Once again, another Academy Award season, and once again, a lot of disappointments. Unworthy films and performances were recognized despite their mediocrity, and worthy films and performances were overlooked despite their exceptional ism. Why should we care, you ask? Because actors and directors who win the Academy usually find themselves in high demand, and studios sometimes look at the success of Academy Award nominees for direction regarding the types of future films they should sink money into. Obviously this isn’t always the case, and there are a lot more factors that go into that…the primary one being what’s making money at the box office. But it’s ridiculous to ignore the fact that the Academy Awards are the most prestigious awards in cinema, and they are what future generations look to as benchmarks for what was considered good films or performances in any given year.
With that in mind, let’s look at the nominations. As usual, there are some movies that I still haven’t seen, so for the most part, I’ll attempt to refrain from offering to much of an opinion, since at best it will be based on critics reviews and my impressions from clips or trailers I have seen.
First up is Best Picture. This is the first time since 1943 the Academy has ten nominees instead of five, and that’s attributed to studios who wanted more mainstream films to get nominated, rather than the indie type, limited release films the Academy has favored over the last decade or so. While I’m in favor of the five nominee system that was used last year, I have to say that overall I thought the Academy did a good job of nominating best picture contenders.
There are three Best Picture nominees I have yet to see. They are Up, The Blind Side, and Precious. Up, by all accounts, is a fantastic film, and only the second animated film to be nominated for Best Picture (Beauty and the Beast was the other). I’ve been anxious to see it anyway, so this only adds to my anticipation. That said, I’m not a fan of allowing movies to be nominated in two Best Picture categories. Up is probably a lock for Best Animated Film, so I’m not sure that I agree with it being nominated for Best Picture too. Still, it has a 98% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, meaning critics overwhelmingly loved it, and judging by the strong box office numbers, so did the public. Precious was also a favorite among critics. I’ve been a bit squeamish about watching it, because it deals with some very tough issues, although it’s gotten praise from nearly every venue, from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal to Plugged In Online. I’ll probably tackle it sometime in the next few weeks, but I have no doubt, judging by it’s reception, that it’s probably a powerful but painful movie.
That leaves The Blind Side. It’s a long shot film, and frankly, I’m doubtful, not just judging by critical reception but by clips and the trailers, that this movie deserved to be nominated. It looks like one step up from a Hallmark film. I’m sure it’s good, but the Academies are supposed to be reserved for the best films of the year. Does The Blind Side truly qualify? Color me skeptical…but I’ll have to see it to judge for myself.
The Hurt Locker was an excellent film that was pretty much a lock for nomination. It also has garnered a 98% fresh rating amongst critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and it’s director, Kathryn Bigelow, is only the fourth woman to be nominated for Best Director. This was definitely one of the best films of the year. No question it should have been nominated.
An Education was also one of the best films I’ve seen this year. At 94%, it got great critical reception, and even though the average film goer probably hasn’t seen it, hopefully it will pique some interest and get people to check it out. Carey Mulligan was fantastic, one of the best female performances of the year, and the rest of the cast was also good. Glad to see this one get some recognition.
Ditto to A Serious Man. In fact, it’s my opinion that this is the best film of the year. The cast was amazing, and Michael Stahlberg was snubbed by not getting nominated for best actor. As were the Coen brothers for not getting nominated for Best Director. The movie has so many subtleties and nuances, and in my opinion was more thought provoking than any film I’ve seen this year. Again, not something the average movie goer has seen, but hopefully people will give it a chance when it comes out.
Inglourious Basterds was a highly entertaining film that should definitely be listed in the top films of 2009. The cast was excellent and the script was fantastic. The dialogue was some of the best onscreen this year.
Up In the Air was getting Oscar talk before it even premiered, and after watching it this past weekend I can see why. Jason Reitman, the director, does a fabulous job of bringing multi-dimensional characters to life on a backdrop that is all too familiar. The script was superb, and the performances were great. George Clooney gives one of his best performances to date, my favorite since O Brother Where Art Thou? Reitman really knows something about capturing people looking like people…many movies actors feel like they are giving a performance, but Reitman’s characters seem real. This time especially so, since some of the characters onscreen were real people who had lost their jobs, talking about the experience of being let go. Great film.
District 9 was a surprise to me. It would definitely have been in my top ten list for 2009. But I’m shocked that the Academy, usually ignorant regarding movies like this, actually gave it the credit it deserves. I doubt it will win, but I’m pleased that it was at least nominated. Sharlto Copley should have been nominated for a Best Actor, but there were a lot of great male performances this year.
That leaves….yeah, you know it. Avatar. If you know me at all, you already know my thoughts on this overblown, overhyped pile of feces. Look, I don’t deny that visually it’s a fantastic movie. But a movie is more than just visuals….if that’s all it takes to make a great movie, then 2012 should have been nominated. I think it’s telling that Avatar was shut out of any of the screenplay or actor awards. That’s because there was nothing original about the story, nothing exceptional about the cast. Overall, it was nothing more than any other CGI bloated blockbuster, admittedly fun to look at but lacking any real merit other than it’s technical achievements. I sincerely hope that Hollywood (and apparently, the American public’s) obsession with James Cameron’s ability to make mediocrity look good doesn’t result in Avatar going home with the top prize in cinema this year. Of the seven movies I’ve seen this year, the other six were all FAR superior to Avatar in terms of overall quality, and I have to believe that at the least, Precious and Up are as well. My vote, were I an Academy member, would be for A Serious Man. My guess, however, is that it will come down to a race between The Hurt Locker and Avatar. I can only hope that Hollywood’s sudden urge to appeal to the teeming masses doesn’t allow them to vote in the lesser of the two.
