The 82nd Oscars (honoring 2009 movies) are now history.
WINNER: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds)
He's the fifth actor to be nominated from within Quentin Tarantino's filmography and the first to win. The previous nominees were Thurman, Travolta and Jackson in Pulp Fiction and Forster in Jackie Brown.
READER'S PREFERENCE POLLING: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
NATHANIEL'S VOTE: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
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Matt Damon
"Francoise Pinnear" INVICTUS 39 years old 34 films 2nd nomination |
Woody Harrelson
"Capt. Tony Stone" THE MESSENGER 48 years old 43 films 2nd nomination |
Christopher Plummer
"Leo Tolstoy" THE LAST STATION 80 years old 80(ish) films (*not including a ton of tv and voice work) 1st nomination! |
Stanley Tucci
"George Harvey" THE LOVELY BONES 49 years old 56 films 1st nomination! |
Christoph Waltz
"Col. Hans Landa" INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS 53 years old 21 (?) films (mostly television work) 1st nom & win! |
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Other Awards none |
Other Awards NBR, Indie Spirit |
Other Awards none |
Other Awards none |
Other Awards |
| How'd They Get Nominated? | ||||
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29% Eastwood historical drama = instant traction. |
38% Performance: Effective and moving 33% Role: Alcoholism and grief are classic Bait. Plus: Plenty of screentime 11% Career endurance. Props for that. 9% Topical film 6% Timing: late enough to be fresh in memory, not so late that it got trapped in December glut 2% weed-lovers unite! 1% Zombieland |
41% Career Honors. They've ignored him for decades and he's 80 years old. Times a wastin. 33% Role: It's a lead and you know about the endless Oscar allure of the biopic 9% Performance 8% Helen Mirren 7% Sorry about The Insider. No, we don't know what we were thinking either. 2% Bird noises |
38% Role: Voters are hot for psycho killers 25% Performance: Big, sweaty, underlined, scenery chewing 22% An "it's time" nod. Early traction won from 'He's turning 5o. He's done great work in the past. He's having a big year.' 10% Voter apathy. They didn't think to look elsewhere once Bones met bad reviews 5% Julie & Julia |
55% Performance: witty, funny, scary 27% Role: big and very well written 7% "That's a Bingo!" catchphrases that enter public discourse are gold. 5% Hit film and BP nominee 3% WW II factor... even if it's a fantasy version of same 2% Tarantino 1% Fine acceptance speeches all season |
| Will Win / Should Win | ||||
| Christoph Waltz has it in the bag. There was no sentimental "career" swell for Woody or Plummer, apart from their nominations. It's a good place to reward the entertaining Tarantino film. | ||||
| Who Got Robbed? | ||||
| Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker) can't catch a break, can he? Despite repeatedly solid work in Oscar nominated films (8 Mile, Half Nelson, Million Dollar Baby) and now a large role in a Best Picture frontrunner they've never noticed him. What will it take, do you think? Christian McKay (Me and Orson Welles) worked a typical Oscar-Bait role (famous person mimicry) to great reviews and "major debut!" buzz but in the end his film was too small to register with voters. | ||||