AND THE OSCAR GOES TO? YOU CHOOSE. . .

By Graham Young on Mar 5, 10 06:43 AM

IT'S THAT time of the year again when everyone is getting excited about which movies, stars, writers and creative teams will go home with an Oscar this weekend.

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards can be seen live on Sky Premiere from 1am on Sunday night (Monday morning).

The big difference this year is that the Academy has expanded the Best Picture Category to include ten films.

Each Academy member has to vote for their own top ten in preference order so it will be interesting if this system delivers an expected consensus, or springs a favourite.

As my tipsters' list illustrates, the big night will once again be a battle between who and what should win. . . and who and what will win.

Click on the link below to see my predictions both ways. and also for the latest betting odds to help you to make your own mind up.

And enjoy the show!

Regular readers of this column will note that when I compiled my end of year film reviews in between Christmas and New Year - as part of a mammoth summary of the whole of the previous decade - I had The Hurt Locker as the best of 2009.

Here's the top ten again as a reminder (* denotes a best picture Oscar nomination for the 2010 Oscars)

GRAHAM YOUNG'S FILMS OF THE YEAR - 2009 
1. The Hurt Locker* 
2. Gran Torino
 3. Slumdog Millionaire 
4. Revolutionary Road 
5. Star Trek 
6. The Wrestler 
7. Up*
 8. District 9*
 9. Avatar* 
10. The September Issue

Remember, too, that in 2005 I awarded Crash my film of the year status.

And that two months later it surprised many by winning the Best Picture Oscar in 2006.

The list below details how I think this year's Oscars will go.

I've said which film / person deserves to win.

And who or what I think will win.

To help you to make your own mind up I've added Ladbrokes' odds for each category (as of March 4).

Personally, I hope that Britain's own Carey Mulligan and Colin Firth make it an acting double.

I find it odd that Jeff Bridges is such an overwhelming favourite even though Crazy Heart is otherwise an ordinary film.

Equally deserving to win his first best actor Oscar in career terms would be Morgan Freeman, but he's way down the betting.

If I had to bet my house on one prize, it would be Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) taking home the best supporting actor Oscar.

But I've hedged my bets on sound mixing and sound editing, choosing Star Trek for one and Avatar for the other! In other words, short of being given two discs for each film so that I could compare them directly with my decidedly layman's ears, I haven't a clue.

I hope Avatar wins best picture for the sheer ambition involved and to reward James Cameron for continuing to try to reinvent cinema instead of resting on his laurels.

At IMAX in Birmingham, the spectacular 3D version sold out every weekend on release, selling almost 75,000 tickets in 78 days.

Worldwide, Avatar's current gross of $2.6 billion has more than doubled the gross of the previous second highest grossing movie in history (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King's $1.12 billion).

And it has left far behind the previous biggest - Cameron's own Titanic which grossed $1.84m in 1998.

Now that's an Oscar-deserving achievement whichever way you look at it (and it was financed through London-based Ingenious Media Investments).

Most of all, since no woman will ever have a better chance of becoming the first to be deservedly named Best Director, it would be a travesty if Hollywood fails to honour Kathryn Bigelow this year.

It's ridiculous that the 58-year-old Californian's next film is set to be a TV movie for 2011 called The Miraculous Year.

Sorry Mr Cameron (Kathryn's ex-husband). This woman has also got talent. And it deserves to be recognised!

GRAHAM YOUNG'S OSCAR TIPS, RUNNERS AND RIDERS

BEST PICTURE
Deserves it: Avatar
Wins it: Avatar
The Hurt Locker 5/6
Avatar 6/5
Inglorious Basterds 14/1
Up In The Air 50/1
Up 66/1
Precious 100/1
The Blind Side 100/1
An Education 150/1
District 9 150/1
A Serious Man 200/1

BEST DIRECTOR
Deserves it: Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
Wins it: Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) 1/5
James Cameron (Avatar) 10/3
Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds) 28/1
Jason Reitman (Up In The Air) 100/1
Lee Daniels (Precious) 100/1

BEST ACTOR
Deserves it: Colin Firth (A Single Man)
Wins it: Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) 1/8
George Clooney (Up In The Air) 9/1
Colin Firth (A Single Man) 9/1
Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) 25/1
Morgan Freeman (Invictus) 25/1

BEST ACTRESS
Deserves it: Carey Mulligan (An Education)
Wins it: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) 4/7
Meryl Streep (Julia and Julia) 7/4
Carey Mulligan (An Education) 9/1
Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) 20/1
Helen Mirren (The Last Station) 50/1

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Deserves it: Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
Wins it: Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) 1/20
Woody Harrelson (The Messenger) 12/1*
Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones) 16/1
Christopher Plummer (The Last Station) 25/1
Matt Damon (Invictus) 40/1
(* I've not seen this)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Deserves it: Mo'Nique (Precious)
Wins it: Mo'Nique (Precious)
Mo'Nique (Precious) 1/14
Anna Kendrick (Up In The Air) 11/1
Vera Farmiga (Up In The Air) 16/1
Penelope Cruz (Nine) 16/1
Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart) 33/1

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Deserves it: Up
Wins it: Up
Up (Pete Docter and Bob Peterson) 
The Princess and the Frog (Ron Clements and John Musker) Coraline (Henry Selick) 
Fantastic Mr Fox (Wes Anderson)
 The Secret of Kells (Tomm Moore)

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
Deserves it: An Education
Wins it: Precious
District 9 (Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell) 
An Education (Nick Hornby) Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher)
 Up in the Air (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner) 
In the Loop (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche)

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
Deserves it: The Hurt Locker
Wins it: The Hurt Locker
The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
 Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino) 
A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen) 
Up (Pete Docter and Bob Petersen)
 The Messenger (Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman)*
(* I've not seen this)

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Deserves it: The White Ribbon
Wins it: The White Ribbon
Avatar (Mauro Fiore)
 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Bruno Delbonnel) 
The Hurt Locker (Barry Ackroyd)
 Inglourious Basterds (Robert Richardson)
 The White Ribbon (Christian Berger)

COSTUME DESIGN
Deserves it: Nine
Wins It: Nine
Bright Star (Janet Patterson) 
Coco Before Chanel (Catherine Leterrier)
 The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Monique Prudhomme)
 Nine (Colleen Atwood) 
The Young Victoria (Sandy Powell)

ART DIRECTION
Deserves it: Nine
Wins it: Avatar
Avatar (art direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; set decoration: Kim Sinclair) 
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (art direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; set decoration: Caroline Smith) 
Nine (art direction: John Myhre; set decoration: Gordon Sim)
 Sherlock Holmes (art direction: Sarah Greenwood; set decoration: Katie Spencer) 
The Young Victoria (art direction: Patrice Vermette; set decoration: Maggie Gray)

FILM EDITING
Deserves it: District 9
Wins it: Avatar
Avatar (Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron)
 District 9 (Julian Clarke) The Hurt Locker (Bob Murawski and Chris Innis)
 Inglourious Basterds (Sally Menke)
 Precious (Joe Klotz)

MAKE-UP
Deserves it: Star Trek
Wins it: Star Trek
Il Divo (Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano)* 
The Young Victoria (Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore) 
Star Trek (Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow)
* I've not seen.

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Deserves it: Fantastic Mr Fox
Wins it: Up
Avatar (James Horner)
 Fantastic Mr Fox (Alexandre Desplat) Up (Michael Giacchino) 
The Hurt Locker (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders) 
Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer)

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
Deserves it: Down in New Orleans (The Princess and the Frog)
Wins it: Down in New Orleans (The Princess and the Frog)
Almost There, from The Princess and the Frog, by Randy Newman
 Down in New Orleans, from The Princess and the Frog, by Randy Newman
 Loin de Paname, from Paris 36, by Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas
 Take It All, from Nine, by Maury Yeston
 The Weary Kind, from Crazy Heart, by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

VISUAL EFFECTS
Deserves it: Avatar
Wins it: Avatar
Avatar (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R Jones) 
District 9 (Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken) 
Star Trek (Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton)

SOUND MIXING
Deserves it: Star Trek
Wins it: Star Trek
Avatar (Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson) 
The Hurt Locker (Paul NJ Ottosson and Ray Beckett)
 Inglourious Basterds (Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano) 
Star Trek (Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J Devlin)
 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Greg P Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson)

SOUND EDITING
Deserves it: Avatar
Wins it: Avatar
Avatar (Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle)
 The Hurt Locker (Paul NJ Ottosson)
 Inglourious Basterds (Wylie Stateman) 
Star Trek (Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin) Up (Michael Silvers and Tom Myers)