Mostly Good News: Random Thoughts on the Oscar Nominations

Is Chris Nolan the new Steven Spielberg? Inception received eight nominations, including Best Picture, but Nolan failed to receive a directing nod this morning. That is arguably the biggest surprise in the otherwise predictable batch of Oscar nominations today. Even as someone who doesn't think it was the greatest genre entry of all-time, it IS a director's picture through-and-through. Of course, since we now have ten Best Picture nominees and only five Best Director slots, there are arguably five other directors who might be a little annoyed this morning. I'm personally saddened (as much as one can be 'saddened' by stuff like this) by the omission of Debra Granik for her direction of Best Picture nominee Winter's Bone. I know we all like the Coen Brothers, but True Grit is a pretty normal western. If True Grit is Oscar-worthy, then so was 3:10 to Yuma and Open Range. There will be much handwringing over Lisa Cholodenko not getting a Best Director nomination for The Kids Are All Right. But since I kinda hate the film, I'm not too personally annoyed by the omission. At least Mark Ruffalo pulled out a Best Supporting Actor nod out of the deal, since he was the best thing about the film (of course, Ruffalo is usually the best thing about every film he's in).

The actual ten Best Picture nominees were pretty much as predicted a couple months ago (eight of the ten films made either my Best of 2010 or Overrated of 2010 lists). You have two mainstream blockbusters (Inception and Toy Story 3), two mid-summer arthouse favorites (The Kids Are All Right and Winter's Bone), the one Oscar-bait critical darling that didn't quite catch fire at the box office (127 Hours), the presumptive front-runner (The Social Network), and the four uber-popular, audience-pleasing bits of late-year Oscar bait (Black Swan, The Fighter, The King's Speech, and True Grit). It's a solid cross-section of nominees and proof that the ten-nominee gimmick is a pretty great idea. Not only did the best damn film of the year get in (Toy Story 3), but five of the ten films were released prior to the official Novemeber/December Oscar-bait season. I'm still pulling for a Pixar upset, but right now the four front runners (the films with Picture, Director, Acting, and Editing nods) are The Social Network, Black Swan, The King's Speech, and The Fighter.

I could spend a column whining about what shouldn't have been nominated (everything about True Grit save Halee Steinfield), and I won't mention that I see not a single minority in any of the major nominees lists. But I will only make mention of the fact that Helen Bonham Carter, having spent the last two decades playing all manner of weird and unique characters, gets an Oscar nom for playing the cliched 'supportive, nurturing, stand-by-your-man wife', a character with little to do and almost no dialogue. But let's move on to positive developments. Melissa Leo is now a two-time Oscar nominee and I can't wait to be able to type the sentence: "Melissa Leo is an Oscar-winning actress". Christian Bale received his first (!) Oscar nomination for The Fighter, and he's still the front-runner (only Geoffrey Rush can beat him). Natalie Portman of course was nominated for Best Actress for Black Swan, and at this point she still seems unbeatable (barring a 'career-award' upset from Annette Bening).

John Hawkes pulled off a somewhat surprising (and completely pleasing) Best Supporting Actor nomination for Winter's Bone. Best Actress nominee Jennifer Lawrence justifiably got most of the media buzz, but Hawkes's supporting turn truly dominates the third act of the terrific little drama. Jackie Weaver snagged a Best Supporting Actress nod for Animal Kingdom, which means the DVD I have from Blockbuster is will probably be watched this evening. Javier Bardem got a somewhat surprising Best Actor nod for Best Foreign film nominee Biutiful and Michelle Williams snuck in for Blue Valentine. Nicole Kidman got a deserved nod for Rabbit Hole, as it's nice to see people talking about her acting instead of her alleged botox treatments, and/or the shocking fact that films like Rabbit Hole don't play like Happy Feet or Batman Forever. Whatever my issues about The Social Network (its truthfulness, its alleged cultural impact), Jesse Eisenberg gives a genuinely brilliant performance, so I'm happy he was not lost amidst the press given to director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin.

The Illusionist made the cut in the Best Animated Film Category joining Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon while beating out more mainstream releases like Despicable Me and Tangled. I sincerely hope that the voting block doesn't engage in Pixar-backlash and deny Toy Story 3 the Best Animated Film win that it so clearly deserves, but that's certainly possible. There were few surprises in the various technical categories, although I'm somewhat happily surprised that Tron: Legacy missed out in the Best Visual category. Good on the terrific action picture Unstoppable getting a deserved Best Sound Editing nomination, and yay for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part I getting notice for its often-invisible Visual Effects and its moody Art Direction.

That's all I have for the moment. I'll offer my predictions for who or what will win in what categories when time permits, but that's enough ranting for now. Who do you think got robbed and/or undeservedly nominated? Which nominations made you happiest? Feel free to check in. Oh, and full nomination list is below.

Scott Mendelson

 

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Comments

[Clayton K Lowe]

08:44 AM on 01/27/2011

Most of the narrative above is right on; weakest nominations, and most outrageous snub, were in Best Supporting Actress category. Not only did Ms. Carter's role call for much of anything beyond standing alongside her husband -seven fine actresses (you'd have to call them supporting) emoted their hearts out in FOR COLORED GIRLS with nary a nod.

[ponderingmuch]

02:20 AM on 01/26/2011

Winters Bone... yep. That is the one that got under my skin and I know I will watch again, possibly more than once. That is the way I know something is really valuable to me.

I will probably watch Black Swan one more time, just to see why I found it so disturbing.

I enjoyed all the other nominees I saw (I did not see Toy Story, and never will, or Inception, which I will), but won't watch any of the others again, on purpose, even though I enjoyed them or was engaged at the time. The King's Speech was particularly enjoyable, and if I ever do watch it again, it will be on DVD and i will just watch and marvel at Geoffrey Rush. But first time around I liked it.

Social Network...I enjoyed it once and forgot I had already seen it two days later.

Two cents.

[littlebrowngirl]

11:15 PM on 01/25/2011

Please don't give it to portman. I beg you !!!!!

[muhair]

02:07 AM on 01/26/2011

She's one of those actors who hopes extra effort will compensate for less talent. She's lucky she's the prettiest girl who ever happened.

[bhaussie]

11:12 PM on 01/25/2011

Tron is THE Best VFX film of the year. The Soundtrack whilst not to everyone's taste (what is) it perfectly fits the film and therefore is the Best Soundtrack. Just goes to show opinions on Films are like a*holes, everyone has... Whilst I understand people like more story, I appreciate storylines myself ofcourse, this movie takes you to another place you can't go everyday and to not understand that, well... I can guarantee in countries where the population is primarily progressive, this film is crticially acclaimed.

[moon341]

08:56 PM on 01/25/2011

sorry to be grumpy and disagreeable, but julianne moore is the best thing in the kids are alright....as she is in most every movie she's in.......

[NHBill]

09:29 PM on 01/25/2011

she even killed that Boston accent on 30 Rock!
She is good in everything.
I liked her in "Chloe" more though.

[Scott Mendelson]

10:39 PM on 01/25/2011

In a less crowded year, I would have liked a nomination for Julianne Moore in Chloe. Much better performance (and film) than The Kids Are All Right

[AJ39]

10:45 PM on 01/25/2011

The best thing in this movie is in the title - the kids; they indeed are alright. They, by far, were the best thing about the movie. All of the adult actors played their parts well, but they didn't have much to work with. A cliched move that hopes it's daring by dealing with a lesbian couple and a biological father. Should have been much better.

[CaLaWyer]

06:43 PM on 01/25/2011

"Despicable Me" not being nominated for Best Animated Film is my biggest gripe. The bigger issue is why only three animated films are allowed to be nominated for Best Animated Film, while 10 films can be nominated for Best Picture.

I'm also sad that Pharrell was not recognized for the excellent original songs he contributed to "Despictable Me". But I'm not surprised. The Academy always seems to miss the boat when it comes to recognizing great songs from movies.

[Scott Mendelson]

06:55 PM on 01/25/2011

Had there been (I think) 16 viable animated films, then the category would have had five nominees. But there were only 15 eligible such features (Yogi Bear didn't pass the test), so the category only had three noms.

[CaLaWyer]

07:31 PM on 01/25/2011

That's a good point. But the fact is, and maybe this is just a historical anomoly, there are a LOT of extremely high-quality animated films being made right now. A lot of the times the "Best Animated Film" winner is better than its "Best Picture Counterpart". So while on it's face, nominating 3 out of only 15 movies doesn't seem unreasonable, the fact is some excellent animated films are being slighted - "Despicable Me" being the most glaring example.

Compare the film that won Best Animated Film award with the film that won Best Picture that year, for each year since the BAF award started being given out, and I think you'll see my point. Which film do you think was a better film?

2001 - "Shrek" or "A Beautiful Mind"
2002 - "Spitited Away" or "Chicago"
2003 - "Finding Nemo" or "Lord of the Rings - Return of the King"
2004 - "The Incredibles" or "Million Dollar Baby"
2005 - "Wallace and Gromit - Curse of the Were-Rabbit" or "Crash"
2006 - "Happy Feet" or "The Departed"
2007 - "Ratatouille" or "No Country For Old Men"
2008 - "Wall-E" or "Slumdog Millionaire"
2009 - "Up!" or "The Hurt Locker"

[DCvote]

04:37 PM on 01/25/2011

I've seen 8/10 best pic noms. Toy Story 3 should be the winner honestly. best animated film ever. Probably best movie since el secreto de sus ojos.

[fortyniner]

04:17 PM on 01/25/2011

They have to revise history for the sake of drama. The characters speak as if they're in the twenty first century, for example.

I was hoping Ryan Gosling would be in the Best Actor lineup.

[NHBill]

06:23 PM on 01/25/2011

he was excellent in 2 movies .

[NonConforming]

02:21 PM on 01/25/2011

Remakes of existing movies (True Grit) should be excluded from winning Oscars, except for the actors, since they are working with a previous version to improve upon.

[NHBill]

03:09 PM on 01/25/2011

Have you seen the film?
The original totally bowdlerized the novel by placing the "True Grit" solely on John Wayne.
This new version corrects this and tells the tale of a 13 year old girl with "True Grit".
Most the main plot points are in both films yet they play very differently.
A worthy "remake" for sure.
With that said the film was a well deserved 'payday' picture for the Coen Brothers whose last film "A Serious Man" was much better.

[fastfreddy57]

05:36 PM on 01/25/2011

John Wayne is the only Rooster Cogburn that I will ever recognize or accept. I was recently on a blog and a lot of the posters were upset that a remake was even attempted and some were upset that Bridges, Brolin and others are liberals. I try not to let celebrities politics get in the way when I watch movies, I make attempts to look beyond that but sometimes it's hard. As a veteran I will not watch a movie with Jane Fonda in it.

[HelloDollyLlama]

02:14 PM on 01/25/2011

Should have had Justin Timberlake, Noomi Rapace, Julianne Moore, and a whole bunch of Potter people, particularly Emma Watson.

[NHBill]

03:05 PM on 01/25/2011

Not sure if Rapace technically qualified.
Those films were actually edited from a Swedish TV mini-series.
Timberlake was very good.
Moore sadly is a victim of the silly, implausible, insatiable affair in that film.
I'm sure there are many gay people that were offended by that story line.
The Potter kids will have to do something else to earn their Oscars.
(Although some sort of special award or recognition is in order for them.)
Watson may very well have the chops to do it.

[CAMBEL]

04:34 PM on 01/25/2011

It looks like the miniseries came out later.... ""Millennium is a Swedish six-part television series that aired in 2010, which was based on Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace reprised their roles."

[seattlejohn449]

05:43 PM on 01/26/2011

I really enjoyed THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT until that affair made the film jump the shark. The opening dialogue was breezy, good fun satirizing Californians and I liked the people and relationships though the added affair took it out of Oscar contention for both best film and script. And being an ensemble piece why is Benning up for best actress and TRUE GRIT'S Hailey Steinfeld demeaned to supporting actress? Is it best actress or best movie star?

[MsNancyMitford]

03:41 PM on 01/25/2011

Timberlake is NOT an actor.

[NHBill]

06:25 PM on 01/25/2011

he's been very good in the films I've seen him in.
and on SNL he is a very talented comedic actor.
so no he is a fine actor indeed.

[Kevin Phillips]

07:58 PM on 01/25/2011

I still can't figure out who decided he was an actor. Even more troubling, I can't understand how anyone thought the pointy chin and nose and beady little eyes make for a good looking man.

I'm willing to set aside the looks but "actor" Justin Timberlake?

[Tim Blank]

01:52 PM on 01/25/2011

I only think Summer Wars got snubbed from the Animated films category, but thats only because there weren't enough films submitted in that category.

[samm2202]

01:49 PM on 01/25/2011

I've been a fan of Natalies since i was little and watched the Professional. I sure hope she does take home the Oscar, she deserves it!

[NHBill]

06:26 PM on 01/25/2011

I frankly didn't understand what the fuss was about her until Black Swan.
She should win hands down.

[Cratewasher]

01:06 PM on 01/25/2011

Inception is the worst film of the bunch.

[DrSnuggles]

02:29 PM on 01/25/2011

Faved. Remember when the Matrix came out and a ton of people hailed it as some sort of philosopical masterpiece? Now it's that movie where Ted "Theodore" Logan dodges a bullet.

[NHBill]

02:57 PM on 01/25/2011

The Matrix, the original not the sequels, is one of the top 2 or 3 SciFi films ever made.
Those horrible sequels will probably diminish it's legacy.

[bettestreep]

06:29 PM on 01/25/2011

Same as Avatar last year.

EVERYONE was raving about it and was shoo in for Best Picture - until enough Academy voters realised it was just a $200m video game with a rotten script and woeful one dimensional acting!

When I saw Avatar I hissed at the rotten dialogue and wooden acting. The millions spent on special effects could not save it from being a dog of a film!

[Kyle10]

03:37 PM on 01/25/2011

Thank you. Inception was akin to a bloated, glossy, sugary pastry. A great idea ruined by ostentatious use of computer generated eye wash. Big nothing.

[No Good Names Left]

01:04 PM on 01/25/2011

I thought Shutter Island was far better than inception.

[PNK]

10:46 PM on 01/26/2011

Me too. I was hoping Leo'd get a Best Actor nom for Shutter Island. Until this late-season rush of good films, it was the best film of the year. Was it hurt by coming out so early?

[No Good Names Left]

05:48 AM on 01/27/2011

that's what I assume happened
Nobody seems to remember that film at all, its not on anyone's list

[cineboy]

12:27 PM on 01/25/2011

Totally disagree with you about "True Grit." Referring to it as a "normal western" is just plain wrong. It's like....it's like......it's like calling you a knowledgable film critic. Yeah, that's it!

[NHBill]

01:29 PM on 01/25/2011

Mid-Level Coens at best.

[Scott Mendelson]

02:44 PM on 01/25/2011

"Normal" may not have been the right word, but I didn't want to trash the film by calling it conventional or generic (point being, I like westerns). It's not a bad film (although I have issues with Bridges's garbled vocal-choices), but it's not a great film. It's not even a great western, which Open Range certainly was (and yes, I preferred 3:10 to Yuma).

[cineboy]

08:28 PM on 01/25/2011

Wow, it's really amazing how you have the Coens broken down by levels. No doubt you have graphs on the wall. "True Grit" is already superlative and is one of those films that will only grow in stature as the years go by.