Thanks in part to the decision to double the Best Picture nomination pool at the Academy Awards this year, there could be some surprises, both pleasant and unpleasant, when the winners are announced March 7.
Here are just five potential results that, should they come to pass, will compel me to purchase a hat and then eat it to satisfy my ire.
5. Nobody mentions how ironic it is that Steve Martin is co-hosting the show (with Alec Baldwin) after willfully conspiring in the defilement of Peter Sellers’ legacy by starring in two god-awful “Pink Panther” remakes. Baldwin’s in the hot seat on this one, so I’m expecting at least a verbal jab to make Martin feel the shame he deserves.
4. Sandra Bullock defies common sense and seals her pact with the devil to win Best Actress. Although Bullock has announced she doesn’t think she’ll win, I’m convinced that’s just a ploy to distract people from the new pentagram-heavy decor in her Southern California home.
3. Christoph Waltz doesn’t get his due as Best Supporting Actor. Waltz’s performance as Col. Hans “The Jew Hunter” Lando is the most memorable character Quentin Tarantino has come up with since Jules Winnfield in “Pulp Fiction,” and credit for that goes largely to Waltz’s masterful, twisted performance.
2. Anybody but Jeff Bridges wins Best Actor. Bridges is so engrossing he makes fictional, down-on-his-luck country singer/songwriter Bad Blake seem like a real person. He dons the scruffy look and whiskey soaked vocals so thoroughly it’s easy to forget “Crazy Heart” isn’t a biopic. That’s a sign of true greatness and well deserving of the highest accolades.
1. “Avatar” wins for Best Picture. Much as I was in awe of “Avatar” and would be confused and disappointed if it lost in technical categories, it was absolutely not the best picture of the year, despite what the Golden Globes might have led you to believe. Besides, if King James Cameron takes this award, as seems disturbingly likely, his ego will overtake Pluto as the Solar System’s largest pseudo-planet.