Best Director

Avatar, James Cameron

The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow

Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino

Precious, Lee Daniels

Up in the Air, Jason Reitman

Least likely is Up in the Air, a modest offering in a bold category. Precious and Inglourious Basterds just can’t compete with the showdown between Avatar and The Hurt Locker. Some film journalists have tried to paint this race as a microcosm of the American culture wars, with the independent critics’ darling as the “elitist” choice and the 3D popcorn flick as the “populist” choice. I don’t buy it. You could just as easily argue that The Hurt Locker shines a light on the bravery of our troops, while Avatar trades in ham-fisted liberalism. Without assigning either film to an ideological camp, the bottom line is that The Hurt Locker is respected across the board, while Avatar is divisive; some find it magical and other-worldly, some find it simplistic and cheesy. The Directors’ Guild Award is the strongest indicator of who will win, and that gong went to Kathryn Bigelow, so we are getting our first-ever female winner for Best Director. Sweetness!

Prediction: The Hurt Locker

Personal Pick: I’m quite torn. As excited as I am for Ms. Bigelow, The Hurt Locker left me cold. I think her directing was top-notch, I just didn’t care for the material for which it was in service. Meanwhile, Tarantino’s direction was also top-notch AND I really dug the resulting film.