Well, as the first wave of awards have settled in, we can be very confident of one thing. These will be your ten Academy Award nominated films for Best Picture:

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An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
Precious
Up
Nine
Invictus
A Serious Man
Up in the Air

There you have it. The least exciting Best Picture nominations race in Oscar history. And we have the Academy to thank for it. As we all know, the Academy decided earlier this year to expand the Best Picture field from five to ten nominees. And now, we are starting…
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The Hurt Locker, Precious and Up in the Air are all continuing to look like Oscar contenders after picking up nominations for best motion picture at the Golden Globes.

Best Motion Picture – Drama

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The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire
Up In The Air

Best Motion Picture – Musical Or Comedy

First thing tomorrow morning, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association will announce their nominations. There are two categories for Best Picture: Drama and Musical/Comedy. The Golden Globes have become less of an indicator of the Oscars over the years, but they still are a fairly influential group. Here are our predictions:

Best Picture Drama:

The Hurt Locker
Invictus
An Education
A Serious Man
Inglorious Basterds

Best Picture Musical/Comedy:

Nine
Julia and Julia
Up in the Air
Up
Fantastic Mr. Fox

The LA Film Critics went in a different direction than the National Board by awarding The Hurt Locker, an early awards favorite, both best picture and best director. Precious picked up its first award with Mo’Nique’s win for best supporting actress.

Best Picture: “The Hurt Locker”

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”

Best Actress: Yolande Moreau, “Séraphine”

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”

Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, “Precious”

Tomorrow, the Los Angeles Film Critics will weigh in on the Oscar race. The impact of the LAFCA is HUGE. They are second in line, following the National Board of Review, so their selection will either start a trend or spin the race in an entirely different direction. Slumdog Millionaire won the LAFCA last year and its momentum never stopped. Meanwhile, LA Film Critics helped vault Letters from Iwo Jima and There Will Be Blood into the thick of the Oscar race. Big questions tomorrow will be whether Carey Mulligan and George Clooney can continue their runs after picking up…
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By Francine Schwartz

Enjoying a movie requires a certain amount of suspension of belief. After all, we are glimpsing into the lives of characters we’ve just met. And we are given only two hours or so to grasp it all. When a movie works, we are drawn into the story to such an extent that the boundaries of time become meaningless. The missing pieces fall into place and we manage to forget that what we are watching is a representation of events and human interaction, and not the actuality. For those two hours in the dark, we are “there.”…
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The National Board of Review celebrated Up in the Air with awards for best picture, best actor, and best supporting actress earlier today. In a surprise, Precious, a early awards favorite, did not garner any major awards.

Best Picture: Up in the Air

Top Ten:
An Education
(500) Days of Summer
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Star Trek
Up
Where the Wild Things Are

Best Actor: George Clooney, Up in the Air; Morgan Freeman, Invictus

Best Actress: Carey Mulligan, An Education

Best Supporting Actor: Woody Harrelson, The Messenger…
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On December 3rd, Oscar season officially kicks off as the National Board of Review unveils their Best Picture, top ten list, and acting awards. This is a VERY important group. When there were five Best Picture nominees, usually you would find at least four of them on the NBR’s top ten list. Additionally, their acting award winners frequently go on to win the Oscar. Past winners have included Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Forrest Whitaker, Helen Mirren, and Jamie Foxx. For the past two years, they have nailed Best Picture. Last year, they picked Slumdog Millionaire and the year before they forecasted…
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