Sorry, but the TWBB reference comes too easily.
After watching Kathy Bates (?!) announce the nominees this morning I had to take a deep breath and remind myself that great movies (if the link works, find your 2007 favorites on the full list) will continue to be made, regardless of how often they continue to be ignored by AMPAS. The Academy members have their own connections to maintain, mind you, like any business. You have to make sure the "right" people win so you can maintain your professional connections. If the public had their say, movies like Cloverfield would win Best Picture, and we don't want that either.
In any case, here are my thoughts on the six nominees I got wrong from my predictions:
Best Actor:
- Tommy Lee Jones: Well, this was kind of out of nowhere. He got a lot of attention when Elah came out, but I thought that had all died down. Oh well, he had a good year and deserves it. Emile Hirsch still got robbed.
Best Actress:
- Laura Linney: Fine. This was unexpected but a fine choice.
- Cate Blanchett: Fine. This was somewhat expected, but a fine choice, even though I didn't see it. Can you tell I'm excited about the Best Actress race?
Best Supporting Actress:
- Ruby Dee: Not a shock, as a lot of bloggers heard the buzz on this one. My thinking that was if American Gangster was going to get one nomination, it would get six, and I didn't think that was happening. She was great though, sure, give it to her.
Best Director:
- Tony Gilroy: Look, people love George Clooney, and anybody who works with him. A disastrous pick, but not a surprising one.
- Jason Reitman: ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? The Juno lovefest has officially gone way too far. What an insane reality this is.
Other surprises:
+ Surf's Up for Best Animated Film. Wow.
+ Enchanted gets 3 Original Song nominations!? Tragic.
+ Sarah Polley for Best Adapted Screenplay over Into the Wild and Charlie Wilson's War.
I'm thrilled that:
+ Angelina Jolie was not nominated for A Mighty Heart.
+ Julia Roberts was not nominated for Charlie Wilson's War.
+War Dance was nominated for Best Doc, though it has no chance against No End in Sight.
I'm disgusted that:
+ Jason Reitman is an Academy Award-nominated director.
+ I'm not a member of the Academy.
The final conclusion is that I love the Academy Awards, not because they celebrate the best films, but because it's fun to predict which of the best films they will ignore. That's it. That's why we do this.
Can we please mention that we are thrilled that "Once" didn't get shunned for best original song. To me, that was the most important. But I am saddened that "Into the Wild" got left out of a bunch of catergories, although it wasn't snubbed.
ReplyDeleteYes, let's do mention that. "Falling Slowly" will probably be the best Oscar show performance in recent memory, and absolutely will win.
ReplyDeleteI thought Eddie Vedder was going to get nominated, but something weird happened with the music from Into the Wild and There Will be Blood - apparently neither could be nominated for score, so maybe that applied to song, too.
Also, in such a musical year, few of the songs were actually new. I'm talking mostly about Across the Universe and I'm Not There.
Still shocked about Enchanted...
3 noms for Enchanted and not a single nom for Eddie Vedder. That's sick.
ReplyDeleteI was shocked by Reitman too. Surprised but really happy for Laura Linney and surprised for Tommy Lee Jones though it was a great performance in a bad film.
We agree on all points. Regarding Eddie Vedder, according to what I've found out he was definitely eligible for Original Song, just not for Original Score due to "predominant use of songs." All the more reason he should have received an Original Song nod!
ReplyDeleteYeah when I found out he was disqualified for score, I wasn't as mad as I was about Jonny Greenwood because I thought for sure Vedder would at least get a song nomination.
ReplyDeleteOh well...history is loaded with deserving people who never won Oscars...
And, to make matters worse, loaded with undeserving people who DID win Oscars - or is that the same thing? Julia Roberts for Erin Brockovich over Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream? Unforgivable.
ReplyDeleteHere’s why I don’t care about your precious Academy Awards:
ReplyDeleteNominations for Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead---0
Nominations for Norbit---1
And while I don’t want Cloverfield to win best picture either it was still far more well-made and original than Michael Clayton, which was nominated for everything.
Best Picture---Michael Clayton ???? Now officially the most overrated movie of the last three years. I thought Juno was alright, but at the risk of being labeled immature, Knocked Up dealt with the same subject matter and was better in every way. Not saying that it should be a best picture nomination, just saying. Robbed---Into the Wild and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Best Actor-If you are really good in a bad movie, you shouldn't be nominated. Exit Clooney and Jones. Enter Emile Hirsch and Hoffmann. In fact, Hoffmann should just take over Jones' spot here and then let Jones take his supporting spot for No Country. Brilliant
Best Actress-I didnt see a couple of these so I don't have much of an opinion. Out of the movies I have seen I would say that Helena Bonham Carter, Keri Russell and the girl from Once could have used some love.
Best Supp Actor-Good to see Affleck get nominated if only to get Getahun down from the top of that building. One problem I have is Hal Holbrook. I thought that he was the weakest part of the whole movie. He should give up his spot to Michael Cera for either one of his great performances. I said it.
Best Supp Actress-Marisa Tomei was robbed. I liked exactly one of the movies nominated. Since Lars was apparently Oscar-worthy, a nomination should have been given to Emily Mortimer.
Best Director-I would agree that Jason Reitman is undeserving, but he has managed to make two good movies, which is exactly two more than Tony Gilroy has managed to make. On another note, I don’t claim to be technically knowledgeable when it comes to film, but in my humble opinion The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was poorly directed. Kick out all three and throw in Sean Penn, David Fincher and Sidney Lumet.
Best Original Screenplay-Whatever.
Best Adapted Screenplay-Into the Wild robbed again.
Other Thoughts:
Atonement’s score was unbearable
The rules for Best Foreign Language Film is comparable to the BCS.
No Best Doc nomination for King of Kong ??????
I can’t wait for the disembodied voice of Oscar say Norbit.
Matt
An even more unforgivable Oscar is Adrian Brody winning over Daniel Day Lewis
ReplyDeleteMatt
Haha, good to have you back online. You're so immature for thinking Knocked Up was better than Juno.
ReplyDeleteMichael Clayton - we agree it was terrible, from the silly beginning to the unbearably cliched ending.
Hoffman/Jones - great idea for the switch, but still leaves Hirsch "in the wild." Ouch. Also, he wasn't really good in a bad movie (like Clooney- who wasn't even that good), he was really good in a good movie, right?
Still haven't seen Waitress. Or Away from Her, or La Vie en Rose. I think the ONLY 3 I missed last year.
Affleck - boy, you're right. I would have had some major, major problems had he been overlooked.
We've talked about Cera before. Eh, I wouldn't protest, but it would never fly. Though with Juno who knows? If any SuppAct should be out, I think it's maybe Wilkinson.
Emily Mortimer! Yes.
Reitman - I didn't even really like Thank You for Smoking. He's mediocre at best for me.
I'll definitely give you those other three. Diving Bell wasn't transcendent or anything, but I still think it was done well, technically and artistically. But I like said, it should have grabbed me more emotionally.
The Atonement score was extremely distracting, I agree.
BCS = Foreign Film. Agreed. You could actually say that about all the categories.
King of Kong must have been too good or something. I'm not sure what the rules are, but they missed Manufactured Landscapes and In the Shadow of the Moon, too.