Nominations!
Wow, they sure loved the hell out of The Reader. I'm impressed, though - I knew the Oscars were going to be boring this year, but I didn't realise they were going to be boring and shitty.
The good: Melissa Leo in for Best Actress, Richard Jenkins for Best Actor, In Bruges for Original Screenplay (actually, Original Screenplay as a whole is pretty good), Hellboy II for Makeup
The bad: Sally Hawkins snubbed, The Reader getting Picture and Director, and depriving The Curious Case of Benjamin Button from its rightful spot as my least favorite nominee.
Just plain surprising: Tom Stern in for Best Cinematography for Changeling, only three Best Song nominees & none of them for Bruce Springsteen
This is going to be the worst Oscars in a long, long time.
My predictions: a hideous 29/40 on the Big 8, 68/99 overall (though I actually predicted 101 awards, not expecting Best Song to do that... so maybe better to say 68/101?)
22 January 2009
5 comments:
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Saw 'The Reader' last night and no way does it merit that kind of Oscar interest.
ReplyDeleteTrue, Daldry tries for a seriousness of purpose, but the film overall is antiseptic, the heavyweights in the cast (notably Bruno Ganz and Lena Olin) wasted in one-dimensional spell-it-out-for-the-audience roles, and - ultimately - there's no attempt to reconcile the essential dichotomy of Schlink's original novel: the notional study of collective guilt sits uneasily alongside a first half which is basically a sexploitationer.
I think you're right: this has all the makings of a lousy Oscar night.
we're going to have to come up with a rolicking good drinking game. suggestion: take a shot every time Benjamin Button is mentioned?
ReplyDeleteno, then we might be dead by the time the red carpet pre-show is done.
yeah I was pretty pissed off. I don't understand how Happy Go Lucky gets a best original screenplay nom overVicky Cristina Barcelona and yet Hawkins and Marsan are alienated from the acting categories.
ReplyDeleteThis also makes me want to see The Reader even less.
The Curious Case of Forrest Gump
ReplyDeleteI'm always confused when Leigh films get screenplay nominations. Is it just the Academy going "we know, we know, we'll just give you the 'secretly is the better film' category" or is it an endorsement of his drawn-out, unusual process of filmmaking?
ReplyDeleteI guess either option gives a little too much credit to an institution that's so bafflingly embraced Button's screenplay. Sigh.