AcademyAwardNominations Tagged Articles at Cinematical

"Oh, good grief, it's Oscar."
--Lucille Bluth, "Arrested Development"

(The following post is written to the tune of Bruce Springsteen's "The Wrestler," which was not among those nominated for Best Original Song when the 81st Academy Award nominations were announced earlier today.)

Have you ever seen a one trick pony in the field so happy and free?
We'd call 'em by another name, the Academy
Have you ever seen a piece of pap that they all wouldn't eat?
If you've ever seen that Crash, then you'd agree.

Then you'd agree, The Dark Knight should've had more of a shot
Then you'd agree, Gran Torino deserved to go home with naught
Then you'd agree, I'm struggling to come up with just one more bon mot
Tell me, friend, can you ask for anything more?
We sure as hell would've asked for a whole lot more

Couldn't Let the Right One In have been recognized outside of Foreign?
If they'd even seen that movie, then they'd agree
Didn't The Reader leave most of these guys snorin'?
If they'd stayed up for this movie, then they'd agree

Then you'd agree, Dear Zachary... shouldn't have been snubbed from the start
Then you'd agree, The Fall was a tremendous work of art (direction)
Then you'd agree, they left off Gommorah too, old fart after old fart
Tell me, friend, can you ask for anything more?
We really would've asked for a whole lot more

Those nods that have comforted me, I drive away
For all of Milk's attention, I just cannot feel gay
The snubs here and there have caused far too much dismay

Have you ever seen a year where AMPAS actually got it right?
I'll plan to watch something else that February night...

If you've recovered from the stunning awesomeness of the Golden Globe awards still itching for some gold, some statues and some more nominations, then do we have some news for you. The 81st Academy Award nominations are here! Check them out below ...

Shockers!

• The Dark Knight gets snubbed for Director, Best Picture, Score
  
• Darren Aronofsky gets snubbed for Best Director
• Leonardo DiCaprio snubbed for Best Actor
• Clint Eastwood fails to get a Best Actor nod
  
• Kate Winslet doesn't get double nomination
• The Wrestler snubbed for Best Picture
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button leads nominations with 13
• But Richard Jenkins -- yay!
• No Sam Mendes either ... wow
• Australia snubbed for Best Cinematography. The film was flawed, but come on!
• Last but not least...Robert Downey Jr for Tropic Thunder.
• THEY SNUBBED THE BOSS FOR BEST SONG?!

Best Motion Picture of the Year
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Richard Jenkins for The Visitor
Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn for Milk
Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie for Changeling
Melissa Leo for Frozen River
Meryl Streep for Doubt
Kate Winslet for The Reader

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Josh Brolin for Milk
Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt
Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams for Doubt
Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis for Doubt
Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler

Best Achievement in Directing

Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry for The Reader
David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant for Milk

There's a reason that us critics tend to hold certain films in excessive regard -- because after seeing hundreds and hundreds of them every year, to champion one or two or a dozen across those fifty-two weeks is a chance to bring attention to something that deserves it, something distinctly non-mediocre and perhaps unconventional.

Dear Zachary: a letter to a son about his father falls into that category. Erik praised it effusively from its Slamdance premiere and beyond; soon joining his ranks would be Monika; and it currently lingers second to only one on my own tentative top ten list for 2008. We get it. According to Rotten Tomatoes, 33 out of 34 critics get it. In fact, it seems like the only ones who don't get it just happen to make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

I shed a tear after the Golden Globe nominations were announced. I was thoroughly disappointed that Djmon Hounsou did not receive any acknowledgments for his performance in Blood Diamond. I became a devoted fan of Hounsou after watching his unbelievable portrayal of a recluse neighbor dying of AIDS in the 2002 indie hit In America. Luckily, Variety reminded me that just because he wasn't nominated for a Golden Globe, doesn't mean he won't get nominated for an Oscar.

I forget sometimes that the Golden Globes aren't always a prediction of who or what will appear on the ever-so-important Academy Awards nomination list. I remember thoroughly Jim Carrey's reaction in 1999 -- after winning the Golden Globe for best actor in The Truman Show; as well as Man on the Moon in 2000 -- it was like he never existed once the Oscars rolled around. The same holds true vice versa. Many who are completely overlooked during the Golden Globes are often times the dark horses that win the race during the Oscars.

Specific rules contribute to why the Golden Globes and Oscars tend to be so different. Variety pointed out that the Academy prohibits an actor from competing against oneself in the same category; therefore, Leonardo DiCaprio would have to choose just one film to be a contender for best actor.

This also means that foreign films will be left only to those made by foreign artists. Mel Gibson's Apocalypto and Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima will leave spaces open for (let's keep Pedro Almodovar's Volver all nice and cozy where it is in the best foreign film category) some other nice fellows who are deserving of the coveted final two slots. Personally, I'd love to see Catherine O'Hara get a nomination for her role in For Your Consideration -- maybe even a win. I think it would be a great honor -- not to mention a pivotal one -- for such a funny female to take home that little golden statue. Any Globe rejects who you'd like to see nominated for an Oscar?

I love James Lipton. There I said it, the cat is out of the bag -- but I'm not the only one. Apparently he's how you really know if you've made it somewhere in Tinseltown. He may also be the golden ticket to your very own Oscar. Variety seems to think so. I have to say that they might be right on that one. James Lipton is quite the extraordinary guy. He just may be brilliant. The man is a writer, a poet, an actor, and the dean of a school that industry hopefuls claw their way into. It also bears the name of the show he's best known for Inside the Actors Studio.

I swear Inside the Actors Studio is to me as to what Howdy Doody was to kids in the fifties. I dress up as Jean Harlow and plop myself in front of the television with the Complete Works of Shakespeare lying heavily in my lap. If I still lived with my mother she would tell me to scoot back from the TV or else I'd go blind. But what will James Lipton ask Glenn Close that will make her blush? What moment in Clint Eastwood's life will he have no recollection of until Lipton reminds him that it happened? What is Olympia Dukakis' favorite curse word?! I just almost fainted. Now that I have recomposed myself I can honestly say that out of the 173 talents that he has interviewed there are only maybe five that I can make a snide remark about. That's pretty remarkable.

But back to Variety's predictions of him being an actor's key to the Academy Awards: Interestingly enough, in two recent episodes, Lipton interviews two currently buzzed-about actors, Forest Whitaker and Eddie Murphy. Both actors have remarkable roles this year in The Last King of Scotland and the soon to be released Dreamgirls, respectively. Whitaker definitely has my vote for Best Actor. Is their appearance on the show is just coincidence, or perhaps a richly calculated maneuver by their publicists?

If the world worked in accordance to what I wanted then Jeffrey Wright would be the next to be interviewed on Inside the Actors Studio. Then he would take home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Casino Royale. Anything he touches turns to gold. Sigh.

Well. Now the only thing we can do is wait until the Oscar nominations are announced to see just how much of a hold Lipton has on the Academy voters. Even if we're wrong, James Lipton, you still really have a hold on me -- and that's all that really matters.

This year has been bigger than ever for foreign films. Rave reviews hit newsstands for yet another winner by Pedro Almodovar in Volver, and rightfully so. Word on the street says Penelope Cruz may receive an Oscar nod all of her own. Almodovar's film isn't the only foreign film creating sparks in 2006. Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, and Deepa Mehta's Water, just released to DVD are creating their own fireworks. Again, these only comprise some of the many foreign films making waves this year.

But the question that arises during award seasons is do these cinematic masterpieces (perhaps I'm over-exaggerating by saying that, but I can think of a few possible homeland contenders that reek in comparison) deserve an undiscriminating chance to compete within the broader Oscar categories nortmally dominated by American and British productions? Or should they be content with the category snugly (or, depending, on your standpoint stiflingly) created just for them?

The debate is in the air as publicists work hard with what little funding they have to bring their foreign babies before the eyes of the Academy's elite to coo at. Mind you these publicists must be clever in their ways as America simply forgets to buy tickets to their films. I've run out of fingers to count on for the number of friends that hate to read subtitles. Luckily, members of the Academy are less trite in what makes or breaks their movie going experience. Still, their abilities to make choices (to me best epitomized by Hillary Swank's Best win for 2005 -- a decision I'm still recovering from) are cause for discussion.

So what exactly can foreign filmmakers do to get their films into a broader beam of the Oscar limelight? According to Variety's article on the subject it's simply to just make a great film. I'd like to say that all a good film needs in order to get noticed is to be good, but I feel like I'm lying when I say it. There are plenty of great films, foreign and American, that the Academy probably never even saw that might be suitable for categories like Best Supportin Actor and Actress. Maybe the fact is that during Awards season a good foreign film needs a little luck, a lot of publicity, but most of all a more open mind from those who say what goes where in the Oscar categories. ...