Oscar picks for 2009

My choices for the best in 2009 film.

Top picks denoted with a (*).

Best Picture of the Year:
“Funny People”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Moon”
“Ponyo”
*“Precious”
“A Single Man”
“Sugar”
“Summer Hours”
“Up in the Air”
“Where the Wild Things Are”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role:
*Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
Matt Damon in “The Informant!”
Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
Sam Rockwell in “Moon”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:
Abbie Cornish in “Bright Star”
Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
Catalina Saavedra in “The Maid”
*Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious”
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role:
Zach Galifianakis in “The Hangover”
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
Christian McKay in “Me and Orson Welles”
Brad Pitt in “Inglourious Basterds”
*Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role:
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
Melanie Laurent in “Inglourious Basterds”
*Mo’Nique in “Precious”
Paula Patton in “Precious”

Best Achievement in Directing:
“Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
*“Precious” Lee Daniels
“Summer Hours” Olivier Assayas
“Up in the Air” Jason Reitman
“Where the Wild Things Are” Spike Jonze

Best Screenplay Based On Material Previously Produced or Published:
“Coraline” screenplay by Henry Selick
*“Precious” screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
“A Single Man” screenplay by Tom Ford, David Scearce
“Up in the Air” screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
“Where the Wild Things Are” screenplay by Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers

Best Screenplay Written Directly For the Screen:
“Funny People” written by Judd Apatow
*“Inglourious Basterds” written by Quentin Tarantino
“Moon” written by Nathan Parker, story by Duncan Jones
“Sugar” written by Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck
“Summer Hours” written by Olivier Assayas

Best Achievement In Art Direction:
“Avatar” Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, production designers; Kim Sinclair, set decorator
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Stuart Craig, production designer; Stephanie McMillan, set decorator
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” David Warren, Anastasia Masaro, production designers; Caroline Smith, set decorator
*“Inglourious Basterds” David Wasco, production designer; Sandy Reynolds Wasco, set decorator
“Where the Wild Things Are” K.K. Barrett, production designer; Simon McCutcheon, set decorator

Best Achievement In Cinematography:
*“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel
“Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson
“Precious” Andrew Dunn
“A Single Man” Eduard Grau
“Where the Wild Things Are” Lance Acord

Best Achievement In Costume Design:
“Bright Star” Janet Patterson
“Chéri” Consolata Boyle
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
*“Inglourious Basterds” Anna B. Sheppard
“The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell

Best Achievement In Film Editing:
“Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
“Moon” Nicolas Gaster
*“Precious” Joe Klotz
“A Single Man” Joan Sobel
“Up in the Air” Dana E. Glauberman

Best Achievement In Makeup:
“District 9”
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
*“Star Trek”

Best Achievement In Music (Original Score):
“Moon” Clint Mansell
“Ponyo” Joe Hisaishi
“Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
“A Single Man” Abel Korzeniowski
*“Up” Michael Giacchino

Best Achievement In Music (Original Song):
“All is Love” from “Where the Wild Things Are”
“Hideaway” from “Where the Wild Things Are”
“Only You” from “The Young Victoria”
“Somebody Else” from “Crazy Heart”
*“The Weary Kind” from “Crazy Heart”

Best Achievement In Sound:
*“Avatar”
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Star Trek”

Best Achievement In Sound Editing:
“2012”
*“Avatar”
“District 9”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Star Trek”

Best Achievement In Visual Effects:
“2012”
*“Avatar”
“District 9”

Best Feature Length Animated Film: “Ponyo”
(Honorable mention: “Coraline”)

Best Foriegn Language Film:
“Afghan Star” U.K.
“The Headless Woman” Argentina
“The Maid” Chile
*“Summer Hours” France
“Thirst” South Korea

Best Documentary Film:
*“Afghan Star”
“Collapse”
“Food, Inc.”
“The Garden”
“More Than a Game”

Special Awards:
Ensemble Cast: “Precious”

Music Supervision: “Crazy Heart” / “Inglourious Basterds”

Voice Over Performance: James Gandolfini in “Where the Wild Things Are”

Youth Performance: Max Records in “Where the Wild Things Are”

Favorite albums of 2009

For the, um, record...

• "Fantasies," Metric
• "Actor," St. Vincent
• "Merriwether Post Pavilion," Animal Collective
• "Revolution," Miranda Lambert
• "Manners," Passion Pit
• "It's Blitz!," Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• "It's Not Me, It's You," Lily Allen
• "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix," Phoenix
• "Tonight: Franz Ferdinand," Franz Ferdinand
• "The Blueprint 3," Jay-Z