Gold Derby reader Jeff Commings suggests this trivia quiz. Only one artist was the original singer on three Oscar-winning songs. Who? To see the answer, click the "Continue Reading" link below.
Niels Arestrup took supporting actor for "A Prophet," which also won original screenplay, editing, production design and cinematography. In accepting his directing prize, Audiard thanked the former prisoners who appeared in the film. "We had a really exceptional cast of extras.They forced us to do something exceptional," he said.
Gallic favorite Clint Eastwood won the foreign language film award for "Gran Torino." The ceremony also included a tribute to Eric Rohmer, the pioneer of the French New Wave, who died in January at age 89.
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Photo: "A Prophet" movie poster. Credit: Sony Pictures Classics
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• Mo'Nique has confirmed reports that she refused to Oscar campaign for "Precious" because she wouldn't be paid for it. In an interview with the Associated Press, she recounts what she told 
• The Associated Press picked up on "The Hurt Locker" e-mail scandal broken by The Envelope's Pete Hammond. Its report quotes an academy member on the producer who's shattered academy rules. "If 'The Hurt Locker' doesn't win best picture, I wouldn't want to be that guy. They'll be pointing at him." AP
• Oscarcast producer Bill Mechanic tells Sharon Waxman that the ceremony will be "mobile," "emotional," but not packed with dance numbers, which is surprising since coproducer is Adam Shankman (director of "Hairspray" and "Step Up," TV judge on "So You Think You Can Dance"). Mechanic says, "There will be a 'couple' of musical numbers, but nothing like the show-stopper last year that had Beyonce and Hugh Jackman in full Moulin Rouge regalia." THE WRAP
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Photo: "Precious" (Lionsgate)
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Another Oscar nominee -- Morgan Freeman -- won best actor for "Invictus" while Adam Rodriguez won the supporting prize for "Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All by Myself." The prolific Perry -- who received the Chairman's Award -- saw his TV hit "House of Payne" win four prizes again this year, repeating for comedy series as well as supporting players Lance Gross and Keshia Knight Pulliam while Cassie Davis won her first lead actress award.
Daryl “Chill” Mitchell kept "Payne" from sweeping the comedy acting awards, winning for his leading role on "Brothers." Show co-host Hill Harper won the lead drama actor prize for the third consecutive year for "CSI: New York" while Jada Pinkett Smith took home her first Image Award after seven nominations over the years for her leading role on the debut season of the medical drama "Hawthorne." And "Lincoln Heights" broke the four-year winning streak of "Grey's Anatomy" by prevailing in the drama series category.
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Photo: "Precious" movie poster. Credit: Lionsgate
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The Oscar nominees for best cinematography line up with the American Society of Cinematographers' choices with the exception of Beebe, who was replaced by "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" shooter Bruno Delbonnel. In 2008, ASC nominee Roger Deakins ("Revolutionary Road") was replaced at the Oscars by Tom Stern for "Changeling." Two years ago, the ASC went five for five.
Over the 23-year history of the ASC awards, their choice for the best in the business has presaged the eventual winner at the Academy Awards 12 times, including last year's champ Anthony Dod Mantle ("Slumdog Millionaire"). And the ASC has predicted 92 of the 120 Oscar nominees.
On the TV front, Eagle Egilsson won the series lensing award for the "Dark Blue" episode "Venice Kings," while Alar Kivilo was the recipient of the movie/miniseries race for "Taking Chance."
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Photo: American Society of Cinematographers Awards logo. Credit: ASC
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The Cinema Audio Society
honored "The Hurt Locker" with its top prize at its 46th annual awards fest Saturday night. This year, four of the five Cinema Audio Society nominees for
sound
mixing are contending at the Oscars, with just "District 9" being
replaced by "Inglourious Basterds." Both last year and in 2008,
three of the five CAS picks for sound mixing were
Oscar nominees as well.
"Slumdog Millionaire" won with both the CAS and the Oscars last year. However, the trend has been for two films to split these prizes. The 2008 CAS champ was "No Country for Old Men" and the Oscar went to "The Bourne Ultimatum." And though "Dreamgirls" took both prizes in 2007, in each of the previous four years the CAS winner lost at the Oscars. (In 2003, CAS winner "Master and Commander" lost the sound-mixing Oscar to "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King," but it won the prize for sound editing.)
Three TV genres were also saluted by the CAS on Saturday, with "Grey Gardens" winning TV movie, "Mad Men" taking the series award and "Deadliest Catch" prevailing in the catch-all nonfiction, variety or music special or series race.
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Photo: The Cinema Audio Society award. Credit: CAS
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Indeed, "members of EOD teams in southern Iraq said in interviews arranged by the Army that 'The Hurt Locker' is a good action movie if you know nothing about defusing roadside bombs or the military. Sgt. Eric Gordon of San Pedro, an Air Force EOD technician on his second tour in Iraq, has watched the movie a few times with his friends. 'I would watch it with other EOD people, and we would laugh,' Gordon said." And they add, "an EOD team leader in Maysan province, Staff Sgt. Jeremy D. Phillips, said although he was glad the film highlighted their trade, he disliked the celluloid treatment of EOD units. 'There is too much John Wayne and cowboy stuff. It is very loosely based on actual events,' he said. 'I'm honestly glad they are trying to convey to the public what we've been doing, and I wish maybe they had just done it with a little bit of a different spin on it,' he said."
Among those also interviewed was the film's Oscar-nominated screenwriter and co-producer Mark Boal who said "the film was not intended to be a documentary or a training film. 'We certainly made creative choices for dramatic effect,' he said. 'But I hope the choices were made respectfully and conscientiously.'"
The above report is just the latest dispatch in an ongoing debate about the Oscar contender. On Feb. 4, Iraq war veteran Kate Hoit detailed her concerns with the film in a column that appeared on the Huffington Post. As she wrote, "'The Hurt Locker' made it seem like the EOD team were taking on the streets of Baghdad; just them against a world of improvised explosive devices. However, this is when I realized the scriptwriters were lazy. This movie is a full-throttle adrenaline rush that is comprised of ditching common sense and the realities of war. The writers did not attempt to formulate a story based on the actual job of an EOD soldier. Instead, they created a war junky, sniper, commando guy who relied on no one (and no radios?) and stressed-out everyone around him, including those watching the movie."
In rebuttal, retired EOD officer and executive director of the EOD Memorial James P. O'Neil explained, "'The Hurt Locker' takes place over a year, compressed to two hours. Every moment of it is intense. Jeremy Renner's character and personality is a composite of a dozen or so EOD techs that I know. Were we as reckless as James? Hell no. I probably would have punched him out as well. The 'beyond the wire' insurgent hunt and hoodie run may not be entirely realistic, but no one can honestly say they weren't entertained and glued to their seats during these sequences."
And the film's technical adviser, James Clifford, addressed Hoit's criticism of the film as follows: "I will stipulate that Ms. Hoit's points are accurate, but they amount to differences without distinctions. Her commentary demonstrates that she has the vision to see the trees but appears to lack the judgment to see the forest. She is apparently unable to tell the difference between entertainment and education. 'The Hurt Locker' is entertainment based on real situations."
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Photo: "The Hurt Locker" still. Credit: Summit.
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"The Hurt Locker" e-mailgate just got blown wide open by Pete Hammond's disclosure that the producer who apologized for sending out one "extremely inappropriate" e-mail to voters in violation of Oscar rules may have sent even more that were far more damaging.
Initially, Nicolas Chartier broke Oscar rules by sending out an e-mail blast that urged academy members to campaign for "The Hurt Locker" and not to vote for that "$500M film" ("Avatar," of course). Soon afterward, Chartier sent out an apology, blaming the transgression on his "naivete" as a first-time contender, but now more damning e-mails have surfaced. Hammond (Notes on a Season) has unearthed new letters to Oscar voters that "not only asked for votes but actually gave more specific instructions than even the academy does on the official ballot." The letters tell voters how to mark their ballots in order to help "Hurt Locker" and hurt "Avatar."
"Chartier named 'Avatar' four times, saying 'Hurt Locker' needs to be ranked No. 1 and 'Avatar' No. 10 instead of putting it at No. 2 even if the voter thought it should be," Hammond adds. "Considering his apologetic statement Wednesday, in which he wrote that 'my naivete, ignorance of the rules and plain stupidity as a first-time nominee is not an excuse,' he certainly seemed fully aware of how to explain the academy's complicated new preferential voting rules, something even most members I know don't quite get."
Here are details of possible penalties that Oscar chiefs may level against "The Hurt Locker" team. What do you believe is the most appropriate response?
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Sacha Baron Cohen is sure a good sport -- he just laughed off the news that Oscar chiefs nixed the request of telecast producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman to have him host. He's agreed to appear as a presenter.
That reminds us to wonder: Was the Academy wrong to shoot down an anti-establishment rascal like Cohen in favor of two old establishment veterans like Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin? Don't the Oscars want to spotlight the razor edge of today's sharpest talent? What are they afraid of? That Cohen might dress up as Bruno to bestow the costume or makeup awards?
Face it. Martin and Baldwin seem like a rather ho-hum alternative, don't you agree? I'm optimistic that they'll do a good job and I'm looking forward to seeing them take the stage, but I'm disappointed that we got cheated out of seeing what Borat would've done if he'd gotten his crazy clutches on Hollywood's sacred cow. He would've strangled it, of course, but he'd probably give us one of the most outrageous -- and brilliant -- Oscarcasts ever. A shame. The Oscars exist as a celebration of artists who take racy chances and rattle the status quo. Why can't Hollywood's Golden Boy do that himself?
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• While the first three Oscar presenters announced were last year's living acting winners, the next four were all teen sensations (Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron, Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart), and the newest is the one-man media powerhouse Tyler Perry. As the press release notes, "Perry, who is the driving force behind Tyler Perry Studios, writes, produces and directs films in which he also often performs. Perry wrote, produced and starred in 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman' in 2005. His subsequent film credits include 'Madea’s Family Reunion,' 'Daddy’s Little Girls,' 'Why Did I Get Married?' 'Meet the Browns,' 'The Family That Preys' and 'I Can Do Bad All by Myself.' " The announcement omits Perry's executive producing credit on the best picture nominee "Precious." AMPAS
• The official calendar for the 64th annual Tony Awards has been released with these key dates: eligibility cutoff (April 29), nomination announcement (May 4), nominees' press reception (May 5), nominees' private reception (May 20) and the award ceremony (June 13). TONYS
• Dave Karger says, that "with so many of the acting races already sewn up at the Oscars this year, Missy Schwartz and I decided to turn the spotlight on four underdog nominees that we’re rooting for with passion … and not a little futility. True, these four performers don’t have a shot in Hades to reach the Kodak Theatre stage on March 7, but that doesn’t mean they’re not deserving of our love." Dave's personal picks are the two BAFTA lead acting winners -- Colin Firth ("A Single Man") and Carey Mulligan ("An Education") -- while Missy opts for Jeremy Renner ("The Hurt Locker") and Vera Farmiga ("Up in the Air"). ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
• In the first of a series, Melena Ryzik answers readers' questions on the Oscars. The first query -- the difference between sound editing and sound mixing? Melena turns to Oscar-winning sound editor Alan Robert Murray, who explains that the supervising sound editor "is like 'the architect or planner of the soundtrack, meaning he designs and sets up everything having to do with sound effects, dialogue -- nothing to do with music, that’s a whole separate thing -- then would go out and record sounds for the production that he needs, design specific things the director wants,' whether that’s an invented audio effect or simply the sound of a door closing. When it’s ready, all of that audio goes to the sound-mixing stage. 'The sound mixers mix the dialogue at a level that you can hear it, they add the music into the movie and interweave that with all the other sounds, and they basically do the finished product, Mr. Murray said. 'And both are under the input of the director, of what he’s looking for.' " THE NEW YORK TIMES
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Top photo: Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman. Credit: Matt Sayles / Associated Press
Bottom photo: "Lost" logo. Credit: ABC
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We'll have to wait until the middle of next week to find out if the motion picture academy will respond publicly to the growing hubbub over a "Hurt Locker" producer's violation of Oscar campaign rules. Yesterday Nicolas Chartier issued an apology for the "extremely inappropriate" e-mail he sent to academy members urging them to campaign for "The Hurt Locker" and not vote for the "$500M film" ("Avatar," of course) to win best picture. The academy may choose to issue official penalties.
Academy PR chief Leslie Unger tells Gold Derby: "There will be no comment about action regarding the campaign violation until after the ballot due date (5 p.m. on Tuesday). At that time, we may or may not have a comment."
Today many academy leaders, including members of the producers' peer committee, are powwowing privately to discuss what the academy's response should be. There are many options, including the issue of a formal censure that publicly condemns Chartier for his behavior, but is otherwise toothless.
If an actual penalty is exacted, it will probably be a cut-back in the number of tickets allotted for "The Hurt Locker" team to attend the Oscar ceremony and/or Governors' Ball.
"Generally speaking, our recourse with regard to violations has been the loss of tickets," Unger tells Gold Derby. One example: In 2000, studio execs behind "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" got penalized four tickets for violating a rule prohibiting campaigners from sending both a DVD and VHS tape to academy members. Campaigners could send only one media format to voters, not two.
Another option would be to ban Chartier from ever becoming a member. Current members who belong to the "Hurt Locker" team could be booted from key academy positions. That is what happened to the PR rep in charge of the Oscar campaign for "Gangs of New York" in 2002 after he pulled a dubious ploy. He enlisted Oscar-winning director Robert Wise ("West Side Story," "The Sound of Music") to write a letter to local newspapers asking fellow Oscar voters to back Martin Scorsese. When it was discovered that the letter was actually written by the campaigner, not by Wise, the publicist was removed from the academy's peer committee for the PR branch.
Oscar chiefs may choose to get tough on "The Hurt Locker" team as a way of responding to widespread complaints of overly aggressive campaigning this year across the board, especially via e-mail and Facebook. The academy was particularly surprised by the new problems popping up in social networks on the Web, where nominees publicly urged friends and strangers to whip up voter support for them.
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Looks like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has clamped down hard on "The Hurt Locker" co-producer Nicolas Chartier for sending out an e-mail blast that urged colleagues to campaign aggressively for his movie to win the Oscar for best picture while it also trashed a rival film.
Chartier just issued a follow-up e-mail apologizing for his "extremely inappropriate" e-mail, which violated the Academy Awards' rules, adding, "My naivete, ignorance of the rules and plain stupidity as a first-time nominee is not an excuse for this behavior and I strongly regret it." See details of the academy rules here.
On Tuesday, Pete Hammond reported on Chartier's first e-mail that blitzed Hollywood begging academy members to tell other voters to back "The Hurt Locker" and — in an obvious slam at "Avatar" — "not a $500M film."
The academy has not yet issued a statement about how it intends to deal with this severe violation of Oscar campaign rules. Penalties could be harsh, including the withdrawal of some tickets to the Oscar ceremony. Read more about possible penalties here.
Below is Chartier's original e-mail, followed by his apology e-mail.
I hope all is well with you. I just wanted to write you and say I hope you liked Hurt Locker and if you did and want us to win, please tell (name deleted) and your friends who vote for the Oscars, tell actors, directors, crew members, art directors, special effects people, if everyone tells one or two of their friends, we will win and not a $500M film, we need independent movies to win like the movies you and I do, so if you believe The Hurt Locker is the best movie of 2010, help us!
• Christopher Torchia talks to the members of a bomb disposal squad in Afghanistan and discovers "finding and destroying IEDs is, of course, slower and more nuanced than the high-octane version portrayed in the movie thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow, which could make a run for the Oscars." While the soldiers like "The Hurt Locker" well enough as a movie, they questioned its accuracy. Platoon leader Sgt. 1st Class Natividad Ruiz said, "We don't dress up in that big old suit," referring to the heavy bomb gear worn in the movie. Staff. Sgt. Joshua Rickerts "said his job was about teamwork, and that the movie's portrayal of 'an EOD guy gone rogue' was inaccurate, though he acknowledged its entertainment value." And Senior Airman Kyle Brown said, "Some of the things he does in the movie -- quite out there. I wouldn't say we were that undisciplined. It makes us look like rebels in the military." AP
• Pete Hammond surveys the Oscars race and observes, "Most see this as 'The Hurt Locker' versus 'Avatar,' or David versus Goliath as it has been called so many times. Now in the final stretch, with awards galore and the wind behind its back, 'The Hurt Locker,' it seems, has turned into Goliath and 'Avatar' is becoming David. Weird. The real question is, what 'message' do academy voters want to send? Do they want to embrace the future, the global popularity and the success of 'Avatar'? Or the independent spirit and pure visceral film experience of 'Hurt Locker'? Or will those 'Basterds' creep in?" NOTES ON A SEASON
• Scott Feinberg crunches the numbers for the 81 best actress races to date at the Oscars and discovers that the statistics favor a win by Sandra Bullock ("The Blind Side"). Among the factoids Scott uncovers: "Since the first SAG Awards in 1994, only 4 women have won the Golden Globe for best actress (either drama or comedy/musical) but not the SAG Award for best actress and still gone on to win the best actress Oscar. This bodes well for Bullock, but not for Streep." AND THE WINNER IS
•The academy is celebrating the Oscars with a week-long series of screenings and symposia at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. It is not surprising that the screenings of the nominated shorts -- at a bargain $5 for the public and just $3 for members -- are selling out while the free sessions on foreign film and makeup and hair are fully booked. AMPAS
• Melena Ryzik has fun with the following news: "In a move that absolutely no one saw coming whatsoever, 'Avatar' swept the International 3D Society’s inaugural awards. It got both the month-old group’s top prize and a People’s Choice award for best live-action film over worthy competitors like 'G-Force' and 'Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience.' Somewhere, Nick Jonas is crying. Giovanni Ribisi, who played a baddie but not the baddest of the bunch in 'Avatar,' accepted the awards on its behalf. 'Up' won best 3-D animated film. Nope, not predictable at all." THE CARPETBAGGER
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Top photo: Scene from "The Hurt Locker." Credit: Summit
Bottom photos: Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side" (Warners) and Meryl Streep in "Julie & Julia" (Columbia).
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• After noting that, "'The Hurt Locker' director Kathryn Bigelow could be the first woman to win Best Director, a triumph for female filmmakers everywhere," Nicole Laporte wonders, "is the Academy voting for her movie or her gender?" She begins her analysis of the issue with this anecdote: "At a recent awards ceremony where Bigelow accepted one of the many accolades she's earned on the pre-Oscar circuit, Bigelow, who is 58, was met with a whooping cry of 'Go, Girl!' It was the kind of remark that's hard not to smile at -- at least, at first -- but that lingers in the air, eliciting a longer-lasting cringe, and ultimately dumps out a suitcase's worth of sexist issues of the sort that have been trailing Bigelow on her long march to the Academy Awards." THE DAILY BEAST
• Pete Hammond reports, "campaigners are pulling out all the stops trying to position their movie as the one with the gravitas that befits a best picture winner. In addition to the usual trade and newspaper ads, TV spots and billboards, at least one 'Hurt Locker' nominee apparently feels the best way may be hand-to-hand combat via e-mail. The Academy may frown at this direct attempt to contact its members, but 'Hurt Locker' co-producer Nicholas Chartier, who through his Voltage Pictures was the film's key financing wizard, is making pleas to friends and friends of friends to get out the vote for 'Hurt Locker' like it was some sort of political grass-roots campaign. His pitch isn't so much about the quality of the film, but rather its independent nature versus that movie with the blue people that cost so much to make. He doesn't mention 'Avatar' by name." NOTES ON A SEASON
• Gold Derby's Emmys forum has been buzzing with speculation over which category Showtime will enter "Dexter" star John Lithgow: supporting or guest? Lithgow recently won the Golden Globe in the supporting slot, but Showtime media chief Richard Licata tells us that Lithgow will compete in the guest slot at the Emmys. The actor won the first of his four Emmys as a guest performer on the series "Amazing Stories" back in 1986. The other three came for his regular lead role on the laffer "Third Rock From the Sun."
• Randy Lewis reports, "Jeff Bridges, T Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham will make what may be their swan song appearance together in conjunction with the film 'Crazy Heart' when they perform one of the movie’s songs at the 25h anniversary Spirit Awards ceremony on March 5 in Los Angeles. Rather than singing the much-lauded theme 'The Weary Kind,' the best-song Oscar-nominee that Bingham and Burnett wrote, the trio plans to offer up 'Fallin’ and Flyin’, written by the late Texas singer and songwriter Stephen Bruton, who oversaw the film’s music with producer and longtime friend Burnett. Bruton died of cancer shortly after completing work on the music." POP & HISS
• Roger Friedman reports, "Monday night in the main ballroom at the Plaza Hotel, AFTRA, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, gave its lifetime achievement awards to an eclectic bunch. They were: 'Good Morning America's Robin Roberts, CBS' Charles Osgood, 'Soul Man' Sam Moore, the cast of 'Sesame Street' and Latin American artist Juanes. The winners inspired an equally eclectic group of presenters: Don Imus, for Sam Moore; Tony Bennett, for Juanes; Bill Geist for Osgood." SHOWBIZ 411
• While Heidi Klum won't be on hand, the academy is staging its own version of "Project Runway" this year. Nine up and coming designers -- five from LA, two from New York, and one each from Chicago and Phoenix -- have created gowns to be worn by the models who appear onstage at the Kodak Theater. But only of their creations will make it to the Oscars with online voting from now till March 1 determining the winner. The unveiling of this design will be in the pre-show airing on ABC just before the Oscars on March 7. AMPAS
• One star who has definite ideas about what she will be wearing to the Oscars is best actress nominee Carey Mulligan ("An Education"). As Phil Boucher writes, "Having already appeared once in Vogue, is Mulligan taking editor-in-chief Anna Wintour’s advice on what to wear to the Oscars? Not according to Mulligan, who has visions of her own. 'Anna said I should wear short for the Oscars,' says Mulligan. 'I was like 'No, that is so not what I had in my head when I was six years old!'" PEOPLE
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Top photo: "The Hurt Locker" poster. Credit: Summit
Middle photo: "The Blind Side" poster. Credit: Warners
Bottom photo: Academy Award statuettes. Credit: AMPAS
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Hint: it was one of these Oscar best-actor champs. To see the answer, click on the "Continue reading" link below.
The Oscars and BAFTA Awards reputedly share about 500 voters, so maybe that explains why BAFTA has correctly predicted the Oscars' lead actress race for the last four years. If they're really in sync, what are we to make of Carey Mulligan's lead-actress victory for "An Education"? Does this mean we're underestimating her voter pull at the Oscars? Or maybe the Brits just decided that they wanted to take a break from Hollywood groupthink this year and embrace a local British gal?
What makes parallels difficult is the fact that Oscar front-runner Sandra Bullock wasn't nominated at BAFTA because she wasn't eligible. "The Blind Side" didn't open in Britain in 2009. Maybe the fact that Mulligan won BAFTA just means Mulligan, not Meryl Streep, poses the biggest challenge to Bullock, who may the Oscar front-runner, as most pundits believe.
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Photos: "An Education" (Sony Pictures Classics), left; "Julie & Julia" (Columbia), "The Blind Side" (Warner Bros.)
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• Scott Feinberg talks to Harvey Weinstein about the Oscar odds of "Inglourious Basterds" and a wide array of other subjects. As Scott reports, "Over the course of our 20-minute call, he repeatedly tries to steer the conversation back to 'Basterds,' Waltz, and especially Tarantino, with whom he’s collaborated ever since the boy wonder’s first film 'Reservoir Dogs' (1992) 18 years ago. But the reason that I requested this interview was to talk not about the puppeteer but rather about the puppeteer’s puppeteer." AND THE WINNER IS
• Four-time prime-time Emmy champ Betty White could be in the running again this year if the Facebook campaign to land her a hosting gig on "SNL" pans out. Michael Ausiello reports, "White would not be hosting alone. Rather, I hear 'SNL' is putting together a 'Women of Comedy' episode that would team the former Rose Nylund with several of her younger contemporaries. Ex-'SNL' MVP Molly Shannon is on board, I hear, and feelers have also been put out to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler." Last year, Fey and Justin Timberlake won the guest acting Emmys for their hosting of "SNL." ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
• Brad Brevet does a superb job reviewing the Oscar-nominated live action and animated shorts. As Brad notes, Short Films International and Magnolia Pictures are currently screening all 10 shorts theatrically. For Brad, "Miracle Fish" from Australia is the best of the live action bunch while among the animated shorts, it may just be "A Matter of Loaf and Death." As Brad writes, "What is there really to say? It's Aardman. It's Wallace and Gromit. Isn't that enough? This time around Wallace has started up a baking business and all around him other bakers are being knocked off one-by-one." ROPE OF SILICON
• While Steve Pond thinks "The Hurt Locker" will win best picture at the Oscars, he still isn't ready to say the race is over. As he writes, "'Avatar' has already beaten all the odds at the box office, and it’s picked up a good chunk of voters who view it as such a transformative, groundbreaking experience that it’d be crazy to vote for anything else. 'Avatar' is the reason the Oscar show will see its ratings increase dramatically, and Academy voters know that. All of which makes “Avatar” the film that could possibly, conceivably throw the usual rules out the window and grab a win that hasn’t been indicated at any of the significant precursor awards." THE WRAP
• A trio of Time Out scribes -- David Fear, Joshua Rothkopf and Keith Uhlich -- count down their top 50 most-deserving Oscar winners of the past 81 years. While the cinematography of "The Third Man" (1950) just made the cut, topping their list is the visual effects of "2001." As Rothkopf writes, "Our consensus choice by a galaxy-wide margin, Stanley Kubrick’s seismically influential special effects—landmark accomplishments in their field—were steered by an intelligence that spent years pursuing a vision of total realism." TIME OUT NEW YORK
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Top photo: Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner in a scene from "Twilight: New Moon." Credit: Summit
Middle photo: "Law & Order: SVU" logo. Credit: NBC
Bottom photo: Academy Award statuettes. Credit: AMPAS
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The Motion Picture Sound Editors have decreed their award winners, which usually foretell the equivalent Oscar champs. Considering its two guild victories, "Avatar" now seems like a good bet to win the academy's kudo for best sound editing, maybe mixing too. But watch out for "The Hurt Locker" on March 7. Usually, the loudest films win the sound awards at both MPSE and Oscars. "The Hurt Locker," remember, is about exploding bombs. However, there's a lot of boom-boom bang-bang going on in "Avatar" as military forces try to conquer Pandora. So the sound awards are a close call on Oscar night. "Hurt Locker" could benefit from a bigger awards sweep occurring.
The nominees and the winners (marked with an "X"):
BEST SOUND EDITING: SOUND EFFECTS AND FOLEY IN A FEATURE FILM
"2012"
X - "Avatar"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Push"
"Star Trek"
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"
"Watchmen"
BEST SOUND EDITING: DIALOGUE AND ADR IN A FEATURE FILM
"(500) Days of Summer"
"A Serious Man"
"Avatar"
"G.I. Joe"
"The Hurt Locker"
X - "Inglourious Basterds"
"Star Trek"
"The Stoning of Soraya M."
Unlike this year's Oscars, there were only five films nominated for the top BAFTA and the winner was decided by a simple vote count. Of the four other nominees, all of which are also in contention at the Oscars, "Avatar" took two of its eight races, production design and visual effects; "An Education" prevailed with just one of its eight nominations, best actress (Carey Mulligan); "Up in the Air" went one for six winning adapted screenplay; and "Precious" came out on top in one of its four categories, supporting actress (Mo'Nique).
The BAFTAs have done better at predicting the acting Oscar champs since the date change. Of the 36 acting Oscars handed out this decade, 22 went to BAFTA winners. In 2006 and 2007, all four BAFTA champs went on to win at the Oscars. Last year, three of the four BAFTA winners repeated at the Academy Awards; Mickey Rourke ("The Wrestler") was the exception.
However, this year the BAFTA track record is likely to be just two for four. The lead acting BAFTAs went to two homegrown stars, neither of whom is favored at the Oscars: Colin Firth winning the only award for "A Single Man" and Mulligan doing the same for "An Education." However, the supporting BAFTAs were won by, no surprise, Christoph Waltz ("Inglourious Basterds") and Mo'Nique.
That win by Waltz was the only one for "Inglourious Basterds," which had six nominations including directing and screenplay bids by Quentin Tarantino.It was not nominated for best picture, however. Among the other best-picture Oscar hopefuls, "District 9" lost all seven of its races; "Up" took two of its four categories, animated film and score; and "A Serious Man" lost its only BAFTA bid, for original screenplay, to "The Hurt Locker." As "The Blind Side" has yet to open in Britain, it was not eligible for consideration.
Thus that film's star, Oscars front-runner Sandra Bullock, was not eligible to contend here for best actress. Mulligan -- the only English rose in the BAFTA bunch -- bested two of her American Oscar rivals -- veteran Meryl Streep, who scored her 12th nomination for "Julie & Julia," and newcomer Gabourey Sidibe ("Precious") -- as well as two second-time nominees -- Ireland's Saoirse Ronan ("The Lovely Bones") and France's Audrey Tautou ("Coco Before Chanel"). The BAFTA best actress has won the Oscar six of nine times this decade.
To win best actor, one-time past nominee Firth edged out three of his Oscar competitors -- three-time previous BAFTA nominee George Clooney ("Up in the Air") and first-time contenders Jeff Bridges ("Crazy Heart") and Jeremy Renner ("The Hurt Locker") -- as well as fellow Brit and first-time nominee Andy Serkis ("Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll"). The BAFTA best actor has repeated at the Oscars five of nine times this decade.
In the supporting actor race, Waltz won over just one other Oscar nominee, Stanley Tucci ("The Lovely Bones"), and Mo'Nique bested the Oscar-nominated "Up in the Air" co-stars Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. The BAFTA supporting actor champ has prevailed at the Oscars four of nine years, and the supporting actress winner has taken home the Oscar an impressive seven of nine times.
Although only four of the nine BAFTA directing champs of this decade went on to victory at the Oscars, this year's winner, Kathryn Bigelow ("The Hurt Locker"), is likely to even those odds. Two of her Oscar rivals -- James Cameron ("Avatar") and Quentin Tarantino ("Inglourious Basterds") -- were also in contention at the BAFTAs.
Among the other highlights of the ceremony at the Royal Opera House, Prince William, the newly announced president of the British academy, and Uma Thurman presented the fellowship -- the equivalent of the honorary Oscar -- to Vanessa Redgrave.
For the full list of winners visit the BAFTA website.
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The Writers Guild of America Awards went, well, according to script with victories by "Up in the Air" (best adapted screenplay) and "The Hurt Locker" (best original screenplay).
Both films are leading contenders for the Oscars too, but "Hurt Locker" faces formidable foes disqualified from guild competition: "Inglourious Basterds" and "Up."
Disqualified by the WGA from the adapted race were these three Oscar nominees that will compete against "Up in the Air": "An Education," "District 9" and "In the Loop."
In the WGA contest, "Hurt Locker" beat "(500) Days of Summer," "A Serious Man," "Avatar" and "The Hangover." "Up in the Air" soared above "Crazy Heart," "Julie & Julia," "Precious" and "Star Trek."
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
"The Hurt Locker" by Mark Boal
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
"Up in the Air" by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner; based on the novel by Walter Kirn
BEST DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
"The Cove" by Mark Monroe
Photos: "The Hurt Locker" (Summit), "Up in the Air" (Paramount)
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