Ok, so I went away and didn't tell anyone. It's bad I know but there was apartment non-blog related work to be done and darn it if it didn't get done. Yes I realized I missed a link roundup and a Monday Night Monologue but I think we'll all survive. But anyway the day we've all (yes I'm being generous) been waiting for is here, Oscar nommmmms. While Nate over at filmexperience and many of his fellow bloggers are deep into prognosticating these things I think it's ultimately a futile exercise because ultimately the really winners are movies that stick in your head for all time. After all some of the greatest movies of all time don't have a single Oscar to their name, meanwhile who has one nice thing to say about The Greatest Show on Earth or the incredibly white bread Chariots of Fire? Not nobody, that's who. Here is a run down of the nominees with my thoughts on deserved-ness, who will win and who got screwed.
Best Animated Feature
Ratatouille
Persepolis
Surf's Up
Deserves to Win: Frankly either Ratatouille or Persepolis are more than deserving winners.
Will Win: I think voters will ultimately opt for the English speaking Ratatouille.
Screwed: Rest assured those surfing penguins will get a mighty skewering next season the Simpsons. It's just not fair.
General notes: Seriously, why isn't Simpsons on here.
Best Foreign Language Film
Beaufort (Israel)
Mongol (Kazakhstan)
12 (Russia)
The Counterfeitters (Austria)
Katyn (Poland)
Deserved Win: I don't know, none of the foreign film I saw this year showed up on this list
Will Win: The most despondent film should win so...Beaufort
Screwed: 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days and Diving Bell
General notes: Yet another bracket that illuminates why academy standards must be revised.
Best Writing: Adapted Screenplay
Joel and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood
Ronald Harwood - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Christopher Hampton - Atonement
Sarah Polley - Away from Her
Deserved Win: Anderson's adaptation of Sinclair's Oil! renders the material incredibly cinematic.
Will Win: A lot of earlier awards have been handed over to No Country, don't see why that won't be the case here.
Screwed: Into the Wild's tender adaptation got left in the van.
Best Original Screenplay
Diablo Cody - Juno
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton
Tamra Jenkins - The Savages
Brad Bird - Ratatouille
Nancy Oliver - Lars and the Real Girl
Deserved Win: Cody is an exciting new voice in film and damn the backlash.
Will Win: They tend to give it to new voices (Quentin and Kaufman have one-natch) so why not get a super smart and savvy lady up on the stage.
Screwed: Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen, would've been very cool to see either guy up there for Knocked Up or Superbad. Same goes for Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz but come on, that wasn't getting nominated.
General notes; A pretty good line-up this year and my not having seen Lars and the Real Girl I can't genuinely bitch about it.
Best Director
Joel and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton
Jason Reitman - Juno
Deserved Win: Anderson. Period.
Will Win: It's finally the Coens year, assuming we don't get a globes repeat for the solid work of Julian Schnabel.
Screwed: Tim Burton did some of the best directing of his life in Sweeney Todd. David Fincher got boned by Zodiac's early release. Sean Penn for Into the Wild who gave the film immense heart in spite of the warts-and-all lead character.
General notes: Another very deserving bunch.
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement
Ruby Dee - American Gangster
Deserved Win: Ryan or Swinton would make for lovely, deserved winners and the award would do a lot for their careers.
Will Win: But because everyone is lazy it'll go to Cate Blanchett's fun Dylan imitation.
Screwed:
General notes: What is Ruby Dee doing here. She's in the movie for like three minutes and made no impression whatsoever. Could be Garner's spot. Oh wait, Dee has never been nominated before...well...I guess...
Best Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton
Hal Holbrook - Into the Wild
Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War
Deserved Win: Holbrook is a killer.
Will Win: But Bardem did it with a giant compressed air gun.
Screwed: Paul Dano and Max von Sydow for their powerful performances in There Will Be Blood and Diving Bell respectively. Also I know there would be no chance but I would love to hear James Marsden's name read for Enchanted.
General notes: If I had to pick a second winner it would be Wilkinson who perfectly balanced crazy and sane in Clayton.
Best Actress
Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose
Julie Christie - Away from Her
Ellen Page - Juno
Laura Linney - The Savages
Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Deserved Win: Christie has the chops, the experience and the grace to make a great winner.
Will Win: I'm thinking Christie as the other nominees have years worth of great performances left in them.
Screwed: Amy Adams, AMY ADAMS and AMY ADAMS! Also Helen Bonham Carter.
General notes: Frankly I kind of hope Page doesn't win as young Oscar winners tend to bottom out early. Anna Paquin has been doing straight to DVD movies lately for goodness sake. Cate Blanchett's nomination for a movie that no one liked is pure laziness. If Cotillard wins I will throw something at the TV.
Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones - In the Valley of Elah
Deserved Win: I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!
Will Win: Milkshake?
Screwed: Milkshaaaaaaake!
General notes: I'm thirsty. In all seriousness it's incredibly cool that Viggo got nominated but he sure as hell ain't winning.
Best Picture
No Country for Old Men There Will Be Blood Juno Michael Clayton Atonement
Deserved Win: There Will Be Blood IS the best picture
Will Win: But it wasn't as accessible as No Country
Screwed: Zodiac, Into the Wild, Ratatouille, Once, I'm Not There
General notes: Comedies don't win so that cuts Juno, there is an hour of best picture in Atonement and then another hour, Michael Clayton may be too small for the win.
Oh and Enchanted got nominated for three of the song categories and Once got one too. WOOO! Please, oh please let there be a broadcast.
6 comments:
actually the only film of anna paquin's that has gone straight to dvd is blue state, which is an independent film and most indies end up that way.
Au contraire she was also in the straight to DVD Mosiac and Buffalo Soldiers got pushed around the schedule enough that to many it looked like a straight to video film. A lot of her work has also been on TV lately (not to say this is a bad thing but it's an unusual trajectory-note I said unusual here not impossible)Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Joan of Arc. Yes she's in the X-Men movies but you'd be hard pressed to find someone who goes to those movies specifically for Anna Paquin. To be fair I did enjoy her in 25th Hour, Almost Famous and Squid & the Whale, but again these were all fairly small parts. Still if she keeps herself clean and healthy who knows, all it takes i the right role in the right film.
buffalo soldiers was pushed back because of 9/11 since the studio was afraid they'd get backlash for releasing it. much like mgm is doing with putting blue state to dvd rather than give it a theatrical release since it's based on the 2004 election, it would give the studio backlash and anna as well since she's not even american. and mosaic was a cartoon not a film, and was specifically made for dvd like the rest of the cartoons in the "stan lee presents series". joan of arc doesn't even count because she only did a voice over in it, and it was documentary on top of that. i know several people who go to movies just for anna paquin, she does have a following.
Anonymous, you are a worthy opponent and I tip my hat to you. Well done, congrats on being the first Paquinatic I've had the good fortune to virtually know.
maybe my biggest problems with the Academy is that for the "Best Foreign Film" category the governments of foreign nations have to submit their own films to be considered. Why does this suck? Political agendas can screw it up for potential nominees. For example, "The Other Conquest" from Mexico ('99) would've been a great nominee, except that it's story depicts Mexico's rising as a bloody genocide and the gov decided not to put it up, unshockingly.
Soooo many rules in the Academy are ridiculous and anachronistic and if I had my druthers I would see about changing the rules for foreign and music immediately.
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