"Nine," "Inglourious Basterds" Lead 2009 Critic's Choice Awards

By our guest blogger, Colin George

Award season is once again in full swing and the best-of lists are coming out of the woodwork to honor 2009’s finest cinematic achievements. The BFCA (Broadcast Film Critics Association, of which Week in Rewind's Christopher Smith is a member) recently announced their picks for the 15th annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards, with Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” and Rob Marshall’s “Nine” leading the pack, tied at a record 10 nominations each. Both films received a nod for best picture, best cinematography, best art direction, best editing and best acting ensemble, among others.

Rounding out the CCMA best picture category are “Avatar,” “An Education,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Invictus,” “Precious,” “A Serious Man,” “Up,” and “Up in the Air.” The show airs on VH1 live Friday, January 15, 2010. A complete list of categories and nominees can be found here:

BEST PICTURE

Nominees:
• Avatar
• An Education
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Invictus
• Nine
• Precious
• A Serious Man
• Up
• Up In The Air


BEST ACTOR

Nominees:
• Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
• George Clooney - Up In The Air
• Colin Firth - A Single Man
• Morgan Freeman - Invictus
• Viggo Mortensen - The Road
• Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker

BEST ACTRESS

Nominees:
• Emily Blunt - The Young Victoria
• Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
• Carey Mulligan - An Education
• Saoirse Ronan - The Lovely Bones
• Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
• Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Nominees:
• Matt Damon - Invictus
• Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
• Christian McKay - Me And Orson Welles
• Alfred Molina - An Education
• Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones
• Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Nominees:
• Marion Cotillard - Nine
• Vera Farmiga - Up In The Air
• Anna Kendrick - Up In The Air
• Mo’Nique - Precious
• Julianne Moore - A Single Man
• Samantha Morton - The Messenger


BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS

Nominees:
• Jae Head - The Blind Side
• Bailee Madison - Brothers
• Max Records - Where The Wild Things Are
• Saoirse Ronan - The Lovely Bones
• Kodi Smit-McPhee - The Road


BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

Nominees:
• Inglourious Basterds
• Nine
• Precious
• Star Trek
• Up In The Air


BEST DIRECTING

Nominees:
• Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
• James Cameron - Avatar
• Lee Daniels - Precious
• Clint Eastwood - Invictus
• Jason Reitman - Up In The Air
• Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Nominees:
• Mark Boal - The Hurt Locker
• Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - A Serious Man
• Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber - (500) Days Of Summer
• Bob Peterson, Peter Docter - Up
• Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Nominees:
• Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach - Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell - District 9
• Geoffrey Fletcher - Precious
• Tom Ford, David Scearce - A Single Man
• Nick Hornby - An Education
• Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner - Up In The Air

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Nominees:
• The Hurt Locker
• Nine
• Avatar
• The Lovely Bones
• Inglourious Basterds


BEST ART DIRECTION

Nominees:
• A Single Man
• Avatar
• Nine
• The Lovely Bones
• Inglourious Basterds


BEST EDITING

Nominees:
• Up In The Air
• Inglourious Basterds
• The Hurt Locker
• Avatar
• Nine


BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Nominees:
• Nine
• Bright Star
• The Young Victoria
• Inglourious Basterds
• Where The Wild Things Are


BEST MAKEUP

Nominees:
• Avatar
• District 9
• Nine
• The Road
• Star Trek


BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Nominees:
• Avatar
• District 9
• The Lovely Bones
• Star Trek
• 2012


BEST SOUND

Nominees:
• Avatar
• District 9
• The Hurt Locker
• Nine
• Star Trek


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Nominees:
• Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
• Coraline
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Princess And The Frog
• Up


BEST ACTION MOVIE

Nominees:
• Avatar
• District 9
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Star Trek


BEST COMEDY

Nominees:
• (500) Days Of Summer
• The Hangover
• It’s Complicated
• The Proposal
• Zombieland


BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Nominees:
• Gifted Hands
• Grey Gardens
• Into The Storm
• Taking Chance

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Nominees:
• Broken Embraces
• Coco Before Chanel
• Red Cliff
• Sin Nombre
• The White Ribbon


BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Nominees:
• Anvil
• Capitalism: A Love Story
• The Cove
• Food, Inc.
• Michael Jackson’s This Is It


BEST SONG

Nominees:
• "All Is Love" - Karen O, Nick Zinner - Where The Wild Things Are
• "Almost There" - Randy Newman - The Princess And The Frog
• "Cinema Italiano" - Maury Yeston - Nine
• "(I Want To) Come Home" - Paul McCartney - Everybody’s Fine
• "The Weary Kind" - Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett - Crazy Heart


BEST SCORE

Nominees:
• Michael Giacchino - Up
• Marvin Hamlisch - The Informant!
• Randy Newman - The Princess and the Frog
• Karen O, Carter Burwell - Where The Wild Things Are
• Hans Zimmer - Sherlock Holmes


Not to be outdone, the Associated Press and Time magazine’s Richard Corliss also have made their choices for best picture known:

David Germaine (AP)
The Hurt Locker
Precious
The White Ribbon
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Up
An Education
(500) Days of Summer
Passing Strange
Anvil: The Story of Anvil
The Damned United

Christy Lemire (AP)
Moon
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Up
District 9
A Serious Man
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Sugar
Passing Strange
Drag Me to Hell

Richard Corliss (Time)
The Princess and the Frog
Up
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Up in the Air
The White Ribbon
A Single Man
Of Time and the City
District 9
Thirst

Obviously there are quite a few crossover picks, though conspicuously, none of the stand-alone critics shared the BFCA’s enthusiasm for “Basterds” or “Nine.” In fact, the only other unanimous picks were Pixar’s “Up” and Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker.”

I’m frankly surprised by the amount of attention both of those films are receiving, as I consider “Up” one of Pixar’s less successful animated features, and “The Hurt Locker” a topical but ultimately insubstantial action film. I am glad to see the Coen brothers’ “A Serious Man” mentioned by Lemire, among the likes of less traditional genre picks like “Moon” and “Drag Me to Hell.”

So, what do you think? Are the critical picks justified? Are “Inglourious Basterds” and “Nine” the films to remember the end of this decade by? Is social relevance enough to warrant the excessive praise for “Hurt Locker?” Are there glaring omissions?

There is no pleasing everyone, but awards season is our opportunity to hash out opinion at our most apologetically pretentious. So, have at it.