Wednesday Oscar Retrospective: The Real Best Pictures of 2009

Welcome back to a weekly feature here at Movies with Abe, Wednesday Oscar Retrospective. The Real Best Pictures is the seventh in a series of projects looking back at the past eight years of the Oscars, dating back to the first ceremony I watched and closely followed.

For this feature, imagine that an Oscar nomination for Best Picture was cumulative rather than based on votes in just that category. That means taking into account how well a film performed in other categories, and how many Oscars it eventually took home. Like the other series before it, this one is highly speculative, but the point is just to have fun, so chime in with your thoughts in the comments!

And the nominees were… Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air

The keepers, no questions: The five Best Director nominees - Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, and Up in the Air.

The question marks: It’s not guaranteed that Up would have broken through to become the second-ever animated film to be nominated in the top race, but it is highly likely. District 9 and An Education were probably safe choices as well, earning a few other mentions. A Serious Man earned only one other nomination, for writing, which means it would have been very vulnerable.

The losers: The inexplicable nominee, The Blind Side. This may have been Sandra Bullock’s year to take home an Oscar, but there’s no reason her film should also have earned a nomination.

The new inclusions: It’s possible that Crazy Heart, Invictus, or The Messenger could be considered popular enough, but I'd say that it would have been Star Trek, a far superior fan choice than “The Blind Side.”

The new nominees: Avatar, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Star Trek, Up, Up in the Air

Come back next week for a look at the Real Best Pictures of 2008 when we get back to just five nominees!