Hollywood Rolls Out the Red Carpet
By Mary Beth Gentle
This year when Hollywood rolls out the red carpet there will be quite a few more hopeful filmmakers walking down it. This year, the best picture category goes from five films to ten, with all of them vying for the coveted title of Best Picture. That’s five more films that Academy Members have to watch, five more sets of filmmakers crossing their fingers and five more chances that a movie I actually saw will win the top prize. The top ten contenders this year are; Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Bastards, Precious, A Serious Man, Up and The Air Up There.
It’s tough to clearly know which Film will be the big winner this year. There are more choices than there have been since 1944 – that was the year the Academy began restricting the nominations to five films. But, it seems like this year, even with double the titles – it looks to be coming down to two films that will be going for the golden statue, Avatar and The Hurt Locker. They have gone head to head at all the award events up to this point.
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker follows a United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team during the Iraq War as they deal with defusing bombs, the threat of insurgency and their own internal tensions. The film is based on the accounts of freelance journalist Mark Boal as he expertly tells the story of soldiers dealing with life in a war zone. The film practically swept the BAFTA’s (British Academy Awards) and has been winning Guild Awards all over town.
In the story of Avatar, Oscar-winning director James Cameron takes us to a world beyond the imagination. Set in the future, paraplegic war veteran, Jake Sully is sent to the moon called Pandora where he will become an Avatar. He will regain the use of his legs as he is transformed into one of the indigenous people on the planet. In his new body, he will embark on an epic adventure to save a race of people and a planet from its human invaders. Avatar has also won awards with Best Picture at the Golden Globes, but with a gross of 700 Million domestically and close to 2.5 Billion worldwide, it has really been the biggest winner at the box office.
This is the first year in a long time that I have actually seen more than just one of the nominated films. For that reason alone, it promises to be an exciting Awards show. And even though there are films that deserve the golden statue for their dramatic story telling or for their heartbreaking honesty, I can’t help but cling to the hope that the box office favorite, Avatar, will take home the big win. And it’s not for any other reason than it has done for movies what none other has done in a long while, it has pulled people out of their homes, out of their routines, away from their television sets and brought them back into the movie theatre.
So, no matter what your favorite film may be, I hope you take the time to tune into the Academy Awards show on March 7th, grab a bowl of popcorn and sit back and enjoy the show. Because no matter what film takes home the prize this year, it’s bound to be worth watching.
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