Academy Awards...I haven't a clue

Wow, talk about a change. In 2008 I saw 100 films in the theater over the course of one year. In 2009, I'd be surprised if it topped thirty. Its now four days into March and mere days away from the Academy Awards. I have seen four of the Best Picture nominees, and only two of the nominated acting performances. Oh and I've seen exactly zero movies in the theater this year. Now this is in part because I've been pretty poor, in part because well have you seen the films being released? Now my lack of blogging and lack of writing reviews I am sure was a thrill to everyone out there. But I figured I should say something before the Academy Awards.

I'm not sure what I should say. I can't exactly pick my horses as I have seen almost none of the movies. But the only thing I find about as fascinating as movies is predictive markets. Which have all but chosen every major award.

Best Director? Overwhelmingly the market thinks this is Bigelow's. Sure, why not. It was a decent enough film and it is a pretty glaring oversight that no woman has ever won a best director award.

Supporting Actor/Actress: These have Christoph Waltz and Mo'Nique. I saw Mr. Waltz's performance and its one of the great things in Inglorious Basterds, hell one of the only good things in that movie which I didn't care for so much. Mo'Nique won the Golden Globe so sure sounds reasonable. I didn't see any of the supporting actress roles.

Best Actor/Actress: Bridges blows the market competition out of the water. The movie idiot abides. Sandra Bullock is leading by a healthy margin but not with the close to 90% margin that the previously mentioned nominees are. Meryl Streep by virtue of the fact that she is Meryl Streep has about the remaining third of the market. Upset? Wait is it an upset when Meryl Streep wins?

Best Picture: Again a strong lead for Hurt Locker but not total. Avatar has about a third of the market. Now this is the one category wherein since its basically a horse race between Avatar and Hurt Locker, I can actually have an opinion. And unfortunately I'm torn. See I saw Hurt Locker after all the hype and frankly was underwhelmed. Not because it wasn't a decent movie but because well compared to some of the great movies I have seen in my life, well it seriously falls short. Avatar has its flaws sure but I enjoyed it quite a bit and there does seem to be a fair amount of hatred out there for it (which frankly I don't understand).

But then again the thought of James Cameron getting on stage and douching it up in an acceptance speech makes me shudder. Go Hurt Locker!