Reactions to Oscar's nominations

I go to a lot of movies, but I have never seen all the films nominated for the Best Picture Award by the Academy in any given year. This week the nominations were released for the 80^th Academy Awards, and my record is still intact. I’ve seen Juno (loved it) and Michael Clayton (not impressed), and I plan on seeing There Will be Blood (my first Daniel Day experience since Last of the Mohicans) before the envelopes are opened on February 24^th. I’ll end up renting No Country for Old Men this summer because I never had a chance to see it in theatres, but I have no desire to see Atonement and probably never will. For the entire list of Oscar Nominations click here.

Based on the movies I’ve seen and a general gut feeling I have, I don’t have any big problems with this year’s nominees in the categories I care about, which are Best Picture, Best Animated Feature, Best Actor and Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Actress, and the awards for writing. This year’s nominations were reasonably predictable, and of the few surprises there were, none were more upsetting to me than the snubbing of The Simpsons Movie in the animated feature category.

I say predictable, because typically the Academy ignores comedies, actions movies, and movies that were a commercial success in general. The nomination of Juno for Best Picture is definitely a step in the right direction when it comes to comedies, but it’s a throwaway mention because it probably doesn’t stand a chance against the two heavyweights in the division, There Will be Blood and No Country for Old Men.

Juno also received an Original Screenplay nomination, which is a category that has constantly bugged me since the 40 Year Old Virgin was ignored when it should have been nominated. I’m not sure the Judd Apatow script was worthy of winning, but it was a revolutionary comedy that broke new ground with the melding of heart and cheap laughs, and was worthy of having its originality recognized. This year I thought Superbad was worthy of a nomination in the Original Screenplay category, for many of the same reasons American Graffiti was nominated twenty-five years ago. Superbad created real characters in relatable situations, and seamlessly blended them together with exaggerated characters to create a script that was funny, touching, and akin to the masterpiece that is American Graffiti.

My other big writing beef came with the exclusion of Aaron Sorkin from the Adapted Screenplay category for his work on Charlie Wilson’s War. I have seen none of the other films in this category, and that may mean I’m less than qualified to complain, but Sorkin wrote a script that was funny, educational, and entertaining. Critics will be critics, but at what point do we stop punishing movies for having a big budget and big name stars?

This point speaks directly to a film like The Bourne Ultimatum, which basically has no chance of ever being nominated for anything besides Editing. Bourne is the product of an Oscar nominated Director (Paul Greengrass), an Oscar nominated Writer (Tony Gilroy), and four Oscar nominated actors (David Strathairn, Albert Finney, Joan Allen, Matt Damon). I understand that action movies aren’t the most respected genre, but it’s possible to differentiate between a good action movie and a bad action movie the same way you differentiate between a good drama and a bad drama. Live free or Die Hard and Rambo may not be deserving of recognition, but the Academy shouldn’t let stereotypes limit the movies it chooses to nominate.

I’ve always been a big fan of the Academy’s tendency towards honoring an actor’s strong body of work for the year. Two years ago this philosophy was embodied by George Clooney win in the Supporting Actor category for Syriana. Clooney’s performance may not have been worthy of a win, but his work with Good Night, and Good Luck that year probably led to Clooney winning one of the three categories he was nominated in that year. In any other year Philip Seymour Hoffman might have benefited from the same practice, what with his performances in Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, The Savages, and the film he was nominated for, Charlie Wilson’s War. Unfortunately for Hoffman this year the Supporting Actor category is especially strong, with Javier Bardem the current favorite to win.

The only other change I would have liked to see was J.K. Simmons (Juno) replacing Casey Affleck (Assassination of Jesse James) in the Supporting Actor category.
Well those are my immediate thoughts, and I’ll have more as it gets closer to the big night (if it actually happens).