helping to keep me awake

The Producers Guild of America Awards helped build the tension in one of the few big races that still has some (seriously, this is the year I start studying the Animated Short Film nominees in order to win our Oscar pool). While Avatar spent the weekend breaking Titanic's worldwide record to become the highest grossing film of all-time (although Titanic still holds the domestic record, at least for another couple weeks), it was once again the Hurt Locker on top at the PGAs (of course, both were shut out of the SAGs, but at least The Hurt Locker was nominated). Ladies and gentlemen, we have an Oscar race!



Nothing better than a little suspense around the top award. After Avatar's win at the Golden Globes, this was pretty awesome news for the Hurt Locker, especially since the PGAs have one of the better Oscar predicting histories (13 of the last 20 PGA winners have won best picture- conveniently compiled for you here). This is also one of those years where I could see them splitting the Best Director/Picture categories and giving one to each (in that scenario, please let Kathryn Bigelow win. I mean, I know I'm probably stuck listening to Cameron speak in Na'vi either way, and I'd really like to see the first woman ever win a directing Oscar. Which is in addition to the fact that she completely deserves to win). Be sure to keep February 2nd on your calendars for the announcement of the Oscar nominations!!!

the plot thickens...

in case you haven't noticed, there are big movie awards being given out basically every other day now. The biggest, of course, don't occur for about another two months (I'm obviously referring to the top ten lists of our 3pies4rolls bloggers).

However, the lists that are coming out now could be interesting predictors of those second biggest awards, the Oscars. It was shaping up to be a two horse race between The Hurt Locker and Up in the Air. I think we've made our feelings on that contest clear. Then Avatar came out and suddenly everyone was talking about it as an Oscar frontrunner. As much as I loved that movie, I don't think I can stand to see James Cameron stand up on stage and proclaim to be the king of the world again (this goes double for a Cameron director win).

Anyway, the Producer's Guild of America announced its nominations today, and there were a couple of surprises among the ten. The PGA has been a pretty good Oscar predictor, with 13 of the last 20 PGA winners going on to take the Best Picture Oscar. Most of the nominees were ones we've seen on previous best film lists: An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Invictus, Precious, Up, and Up in the Air, in addition to Avatar. The two real surprises were the inclusion of Star Trek and District 9, which could crowd the field a bit and split the sci-fi/fantasy vote. With the exception of Up in the Air, I'm a big fan of this list, so we'll see if it ultimately means anything. The PGA does like big budget mainstream movies more than the Academy, so who knows.



Side note, the PGA does know how to win over my heart, because they're honoring Joss Whedon this year with the 2010 Vanguard Award, which apparently recognizes achievements in new media and technology (although, to quote Joss, "This is an honor I didn’t expect and probably don’t deserve. The truth is, I’ve never actually guarded a van.").