Ladies and gentlemen, we officially have an Oscar race. The Hurt Locker topped Avatar to win the Producers Guild Award for Best Produced Motion Picture tonight in Los Angeles, with Up picking up the animated feature trophy and The Cove taking home the documentary award. (Television winners included Mad Men, 30 Rock, The Colbert Report, 60 Minutes, and Grey Gardens.) The big question in my mind is whether Avatar lost votes to the two other lauded, effects-heavy dramas that were nominated, District 9 and Star Trek. As I’ve said before, I feel like it can handle competition from one of those two but not necessarily both. So here’s where we stand as of now: Precious was the film-festival smash, Up in the Air and The Hurt Locker swept most of the critics prizes, the Golden Globes anointed Avatar, Inglourious Basterds was the favorite with the Screen Actors Guild, and PGA has now brought the momentum back to The Hurt Locker. Avatar is still likely to score the most Oscar nominations on Feb. 2; at this point I’d say 10 or 11 nods are in the cards, compared to maybe 8 for The Hurt Locker. But I’m just thrilled that it’s actually going to be close for the win.
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THIS IS AWESOME.
Hurt Locker all the way!
Ack; not at you, Sarah, personally, just the fact a boxoffice dirty bomb ($12.7 million earned in its run) just STOLE the PGA film award from a movie that has been embraced the planet over by critics and fans alike. No justification for this crap. None.
Box office take doesn’t equal quality.
Well, by that standard, why don’t we just pick the top 10 box office hits this year and make those the Oscar noms? I think Transformers 2 would be a worthy choice.
Seriously, just because a film is popular doesn’t make it good. I cannot believe I’m having to explain this, and I doubt it’ll sink in, but at least I tried.
Good thing Zagat doesn’t rate restaurants based on popularity, otherwise MacDonald’s would top their list.
Avatar and Hurt Locker… which one will be remembered 50 years from now?
imo avatar was a technically well-made sensationalistic novelty with curiosity & buzz helping to account for it’s success but future imitators & the next big blockbusters will wear it’s welcome out soon enough…hurt locker feels like a classic war film with a story we haven’t seen before plus an indelible star turn by jeremy renner…too bad avatar didn’t use hurt locker’s basic story & transposed it to pandora instead of the generic sci-fi story that cameron came up with
Avatar hasn’t been embraced nearly as strongly as The Hurt Locker has been. Avatar is far more divisive, which makes it exciting and interesting, but The Hurt Locker has been well-received across the board. Avatar will be remembered because it’s so BIG, but The Hurt Locker is a stronger work of craft, which does make it, in my opinion, the “Best Motion Picture” of the year. Just because you don’t win Best Picture doesn’t mean you’re not culturally significant (Star Wars?). Just means you might not have been the best movie released that year.
Yeah, Paul, how clueless can you be? The only thing that lacks justification here is, well, your justification.
Shamrock is right. Just look at Avatar.
“Avatar hasn’t been embraced nearly as strongly as The Hurt Locker has been.”
WTF??? Let’s see: THE HURT LOCKER- 12 million domestic and already on DVD.
AVATAR- 552 million, and still # 1 on the box office charts, and no sign of stopping. Yeah, I guess the HURT LOCKER has been more embraced.. .
Yeah
All that means is people have no idea how much better Hurt Locker is than Avatar. And I have to say I’m really tired of people whipping out the “critically acclaimed” card with Avatar. Avatar is not critically acclaimed. Critics liked the imagination and the visuals while ripping into the awful acting and the even worse script. That is not critically acclaimed. That is “it’s pretty to look at an I enjoyed it in spite of everything wrong with it.”
Have you seen “THe Hurt Locker” Paul? It’s a lot better than “AVATAR” and Dave Karger is wrong, “The Hurt Locker” has won most of the “important” awards and surely will win Best Picture. (Unless Avatar does break “Titanic” for the box office record. Then it will be closer than I originally thought.)
Calling the box office of The Hurt Locker a “dirty bomb” ignores some critical basic facts. It topped out at around 600 theaters, which is a fraction of what “Basterds” or “Avatar” played in. It also got a minimal marketing push due to a relatively weak studio. And then it only cost $10m to make, so it actually made a little money domestically against its production budget and DVD sales are just additional profit.
Learn to not talk about things you don’t know. Go read Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritics to educate yourself. 82% of critics and 94% of top critics on rotten tomatoes rated it fresh. It has 84 on metacritic with several 100s. Don’t make stuff up. You just read one review and you think you can just manufacture a consensus about all of them ripping the acting and script. No way.
I you look at Rotten Tomatoes The Hurt Locker has a 97% fresh rating with both critics and top critis and the consensus is “A well-acted, intensely shot, action filled war epic, Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker is thus far the best of the recent dramatizations of the Iraq War.” Avatar, as you said, has an 82% fresh rating with critics, and a 94% fresh with Top Critics, and the consensus is “It might be more impressive on a technical level than as a piece of storytelling, but Avatar reaffirms James Cameron’s singular gift for imaginative, absorbing filmmaking.” So wile both are extremely positive The Hurt Locker is significantly more critically acclaimed.
There is no doubt that Hurt locker is significantly more critically acclaimed. It goes without saying, but Mark is trying to claim that Avatar is not critically acclaimed which is a lie. Either way, my favorite of the year was Inglourious Basterds and it has less than Avatar among the top critics on both RT and Metacritics so critical acclaim does not mean much to me.
@ Julia. And….just because a movie didn’t do well at the box office does not mean that it’s good either. Although I will admit that The Hurt Locker was suspenceful in an Alfred Hitchcock way, it was NOT the best picture of the year. Heck, I’ll take The Messenger over The Hurt Locker. As far as I’m concerned The Hurt Locker is over-rated and there’s a reason why no one went to see it an the movie theater–because it’s not that good. I think the only reason it’s winning all these awards is more of a reflection on how lousy this year has been at the cinema than how actually good The Hurt Locker is.
Top Critics give Avatar 94% favorable and The Hurt Locker 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. Not a big difference. So, critics and box office agree on Avatar. Both were great movies though. Personally, I liked Precious the best, but would like to see Avatar win because it is such a game-changer for film in general.
Some interesting comments here (as in “did I just read that?”). No movie’s artistic merit should be judged by how much it makes at the box office. Avatar (a movie I enjoyed) is geared for a mainstream audience. Clearly, The Hurt Locker is not. I think it’s great that a movie with such a grim subject matter is being given the attention it (and its director) deserve. I wonder if anyone who thinks Avatar is more divisive than The Hurt Locker has actually seen The Hurt Locker. Heck, judging by Paul’s comment I have to wonder whether he’s seen The Hurt Locker yet.
Hell yeah, Sarah El! Let’s hope that story and acting still matter more than pretty colors and shiny things.
Meh. Iraq movies. Bomb disarming movies. Been there done that. Boring!
You’re obviously not watching very closely.
Yeah and Avatar’s entire premise is completely original? The complete opposite, actually. Obviously you like shiny things over substance. As a work of story telling art, The Hurt Locker>Avatar in terms of script, screenplay, and direction.
Avatar is basically Pocahontas with blue people and cheesy dialogue. The Hurt Locker is one of the most thoughtful and suspenseful movies I’ve seen in a long time. And Jeremy Renner is not hard on the eyes, either.
I have a cookie for you here somewhere…
Avatar should be renamed DANCES WITH BLUE PEOPLE… Kevin Costner won the awards for this movie back in 1992.
Now that’s an original argument.
Why don’t you cite the million other people who have made the same claim before you. Why are you ripping someone else’s words? You can’t say Avatar should be renamed because someone else has said it before you did. Or in that case, you should be renamed because I have read your comment before. You can’t get any credit for making that comment.
Yes. HL all the way!
I’m with you! I’ve seen all of those major contenders and Hurt Locker is defiantly my favorite!! Very suspenseful, dramatic, emotional. If nothing else Bigelow deserves the director award. She rocked it!
I love that the race is close. It really seems like it could be anyone’s game. Go Hurt Locker!!
I posted a comment about Avatar vs The Hurt Locker after the Golden Globes, so I am not posting one again; I simply wanto say GO HURT LOCKER!!!
(Avatar is of course a good movie and it is spetacular but it is not the best movie of the year!!!)
I really want to see the Hurt Locker now.
It’s a decent movie, and that is all. Not Best Film worthy.
Invictus, Up in the Air or District 9, on the other hand, are.
Eh, Up in the Air and Invictus are good, but not Best Picture worthy; I’d throw my weight to District 9 and The Hurt Locker on personal preference.
Up In the Air is fluff. Quality fluff, but fluff nonetheless. Take away the first three words of the title and you have the movie: air. All of the comments about it being so “topical” are bogus. As for District 9, it’s admirable for accomplishing what it did on such a limited budget, but it’s also VERY stretched out and repetitive in the last act. Not that great in the long run.
The Hurt Locker is great, especially when you consider they made that movie on peanuts compared to Avatar’s seventy gabillion dollars. It’s not perfect, but it’s quite an accomplishment. However, Oscar-wise, I’m really pulling for Inglourious Basterds (and wishing and hoping for Star Trek and District 9 nods).
Yes, a movie that no one saw definitely has a chance against a $2 billion dollar juggernaut at the Oscars…NOT
Sorry, but I don’t buy that the Academy would shoot themselves in the foot by giving it to a movie that any other director could have made, and that made no money, and no one saw. All the awards in the world won’t change the fact that no one outside of film snobs know what the hell Hurt Locker even is…
Apparently, you haven’t seen the film.
I have. It was boring and routine.
I agree. I like the movie until the last 30 minutes. That’s when it fell apart for me. Up until that point, I was super into it, but now I think we should just leave it at BP nominee and move on.
However, “Avatar” doesn’t strike me as quite good enough the win either. I’m going for “Inglourious Basterds”…
Dissing a movie because it’s routine? I hope you’re not rooting for Avatar then.
If you replace “film snobs” with “somewhat moderately informed individuals,” then maybe you’d have a point. The Academy Awards shouldn’t be some sort of populist pat on the back, that’s what B.O. numbers are for. Also, Kathryn Bigelow made that film in a way specific to her, and not any other director could have made it. You’d know that if, of course, you too were somewhat moderately informed.
AVATAR is just a visual ‘juggernaut’ the story line is not that great. “Hurt Locker” is a wild ride with Jeremy Rennar at the lead. I think it has a great chance for OSCAR.
I KNOW! WHO CARES ABOUT MOVIES NO ONE’S SEEN? THE NOMINEES SHOULD TOTALLY BE:
New Moon
Transformers 2
G-Force
Alvin and the Chipmunks 2
Couples Retreat
The Ugly Truth
I Love You Beth Cooper
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Avatar
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Now THOSE are the best movies of the year, right there. Oh, and Miley Cyrus is a total Best Actress lock for Hannah Montana: The Movie.
how could you forget G.I. Joe?
BEST MOVIES EVER MADE. I peeed my pants when i read that post
Hey, that’s why we have the Raspberries!!!
TJ I LIKE your SARCASM! You ARE KIDDING RIGHT? Just to geT A response! If BO receipts are the bellweather/benchmark then a little film called GHOSTRIDERS should have totally KILLED that year! Totally unexpected but killed at the BO!
No one is arguing that the top-grossing movies should automatically be nominated. But you have to meet in the middle. No, box office shouldn’t be the deciding factor, obviously. On the other hand, the Academy still cares about its image and its ratings and that has to be considered as well. It’s unlikely that they’d pick a BP winner totally based on box office, but it’s equally unlikely that they’d crown a movie with such a narrow audience. That doesn’t mean The Hurt Locker doesn’t deserve to win, it’s just being REALISTIC.
Look at 1997. The best movie of the year wasn’t Titanic, it was L.A. Confidential. Like The Hurt Locker, L.A. Confidential won a massive load of critics and industry prizes. But not that many people saw it (although more people saw it than saw The Hurt Locker). The Academy didn’t crown a “film” when they chose Titanic, they crowned a cultural movement. Same sort of thing here.
I LOVE your sarcasm! Add to the list of ‘BEST’ movies of 2009 are:-
Where Are the Morgans?
G.I. Joe
Push
Fighting
Paper Heart
All About Steve
Observe and Report
Funny People
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Knowing
Little Ashes
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant
Miss March
17 Again
My Life in Ruins
Away We Go
Bruno
Aliens in the Attic
Shorts
The Burning Plain
The Box
Ninja Assassin
Old Dogs
And no, I did not pay $$$ to see any of the above – although, I do wish I could get back the time I spent at the advance screenings for the above movies. Nevertheless, I am glad to have watched/screened a bunch of really truly good movies as well.
@James
“The Academy didn’t crown a “film” when they chose Titanic, they crowned a cultural movement. Same sort of thing here.”
The Titanic was actually a rare case where the Box Office champ won best picture. It was a spectacle. That said, I agree with the point that The Hurt Locker may be too “small” of a film to win Best Picture. But I don’t necessarily think Avatar is going to win it either. for one thing, I have my doubts it will get a lot of votes from the acting branch, where as Titanic did get acting nominations.
God, you’re dumb. You actually don’t even deserve a response, but I’ll humor you. A movie that “any other director could have made” ?? Seriously? Yes, Avatar has momentum because it’s been seen by more than half the world. But assuming the voters actually WATCH the movies, we might have a different outcome. Hurt Locker has been getting its name out there lately, and most people have heard of it. So come out from under your rock or from under your parents bed, and welcome to the world of cinema. Thank God you don’t have a vote. We prefer they be educated.
Having seen both Avatar and The Hurt Locker, I can say that The Hurt Locker is better than Avatar in every way (other than visuals of course). Both Avatar and The Hurt Locker could have been made by other directors, but both would have been significantly worse. Kathryn Bigelow put so much tension into that film with 1/23842738482937 the budget of Avatar, so that is impressive by itself. If you think about it, the academy awards “excellence in film achievement” not “who made the most money.” While The Hurt Locker didn’t make a lot of money, it did make a profit. Plus it is simply a better movie so its gross revenue should theoretically not play a role in the oscars at all.
Well said, Woot.
Nicely stated.
I’m no film snob, and I definitely believe The Hurt Locker was the best film of the year. Great acting, action, entertainment, tension, etc. It had everything but a conventional love story. But a love story existed nonetheless. Avatar was great, but not the best film of the year.
That’s what screener DVDs are for.
this is an exciting race this year, when everything’s not a lock. meryl vs sandra, jeff vs. george, avatar vs the hurt locker…..whew.
I’d say Jeff is a lock, but picture and actress are actually races this year, you’re right.
Horse.Spit. An absolute crime; every person who voted The Hurt Locker best film, and kick ‘em out of the 2010 voting next year.
Dave- any chance of a Hurt Locker-Avatar vote split that might allow a third movie to take the prize?
That’s what I’m wondering. I would LOVE an Inglorious Basterds win. It will be interesting to see if, with 10 Nominees this year, if the vote really splits, or the academy decides to line up behind one film.
They split the vote and Up wins! WOOO that would be amazing
I’d be more concerned about an Inglourious Basterds-Hurt Locker split. Both are going to have to position themselves as the anti-Avatar when campaigning.
The Academy’s using preferential voting, so, really, anything can happen.
I think I’m the only person in America that didn’t like AVATAR. My personal pick for best movies of 2009 Inglorious Bastards and Hurt Locker. Up in the Air sucked which is too bad for George Clooney. Waiting to see Jeff Brigde’s movie on Netflix. Refuse to see Blind Side because I don’t like the idea of the story and haven’t been brave enough to sit through Precious.
Firsr of all, you do need to be brave to sit through “Precious,” because it is a harrowing story. However, you don’t want to see “The Blind Side” because you don’t like the idea of the story? It’s based on a real family. Events really happened. Would you not want to meet the real family either?
I think they meant that the story line didn’t interest them. Makes sense.
I thought the exact same thing. I didn’t see the blind side until it had been out for weeks and even then I was thinking this movie is weird i don’t want to see it. I saw it after the globe and sag nominations came out, and I love Sandra Bullock so I decided to humor her and watch it.
However, I am so glad I did. It was a great movie, and I think Sandra deserves everything she’s gotten
I didn’t like it either.
Mddiva35, You GO GIRL Precious is good Mo’nique was heart wrenching! I agree with you on Avatar (smoke and mirrors) I was so glad to see all the other directors sneering at James Cameron when he won at the Golden Globes!
GOD James Cameron. Even if Avatar does take Best Picture, I do NOT want another speech in Na’vi, so Kathryn Bigelow better win (not to mention her superior directing skills in THL).
I’m with you on the “not liking Avatar” bandwagon. Go Inglourious Basterds, Up in the Air, The Hurt Locker, and STAR TREK!
This is going to be a fun Oscar year. There are going to be movies nominated that I really care about. Hurt Locker, Avatar, Inglorious Basterds, Precious—anyone of them can win, and I feel happy. I think Jeff will win because its his time. Sandra vs Meryl–either one would be great. The supporting races are locked, unless Mélanie Laurent gets nominated from Inglorious. She is the only one that can beat Monique.
There’s too much confusion about whether Melanie Laurent is lead or supporting. Still would love a surprise nomination for her, no matter where it may fall.
The Oscars always seem to be good for at least one nomination no one saw coming, or slight. That’s part of the fun.
I LOVED Melanie Laurent in Bastereds! It was my favorite preformance that I’ve seen this year… she wholeheartedly deserves a nod.
It was already a race, but now it’s really close. It will be interesting to see if Avatar can get enough support from the Actors and Writers in the Academy to win.
How could Avatar possibly have ANY support from actors?? hahaha “Come to papa!! Grr!!!!” Worst acting ever.
And What about “I.C. U.” ROFL (I See You) is that supposed to be the ” I Will Be Back” chant of the season? Get out of HERE! PUERILE and Juvenile comes to mind!
As I said in another thread…the Avatar loss here was NOT REQUIRED for there to be a race this year. Karger was kidding himself to think that, if Avatar won this thing, it was a shoo-in for the Best Picture Oscar. This thing has been a race for weeks now…Karger is just late to the party.
No, but it’s a surprising loss, I think is the point. If of the Directors’, Writers’, Actors’, and Producers’ guilds any would be considered a lock for Avatar, it would be the Producer’s Guild Award. Considering that most of The Hurt Locker’s momentum comes from the critics (who do not vote at the Oscars), The Hurt Locker wasn’t really ahead despite its more accolades than Avatar. Winning this proves that certain arms of the Academy are embracing The Hurt Locker where Avatar would be expected to be embraced. This doesn’t BEGIN the race between them, of course, but it does raise an eyebrow or two.
I knew this would happen, producers would pick what they considered to be a real movie since people didn’t like how Avatar was mostly CGI. Not that I’m complaining since The Hurt Locker and Avatar were among my favorites of 2009.
Amazing news. I think Avatar’s pretty much out of the running now. The Hurt Locker’s winning the Oscar.
Keep telling yourself that. It’s definitely a race between those two at this point, but only a fool would think that Avatar is “out of the running” because of the PGA.
Would you say that The Hurt Locker was “pretty much out of the running” if IT had lost the PGA tonight? Somehow I doubt it…
Avatar only has support from the Globes at this point. Hurt Locker got some SAG noms, won the PGA and is pretty much guaranteed to win the DGA.
Avatar should only win technical awards.
That’s a bingo.
I think that may well be what happens.
I just saw one of the funniest things on one of the post. The person referred to anyone who thinks that Avatar deserves to win Best Picture at the Oscars as an “Avatard.” Now, that’s funny.
Nice.
I enjoyed “The Hurt Locker” immensely. It was a great film. BUT, I think it may be just a little overrated. I loved “Avatar.” I thought it was mind blowing. I thought “Star Trek” was great fun, too. “Precious” broke my heart and lifted my soul. I enjoyed every second of “Inglourious Basterds,” but is this REALLY the best picture of the year? It’s a tough call this year. I would not be a bit surprised if “The Hurt Locker” and “Avatar” split votes and a 3rd film crept in. I wouldn’t even blink if “Up in the Air” or “Precious” came barelling through. “Basterds” will be rewarded with the screenplay trophy. Jeff Bridges has some serious momentum at this point, but I wouldn’t put it past George Clooney for the upset, especially with all the goodwill he has flowing toward him from his peers after the Haiti telethon. I know that sounds crass, but it could be true. In the case of Meryl Streep VS. Sandra Bullock, I call Sandra for the prize. The supporting categories are completely boring this year because they’re a virtual lock. If we get a big upset, I hope it’s in one of these categories…like Julianne Moore getting her first Oscar instead of Mo’Nique…or even Marion Cotillard sneaking backing in for “Public Enemies” or “Nine.”