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The Oscars nominations for Best Original Score are:

The Hurt Locker – Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
Fantastic Mr Fox – Alexandre Desplat
Up – Michael Giacchino
Avatar – James Horner
Sherlock Holmes – Hans Zimmer

Interestingly, the most memorable piece of music in Fantastic Mr Fox is a Morricone pastiche, and most of Sherlock Holmes is derived in some way from Morricone.  I still don’t understand why Up is getting nominated for (and winning) everything.  Avatar is obviously my pick.  I’m not familiar with The Hurt Locker.  Very surprised that Marvin Hamlisch isn’t there for The Informant!



  1. Juanki (Reply) on Wednesday 3 February, 2010 at 09:07

    Ennio Morricone would had done the score for “Inglorious Basterds”, be sure he would won a new statuille.

    Shame “The Informant!” didn’t got nominated.

  2. Karol (Reply) on Wednesday 3 February, 2010 at 11:12

    An odd list. I kind of expected UP and AVATAR, but there is no real “art films” this time. Which is very weird to say the least.

    And one more (somewhat unrelated) thing: Isn’t it funny that people tend to be disappointed with Oscars almost every single year and yet everyone seems to forget that when they announce the nominations next year? I stopped following it closely years ago.

  3. JNH (Reply) on Wednesday 3 February, 2010 at 14:20

    As always, the idiots at the Academy select the nominees in the Original Score category according to the film, and not the music. Beltrami’s The Hurt Locker is simply a bad score, one of the year’s worst. It’s more or less in the same level as Beltrami’s Max Payne from last year. But whereas Max Payne was a crappy film, and therefore it was obviously not nominated, The Hurt Locker is a highly rated film. And to think that it got a nomination, while Hamlisch’s The Informant did not, is even more aggregating. Do the people there got ears?

  4. Mastadge (Reply) on Thursday 4 February, 2010 at 17:13

    Wait, you mean the Oscars are just a popularity contest!?

  5. Juanki (Reply) on Friday 5 February, 2010 at 11:30

    I certainly cann’t understand why people get so annoyed with Academy Awards. I am with you about the fact that the winner is based on popularity and politics but not the 5 nominees.

    Take a look of what was nominated this year. For me, they are 5 extremely nice scores in its films (and this comes from a guy who thinks “The Informant!” deserves the consideration).

    Cann’t believe that “The Hurt Locker” is a bad score. It’s an atmopheric score, and that is not for everyone tastes. But I invite you to watch the movie and enjoy it.

  6. MickeyW (Reply) on Friday 12 February, 2010 at 10:26

    Glad there’s at least someone who’s on the same page with me on this one, especially concerning Giacchino’s Up …