Golden Globes 2010 Predictions: Best Picture – Comedy or Musical

2010 Golden Globes Predictions: Best Picture – Comedy or Musical

The Informant! (above, with Matt Damon), d: Steven Soderbergh; scr: Scott Z. Burns
A pathological liar helps the US government nab a nefarious agribusiness conglomerate.

Julie & Julia (above, with Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci), d & scr: Nora Ephron
Julia Child starts cooking decades ago, while in the early 21st-century blogger Julie Powell decides to boil and broil every single recipe found in Child’s first book.

The Men Who Stare at Goats (above, with Kevin Spacey), d: Grant Heslov; scr: Peter Straughan
US military "intelligence" and its use of paranormal activities.

Nine (above, with Judi Dench, Penélope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Sophia Loren, Stacy Ferguson, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson), d: Rob Marshall; scr: Michael Tolkin, Anthony [...]

Vera Farmiga, Jason Reitman, Anna Kendrick: London ‘09

Vera Farmiga arrives for the premiere of Up in the Air, a potential Oscar nominee, during the Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival at the Vue West End on October 18.
Photos: Samir Hussein/Getty Images

Anna Kendrick, Jason Reitman, Vera Farmiga

Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick at the Up in the Air photocall

Oscar 2010: Early Predictions – Best Supporting Actress

Best Supporting Actress

Penélope Cruz, Nine
A film director’s seductive mistress (if she’s half as tantalizing in the film as she is in the above photo, Cruz deserves not only a nod but the golden statuette itself)

Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
A professional downsizer’s trainee

Mo’Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
A pregnant, illiterate teen’s Mom from Hell

Julianne Moore, A Single Man (with Colin Firth)
A married alcoholic pining for an English professor — who just happens to be both gay and suicidal

Emma Thompson, An Education
A school headmistress in 1960s London

The most disputed acting category in the 2010 Oscar race. In addition to the aforementioned five actresses, five others who could easily land a nomination (in case their movies open [...]

Oscar 2010: Early Predictions – Best Actor

BEST ACTOR

George Clooney, Up in the Air
A professional downsizer finds the frequent-flying love of his life while having to come to terms with his long-lost humanity.

Matt Damon, The Informant!
A pathological liar helps the FBI nab his employer, a dishonest agribusiness conglomerate.

Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine (with Marion Cotillard)
In this musicalized remake of Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2, Daniel Day-Lewis plays the old Marcello Mastroianni role of the Italian film director trying to cope with the women in his life.

Colin Firth, A Single Man
In 1960s Los Angeles, a gay college professor is determined to kill himself after learning that his lover has died in an accident.

Viggo Mortensen, The Road
A man and his son struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.

I’d say that four [...]

Oscar 2010: Early Predictions – Best Director

BEST DIRECTOR

The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow

The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson (above, with Saoirse Ronan)

A Serious Man, Joel and Ethan Coen

Up in the Air, Jason Reitman (above, with George Clooney)

The White Ribbon, Michael Haneke

In all honesty, I don’t know who the hell will get a best direction nod this year — though I’m pretty sure it’ll be five of the ten directors listed in my "tentative" 2010 best picture Oscar list.
For the record, the other five not listed above are: Lone Scherfig for An Education; Grant Heslov for The Men Who Stare at Goats; Lee Daniels for Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire; Steven Soderbergh for The Informant!, and Rob Marshall for Nine.
Unless, of course, Jane Campion manages to [...]

Oscar 2010: Early Predictions – Best Picture

BEST FILM

An Education, d: Lone Scherfig; scr: Nick Hornby
In Swinging (suburban) London, a teenager decides to have her first sexual experience with a man in his thirties.

The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow; scr: Mark Boal
An elite unit of the US Army must disarm bombs during combat in an "enemy" city in Iraq.

The Informant!, d: Steven Soderbergh; scr: Scott Z. Burns
A whistle-blower (who also happens to be a pathological liar) helps the US government nab an agribusiness conglomerate.

The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson; scr: Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens
A murdered girl, now a heaven-resident, sees how life has changed in her small Pennsylvania town following her disappearance.

The Men Who Stare at Goats, d: Grant Heslov; scr: Peter Straughan
A journalist gets involved with US [...]

Toronto 2009: UP IN THE AIR, YOUNG VICTORIA, Israel Controversy

George Clooney in Up in the Air

Nomi Morris on Up in the Air in GlobalPost, via The Huffington Post:
"This year, the film that has generated the greatest buzz is Up in the Air, the latest by [Jason] Reitman, director of the hits Juno and Thank You for Smoking, and son of Hollywood director Ivan Reitman (Ghost Busters). Up in the Air stars [George] Clooney as a "termination engineer," who has no home life outside of his job, jetting around the country helping American companies fire people. Both funny and sad, the film examines a society where frequent flier points become a substitute for family attachments. Reitman used documentary footage of 25 real people who had lost their jobs in Detroit [...]