AVATAR REVIEW: Ho…Lee…Frak…
James Cameron definitely made the most of nearly 15 years and 300 Million dollars making Avatar, because it looks and feels completely unlike any movie ever. Maybe it’s the tasteful use of 3D technology, maybe the striking resemblance the CG characters have to their human actor equivalents, or maybe it was the fact that an entirely computer generated world actually felt REAL for the first time ever, but Avatar definitely knocked us both out… what about you?
December 19th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
i got to see this in IMAX 3D and it has been the best experience i have had at the movies.
December 20th, 2009 at 2:29 am
***spoiler***
Anybody else notice that the final throwdown with Quaritch was a reversal of the finale of ‘Aliens’, where now the hero is the alien and the bad guy is in the bigass robot armor?
December 20th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
There were absolutely NO PLOT TWISTS! Entertaining, yes. But STUNNINGLY predictable! Horrible!
…but visually stunning, of course.
December 20th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Saw it yesterday in 3D, it was amazing!
For almost 3 hours I felt like I left Israel and I’ve been to Pandora.
I love Sigourney Weaver, she’s a great actress. I wish she had a scene on that forklift-war machine,just like in the kick ass ALIENS.
Did you notice that…:
1) Ripley (Sigourney in ALIEN) was against the scientists of the corporation in the ALIEN saga who used aliens for money and in this movie she plays a scientist who works in a base of a corporation who wants to use aliens for money.
2) In the ALIEN RESURRECTION she said that only a monster could make experiments of trying to make a copy of the aliens from her mixed DNA and in this movie she’s in charge of that.
Maybe Cameron chose her not only for their past together (ALIENS) and her great talent , but also for all that opposites? I don’t think so but it’s an interesting thought.
By the way, I can’t wait for the upcoming Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland in 3D. I hope you’ll do a review on that movie.
Great review Mat + Nat
December 20th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
[SPOILER ALERT] I am a bit let down that they didn’t bring up how by the end of the movie, Jake’s completed the transformation from “Oorah, the jarhead grunt” to “Toruk Mukta, savior of the Na’Vi people.” I think the most powerful aspect of the film for me was seeing the entire battle for Pandora lead to the moment where Nayfiri meets the REAL Jake Sully (in fact, saving his life). Not only that, I felt that the entire battle had almost zero risk attached to it for Jake and the other Avatars. If they get shot and killed, they’re still alive, but the fact that the final fight scene with the colonel took place just a few yards away from where Jake was asleep and controlling his Avatar just made it real, and made it all the more powerful when Nayfiri saves his life. Excellent job Jim! I don’t care what the critics say, your movie was revolutionary to me.
December 20th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Breathtaking? Yes! Revolutionary..? Ehm.. kind of – the film really does live up to the hype; visually. As far as storytelling goes, the story is as predictable as grandma’s apple pie. Now, grandma’s apple pie is delicious, but it’s like, when you’ve ate it, you kinda regret eating it, thinking about the calories and all that. Well, Avatar is kinda the same, you’ll love it watching it, but what are you left with? The film kinda beats you over the head with its message (and yes, every film has a message, or an underlying ideology about the world, and I’m ready to be proven wrong) – and as far as Avatar goes, the message isn’t new, revolutionary or anything to the effect. If anything, its boring.. BUT set in this world (Pandora) and told in the way its done, it’s really … something new. Having followed the film’s production for over a year, I wasn’t disappointed by it, and I’m really looking forward to part 2 and 3, if there ever will other installments..!
…and I’m gonna see it again in cinemas as soon as I can!
-n0c-
December 21st, 2009 at 1:52 am
The movie is a combination of Pocahontas (in space and in the year of 2154, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FaQdU8eKuM ) meets FernGully The Last RainForest ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsIzcyYcuR4 ).
December 21st, 2009 at 9:27 am
Absolutely! This was such an organic film. The Nav’i people were beautiful, it felt like they could be a real race in space. They did an absolute fantastic job of capturing the likeness of the actors in their Avatars. The story concept was very deep and moving. In addition to the stylization, it was really very heartfelt. I fell in love with the Nav’i people right along with the lead Jake. I will surely be picking this up on DVD and adding it to my watch a million time over pile.
December 21st, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Good review guys, and agree in large parts. The visuals were not anything we haven’t seen before to some degree, but they were done with such attention to detail and such perfection that it has set a new standard. As you said, evolutionary. This film has definitely pushed us a big step towards bridging the uncanny valley (i.e. Frankenstein complex).
I think the biggest testament to how powerful the visuals were is that even though the story is simple and predictable, and the characters are largely one-dimensional, you get so drawn into the film that you can’t help but feel deeply upset when the inevitable conflict escalates. You become so attached to an entirely fictitious world that you can’t stand to see it destroyed. It is also somewhat amusing that the entirely animated creatures were more dynamic and convincing than the human actors.
What took away from it a little bit for me was how Jake had to incessantly blabber about what was happening. The analogy to Dances with Wolves is obvious, and that film was marked by long periods of virtual silence, which made the whole experience much more dramatic. Avatar could have benefited from a bit more quiet to let the visuals sink in even more. Also, while menacing, I found the Colonel to be an uninteresting character as he was entirely clichéd and one-dimensional. Giving him a little more depth and background would have helped immensely.
December 21st, 2009 at 11:49 pm
This one is on the list to see but, waiting to see in 3D. Thanks for the review and as always thanks for all you two do!
PS Nat..Love the long hair, it looks great….yes, yes, Mat yours is nice too!
December 22nd, 2009 at 8:24 am
Occasional slip of the Australian accent? What country was he meant to be from? I don’t recall anybody talking about where they came from.
December 24th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Well, this film will certainly ramp up the quality of CGI and technical stunts in future movie-making, just as “Terminator 2″ brought Morphing to the fore and “The Matrix” threw Bullet-Time Technology at us – both spawning countless imitators in decidedly lesser films. I’m not anything close to being in love with “Avatar”, although I will admit that it was a good time at the theater. If Cameron had been as innovative, focused, and demanding with the story as he was with the SFX, then it probably would have been the Film Of The Century instead of an entertaining three hours between holiday shopping and being stuck in traffic.
Combining the four traits of Film Quality, Popularity, Critical Acclaim, and Box Office Success in such a way to make 99% of the movie-going public happy is a Holy Grail that’s rarely achieved. “The Lord of The Rings” trilogy is the only example I can think of in recent memory that meets such a lofty criteria (and that was THREE movies, not just one!) I think Cameron really missed the boat here, as “Avatar” could have been afforded a top place in movie history – instead of being a film that everyone says “Yeah, but..” about when it’s brought up in those conversations.
December 25th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
I admit, when I first saw the preview for Avatar, I thought it looked really dumb. It looked like they took a video game with a lame plot and turned it into a movie that a bunch of video game junkies would love, but I wasn’t planning on going to see it. But the more publicity it got I started to wonder if maybe it was worth checking out. Then I watched your review. I went to see it with a few friends on Tuesday, getting sort of excited but still skeptical. But I loved it. I wouldn’t by any means say that “it is a must see movie for anyone who is planning on seeing a movie ever again”, but it was really an enjoyable movie. The plot was a pretty predictable, I felt like it I’ve seen pretty much the same story over and over again in various movies, but the backbone of the story was great. Thematically, it was a very compelling story. i really cared about the characters. Mat, I got choked up to when Naturi shouted “The Elwa has heard Jakes prayer!” I had goosebumps when the tree came down, and I HATED the colonel or whatever he was I can’t remember. It blew my mind that Trudy and Jake were the only two military people who had any reservations about what was almost genocide against a relatively peaceful group of people. It made me so angry that not only was no one else bothered by the injustice or bothered to fight against it, but they were actually cheering at the end of the colonel’s pep talk. They were CHEERING! I get that in real life people don’t always stand up for the right thing, they sometimes go along with it because they’re following orders, or they don’t care, or they’re brainwashed or whatever. I just find it extremely hard to believe that out of the whole military force stationed on Pandora, only ONE person didn’t follow through. At least in Outbrake the bombers actally seemed conflicted about bombing an entire town. By the end they backed off, but even if they didn’t at least you could tell they had a conscience. And that colonel was just heartless.
But I also wanted to comment on something I think it was Matt said about the ending-that they settled for a happy ending. I dissagree. Just because the ending we see seems happy- the humans lose the battle and are forced to leave Pandora, the Navi get to be left alone to live without outside interferrence, Jake gets to live with them and be with Naturi- in my mind that by know means constitutes as a happy ending. The real ending of the Navi’s story comes after what we see. Yes, they have their home back, but will it ever be the same? Their home tree has been torn down, the sacred trees have been destroyed, imagine how many of their friends and relatives were killed, and the humans left behind so much devestation aside from just what they themselves infliced. The wreckage from all the crashed helicopters and robots, the abandonded military base, all their equipment, etc. The enviornment, ecosystem, whatever, has been completely ruined. The balance of nature that the navi so cherised and and protected is in total devestation. This is the problem with all the world disaster or alien invasion movies. For example, Armageddon– Yes, they stopped the meteor from completely demolishing earth, but even though the human race survived the impending doom, what about all the damage caused by the meteorite showers? How many people died from that? and the amount of damage to big cities etc must have caused a whole list of disasterous consequences- radiation leaks, every possible kind of polution, break downs in the political system, the list goes on and on. Just because they survived doesn’t mean they will keep surviving. Pandora will never be the same again.
And lastly, the effects. Oh my goodness. I would definately agree with calling it “evolutionary” rather than “revolutionary”. A lot of it has been done before, this movie just took it to the next level. Either way, it was stunning. I wasn’t totally sold on the realism all the time, there were scenes that did look very fake compared to other CGI animated landscapes or worlds or anything- Naboo in the Phantom Menace, Hogwarts in Harry Potter. What truly impressed me were the small details of the avatars. Their fine motar skills were impressive, their lips did move flawlessly unlike many computer animated mouths that just don’t move quite right, and their toes. I know it may seem strange that off all the effects in this movie I noticed the toes, but that first scene in the forrest where they showed the shot of just their feet as they were walking or running (I don’t remember, I think it may have been in slow motion) was incredible. The way their toes all worked together along with their feet, you could distinguish all the separate bones in the feet, all in all they just looked exactly like human feet. they were so real.
December 25th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Ok i will admit when I first saw the preview for Avatar, I thought it looked incredibly stupid. To me it looked like a video game, visually and in terms of the actuall plot, as if it were actually a video game with a lame plot that someone decided to make into a movie because it would get all the video game junkies excited. So I wasn’t planning on seeing it. But then it started getting more and more attention in the media. It was all over the news and the paper about these revolutionary new visual effects. I was intrigued. Still didn’t want to see it, but it at least had my attention. I was planning on going to see it with some friends despite myself, not to see the movie, but just to spend time with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while. I didn’t really care to see the movie. Then I watched Matt and Nat’s review. You both seemed to love it, and even though its only been about a month since I’ve discovered YourGeekNews, I trust Matt and Nat’s evaluations. You guys definately know what you’re talking about. Plus, I’m a huge Trekkie. Now while the new Star Trek movie got a “Holy $#!T J.J.”, Avatar got “Ho…Lee…Frak”. So by the looks of things it was pretty good. By know I was actually looking forward to seeing it. So thanks Matt and Nat! You convinced me!
Needless to say I really enjoyed it. Not my fav movie ever, but I was pleasantly surprised and I really did love it. The effects were nothing much compared to all the hype they got, I would definatley agree with calling it ‘evolutionary’ as opposed to ‘revolutionary’. I wasn’t always sold on the reality of Pandora in some scenes. I would say Naboo and Hogwarts were both far more believable than Pandora, which at times did resemble a videogame. What really got me was the small details. The movement of the Avatars, their fine motor skills. Their mouths moved flawlessly, differing from many CGI creatures whose mouths just don’t move quite right. And their feet. It seems an odd thing to notice, but one of the things that really captivated me the most was how perfect their feet were. That one scene in the forest towards the beginning where they just show a shot of their bare feet running through the forrest. You could see all the distinguised bones in the toes and feet, the contours, and the way they moved. It looked just like a real foot, flawless animation, absolute perfection.
In terms of the story, it was predictable. I could have seen the same essential story fifty times before. And there weren’t any creative solutions to the conflicts the characters faced. They just got lucky a lot. Those rhinosourous looking creaturs coming out of no where, the barbaric black wolfish animal that came after the fist creature, throughout the whole movie there was some serious deus ex machina. But the truth is that there really are no new stories out there. But aside from its predictability, the essential backbone of the story was very compelling. The nature of the Navi people, their lifestyle and believes and tradition, and the characters. i really cared about the characters. Matt, I got kinda choked up too when Naturi shouts “Elwa has heard Jakes prayer!” Inspiring. And my heart broke for the Navi when home tree fell.
But one thing that really bothered me was that Trudy was the only military besides Jake to not blindly follow orders that were so wrong. I get that in real life people do things under orders that aren’t right, they’re brainwashed, they don’t care, they feel like they have no choice, whatever. I get that. But of all the people stationed there, only one person wanted to protect Pandora? I mean at least in the movie Outbreak the soldiers were visably conflicted about bombing an american town, even if it was supposedly for the protection of the rest of the country. They didn’t go through with it thanks to Dustin Hoffman, but even if they did at least you could tell they had a conscience. The soldiers in Avatar were CHEERING after the colonel’s little pep talk, cheering at the prospect of something pretty darn near genocide. That for me was just a little out there.
And the ending. Matt said something about them settling for a happy ending. I don’t by any means believe that this was necesarily a happy ending. Yes, the Navi won, the humans were driven off of Pandora, Jake got to stay and be with Naturi, and Grace is with Elwa. But what really makes it a happy ending or not is what happens after the end of the movie. Just because the humans are gone doesn’t mean all their troubles left with them. The humans left such wide-spread devestation and destruction that there is not a chance they could go back to their old, happy lives pre-humanity. There home is destroyed, their friends and family have been killed, and the balance of nature has been totally uprooted, almost literally. The enviornment that the worked so hard to protect has been totally destroyed. Trees have been cut down, wreakage of all the crashed helicopters must be everywhere, forrests have been burned, the list of consequences go on and on… I really don’t believe it was a happy ending at all. Their lives will never be the same and Pandora will never be the same. I would even go so far to say the days ahead of them will be harder than the ones they faced during the human occupation of Pandora.
Anyway, all in all, it was a good movie. I wouldn’t at all go so far as to say its a “must-see for anyone who is planning on seeing another movie ever again” ha ha, but it was good. Pretty good plot, some great effects, pretty descent acting, and totally worth the three hours. I wasn’t bored once. I hardly noticed it was so long at all. I’m glad i saw it though. Now i want to see it in 3D!
December 25th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
sorry there’s two comments. they’re both pretty much the same but my computer was being stupid and at first it didn’t post, so i did it again, and then the first one decided to show up. so they’re both there now. Oops ha ha
December 29th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
When you talk about Weaver’s Avatar, I noticed the same thing.
However, I think the reason it looks so much like her (or well, what my theory is…) is because she was one of the first Avatars created. Maybe hers was there to see how close to the human they could make it, and then, after that, they wanted to see how close to the Na’vi they could make it.
January 2nd, 2010 at 6:03 pm
This movie was better than anything i have ever seen. I actually can’t find anything that i dont like about this movie… I agree with soudwavexx!!!cant wait to see it in 3D!!!!!
January 7th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Hey all,
Great review. Great movie. I loved that the HUDs were 3D and not just cheesy bullets and arrows flying at you.
I don’t know if it was just me, but there were sounds in the movie that reminded me of ALIENS. I can’t pinpoint every scene, but I think when the Colonel is fighting Neytiri at the end, the score sounded like bits and pieces of the music playing when Ripley was fighting the Alien Queen. Kinda similar too, Big mech suit vs alien creature.
@grippergirl: I agree about the ending. Yes, they won the battle, but they will probably loose the war. Its also like in ALIENSs when after they won the day and go into cryosleep, they sill lost because of the alien egg in the ship. I’m sure a company as powerful as that one will not just sit back and let those “savages” off the hook. When they get back, they will most likely “Nuke the site from orbit”…No more happy heroes then.
@Matt: I finally saw Wolverine a few days ago. I didn’t want to see it in theaters and just forgot about it…then I thought, meh why not. THOSE WERE THE MOST HORRIBLE CGI CLAWS EVAR!!!! I couldn’t believe anyone would let that go to final print.
January 9th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
I pretty much agree with everything you guys had to say on this one; and I was going to mention, but saw that someone else already had, that since Sigourney Weaver’s avatar was one of the first attempts at the mixing of the two species DNA that it was bound to be different…but I think that’s just a viewers way of rationalizing that she wanted her avatar to look like her. lol
And I just couldn’t help but laugh when a friend of mine leaned over during one of the Colonel’s speeches and whispered: “Do you remember that movie ‘Small Soldiers’.” And it’s true! The Colonel definitely reminded me of Major Chip Hazard.
January 11th, 2010 at 12:10 am
Holy crap, you’re right! He did give off some Chip Hazard vibes! Like in Small Soldiers how he just basically mixes every single speech in history into one and that scene in Avatar where the Col. talks to the men towards the end of the film. His speech reminded me that same exact speech!
January 13th, 2010 at 4:43 am
3d is SO overrated! I’ve never been as uncomfortable watching a film! It was far too long and it got boring by the middle.
Aside from the sucky 3d and length, it was ok. I liked how much thought they’d put into creating a world of its own. Vibrant and beautiful and imaginative. And I liked the way the locals didn’t just base the holyness of trees on magic but it was a scientific, biological fact that they were all connected.
January 16th, 2010 at 3:33 am
AWARDS UPDATE: Avatar went home with 7 Critic’s Choice Movie Awards including Best Action Movie and Cinematography. James Cameron lost the award for Best Director and Picture to his ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow, for The Hurt Locker. Inglourious Basterds won 3 awards for Best Ensemble Cast, Best Supporting Actor (Christoph Waltz) and Best Original Screenplay. Jeff Bridges won Best Actor for Crazy Heart; the Best Actress award was a tie between Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia and Sandra Bullock from The Blind Side; and Supporting Actress went to Mo’Nique for her role in Precious.
Just thought you would like to know. That is all.
January 16th, 2010 at 3:40 am
Kathryn Bigelow: HA!!! Take that mister King of the World! People actually like my movie more than you! So suck it!
Jim Cameron: (sighs) Women. (He then turns and jumps into a pool of money with a floating miniature model of the Titanic and two naked Na’Vi chicks.)
Sorry but that just popped into my mind and I thought it would be pretty funny.
January 18th, 2010 at 4:06 am
AWARDS UPDATE: Avatar wins 2 Golden Globes including Best PIcture (Drama) and Best Director. The Hurt Locker = nothing. The Hangover wins Best Picture (Comedy or Musical); Crazy Heart wins Best Actor for Jeff Bridges and Original Song; Inglourious Basterds wins Best Supporting Actor; Supporting Actress went to Mo’Nique in Precious; Up won 2 including Animated Feature; Robert Downey, Jr. wins Best Actor (COM) for Sherlock Holmes; Sandra Bullock wins Best Actress (Drama) for The Blind Side; Meryl Streep takes Best Actress (COM) for Julie & Julia; and Best Screenplay went to the film Up in the Air.
January 19th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
I just saw Avatar this past weekend in 3-D. I enjoyed it. I can’t say it’s a great movie, but it’s good. Like many other commentators, I also believe that I’ve seen the storyline of Avatar in many films. So, that was a let down for me… the movie was predictable. I agree that the CGI effects were fantastic and I fell in love with the world of Pandora.
Now, I don’t know if anyone else noticed this, but the horses of the Na’vi people sound just like the cry of the Velociraptor dinosaurs in the movie Jurassic Park (part one)!???? Am I the only one that thinks this way??? So, this was another thing that I just couldn’t stop thinking about… because it just made the movie so unoriginal!!!
Another thing is the “dogs” that were circuling around JakeSully… they totally sounded like Hyenas!!! lol!
Anways, all in all it was a good movie but not the best!
So far I haven’t been impressed with a movie as I was with District 9… that is the best movie IMHO. ^_^ I plan to get it on DVD BluRay.
January 21st, 2010 at 4:44 pm
I keep wondering what the story behind the Na’vi is going to turn out to be. A whole world of creatures that just happen to be able to interface with each other? I mean, hardware wise–they all shared the exact same plugs! That and some of the landscape features the big arches had me thinking the world seemed designed–like the world was a living computer (42) or constructed nirvana.
It’s hard to believe that the company behind the venture would just leave all that material and goods go without at least attempting to recoup their losses.
I liked how the movie lingered on the faces of the soldiers listening to the terror talk. They were scared and bought Mr. I-only-know-war’s line.
January 28th, 2010 at 9:42 am
Predictable story? Come on people, where you’ve seen epic film with unpredictable story, eh?
And one-dimensional characters… hell, i watch these types every day IRL, so wtf?
January 28th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Honestly this Movie Blew My Mind Out My Ass and I’m now Undoubtedly obsessed with the franchise. I’ve seen it twice planning to do it a third time this weekend. This Movies Been Top of the Box Office List for 6 WEEKS Running Nothing has ever been so popular. I mean I’ve been reading Na’vi I bought several Movie Posters and even the Officially Sponsored Game for the Xbox 360 and I was having doubts about that as well..But it was remarkably well made for a Movie Game and doesn’t play as horrible as Movie Games like Transformers or Spiderman. You interact and go deeper into the story line and it also appears more as an addition to the movie before the movie takes place. I’d give the movie a 9.5 and the game an 8.5 This Movie was so epic it landed third on my personal list of movies of all time. It reminded me of how awesome the Star Wars Series is and How my Brain Bubbled in a pool after watching the whole Matrix Trilogy..It’s Just So Amazing that Words can’t describe. Cameron’s Attention to Detail seems to be his Niche and he is remarkably good at it. It was hard to critcize the movies plot. Some of it was predictable but the movie made up in being Original and extremely enticing. I can’t believe how much money this movie has already made. It was literally Movie of the Decade for me. Cameron Truly has a Gigantic Imagination and I praise him for this project. Its made extremely well and I wish I could go into more detail on the movie and every tid bit that I loved but the cast is great the plot is great the CG was Orgasmic. I mean this movie probably couldn’t get any better than it is. It was unrealistic either in how it presented the world of Pandora, He made everything so real that Yeah I’ve been having day dreaming memories of being on Pandora and talking to some of the characters. Its just Insanely Good, Recommend this Movie to anyone. Nothing Can Compare to this Revolutionary Film making..Cameron You’ve Truly Outdone yourself This Time -Will Kirchmayer.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:19 pm
AWARDS UPDATE: The Oscar nominations have been announced. The nominees are:
BEST PICTURE
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air
BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
BEST ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo’Nique, Precious
BEST DIRECTOR
James Cameron, Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
District 9
An Education
In the Loop
Precious
Up in the Air
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ajami
El Secreto de Sus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
A Prophet
The White Ribbon
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon
BEST FILM EDITING
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
BEST ART DIRECTION
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria
BEST MAKEUP
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart
“Take It All” from Nine
“Loin de Paname” from Paris 36
“Down in New Orleans” from The Princess and the Frog
“Almost There” from The Princess and the Frog
BEST SOUND EDITING
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up
BEST SOUND MIXING
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek
Avatar and The Hurt Locker lead the race with 9 nominations each, followed by Inglourious Basterds with 8. Not a whole lot of surprises except for The Blind Side’s Best Picture nom (Seriously, I was like WHA???!!!!). But we shall see who’ll win on March 7.