Breaking Down the Oscar Nominations

The Oscar nominations are out, and on the whole, I think they're more correct than incorrect. Of course, since I had three of the five Best Picture nominees in my top ten of 2008, that makes sense. As for the other two, I don't get the strong reaction to Milk. I recognize it's an intense, moving story, and I love Penn's performance, but I thought his relationships weren't really drawn out very convincingly. To me, you could make a stronger case for The Wrestler, which was likewise propelled by one dominant performance. The Reader is a good film, and I think it's really the beneficiary of an end-of-the-year run. Remember: The Weinsteins moved other films on their schedule to accommodate The Reader, and that plan has certainly paid off. Had it been released in November or if Doubt had come out on Christmas, who knows how that would've played out. The most obvious snub is The Dark Knight. I don't think it's one of the five best movies from last year, but it has a lot of elements the Academy looks for, and that's why I'm really surprised it didn't break through in the major categories. I can see not nominating the screenplay, because it was rife with problems and was probably a couple steps behind the Batman Begins script. But the direction by Christopher Nolan is more tasteful and artistic than we're used to seeing out of blockbusters, and I thought that was the best chance the film had in one of the top competitions. The Best Picture omission will probably be talked about for a while. It wouldn't have won, but is it as worthy as Milk or The Reader? Sure. I don't buy this stuff about the Oscars overlooking event movies, having some sort of stuck-up position about movies that make money. Star Wars, Jaws, E.T., Raiders and three Lord of the Rings movies have been nominated for the big prize; Hollywood doesn't run from extremely popular movies that aren't rooted in reality. Some would say that because it made so much money, that's the payoff for The Dark Knight. Others would piggyback on that and say that a film like The Reader needs the nomination more. It's true that there is a financial stake, or else nobody would promote their movies at the end of the year angling for free publicity. You know, the way In Bruges did it. (Sigh). All of that considered, though, I would've thought because it loaded up on tech awards, there would have been enough support from voters in those particular guilds to make the top five in the Best Picture race. For individual performances, it's just squabbling to say he or she does or does not belong. The actors and actresses with the best cases and chances to win are all represented. There's no favorite that's out of the running. Check your score cards, though; when the nominations were announced, I thought Kate Winslet received a nomination for Revolutionary Road and not The Reader, because The Reader had been pushed as a supporting performance. There has been some grumbling online about Bruce Springsteen getting knocked out of the Best Song race for The Wrestler. I'm not a fan of the category in general, and the Springsteen song kind of embodies why. It's a great song, but voters might think it doesn't add to the film in any way because it plays over the end credits. How many viewers sat through all of the credits just so they could hear the song? Not that many. Certainly, more of them saw Rourke singing and dancing to Ratt's "Round and Round," because it's a pivotal scene in the movie. Conversely, the two Slumdog songs are unavoidable, and because it's the favorite to win so many awards, this doesn't surprise me that much. Plus, you have to think more voters have heard the Slumdog songs just because more of them have seen the film than The Wrestler. I think the underwhelming number of nominations for the film in general kind of proves that. If I had to pick winners at this point, it wouldn't be very surprising: Slumdog, Boyle, Rourke, Winslet, Ledger, Cruz, and Milk and Slumdog for screenplays. That might change in a month, but not much. The Best Actor race is really Rourke or Penn, as much as I admire what Frank Langella did in Frost/Nixon. Best Actress could still go to Streep, but I think Winslet has way too much momentum to lose, and let's face it: Six nominations at the age of 33 is damned impressive. She's due. Ledger, Slumdog, and Danny Boyle are all locks as far as I'm concerned. Best Supporting Actress is interesting now because Winslet has been called up to Best Actress. Penelope Cruz had the most success at the beginning of the season, winning a lot of critics awards, but it's kind of up in the air at this point.What do you think they got right, and perhaps more importantly, got wrong?

Comments

[American Wilson]

Perhaps this is just a typo on your part Mr. Colin Boyd, but I thought for sure that Star Wars: Clone Wars would certainly make be nominated for best animated feature. Mr. Lucas showed the world once again what a genius he is by advancing computer animation to levels the world has never seen before.

But beyond the tremendous technological advances, the gripping storyline of a young Jedi Knight was better than anything I saw in Wall-E. Best screenplay?

Gus Van San and Sean Penn erased many homo-sexual stereo-types by telling the story of Mr. Harvey Milk, and they received all of the accolades. But where are the kudos for the least stereo-typically gay character of all, Ziro The Hutt?

The absolute and complete snub of Star Wars the Clone Wars has me thinking one thing and one thing only: Boycott the Academy Awards Telecast!

Activating his Wonder Twin Powers Twice Daily, This has been American Wilson

[Get The Big Picture]

Well, yes, that is one perspective, I suppose.

[MRPigg]

I think Slumdog may pull out the win, but I don't think it is as much of a lock as you think. There is a ton of support for Benjamin Button and I also think that Fincher has a good shot at being recognized for what is ultimately a greater accomplishment in directing, taking nothing away from Mr. Boyle. If I had to venture a guess right now, I am predicting a split, which doesn't happen too often. Fincher over Boyle, with the less depressing Slumdog grabbing the big prize.

I think supporting actress is once again the most difficult to call. With Kate Winslet mysteriously absent, it is now anyone's guess. None of the five would shock me with a win. The other three acting categories are pretty safe bets at this point.

Since everyone knows at this point what is going to happen, I would love to see Michelle Williams be the presenter of the Supporting Actor award. Though I wonder if that would be too much for her to handle emotionally, it would be touching. Then again, if for some oddball reason Ledger din't win, that would be really awkward. So maybe they shouldn't go there. I'm sure they will stick with tradition and have it presented by Tilda Swinton.

[Vince]

I agree with American Wilson completely, thank you for representing the second best movie of 2008 (right behind "Disaster Movie", of course).

[Will]

As I commented in the earlier article, I think Clint Eastwood is the most notable snub. The Academy usually loves him. He seems to be suffering from his own success, because neither Gran Torino nor Changeling was as good as his best work in recent years, but still...did he send voters a letter taking himself out of contention?

Perhaps the nicest surprise is Robert Downey Jr.'s nomination for best supporting actor. I didn't think the Academy would do it, but I suspect they are rewarding him for an amazing comeback year, much in the way that Mickey Rourke has been praised. I keep seeing trailers for the Soloist and wonder why the studios didn't go for a RDJ trifecta...

It's too bad his performance will be overshadowed by Ledger's.

Finally, I don't believe that Aronofsky was snubbed. I am a fan of his work, but I think his creativity might have been drained entirely by The Fountain (which I think he wants to remake now). He is a talented, cerebral director, and to me the Wrestler is him "slumming it" a little. Nothing special there, and his recent obscene gesture might have sealed the deal. His best work is ahead...

Can't wait to see how it all plays out, and whether or not there a few curveballs when the winners are announced. There always are...

[Vince]

But seriously this time...I was one of those who grumbled about "The Wrestler" not getting a song nod. Yeah, it's not really too big a deal, but here's what I think. The song hit me about as hard as "Falling Slowly" (last year's winner) did. And...I can't really explain it but like when a song like that just meshes so well with the film, I really take notice. It's one of those top things that I remember when I leave the theater. Basically, this song accomplished that for me this year (as "Falling Slowly" did last year, and "Hard Out there for a Pimp" did a couple years before).

Oh, and who here is pretty thankful, like myself, that Kate Winslet is getting the "Best Actress", not "supporting actress" nomination here for "The Reader"? I certainly am, and I agree Colin, she is due for an Oscar, and I think its time this year.

[Lost Wilson]

Two things:

1. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are nominated for best actor/actress. Has there ever been a married couple to be nominated in the same year? And if so, has there ever been a married couple to WIN both top honors in the same year?

That could make for an interesting story.

2. Dark Knight, though good, is a sequel. The academy generally rewards the first version of a popcorn movie, rather than subsequent chapters. The rare exception was Lord of the Rings, but that was really one long movie split three ways. I view this snub the same way I would, say, The Empire Strikes Back, which was a far superior film to Star Wars in almost every way. The real popcorn snub this year is Ironman.

Anyone agree?

[MRPigg]

Last time I checked, Pitt and Jolie weren't "technically" married, so even if this never has happened in Oscar history, which I'm not sure of, then it "technically" hasn't happened this year either.