The Oscar nominations came out today. There was only one real surprise for me. Robert Downey, Jr. nominated for best supporting actor for Tropic Thunder. If Heath Ledger wasn't nominated in the same category for The Dark Knight I'd want him to win. Here's what the Academy missed:
The Dark Knight for Best Picture
The second highest-grossing film of all time doesn't warrant a nomination for best picture? Ex-squeeze me? You can read my analysis of the film here. This snub represents a continued bias by the Academy against summer blockbuster films, particularly comic book movies. The Dark Knight isn't a perfect movie, in fact had it been nominated for best screenplay or director I may have cried foul, but it's a perfect experience. Like Batman himself, it changed things. The genre will never be the same. It also gave us one of the best performances of an actor at the peak of his career. It left us all wanting more. What's missing here, guys? Was The Reader really better than this?
James Franco (The Pineapple Express) and Paul Rudd (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) for Best Supporting Actor
Either one of these guys should have been nominated. The Academy was smart to nominate Downey, Jr., but why limit your nominations to one comedic performance? Rudd didn't have a big part in Sarah Marshall, but he stole every scene and gave us the movie's funniest lines ("I wonder if the carpet matches the pubic hair."). And while Pineapple Express wasn't as funny, Franco always was, re-inventing Spicoli for the 21st century and basically making me wish I sold weed for living.
Predictions
Best Picture
The Oscar goes to Slumdog Millionaire, but Frost/Nixon is the better film. I loved Slumdog, but the ending was contrived, and the premise a bit shaky (seriously, why would they torture a kid for maybe cheating on a quiz show?).
Best Director
Danny Boyle gets it, despite my reservations about the story. He deserves it for the chase through the Mumbai slums alone.
Best Actor
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler, and rightfully so. Max said it perfectly, his face is the best thing in this movie, but his performance is simply astonishing. Frank Langella would be my second choice, and Sean Penn a close third.
Best Actress
Didn't see any of the films nominated, but it'll probably go to Kate Winslett, who was unjustly robbed for Eternal Sunshine For The Spotless Mind, for her performance in The Reader.
Best Supporting Actor
Who else? Heath Ledger captured the essence of a legendary icon and made it his own. I can't think of a better tribute to an actor who died far too soon.
Best Supporting Actress
Gonna have to say Marissa Tomei since I haven't seen the other actresses' films, but both Amy Adams and Taraji P. Henson are really hot so I'm torn over whom I want to oggle more.
Best Screenplay (Adapted)
Frost/Nixon is a better movie than it is a play, but stays true to its Broadway origins.
Best Original Song
Either song nominated from Slumdog Millionaire. "Jai Ho" is a better song, but "O Saya" features M.I.A. who is wicked cool. Either way, this will be the first time since Three Six Mafia performed that I've actually been excited to watch.
Fun fact: Gran Torino wasn't nominated for a Razzie award. I guess only a handful of us consider that one of the worst movies of the year (in fairness, it probably wasn't as bad as Disaster Movie).
"The Reader" is a pretty bizarre film...if you like Winslett, watch it...but the plot is pretty jarring.
Right on about slumdog. although i feel happy about a lot of things from that movie, it got way too feel good and ridiculous as it went on.
i do like that he said 'if it weren't for rama and allah, i would still have a mother,' talking about religion in general and trying not to point fingers at muslims. but the riot scene itself wasn't played right for a movie by an English director, at a time when muslims need no more demonizing. muslims around bombay have to suffer as a whole whenever individuals mess up and public sentiment falls against them.
i thought the Muslims were the ones being attacked. i'll have to check that out again.
it didn't look that way to me. someone yelled 'they're muslims!' and then a muslim guy killed the dude's mother with a club and set people on fire or something and then the boys ran away.
actually it makes sense to me, because from the boys' point of view, they could only have seen that side of the story. also, that the guy indicts both hinduism and islam at the same time is key in my book. but if the description of the scene i gave above is accurate and not drunken blabber, it's still unfair to real people.
i am drunk by the way. happy chinese new year
i finally saw slumdog millionaire...i thought it was the muslims who got attacked too..
i went into this movie expecting it to be a feel good fairy tale movie. So that's why I didn't feel it was contrived or ridiculous. The ending pretty much spelled itself out. I didn't mind the few cliche dialogue that came up because it was fitting for this kind of movie. anyway, so coool.
I agree about Winslett. It was a travesty that she didn't win for Eternal Sunshine.