Oscar Nominations
The Academy Awards Nominations were released yesterday, and I wanted to blog about it, but then lost my motivation with the sad Heath Ledger news. But since there's no law that states that I can't write about day-old news, I think I shall go ahead and do so.
If you haven't yet, you can check out the list of nominees here: http://www.oscars.org/80academyawards/nominees/index.html (which is a better list than imdb's if for no other reason than it's all in English). As of right now, I don't really have any major gripes with the nominees. Sure, my list will look different, but there isn't any Crash or Babel on the list that makes my blood boil (although it's possible that something equally sucky has been nominated that I haven't seen yet). Yes, it's crazy that Norbit got a nomination, but it's for Makeup, so whatever.
There's some movies and performances that I think were snubbed, but they're the ones I figured would be snubbed, so no shocker there. All in all, I think I could pick out a satisfying winner in every category, so I'll take it.
The big reason this announcement gets me excited is that it finalises my Oscar viewing list. Until the list comes out, I may watch a movie I'm not that interested in in case it gets nominated. Now I needn't bother with those, and instead focus on movies that were nominated (even if I'm not that interested in them). Not including two movies I have no intention of seeing (the aforementioned Norbit and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End), two movies nominated for Best Original Song (August Rush and Enchanted, as I think Best Original Song is the dumbest category there is), and the eight movies nominated in the Foreign Language and Documentary Feature categories that haven't been released in North America, I'm left with 12 nominated movies that I haven't yet seen, giving me a month to fill that list in as best I can. Here's the list, ranked in order of my desire to see them:
1. I'm Not There (Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett) - This was already at the top of my to see list, and would've remained there even without the nomination. I'll either see it tomorrow or Friday.
2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Best Director: Julian Schnabel, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing) - This was also number two on my to see list, but mostly because I knew it would get nominations. Seeing this would fill out all four categories for me, so that's a plus.
3. The Savages (Best Actress: Laura Linney, Best Original Screenplay) - Two nominations, including the more prestigious Best Actress category, leapfrogs this into my third spot, whereas I was waffling on it before. It's been in town one week, hopefully the nominations will help it stick around a bit longer.
4. Charlie Wilson's War (Best Supporting Actor: Phillip Seymour Hoffman) - I was very close to seeing this over the Christmas holiday, but couldn't work up the motivation to brave the cold to do so after some other lackluster viewings (all of which received nominations of their own, so the time wasn't a complete waste!). I'm a little worried this won't be in theatres much longer, but news that it'll be coming to the indie theatre starting Friday gives me hope that it'll have a couple more weeks at least.
5. Persepolis (Best Animated Feature) - This would probably be two spots higher if I had any indication that I'll actually get a chance to see it before February 24th. I'll see it as soon as I'm given the chance.
6. La Vie en Rose (Best Actress: Marion Cotillard, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup) - I kept meaning to catch this over the summer, figuring it Oscar-bait. Then I put off renting it, hoping the Academy would give me a break and not nominate it. But, here we are; so it will probably be the next DVD I rent (given that it's one of the few nominees I haven't seen that's available for rent).
7. Lars and the Real Girl (Best Original Screenplay) - This could be good, or it could be too incredibly twee to tolerate. Which is why I let it pass me by in theatres. I probably won't get a chance to see it before the awards, but if it gets rushed to DVD in the next few weeks, I'll check it out.
8. In the Valley of Elah (Best Actor: Tommy Lee Jones) - The rest of this list are movies I probably wouldn't see without the nominations. So why bother? So I can properly assert my outrage that Brad Pitt or Emile Hirsch were robbed of nominees. Unless, of course, Tommy Lee Jones is actually really good in this, then I'll just be mad at Johnny Depp.
9. Elizabeth: The Golden Age (Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Best Costume Design) - All indications are that this one is terrible, so I'm really not looking forward to finding out for myself, especially since I thought the first Elizabeth wasn't that great.
10. Transformers (Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing) - I've had this sitting atop my TV for about a month now, thanks to theskooch, so I guess I'll go ahead and watch it. It will be the next DVD I watch, I promise.
11. Surf's Up (Best Animated Feature) - Ugh. I'm actually more interested in seeing The Simpsons Movie, but I may as well find out if Surf's Up was better, especially since I can borrow both from the same source.
12. The Kite Runner (Best Original Score) - Yeah, I don't really care about the category, but I had mild interest in the movie. So if I somehow work my way down the list and this is somehow still available for viewing, I may see it.
If any of the three documentaries or five foreign language nominees that I haven't seen get released in the coming weeks, they'll probably make their way unto this list too. But I'm actually more interested in ones that didn't get nominated, so those may have to wait.
If you haven't yet, you can check out the list of nominees here: http://www.oscars.org/80academyawards/nominees/index.html (which is a better list than imdb's if for no other reason than it's all in English). As of right now, I don't really have any major gripes with the nominees. Sure, my list will look different, but there isn't any Crash or Babel on the list that makes my blood boil (although it's possible that something equally sucky has been nominated that I haven't seen yet). Yes, it's crazy that Norbit got a nomination, but it's for Makeup, so whatever.
There's some movies and performances that I think were snubbed, but they're the ones I figured would be snubbed, so no shocker there. All in all, I think I could pick out a satisfying winner in every category, so I'll take it.
The big reason this announcement gets me excited is that it finalises my Oscar viewing list. Until the list comes out, I may watch a movie I'm not that interested in in case it gets nominated. Now I needn't bother with those, and instead focus on movies that were nominated (even if I'm not that interested in them). Not including two movies I have no intention of seeing (the aforementioned Norbit and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End), two movies nominated for Best Original Song (August Rush and Enchanted, as I think Best Original Song is the dumbest category there is), and the eight movies nominated in the Foreign Language and Documentary Feature categories that haven't been released in North America, I'm left with 12 nominated movies that I haven't yet seen, giving me a month to fill that list in as best I can. Here's the list, ranked in order of my desire to see them:
1. I'm Not There (Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett) - This was already at the top of my to see list, and would've remained there even without the nomination. I'll either see it tomorrow or Friday.
2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Best Director: Julian Schnabel, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing) - This was also number two on my to see list, but mostly because I knew it would get nominations. Seeing this would fill out all four categories for me, so that's a plus.
3. The Savages (Best Actress: Laura Linney, Best Original Screenplay) - Two nominations, including the more prestigious Best Actress category, leapfrogs this into my third spot, whereas I was waffling on it before. It's been in town one week, hopefully the nominations will help it stick around a bit longer.
4. Charlie Wilson's War (Best Supporting Actor: Phillip Seymour Hoffman) - I was very close to seeing this over the Christmas holiday, but couldn't work up the motivation to brave the cold to do so after some other lackluster viewings (all of which received nominations of their own, so the time wasn't a complete waste!). I'm a little worried this won't be in theatres much longer, but news that it'll be coming to the indie theatre starting Friday gives me hope that it'll have a couple more weeks at least.
5. Persepolis (Best Animated Feature) - This would probably be two spots higher if I had any indication that I'll actually get a chance to see it before February 24th. I'll see it as soon as I'm given the chance.
6. La Vie en Rose (Best Actress: Marion Cotillard, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup) - I kept meaning to catch this over the summer, figuring it Oscar-bait. Then I put off renting it, hoping the Academy would give me a break and not nominate it. But, here we are; so it will probably be the next DVD I rent (given that it's one of the few nominees I haven't seen that's available for rent).
7. Lars and the Real Girl (Best Original Screenplay) - This could be good, or it could be too incredibly twee to tolerate. Which is why I let it pass me by in theatres. I probably won't get a chance to see it before the awards, but if it gets rushed to DVD in the next few weeks, I'll check it out.
8. In the Valley of Elah (Best Actor: Tommy Lee Jones) - The rest of this list are movies I probably wouldn't see without the nominations. So why bother? So I can properly assert my outrage that Brad Pitt or Emile Hirsch were robbed of nominees. Unless, of course, Tommy Lee Jones is actually really good in this, then I'll just be mad at Johnny Depp.
9. Elizabeth: The Golden Age (Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Best Costume Design) - All indications are that this one is terrible, so I'm really not looking forward to finding out for myself, especially since I thought the first Elizabeth wasn't that great.
10. Transformers (Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing) - I've had this sitting atop my TV for about a month now, thanks to theskooch, so I guess I'll go ahead and watch it. It will be the next DVD I watch, I promise.
11. Surf's Up (Best Animated Feature) - Ugh. I'm actually more interested in seeing The Simpsons Movie, but I may as well find out if Surf's Up was better, especially since I can borrow both from the same source.
12. The Kite Runner (Best Original Score) - Yeah, I don't really care about the category, but I had mild interest in the movie. So if I somehow work my way down the list and this is somehow still available for viewing, I may see it.
If any of the three documentaries or five foreign language nominees that I haven't seen get released in the coming weeks, they'll probably make their way unto this list too. But I'm actually more interested in ones that didn't get nominated, so those may have to wait.