2010 Academy Awards -- The Movies

N.B. I am dispensing with the pictures to denote my selections and what I believe will be the Academy's choices. I will instead highlight titles in red to indicate my preferences. The picture of Khaled refuses to shrink down to icon size -- funny how a set of zeroes and ones can take on the personality of the represented individual.



Best Original Screenplay


This is clearly the most underrated of Oscar categories (with apologies to John Bailey and the rest of the balding, overpriced sound mixing world).

• The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal) -- Finally, something creative about Iraq (with apologies to the entertaining Three Kings). This script focuses on people in an impossible situation and the way they handle it (and themselves). I am pulling for Inglorious Basterds, but would not be at all surprised if this won.
  



• The Messenger (Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman) -- What happened with this movie? 10 nominations for Best Picture and this is left off?!? Yes, I readily admit having a soft spot for movies filmed in NJ and particularly with scenes near our house, but this truly was a wonderful film. The characters develop from what seem to be hard stereotypes at the beginning to complex, difficult individuals you can sympathize with at the end. There are a range of moments: laugh-out-loud; cringe; discomfort; tears. It was distributed in limited release (it hasn't even cleared $1MM in box office) and not properly promoted. I even think Ben Foster deserved a Best Actor nod ahead of Clooney. One of three clear sleepers of the year, along with District 9 and In the Loop.
  



• A Serious Man (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen) -- A typical Coen Brothers film, which is to say, this is unlike other things you've seen. A brilliant, off-beat story. If you loved The Blind Side, this might not be for you, but a deserved nod here.




• Up (Bob Peterson, Pete Docter and Tom McCarthy) -- Best story in the animation space since The Lion King. The first 20 minutes of Up are as moving as any picture of the last five years. A real surprise.




• Inglorious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino) -- This is my pick and should win. It is always a risk to take well known historical events and completely twist them, but this was well thought out. Unpredictable and consistently entertaining.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Aka "taking credit for someone else's work". Didn't this almost get me thrown out of college (sorry, George -- I thought you'd fall into the "imitation is the sincerest form of" something or another that would've permitted me to get a decent grade for imitating a manual Xerox machine)? Yes, I get that a book is not dialogue, but puh-leeze -- the creativity was in the original thinking, no?

• An Education (Nick Hornby) -- I loved the movie, but this is Lolita. Let Nabokov rest in peace.



• Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher) -- Nah. This movie was all about acting and directing.



• Up in the Air (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner) -- I genuinely enjoyed this movie, as anyone who has traveled for business would. No statue, though.



• In The Loop (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Ianucci and Tony Roche) -- This movie is the reason to pay attention to the Screenplay categories (last year's evidence: In Bruges). Very clever, very funny. I laughed aloud more at this presentation than any other this year. James Gandolfini's in it and proves that, even without the accent and the wife-beater t-shirt, he's still Tony Soprano. The rest of the cast is stellar (Peter Capaldi should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor ahead of Matt Damon; Anna Chlumsky is back -- remember the cute little kid from My Girl?) If you enjoy BBC comedy (see Yes, Minister), you'll love this movie.

District 9 (Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell) -- Blew me away. I expected Independence Day in South Africa and got a very different movie. Yes, there were aliens. Yes, there was a giant spaceship that hovers over a city. But this was a political/race-relations film. I desperately want this to win a major award, but I am prepared to be disappointed.

Best Picture

The World Series Ring of Oscars (f-ing Yankees....still stings). We save this one until last so that East Coast productivity is at its lowest on Monday morning (and those of us with Tivos can act smug...same reason we drive hybrids).


The Academy expanded (or, more correctly, returned) to 10 movies this year in a bald-faced attempt to get us to spend more scarce $$ on movies in a crappy economy. I'm out an additional $45 (plus salty snacks) so it seems I've been played like a cheap fiddle...again.

• A Serious Man -- An enjoyable movie, but not the Coen Brothers' best. In a year of 5 noms, it doesn't make the cut.



• Up in the Air -- A wonderful movie that doesn't belong in this category. Clearly an expansion winner.



• Inglorious Basterds -- The violence may put some people off, but this was an amazing movie. Should win for Screenplay. I am not a Brad Pitt fan (save his wonderful performance in 12 Monkeys) but thought he was great in this movie. Of course, he was completely overshadowed by Christoph Waltz.



• Up -- Great to see an animated picture get in here (two in 20 years -- Beauty and the Beast is the only other one. Still can't believe The Lion King didn't get a nod over Quiz Show.) It won't win (it did fall into a few animated film cliches) but it was a wonderful movie.



• The Blind Side -- I enjoyed this more than I expected to, thanks to a great performance from Sandra Bullock and a heartwarming true story. It almost fell apart when the real-life college football coaches had way too big a role (the cameos worked; the dialog with Nick Saban and Lou Holtz was nails on a chalkboard ). This movie feels out of place in a category with District 9, Hurt Locker, Precious and Basterds.

• An Education -- Yes, I said it was a Lolita clone (from a storyline perspective) but it was an amazing movie. Good production, good nomination.



• District 9 -- Clearly one of my favorites. It will fall short because of the sci-fi components, but this was a great story, wonderfully filmed and acted. You actually feel emotion for aliens who look like perambulatory crustaceans. It won't win, but it could.



• Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire and Unsuccessfully Trying to Create a New Category for Longest Movie Title -- Tough movie to watch, but truly creative (the fantasy scenes Precious uses to take herself out of the unbearable situations in her life were brilliant). I expected it to be a tear-jerker, but it was more cringe inducing. You find yourself pulling for Precious as if she were a good friend. It may win, but probably won't because no one is bold enough to put a crack addict on the screen in 3D yet.



• Hurt Locker -- Finally, a serious movie about Iraq that's not a documentary. It left the politics and moralizing aside (for the most part) and focused on the situation and the people. Brilliant. In a year when the King of His Own World is taking a break, this gets a statue (and I'm pulling for Katrhyn Bigelow to get a Directing statue).



• Avatar -- I'll admit it: I was enthralled with the technology. In 3D, it was absolutely amazing. But lots more movies are coming out with this technology and plenty of theaters have a permanent capability, so this will become fairly standard fare for certain productions. Take away that element, and it's just a good movie, not a great one. It definitely deserves a nom, but it won't (IMHO) deserve the statue it's going to take home in this category.
  
  

2010 Academy Awards -- People

Greetings, fellow movie fans. Many of you know my story -- I'm married to a beautiful, energetic and cultured woman who's first question about any movie is "How long is it?" So each winter's end, I run a solo gantlet that begins with the Oscar noms at the end of January and ends with the awards show this Sunday (March 7). Not quite March Madness, but perhaps Fatuous February?

Because I am long winded (an after affect of my problem with speeches -- loving my own voice), I have broken the comments into three posts:

• The People: Best and Supporting Actor Nominations, Best Director


• The Technology: Cinematography; Costumes and Sound; and that stuff that forces directors to have characters repeatedly walk around with lances pointed straight at the audience, no matter what century they're supposed to be in


• The Movies: Best Picture and Scripts

I will mark entries with my expectation of who will win and my personal choice

The fun in this is not hearing the sound of my own keystrokes, but your dissent, so I'm looking forward to hearing new and different reasons that I'm an uninformed idiot. Let's have at it:

The People

Best Actor

• Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart -- Alright, this was The Wrestler for country music fans (and NOT filmed in Jersey). But Bridges was awesome. So much so, that I'd be loathe to buy him a real drink for fear that we saw a glimpse of his real life.
• George Clooney, Up in the Air -- I became a huge Clooney fan after his brooding performance in Michael Clayton and he made me laugh out loud in Burn After Reading. This performance was not up to those levels.
• Colin Firth, A Single Man -- I enjoyed his performance in Love Actually (yes, I admit it -- I like that movie) but it gave no inkling he had these chops. And, no, it's not because he kissed another man on screen. He did a ton of communicating with sparse dialog. Excellent!
• Morgan Freeman, Invictus -- I'm a huge Morgan Freeman fan (ever since Seven). This was a solid performance of a well-known historical character which would have garnered him an Oscar in a year without Meryl Streep writing the text book on how to portray someone we all know. He won't win, because...
• Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker -- There were several HOLY S@$% performances. This is one of them. I was blown away (sorry for the IED reference). He should win and will win.

Best Actress

• Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side -- I am not a Sandra fan, so this performance caught me completely by surprise. She sold me completely that she was a Southern Belle with all of the trappings, as well as a turbulent conscience (though, if I were directing, I would've given her Southern Belle implants). In another year, she gets a statue.
• Helen Mirren, The Last Station -- I was sold (and not just because she's British...alright, it was a little bit because she's a Brit). Played a bitch to a T.
• Carey Mulligan, An Education -- Amazing, but I have to say that you men out there who are voting for her are way out of line. Admit it: you had a change in blood flow from reading Lolita. Not right. Not right at all. Particularly because she's mine.
• Gabourey Sidibe, Precious -- Another excellent performance without much dialogue. She will win because A) she's not attractive, B) she showed unbelievable range in the switch between the 'reality' scenes and her fantasy escapes, and C) because her mother in the movie was a crack addict. It was a MOVIE people. She was excellent, and will win, but should lose to:
• Meryl Streep, Julie and Julia -- There are few words to describe this woman's talents. And believe me, I'm not a bandwagon kind of guy. I get tired of hearing how amazing she is, but then you see the performance and there's no denying it. We all know Julia Child. We all love the Dan Ackroyd spoof of her in SNL (and kudos to the director for including that scene -- it was on all of our minds). But Meryl Streep made you forget the parody and showed us a real life character without a single cringe or smirk moment. My choice. (One quick J&J note: Am I the only one who was driven to distraction by Chris Messina's dialogue with food in his mouth?!? Did the script read "Ummm.....good [let a chunk of something hit the table]"?)

Best Supporting Actress

• Penelope Cruz, Nine -- I missed this performance (and shame on me...I know she can act -- see Vicky Cristina Barcelona if you don't believe me -- and she's incredibly gorgeous). I just couldn't make it to a movie with a Rotten Tomato meter rating of 49%. Sorry PC.
• Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air -- Loved her, but she wasn't even the best actress in her movie.
• Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart -- I was pleasantly surprised. It would've been understandable had she been overshadowed by Jeff Bridges' stellar performance, but she wasn't (despite the fact that she has no chin).
• Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air -- Incredible performance for a newcomer (at least to me -- I can't make the Twilight scene...my daughters are too young and my girlfriends are too old).
• Mo'Nique, Precious -- The part was written to generate an Oscar and Mo'Nique held up her end of the bargain. I have never met her, yet I fear her. No way she doesn't win.

Best Supporting Actor

• Matt Damon, Invictus -- He did a nice job with the bizarre S. African accent, but I liked him better in Rounders and Dogma.
• Woody Harrelson, The Messenger -- In another year, he should get a statue. He was amazing in this "filmed in New Jersey" sleeper.
• Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones -- I enjoy his performances (even this year's in Julie and Julia), but this movie was nothing like Lovely. He may even have been nominated because he looked so amazing standing in the pile of dung that was Lovely Bones. Sorry, Stanley.
• Christopher Plummer, The Last Station -- wonderful portrayal of someone most of the West really doesn't know. This movie (and his performance) were sleepers, but alas, no award. Because...
• Christoph Waltz, Inglorious Basterds -- The next of the HOLY S@$% performances. I didn't live through WWII (recall I am part of The Greediest Generation), but imagine Waltz channeled the quintessential Nazi.

Best Director

• James Cameron, Avatar -- While I have great respect for his multi-year investment in the technological advances this movie introduced, he should NOT win for Best Director. One thing will save us (or the lack of things -- see below)
• Quentin Tarantino, Inglorious Basterds -- I loved this movie. Very inventive, entertaining, truly well put together. He loses.
• Jason Reitman, Up in the Air -- The movie truly was well done, but I fear Jason will get undeserved support due to his lineage from those of us who walk around saying "There was one?" whenever we are confused.
• Lee Daniels, Precious -- One of the two (perhaps three) reasons Cameron won't win. The movie was inventive (see the fantasy scenes) AND there has never been an African American director Oscar winner. Only John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood) has been previously nominated. The other two reasons Cameron won't win:
• Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker -- There are two things every Best Director winner has had that Kathryn doesn't. Yup, those. There has never been a female Best Director nominee, let alone winner. My vote, and I suspect the Academy's.