Every year, when the Oscar nominations come out, I make my picks as soon as possible, so as not to be spoiled by mass punditry. That’s become harder and harder over the years, as articles now proclaim front-runner status when discussing the nominations, and also because so many awards shows are now part of the mainstream (think back not that long ago when the Golden Globes weren’t even televised). That said, these are as “pure” selections as I can make. Also, I don’t see this year as being one of those “Return of the King” type years where one movie truly dominates. I think the awards will be parceled out more like with the 2000 nominees, when “Gladiator,” “Traffic” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” all were awarded a few major prizes but no one film was at the podium more than a handful of times. Without further ado:
(Note: an asterisk denotes who I think will win. I may do a blog post closer to the show about who will win, who should win/who I would vote for, etc.)
The PSA 