avatar. The Hurt Locker was named Best Feature by Boston and Los Angeles critics’ societies, the National Society of Film Critics, along with the Broadcast Film Association via the Critics’ Choice Awards. After taking moviegoers on a trip through Pandora, Avatar won Best Motion Picture – Drama at the Golden Globes, along with Best Picture from New York’s online film critics. With these three films being clear standouts from the pack, do any of the seven other nominees, including Golden Tomato winner Up and surprise nominee The Blind Side, stand a chance at taking home the night’s biggest award?
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Going into the Oscars, the competition for Best Director has a clear leader in terms of momentum, but a recent high profile win for a little sci-fi blockbuster certainly keeps the category interesting this year. Outside of a Best Director win for Clint Eastwood‘s Invictus from the National Board of Review and a buzzworthy win at the Golden Globes for James Cameron‘s Avatar, director Kathryn Bigelow has taken home nearly every Best Director honor available for the prestigious award, including a win from her peers in the Directors Guild. But despite Bigelow’s dominance of the category this season, it feels tough to count out Cameron, Quentin Tarantino‘s work on Inglourious Basterds, or even past Best Director nominee Jason Reitman for the award. Relative director newcomer Lee Daniels certainly made himself a much better known name this year with Precious, which previously shined at Sundance under its original name Push: Based on the novel by Sapphire. If this season’s past awards are any indicator, anything other than a Bigelow win would be considered a huge upset, but Best Director could prove an interesting platform for a surprise win.
The Best Actor race has taken a number of different momentum turns that have ultimately left the category with no definitive leader, only a favorite, as four out of the five nominees have taken home Best Actor awards on this year’s awards tour. Morgan Freeman and George Clooney split Best Actor honors from the National Board of Review, but it was Clooney that would go on to take the honor from Washington, D.C. critics and the New York Film Critics Circle, while Freeman’s win represented his only Best Actor award this season. In the discussion all season long was The Hurt Locker‘s Jeremy Renner, who was named Best Actor by the National Society of Film Critics and the Boston Society of Film Critics, where the film also won Best Picture and Best Director. But the name with the biggest amount of buzz and highest number of wins this season is Crazy Heart‘s Jeff Bridges, who was named best actor by the Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globes, LAFCA, Broadcast Film Critics, and New York Film Critics Online. Going into the Oscars, Bridges has significant momentum amongst a well-decorated field of male leads, who could all potentially challenge him for the Oscar.
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Jeff Bridges |
George Clooney |
Colin Firth |
Morgan Freeman |
Jeremy Renner |
Much like Up in the Air‘s early wins in the Best Picture category, An Education‘s Carey Mulligan was an early leader in the Best Actress race with awards from the National Board of Review and Washington, D.C. film critics. But soon after, multiple Oscar nominee and winner Meryl Streep appeared to take over the conversation for her portrayal of Julia Childs in Julie & Julia, winning awards from the New York Film Critics Circle and New York Film Critics Online, along with the Boston Society of Film Critics. But more recently, Sandra Bullock has gained significant momentum after tying with Streep at the Critics’ Choice Awards and taking home Best Actress honors at the Golden Globes. Bullock also represents the only actress nominated for an Oscar who is also nominated for a Razzie award this year. While no major Best Actress awards have yet gone to Precious‘ Gabourey Sidibe (who has won multiple “breakthrough”-type awards) or The Last Station‘s Helen Mirren, the thought of either of them winning the Oscar doesn’t feel like it would be too big of an upset.
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Sandra Bullock |
Helen Mirren |
Carey Mulligan |
Gabourey Sidibe |
Meryl Streep |
Inglourious Basterds‘ Christoph Waltz‘s run in this year’s Awards Season has been nothing short of perfection…almost. If it wasn’t for an early Best Supporting Actor win for The Messenger‘s Woody Harrelson from the National Board of Review, Waltz’s individual performance through the past three month’s awards shows is as close to a clean sweep as you’re going to find for any category this year. While Waltz faces some very accomplished competition from not only Harrelson, but previous Oscar Best Actor nominee Matt Damon, Emmy winner Stanley Tucci, and somehow first time nominee Christopher Plummer. But before we award Waltz the 8.5 pound statue, let’s remember that even the previously undefeated New England Patriots lost to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII, so nothing is guaranteed. But to say that that Waltz is anything but the frontrunner for the award would be an understatement.
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Matt Damon |
Woody Harrelson |
Christopher Plummer |
Stanley Tucci |
Christoph Waltz |
Much like the Best Supporting Actor category, its female counterpart category has had a single dominant performer all season – Precious’ Mo’Nique. Like the Best Supporting Actor category, it was the National Board of Review, who named Up in the Air‘s Anna Kendrick as its winner for her very buzzworthy and breakout performance (other than the Twilight series, of course) as an enthusiastic graduate entering the workforce, nervously excited to reduce workforces via webcam around the country. Outside of that award, which was one of the season’s earliest, Mo’Nique’s image changing and breakout role in her own right in Precious has not only been a success with critics, but has been one of the most talked about performances of the year, outshining all the buzz around the tag team of Kendrick and Vera Farmiga for Up in the Air. Maggie Gyllenhaal was a surprise nominee this year based off of precious nominations and Penelope Cruz has played gracious nominee all season to Mo’Nique’s dominance. As would be the situation with Christoph Waltz in the Best Supporting Actor category, based on this year’s awards, it would have to be considered a surprise to see anyone but Mo’Nique or possibly Kendrick take home the award.
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Penelope Cruz |
Vera Farmiga |
Anna Kendrick |
Mo’Nique |
Maggie Gyllenhaal |
Come back and watch the Oscars with RT this Sunday, March 7 starting at 4:00PM Pacific/7:00PM Eastern for live coverage of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards! With your trusty Oscar ballot in hand, we’ll be covering the show via Twitter and Facebook on our Awards Tour headquarters with all the latest winners and pictures live from the show!
