Oscar nominations!

[cleolinda]

1) Full list here.

2) Yeah, they're doing ten Best Picture nominees this year. I remember the Academy president saying, when they announced this change a few months ago, something to the effect of, "If I said this had nothing to do with The Dark Knight [not getting nominated last year], I'd be lying." So they're trying to be... more inclusive this year, because the big studios get pissed when they do put out genuinely good movies that then get snubbed in favor of blatant Oscarbait that doesn't really hold up a few years later. (Remember a couple of years ago on Extras, when Ricky Gervais told Kate Winslet that she'd need to play a Nazi if she actually wanted to win?)

3) THE BLIND SIDE FOR BEST PICTURE, WHAT THE FUCK?

A conversation I just had with my mother, who loves Sandra Bullock (aw, she's nice) and football (GRARRRRR):

"THE BLIND SIDE? WHAT."

"Well, when that many people see a movie..."

"But that doesn't mean it's GOOD."

"It IS good."

"You don't know! You didn't see it!"

"I saw enough of it!"

"ON COMMERCIALS!"

I'm going to take her to see it and we're going to settle this bullshit for once and for all.


ETA: As Roger Ebert notes, if you match up Best Director nominations to Best Picture, you get the five "real" nominees: Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious and Up in the Air. Bear in mind, though, that even when we had only five, Director and Picture did not always match up--a movie could have really strong visual flair and yet not have the writing or acting to really make it a "best" movie. This year, though, I think it would hold true, because those five generally match the nominations from other awards we've seen this year. So, you know, maybe ten isn't so bad--movies like Up and District 9 got acknowledged, and probably would not have been otherwise--Up is, in fact, the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture since Beauty and the Beast.

4) The Hurt Locker is coming on really strong. People have talked about what a shame it is that Jeremy Renner hasn't gotten in for a lot of acting awards previous to this (despite wails of chagrin that he should have), so for him to actually get the big-time nomination says a lot. And the movie just won the Producers Guild Award, which isn't a guarantee, but tends to be fairly predictive, as is the Directors Guild Award, which Kathryn Bigelow won this weekend--the first woman to do so. I don't know about Best Picture per se, but I would definitely put her down in your Oscar pool--particularly since James Cameron has been openly very happy for her* (they were married way, way back in the day) and they're still really friendly. There may be a thought process of, "Aw, hell, Avatar just made two billion dollars and it's now the highest-grossing movie of all time and there were all these groundbreaking effects so I guess we're supposed to give Best Director to The King of the World AGAIN--wait, he's supporting Kathryn Bigelow? Whose movie was massively, critically acclaimed? You mean we can give it to someone else who would also deserve it and he'll be happy about it? And then we also get credit for giving it to a woman for the first time? Well, HOT DAMN."

* (At the DGA ceremony, Carl Reiner--I guess he was hosting?--joked that only four people in the room weren't happy for Bigelow, who was a very popular winner--that is to say, the other four nominees. At which point Cameron apparently piped up, "Only three." AWWWW.)

5) A few surprises: District 9 came on strong (Best Picture, for real), and Maggie Gyllenhaal got a Supporting Actress nomination--shutting out both Mélanie Laurent and Diane Kruger from Inglourious Basterds (although I believe they submitted Laurent for Best Actress, and you see how well that worked out).

6) Not announced on TV: Best Costume.

    *  “Bright Star” Janet Patterson
    * “Coco before Chanel” Catherine Leterrier
    * “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
    * “Nine” Colleen Atwood
    * “The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell

Excellent choices. That said--and as big a Colleen Atwood fan as I am--I pegged The Young Victoria as the probable winner the moment I saw the first image from it, much the way I also pegged Marie Antoinette and The Duchess.

7) Best Animated:

    *  “Coraline” Henry Selick
    * “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
    * “The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
    * “The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
    * “Up” Pete Docter

GOOOOOOOOOOOO CORALINE! I'm sure this is where you come out and insist that any of the other four were better (and I did love Up--saw it twice). Coraline is just my personal, sentimental preference; I'm not making a prediction per se.

7) Miscellaneous fannish nominations: Half-Blood Prince is nominated for Cinematography, and Sherlock Holmes got in for Art Direction (read: set design) and Score, which means that a friend of mine now has an Oscar-nominated ringtone. Alexandre Desplat was nominated... for the score he did that was not for New Moon. Speaking of which, Summit Entertainment can now, if they so wish, emblazon their New Moon DVDs with "Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick." Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning are getting excellent performance reviews for their movies at Sundance, and if Robert Pattinson can knock one out of the park, we will have definitive evidence that, no matter how much talent you throw at these movies (and they have thrown A LOT. Why hello there, Michael Sheen and Carter Burwell), it is, in fact, Twilight itself that is an involuntary black hole of suck. I will go to the mat for this hypothesis, you wait and see.

P.S. Two reminders: the book episode (listener recommendations, plus Discworld discussion) of Made of Fail (guest: NADWCon co-runner foresthouse!) is up; and also TONIGHT IS LOSTNESDAY.

Comments

[piccgirl.livejournal.com]

Awwww. James Cameron makes me smile.

I really hope The Hurt Locker wins.

Also, I reiterated what I tweeted at you, but now with correct punctuation.

Re: The Blind Side. I KNOW!!!!! I WAS LIKE, WUT? ALSO ALL CAPS!!!

See, someone who worked on that movie went to my college, so I know I'm all supposed to be proud and stuff, but....
yeah. I think it's ok. Not Best Picture, stuff, certainly. I think Invictus should have been up there, instead.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm not even going to sit here and say OMG IT IS SUCH A SHITTY MOVIE. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is... no review I have seen of it convinces me that it is the caliber of the other nominated movies, and that it seems to be a nod to its financial popularity. I'm sure some folks will disagree with me on that (some on Twitter already are). I'm about to start trying to catch up on nominated movies, so I'll have to see for myself.

[glenvorian.livejournal.com]

500 Days got NOTHING, the f***wits. I am sick of this.

[piccgirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot about (500)! WHY DID THIS GET NOTHING!!!

[tomatoe18.livejournal.com]

Still reeling from the shock of 10 Best Picture nominations. And none of them include Sherlock Holmes (which I admit might be asking too much, but still...).

[enid-keaner.livejournal.com]

As fun as I thought Sherlock Holmes was - I saw it twice, I don't think it was Oscar worthy and I'd cut someone if it was nominated.

[maudelynn.livejournal.com]

I am going to make every dress in Bright Star.

I have a an oscar nominated ring tone.

I am awake too early to add much else to this talk.

[adaorardor.livejournal.com]

Gosh, Bright Star was just fantastiiiiiiic.

(Frand and I are talking: best part is how they look HAND-SEWN and the textiles are just...RIGHT.)

[khaman.livejournal.com]

I'm thrilled that District 9 got a nom, although I'm going to root for the as yet unseen Hurt Locker (it's on the Netflix queue, just hasn't gotten here yet).

[mallmouse.livejournal.com]

I lol-ed at this comment posted on A diffent forest about Anna Kendrick's Oscar nomination:

"My real question is this: In the trailer for Eclipse will she now get top billing?

"Academy Award Nominee Anna Kendrick, Razzie Nominees Robert Pattinson, Kristin Stewart, and Taylor Lautner."

[maudelynn.livejournal.com]

Twilight and Oscar were just used in the same sentence in a million places. My view of the order of the Universe just imploded a little.

That being said, her character is my favourite in the Twilight films. She makes sense most of the time in a world of senselessness.

[enid-keaner.livejournal.com]

The Blind Side being nominated fills me with so much rage I can't even explain it. So many more worthy films were ignored (like Bright Star and Moon, for starters) for that paint-by-numbers big screen Lifetime movie.

[flameraven.livejournal.com]

Hell, I'm just excited that Up got nominated for Best Picture as well as Best Animated Feature. I'd love it to get Best Picture (making it more likely for Coraline to get Best Animated) but I think it's rather more likely that it'll go to Precious (which I've heard is really good) or possibly Avatar.

And I think you're totally right about The Young Victoria. Historical pictures always win costume.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Just based on prior awards, I'm putting my money on The Hurt Locker, but it's an interesting year.

And The Young Victoria isn't the only historical nominee, but it's got that Most Costumes thing going for it. When you get both quantity and quality in a nominee, it's got the best shot. I don't know--it just has the same feel to me as previous winners.

[radiotrash.livejournal.com]

I want Up to win Best Picture. I am soooo surprised/excited they included an animated film. Isn't this the first one nominated for best picture since Beauty and the Beast? And then they made the Best Animated Picture category and crushed my hopes of an animated film ever winning best picture. So I want it to win!

But I have a feeling Avatar is going to. Hmph.

[lolleeroberts.livejournal.com]

Well, there is a train of thought that if Avatar wins, it's almost like an animated movie winning...since it's about 50% CGI.

[jennygriffee.livejournal.com]

The fact that Up got a Best Screenplay nomination on top of Best Picture and Best Animated Feature kinda says something about where it ranks compared to the rest of the animated bunch, really. Not that I have a bias in favor of writers or anything. (And then of course there's score... goooooooo, Giacchino!)

Now would I sound like the biggest geek on earth if I said I was rooting for Carey Mulligan like mad because I still love Sally Sparrow to death? ;)

yaaaaaaaay blink!

[jubilantia.livejournal.com]

THAT'S WHO THAT IS? OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH I thought she looked familiar. Now I really have to see "An Education" to honestly decide my opinion. That's still one of my favorite new Who episodes ever. Besides the Empty Child and the Doctor Dances from season 1.

[illian.livejournal.com]

I've not seen The Secret of Kells, and The Princess and the Frog was a good film but not one of their top tier. Coraline, Up, and Fantastic Mr. Fox is a hell of a fight for best animated picture.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

The Secret of Kells was a bit of a surprise to me--I don't know that I'd even heard of it.

And yeah, it is a super tough category this year. I would not be surprised if any of those three won.

[ook.livejournal.com]

because the big studios get pissed when they do put out genuinely good movies that then get snubbed

I thought The Dark Knight was a pretty lame movie, but it did make a lot of money. In Hollywood, boffo box office = good film (no matter how crappy the film actually is).

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

See, I thought it was great and genuinely deserved to be included. I can't remember if that was also the year Wall-E came out, but a lot of people were pissed that it wasn't up for Best Picture, either. I do think ten isn't a terrible idea, now that we've seen that, by and large, it allowed the voters to acknowledge other really good movies instead of just filling the extra slots with big-name crap.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

In the Loop! *beams* I think my favorite part of all this is its creator's reaction over on Twitter: "Bloomin heck. In The Loop nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. Bonk me purple." ♥

I didn't think it would get nominated for anything, so I'm pretty excited.

[escap1974.livejournal.com]

I just watched The Hurt Locker two days ago and was amazed at the movie. It was gorgeous and extremely well done. I love Bigelow's work. I don't think there's anything that I haven't liked Renner in, so yay for him as well. (I will say that I think this is absolutely his best work as of yet.)

[havocs-roman.livejournal.com]

I have a ridiculously superficial question--is Ralph Fiennes in the film? I mean, I've heard great things about it and want to go see it for its own merits, but the first time I heard anything about it, long before Oscar season, it was in connection to Ralph Fiennes being in the cast, so in my mind there's always been this weird connection between the title and his name--and now that everyone's talking about the film, there's not a peep about Mr Fiennes, and I think I may be losing my mind...

[to-no-avail.livejournal.com]

I'm just kind of disappointed that Watchmen was snubbed of atleast Art Direction...

But then again it's a comic book movie...and we all know how the Academy LOVES those. By "loves" meaning "completely ignores" them. (TDK is the exception, of course)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, I had that in my mind as having come out two years ago rather than one. That does suck, that it didn't even get art direction, because the sets were by far the most amazing part of the entire movie.

[flamingtoilet.livejournal.com]

I am disappoint that The Hangover didn't at least get a screenplay nod. I realize that it's a lowbrow comedy, which automatically disqualifies it from Best Picture, but I was hoping for a little recognition at least.

[havocs-roman.livejournal.com]

Seeing as The Hangover came out a few months ago and in the meantime quite a few "little small-ish movies that could", some of which are actually good, took over the hype (Precious, An Education, Up in the Air...), I guess the Academy must have thought the huge box office numbers were enough reward...

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

I'm amused in a sad way by looking at the Academy's "list of productions eligible for nomination". While I understand they have to include everything that did qualify, there's something strange about seeing "District 9" and "Dragonball Evolution" in the same list...

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

OW.

[robinmc.livejournal.com]

Soooo...The Blind Side is up for Best Picture, and Star Trek isn't. Hunh.

Hunh.


Anyhoo. Yay Jeremy Renner!

[greedyskunk.livejournal.com]

I chose Star Trek as my favorite movie of 2009. Just like Pirates of the Caribbean a few years ago, I left the theater after seeing Star Trek with such a sense of awe. As corny as it sounds, it renewed my faith in movies. It was fun, dramatic, action-packed, detailed, and had a great cast. I went back and saw it three more times in the theater.

Films that tug at your heart strings and make you think are all well and good, but I really thought Star Trek encompassed the qualities that make a great film...enough so that it would at least have gotten a nomination.

[starr234.livejournal.com]

The Best Animated Picture category makes me sad. Up, Coraline, and Fantastic Mr. Fox were all such incredible movies in their own ways. I wish they had come out on different years so they could all win something.

[joaniemaloney.livejournal.com]

agreed! It's such a tough year. I'm happy if any of them gets the prize, really.

[joaniemaloney.livejournal.com]

What a waste of a BP spot.
Although I'm really happy Up got a nod.;)

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

My guess is that Food, Inc is likely to win Best Docu.

[darksumomo.livejournal.com]

I hope so, too. I'm going to be showing that to my class in a few weeks, and will be proud to tell them it's an Oscar nominee. In the summer, I hope to tell them it's an Oscar winner.

A movie that might sneak past it is "The Cove," another environmental movie. I haven't seen it, but I've heard nothing but great things about it, other than it being graphically bloody.

Oh, and notice who was shut out of the documentary nominations--Michael Moore. I guess "Capitalism: A Love Story" finally went too far over the top. And, yes, I normally root for him (see icon for why), but I'm glad he's not competing so that less well known people with better films can win.

[nicolars.livejournal.com]

It always bothers me that the most "period" film wins for Best Costume Design, because there's usually a great deal of thought and work that goes into the costume design for any film -- just because it's more contemporary doesn't mean any of the clothes were bought of the rack. I think I would have nominated A Single Man in that category rather than Nine.

[havocs-roman.livejournal.com]

I agree--I tend to think of period wins for Best Costume as the Costume equivalent of "putting on weight, uglying yourself up, playing an incredibly unlikely, dramatic character" Best Actor wins. They're not unworthy wins, they're just... the flashy choice. The other costumes/performances were likely just as difficult to get together, they just don't get any love because they look easy. :(

[havocs-roman.livejournal.com]

I'm so ridiculously happy "Up" got a Best Picture nomination I can't even explain it. It's obviously not going to win, it only got the nom because there's ten slots to fill this year (which really, really underwhelms me, btw: if it's what you've got to do so that the Big Studios keep putting out some good arty stuff between blockbusters, yeah, whatever, you do what you must--but the nature of an exclusive award is that it's... exclusive, however ridiculous and unfair the actual awarding sometimes is, and if you take away the exclusivity, at one point you may as well take away the award. [/rant][/soapbox]), but I'm just so ridiculously happy for it.

The James Cameron anecdote is all the more endearing to me because the man is allegedly a cock who really enjoys antagonising everyone he comes in contact with--so, stuff about how he and the ex-wife are on good terms and he's actually rooting for her (or putting on a good show, at least) is just so lovely to me. Aww.

Do the instrumentals in the New Moon trailer come from the film's actual score? I haven't seen the film itself, but I found the trailer's score quite lovely (I think I felt the same way about Twilight's trailer, but I'm guessing for that one they'd want one of the signature tracks to get as much visibility as possible from the onset).

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I'd have to check, but a lot of times the score isn't finished in time for the trailer's release, generally because the movie itself isn't finished, and with these movies in particular, Summit has given directors an extraordinarily short window of time. I mean, Eclipse is coming out in June and we haven't seen so much as a teaser for it yet. Sometimes they do use the actual movie music--The Fountain's trailer uses its score, which is amazing. But through the rest of the movie, the New Moon score just gets kind of pedestrian and soap operaish, IMO. There were actually scenes where I wished the music would stop, which is a bad sign. And Desplat is really, really good! I don't understand what Twilight does to the people who work on it. Maybe I'm being too hard on it; maybe I'd like the score more if I heard it separately from the movie. I think Carter Burwell got out all right because his score for the first one was kind of low-key and haunting in places, and not what you would have expected for The Greatest Love of All Time OMG, etc.

[gaiamyles.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, The Blind Side was the absolute best movie I saw all year - although Up came pretty close. Of the Best Picture nominees, they're really the only ones I thought were any good. (Then again, usually if a movie is nominated for Best Picture, it's an assurance I won't like it.) District 9 was great but fell apart at the end and Avatar? What happened to plot being an integral part? I also was thinking Watchmen was a couple years ago. Would have been nice to see it get some recognition!

Ah, oh well. Like I said, the Academy and I rarely ever agree. I'm thrilled to see the one movie I recommended like crazy get some recognition, though!

[enid-keaner.livejournal.com]

Funny, because The Blind Side is the only nomination I want to kill someone over.

[byakuya-chan.livejournal.com]

I didn't see Coraline because: A. I managed to see 2 out of some 10 movies last year that I was tempted to see and B. The book? Sucked.

Sorry Gaiman, but no. Just no. You may have won AFP's heart, but you sure as hell bored mine to tears.

:|

[silamai.livejournal.com]

If there's one thing I've noticed it's that whenever they make a movie based off of a Neil Gaiman book they pump up the action a lot. I read Stardust after I watched the movie and was really disappointed in the book's anti-climactic ending. The Coraline movie pumped it up some to the point where I really enjoyed scenes that were utterly boring in the book.