Best Costume Design
the fashionistas are

Bright Star Janet Patterson	Chéri Consolata Boyle	An Education Odile Dicks-Mireaux	Inglourious Basterds Anna B Sheppard	The White Ribbon Moidele Bickel
Love how distinctive Fanny's own designs are and the difference between utilarian basics and dressier fare. Everything is gorgeous. And that triple pleated mushroom collar! She's a trailblazer	The Belle Epoque lends itself to excessive design, the characters also demand it. Boyle understands the collective vanity both warranted and overworked. And that black hat! [gasp]	Jenny is adorable as a school girl but in her off hour ensembles she's aging up and working for sophistication. I especially love the fashionable Helen & David, whose lavish lifestyle thrills her	Sheppard is aces with this time period as her filmography shows but what's special here is the stylized modernish flourishes: that red dress with veil and Brigitte's tailored starpower	It's hard to costume for B&W films. Who knows what color these severe ensembles are (other than that scarlet letter white ribbon) but a full range of socio-economics is on display
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Finalists: The Last Station -Monika Jacobs * Fantastic Mr. Fox -uncredited * The Young Victoria -Sandy Powell * Semi Finalists: Nine -Colleen Atwood * Julia -April Napier * Taking Woodstock -Joseph Ausili * The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus -Monique Prudhomme *

 

 

Best Cinematography
the visual storytellers are

	_____________________________ Antichrist Anthony Dod Mantle Whatever you make of the content, it's visually hypnotic whether out of focus, black and white or saturated with color
	Bright Star Greg Fraser He maximizes Janet Patterson's beautiful production/costume design with expressive light. You can frame almost any, well, frame.
	Inglourious Basterds Robert Richardson QT's films were always verbally dazzling. Lately, with Richardson's help, the visuals are nearly as compelling
	Nine Dion Beebe Beebe outdoes his own Chicago here, with color and shadow. He accentuates all the gorgeosity of the stage (and the women)
	Where The Wild Things Are Lance Acord He paints so expressively with light and often with a dreamy haze. What does Oscar have against him anyway?
Finalists: The White Ribbon -Christian Berger * The Hurt Locker Barry Ackroyd * Avatar -Mauro Fiore * Semi Finalists: Hunger -Sean Bobbit * Broken Embraces -Rodrigo Prieto * A Single Man - Eduard Grau * Sin Nombre -Adriano Goldman
The Oscar Race

 

 

Best Art Direction / Production Design
the well apointed films are

	_____________________________ Avatar Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg & Kim Sinclair Pandora is so brilliantly imagined. The color palette should be gaudy but its beautiful
	Coraline Henry Selick, Philip Brotherton, Bo Henry & Tom Proost So intricately designed. And twice over too: Coraline's world and the Other skewed world
	Fantastic Mr. Fox Nelson Lowry & Francesca Maxwell So charming and quaint, a diorama storybook come to life with great wit
	Inglourious Basterds David Wasco The dairy farm. The theater. The basement bar. We sure enjoyed our time there.
	Moon Tony Noble & Hideki Arachi The influences show but its more than simple homage. It's lived in (and quite miraculous given the budget).
Finalists: Bright Star Janet Patterson * Where the Wild Things Are KK Barrett * Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Stuart Craig * Semi Finalists: A Serious Man Jess Gonchor * Up Ricky Nierva
The Oscar Race

 

 

Best Editing
the sharp cutters are

(500) Days of Summer Alan Edward Bell	Avatar James Cameron, John Refua and Stephen Rivkin	The Hurt Locker Bob Murawski & Chris Innis	Inglourious Basterds Sally Menke	Up in the Air Dana E Glauberman
Engages playfully with the lively structure and star turns, with comedic instincts of his own.	Cameron's peerless action storytelling, relies heavily on sharp disciplined editing. Great pacing throughout.	tick-tick-tick. The bomb squad scenario comes with tension ready. The editors wind things even tighter.	Menke is one of QT's MVPs: she amps up tension, increases laughs, and exploits the best in the acting	The cutting is so slickly polished and sharp it gleams like an aluminum wing, slicing through the clouds.
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Finalists: Duplicity John Gilroy *A Serious Man Roderick Jaynes * Hunger Joe Walker * District 9 Julian Clarke Semi Finalists: Bright Star Alexandre de Franceschi* Drag Me To Hell Bob Murawski * Moon Nicholas Gaster *

Best Visual Effects
the "how'd they do that?" nominees are

Avatar	District 9	Where the Wild Things Are
We've had 3D and CGI forever now, but the execution is so splendid it still feels miraculously new. The dragon taming sequence alone...	Filmmakers have been mixing the real and the animated (by hand or computer) for decades. It's done marvelously here belying its budget	A beautifully expressive full toolbox of tricks. Nothing feels mechanical or impersonal (as overuse of CGI often does)
Finalist: Star Trek * Terminator Salvation * Semi-Finalists: Coraline * Watchmen
Oscar race

Best Make Up & Hairstyling
they gave good face

District 9	Inglourious Basterds	The Road
Such excellent body horrors that Cronenberg himself would be proud	Two glamorous undercover girls, period coiffures and Nazi scarring	All those grim ashen faces and obvious nutritional deficiencies
Finalist: the recreation of iconic characters for Star Trek * the cinematic divas of Nine * Semi-Finalists: Bobby Sands wastes away in Hunger * Beautiful period work that's not too beautiful for characters of limited means in Bright Star * The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus may be operating on a low budget (the show not the movie) but that's what DIY inspiration is for *
Oscar race

 

Best Animated Film
the glorious toons are...

Coraline	Fantastic Mr. Fox	UP
inventive, magical, spooky and beautifully crafted	a perfect match of filmmaker and form. hilarious, too	start with a brilliant concept and you're already sky high...
Finalist: ABSTAIN. I haven't seen as much as I'd hope animation wise this year. But if Mary & Max had been eligible for the FiLM BiTCH Awards (it received no NYC release), it would have probably been a nominee. It's one-of-a-kind special.
Oscar race

 

 

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