Oscar 2010: Who SHOULD win

Only days away from the big night now, and I am eagerly anticipating the results. I'm more excited that it will put an end to a season which has been stretched out for entirely too long than I am excited to see my favorites win. Unfortunately, plenty of my favorites won't win. Here is who I would like to win come Sunday night. I will post my predictions for who will win later this week.

• Motion Picture: "An Education" (or "The Hurt Locker")

To further break this down, I'll rank them like Academy members do.

1. "An Education"
2. "The Hurt Locker"
3. "A Serious Man"
4. "Inglourious Basterds"
5. "District 9"
6. "Avatar"
7. "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
8. "Up in the Air"
9. "Up"
10. "The Blind Side"

I would have to put An Education at the top, but honestly, I would just as well have The Hurt Locker win.

• Director: Kathryn Bigelow - "The Hurt Locker"
• Actor: Jeff Bridges - "Crazy Heart"
• Actress: Carey Mulligan - "An Education"
• Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz - "Inglourious Basterds"
• Supporting Actress: Maggie Gyllenhaal - "Crazy Heart" (or Mo'Nique - "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire")
• Best Adapted Screenplay: "An Education"
• Best Original Screenplay: "A Serious Man"
• Art Direction: "Avatar"
• Cinematography: "The Hurt Locker"
• Costume Design: "Bright Star"
• Film Editing: "The Hurt Locker"
• Makeup: "Star Trek"
• Original Score: "Fantastic Mr. Fox"
• Original Song: "The Weary Kind" from "Crazy Heart"
• Sound Editing: "Avatar"
• Sound Mixing: "The Hurt Locker"
• Visual Effects: "Avatar"
• Animated Feature Film: "Fantastic Mr. Fox"
• Foreign Language Film: "Ajami"
• Documentary: "The Cove"*
• Documentary Short: "China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province"*
• Short Film (Animated): "French Roast"*
• Short Film: "The Door"*

I hope you don't consider my having two options for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress as cop-outs. I truly would love to see either selection win in both of those categories. I almost pulled the same stunt for Adapted Screenplay. In the Loop is worthy of the Oscar, but I ultimately have to stick with my Best Picture winner, An Education.

*I don't really have much of an opinion on the last four categories, as I haven't seen the films.

My tally:

"The Hurt Locker" - 4 (5)
"Avatar" - 3
"Crazy Heart" - 3
"An Education" - 3
"Fantastic Mr. Fox" - 2
"Ajami" - 1
"Bright Star" - 1
"China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province" - 1
"The Cove" - 1
"The Door" - 1
"French Roast" - 1
"Inglourious Basterds" - 1
"A Serious Man" - 1
"Star Trek" - 1
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" - (1)