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Tuesday, January 22, 2008

2008 Academy Award nominees

Well, another year of Hollywood back-slappery comes to a close with the granddaddy of all ceremonies, the Academy Awards. Never a way of judging the quality of a movie or performance (Titanic, anyone?), the Oscars never the less brings everyone together for a few hours of faking gratified disappointment.
Occasionally, the Academy does get it right, and those films that truly deserve awards-based recognition get the statuettes. But then, the whole concept of competition in art is a little farcical. Nevertheless, here are the major nominations...

BEST FILM

ATONEMENT
JUNO
MICHAEL CLAYTON
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
THERE WILL BE BLOOD


BEST DIRECTOR


Paul Thomas Anderson- THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Ethan And Joel Coen- NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Tony Gilroy- MICHAEL CLAYTON
Jason Reitman- JUNO
Julian Schnabel- THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

George Clooney- MICHAEL CLAYTON
Daniel Day-Lewis- THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Johnny Depp- SWEENY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET
Tommy Lee Jones- IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH
Viggo Mortensen- EASTERN PROMISES


BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE


Cate Blanchett- ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE
Julie Christie- AWAY FROM HER
Marion Cotillard- LA VIE EN ROSE
Laura Linney- THE SAVAGES
Ellen Page- JUNO


BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE


Casey Affleck- THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
Javier Bardem- NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Philip Seymour Hoffman- CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR
Hal Holbrook- INTO THE WILD
Tom Wilkinson- MICHAEL CLAYTON


BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE


Cate Blanchett- I'M NOT THERE
Ruby Dee- AMERICAN GANGSTER
Saoirse Ronan- ATONEMENT
Amy Ryan- GONE BABY GONE
Tilda Swinton- MICHAEL CLAYTON


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE


PERSEPOLIS
RATATOUILLE
SURF'S UP

So there you have it. The major awards (leaving out Documentary feature, and the shorts). The one thing that really pisses me off about this year is the fact that other than Casey Affleck's nomination, The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford is almost completely overlooked, and yet Michael Clayton has garnered so many nominations. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a terrible film. But Brad Pitt's performance was better than Clooney's. Andrew Dominik's direction was far superior to Tony Gilroy's. And it was just a better film. Ditto goes for David Cronnenberg and Eastern Promises. Anyway, February 24th is D-Day for the Oscars. Thoughts, and who should REALLY have won will come then!

2 comments:

J Luis Rivera said...

I haven't seen any of those movies, but I wasn't reall expecting to see so many nominations for "Michael Clayton"... the overlookign of "THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD" is quite suspicious indeed.

cheers!

Marin Mandir said...

"for a few hours of faking gratified disappointment"

Ha, ha...so true. And then again, who can seriously say that the Oscars are all knowing and always reward the right film? It just can't be done. I mean, in the end they are also limited.

I really don't know why people watch those ceremonies on TV, they are so boring and one-sided since they never give arguments *why* they nominate a particular film.

Though I'm really surprised the "Simpsons movie" wasn't nominated for best animated film.