Ok enough procrastinating. I’d better get these Oscar comments posted before the show is over and my prognosticating is irrelevant. In general I just don’t think that this year was as strong as last year. Of course there are some high fliers, no pun intended, like Million Dollar Baby and The Aviator, and I liked most of the movies that were nominated, but I wasn’t swept away. Last year’s Return of the King holds a high place in my film archive, but the films from this year are more The Last Emperor, the films that you watch, and enjoy, and then put away for at least ten years. At least it isn’t The English Patient, it won a slew of Oscars and I just hated that film.
Let me just say that I am very disappointed that the Mick Jagger song Old Habits Die Hard from Alfie was not nominated in the Music (song) category. As much as I am looking forward to seeing Counting Crows perform during the Oscars it would have been ten times better to see Mick rock out the Kodak Theatre. Plus Howard Shore who won the Golden Globe for the score from The Aviator wasn’t even nominated for an Oscar. It’s a shame too, that was a dramatic score. Maybe it is just the Grammy hangover talking but you’d think that the Academy could come up with some award that Ray Charles himself could be eligible, I mean the Recording Academy found a few. Of course the Recording Academy probably has three categories for all whistled albums. But I digress. Onto the nominations.
Actor in a Leading Role
No real surprises here. Call it the year of the biopic, all of these nominees are playing real people except for Clint Eastwood’s boxing manager in Million Dollar Baby. Don Cheadle is nominated for the first time for his impressive work in Hotel Rwanda, Johnny Depp for Finding Neverland, not as good as last year’s Pirates of the Caribbean, but then again I don’t expect he will win this year either. Maybe in another couple of years he will have the credibility. Personally I think it has something to do with the difficulty actors who have had success in television face against their purely big screen brethren. Leonardo DiCaprio, the Golden Globe winner, is nominated for his solid work as Howard Hughes in The Aviator. I don’t know if people really believe that Leonardo DiCaprio has arrived yet as a serious dramatic actor. Though I think his performance as Howard Hughes was astonishing I don’t think that the Academy takes him seriously yet. This contrasts with Jamie Foxx who is new on the A-list scene but has had such a year that he has instant credibility and has been nominated for two acting awards. The Clint Eastwood nomination for Million Dollar Baby surprised me a bit since I thought that this slot would go to Kinsey’s Liam Neeson but I guess you had to include one old fart, sorry, one veteran actor. And of course Jamie Foxx the Golden Globe winner for Ray rounds out the field. Though Ray was not the strongest movie, Foxx’s essential performance carried it, along with a lifetime of great music. I think that the academy members will choose to honor Foxx, and Ray Charles, with a win. I am surprised also to see that Paul Giamatti is missing from the list for his work on Sideways. Though I did not think that he really stood a good chance of winning I still thought there would be a nomination headed his way.
Actor in a Supporting Role
I like the variety here and I think that this is possibly the strongest of the acting categories. Alan Alda is up for his role as a crooked politician chastising and trying to manipulate Howard Hughes in The Aviator. Thomas Hayden Church joins Virginia Madsen in being nominated for Sideways which has garnered critical acclaim and a number of other awards but will probably come up short in many of the major categories it is nominated for. Usually this would result in either the Supporting Actress or the Screenplay consolation prize. In this case I think the film will end up with the Writing (Adapted Screenplay) award. Jamie Foxx is nominated in both the best actor and best supporting actor categories and he is the odds on favorite to win best actor so he will most likely be overlooked in this category on many ballots. Morgan Freeman is the sentimental favorite for his work in Million Dollar Baby, at this point a win by him could be considered a lifetime achievement award. And finally, Clive Owen, the Golden Globe winner is nominated for his work in Closer. The Academy likes to use the supporting awards to honor fresh new faces with promising futures so this will probably go to Clive Owen. Personally I think that Alan Alda did a phenomenal job as Senator Brewster in The Aviator but I don’t think the Academy will honor someone who really made their career in television, see Johnny Depp comment above.
Actress in a Leading Role
The only surprise here was that Catalina Sandino Moreno was not nominated during the Golden Globes for her role as a drug mule in Maria Full of Grace. Otherwise these are all familiar names and films that have been on everyone’s list from the start of the awards season. The big matchup here is the rematch between Annette Bening for Being Julia and Hilary Swank for Million Dollar Baby. Last time, 1999 Swank’s performance in Boys Don’t Cry beat out Bening’s role in American Beauty. This time both are Golden Globe winners in their respective categories so it shapes up to be an interesting race. Amidst all of f the hoopla Moreno, Imelda Staunton, and Kate Winslet are almost afterthoughts though all of their performances were wonderful. Eternal Sunshine falls into the same category as Sideways though it is surprisingly absent from most of the major categories. As with Sideways I think that the actor, and indeed the movie, will be completely passed over, but that the writing award will be give to it in consolation. Give this one to Swank again since the Academy seems to favor dramatic performances over humorous.
Actress in a Supporting Role
Again I am not surprised by the nominations in this category and I expect them to follow the results of the Golden Globes. Cate Blanchett is nominated for her take on another Kate, Kate Hepburn. But I think there was something a little off about the performance and I think there are enough of the old guard of the academy that agree with me so Blanchett will get bypassed. Laura Linney and Sophie Okonedo in Hotel Rwanda will be overshadowed by films getting bigger overall pushes. Virginia Madsen has a chance for her role in Sideways, see the comment in supporting actor, but I think this award will go to Natalie Portman. Why wouldn’t it, Portman is part of the elite new guard, she has appeared in a number of quality roles and really seems on her way up in her career in roles, salary, and clout. Plus, she photographs well and the academy is rebounding from a year when they gave all of their awards to an unkempt and overweight Kiwi. Personally I think anyone who can keep their career going and appear in such meaty work after having to utter such nonsense as ‘I truly, deeply, love you’ in the last Star Wars films deserves an award. Please Mister Lucas hire a script doctor!
Best Picture
A few surprises here but the main contenders are still in it. I am surprised to see that Ray was nominated as it was not generally liked by critics. As a result of Ray’s nomination the beautifully complex Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was bumped from contention. Blame this on both the complexity and inaccessibility of the film as well as it being released too early in the year. Perhaps Focus Features didn’t realize that it had a wonderful film on its hands or else it thought the competition was going to be much harder. The other nominees are givens, there is The Aviator, odds on favorite to win the award, Finding Neverland, Million Dollar Baby, and the critically acclaimed Sideways. I think this one will go to The Aviator not only because it is a traditional big Oscar kind of film but because it also showcases the golden age of Hollywood and Hollywood loves to pat itself on the back.
Directing
Perhaps the most emotional of the categories since this will be Martin Scorsese’s fifth nomination without a win. I expect that his waiting is over and that this is Martin’s year. I know I know, Eastwood won the DGA and they almost always track together, but Scorsese can’t wait forever. The other nominees are good, but voting for them doesn’t give you the warm fuzzy that voting for Scorsese, and validating his lifelong career, does. There are a few other nominees here that surprise me notably Taylor Hackford for Ray and Mike Nichols for Vera Drake both of which sort of flew under the radar to this point. Of course Clint Eastwood’s work on Million Dollar Baby is phenomenal, he seems to be getting better with age as a director. The other is Alexander Payne for Sideway which has garnered acclaim left and right and is rewarding for such a small film of course his other small film Election was another that was much better than expected and launched the career or Reese Witherspoon in addition to garnering Payne some Oscar nods. Of course there should be some kind of a meter for the work involved. For instance, how much directing is required to put together a small film such as Sideways versus the level of work Peter Jackson put into last year’s winner Lord of the Rings The Return of the King? Really makes you think doesn’t it. Of course not being a director I can’t make that assumption but it seems like some films are much more complex than others.
Animated Feature Film
This category is a travesty. If you are going to relegate fine entertainment to a dark corner category just because it happens to be animated don’t nominate any old trash the theaters throw out just to fill the category. Plain and simple Shark Tale was a lousy movie and does not deserve to be here except that ballots don’t look right and people don’t really feel there are enough choices if there are less than three nominees. The other two, Shrek 2 and The Incredibles are fabulous films and should be insulted that politics gives them such an underwhelming bedfellow. Of the two films really up for this award I would have to go with The Incredibles. For one a film that is not a sequel has more credibility with voters. For another, the film had a great script and unique characters without any previous development to build on.
Makeup
Well there are no orcs or pirates to dominate the category this year so the choices are somewhat limited and very very strange. First there are the many faces of Jim Carrey in Lemony Snicket. This nominee could suffer the double death of being: one, work done on a children oriented film, and two, underrated because of the immense talent of Carrey and his rubbery features. Second there is The Passion of the Christ, a lightning rod of a film that garnered nods for makeup, score, and cinematography. If graphic death and gore is the way to go this is it. Third there is The Sea Inside, a foreign film chronicling the life of Ramon Sampedro a euthanasia activist. I think that this one will go to The Passion of the Christ though the films are such a departure from each other and from last year’s fare that I really don’t know what to say.
Music (Score)
There were some major surprises in the score nominees. Howard Shore and The Aviator score, Golden Globe winner, was not even nominated in this category. Plus The Passion of the Christ, a movie pundits expected the academy to avoid with a ten foot pole, is here a nominee. Other nominees are Finding Neverland, the latest Harry Potter, The Village, and Lemony Snicket. Though I always enjoy John Williams’ music, the music from the latest Harry Potter builds off of the previous movies too much to receive a nod. I was so sure that Howard Shore would win that I don’t know who to pick. Let’s say The Village, another movie that was released too early and forgotten about, for building tension so well.
Related posts:
- Oscars 2005 Part 2
- 2005 Golden Globes In Retrospect
- Oscars - 2009
- Academy Awards Wrapup 2005
- Golden Globe Picks 2005
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