2010 Academy Award nominees

Well, it's that time of year again. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences have announced their nominees for this year's Oscars. It's a fairly predictable list of movies, with the big news being the listing of 10 films for Best Picture instead of 5. And yet, they still cant get it right. There is not one nomination for one of last year's best films, Moon. Swing and a miss.

BEST PICTURE

AVATAR
THE BLIND SIDE
DISTRICT 9
AN EDUCATION
THE HURT LOCKER
INGLORIOUS BASTERDS
PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE
A SERIOUS MAN
UP
UP IN THE AIR

BEST DIRECTOR

Avatar - JAMES CAMERON
The Hurt Locker - KATHERYN BIGELOW
Inglorious Basterds - QUENTIN TARANTINO
Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire - LEE DANIELS
Up In The Air - Jason Reitman

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

JEFF BRIDGES - Crazy Heart
GEORGE CLOONEY - Up In The Air
COLIN FIRTH - A Single Man
MORGAN FREEMAN - Invictus
JEREMY RENNER - The Hurt Locker


BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

MATT DAMON - Invictus
WOODY HARRELSON - The Messenger
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER - The Last Station
STANLEY TUCCI - The Lovely Bones
CHRISTOPH WALTZ - Inglorious Basterds


BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

SANDRA BULLOCK - The Blind Side
HELEN MIRREN - The Last Station
CAREY MULLIGAN - An Education
GABOUREY SIDIBE - Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire
MERYL STREEP - Julie and Julia


BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

PENELOPE CRUZ - Nine
VERA FARMIGA - Up In The Air
MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL - Crazy Heart
ANNA KENDRICK - Up In The Air
MO'NIQUE - Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

CORALINE - Henry Selick
THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX - Wes Anderson
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG - John Musker and Ron Clements
THE SECRET OF KELLS - Tomm Moore
UP - Pete Docter


So there ya go. The major ones. Surprises include (pleasantly) District 9 for Best Picture and the amount of nominations for Inglorious Basterds, the most over-hyped film of last year. The only other film to come close in the hype stakes was The Hurt Locker. It certainly wasn't everything the critics made it out to be.

Also, a special congratulations goes to Nicky Phelan, my class-mate from college on his nomination for best Animated Short, Granny O'Grimm' Sleeping Beauty. I sincerely hope it steals the show!

William Friedkin on the Oscars

William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist, The French Connection and Bug, sums up exactly what the Oscars are.



His basic message? They're not worth a thing. Well said.

When are people going to learn? Democracy doesn't work.

Mickey Rourke didn't win Best Actor for The Wrestler. The Academy, as always, is wrong.

Otherwise, well done to Slumdog Millionaire for winning 8, including Danny Boyle (couldn't be happier for the guy; he's one of the best working today) for Best Director and Best Film. But when you take into account that Christopher Nolan and the Dark Knight was left out of those two categories, I cant help but feel it's not quite as sweet a victory as it could have been.

Anyway, that's another season of back-slappery over. Look forward to the 2010 awards where Viggo Mortensen and The Road will win. Or else I'll end this blog.*




*or not.

2009 Academy Award nominees.

Today sees the announcement of those coveted awards that don't reflect a film's quality, The Academy Awards. Pretty predictable list for the most part. Apart from on... Robert Downey Jnr. as Best Supporting Actor for Tropic Thunder?! Either it's a wickedly satirical jab at the whole acting industry or a slight case of madness on behalf of the Academy. Anyway, here's the list.


BEST PICTURE

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
FROST/NIXON
MILK
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

BEST DIRECTOR

David Fincher - THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Ron Howard - FROST/NIXON
Gus Van Sant - MILK
Stephen Daldry - THE READER
Danny Boyle - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE


BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Richard Jenkins - THE VISITOR
Frank Langella - FROST/NIXON
Sean Penn - MILK
Brad Pitt - THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Mickey Rourke - THE WRESTLER


BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Josh Brolin - MILK
Robert Downey Jr. - TROPIC THUNDER
Philip Seymour Hoffman - DOUBT
Heath Ledger - THE DARK KNIGHT
Michael Shannon - REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Anne Hathaway - RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
Angelina Jolie - CHANGELING
Melissa Leo - FROZEN RIVER
Meryl Streep - DOUBT
Kate Winslet - THE READER

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Amy Adams - DOUBT
Penélope Cruz - VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
Viola Davis -DOUBT
Taraji P. Henson - THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Marisa Tomei - THE WRESTLER

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

BOLT
KUNG-FU PANDA
WALL-E

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!