Below are my thoughts on the nominations from what has been a decent year in cinema. In spite of mindless action flicks like Avatar and Transformers raking in loads of cash (and mindless, I don't even know what they have going for them, flicks like Twilight setting some early records as well) this has been a decent year in movies. Sam Raimi returned with one of the best horror films of all time (although that has nothing to do with the Oscars, who ignored it). Spike Jonze gave us what could be the greatest film of all time about growing up (again, not mentioned by the Oscar selection committee). Science fiction was incredibly well represented, with big movies raking in cash, as well as small, introspective indies like Moon (I almost forgot about this one, considering my most recent reminder was the Oscar nom list on which this film is never once mentioned). Miyazaki pleased fans with another great animated film (do I hear an echo in here?)
There were some smaller victories. The Coens are up for best picture again (although the fact that they aren't always up for Best Picture is more a travesty than this is a victory). Fans will be pleased that District 9 is in the Best Picture category, although I think this was more of an attempt by the Oscars to boost ratings than any reward for anything good the film might have done (note the other movies on this list). Pixar brought their A game once again and Up became only the second animated film in history to get a Best Picture nod (okay, this was kind of a big deal, although let's be honest. It's only half a victory since there were ten nominations. It's not really in competition, and the inclusion of The Blind Side and Avatar [this one as a forerunner] basically cancels out any good vibe that decision might have created). Maybe they will finally win best original screenplay (the award they've been nominated for and deserved like eight out of the last fifteen years).
I don't claim to have seen a lot of films from the last year. I'm kind of catching up in that front. But, I have seen enough of the films on the list that shouldn't have been nominated to know that some of my pics should have. So, below, rather than post the flawed Oscar list, I will post my own personal list and link the Oscar list above for a point of reference.
Best Picture
Where the Wild Things Are
- Let's just ditch the whole list of nominees. It is broken. Even with ten nominations, there is no room among the Oscar elite for original thinking or bold choices. Both of which have defined the career of Spike Jonze and personify this film. It is the most important and powerful movie of the year (for my money, the best film to be released since Wall-E).
Best Director
Pete Docter (Up)
-It's high time Pixar got some directing recognition. These guys churn out some of the most engaging, intelligent, unique, well made films, and they do it consistently. They don't settle for crap like Avatar. They do traditional, entertainment filmmaking at a level that hasn't been topped since the original Star Wars saga. Like Stanton last year, Docter pushed the technology, not just for the sake of pushing technology like Cameron, but for the purpose of telling an incredible story.
Best Original Screenplay
A Serious Man (The Coens)
-Even though I mentioned above that Pixar deserves to eventually win a Best Original Screenplay nod, this is not their year. This year belongs to the Coens. Reading the script for A Serious Man is a revelation. It is filmmaking at a level not being matched right now. They take depressing, reflective topics and make them hilarious (almost a perfect mirror of life). It is Fargo for Jews. These guys should be a lock, even for the duller minds of the Oscar voters.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers)
-Again, it's not up for competition, but I think Maurice Sendak (author of Where the Wild Things Are in book form) said it best in some AMC First Look thing. Spike Jonze took his book places that children's books can't go, but kept the spirit of the book and the ideas of the book fully intact. In fact, he didn't just keep them. He expanded upon them. He made them better. He took a book with less than thirty words and made it into something that speaks volumes.
Best Animated Film
Up
-I'd like to pick Fantastic Mr. Fox for this, as it is also an animated film among my five favorite movies of the decade. However, the first ten minutes of Up beat pretty much every film beneath it. Best Animated Film feels like a consolation prize. Up is TOO good for this award. It was one of the best years in the history of animation, and even so, Pixar managed to stay that much further ahead. Expect Toy Story 3 to get snubbed next year as a result of backlash for Pixar's surefire Oscar threepeat.
Best Score
Up (Michael Giachino)
-It was between this and Where the Wild Things Are. Listening to either of them provides about the same amount of euphoria (somewhere between skydiving and winning the Super Bowl, not that I'd know either feeling, as I've never been Skydiving and I am a Vikings fan).
Best Cinematography
Up
-Hey, if Avatar and Harry Potter could get this nomination with their 95% computer-rendered worlds, then I feel comfortable going the additional 5% and nominating Up. I can't help but see this year's Oscar list and long for 2007 when There Will be Blood, No Country for Old Men, The Assassination of Jesse James, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly were all in contention. It was a different time.
Best Original Song
All is Love (Karen O, Where the Wild Things Are)
-Not nominated because Oscar rules about music are retar.... misguided. I would also push for Rumpus from the same album.
Best Visual Effects
Tie between District 9 and Where the Wild Things Are
-I can't nominate Avatar because I haven't seen it and don't intend to. Both of these two films pushed the boundaries of visual effects too. The former was made for 30 million dollars. The latter was one of the most stunningly beautiful visual experiences of the decade.
Best Actor
Max Records (Where the Wild Things Are)
-Hey Oscars. Go ahead. Give your awards to recognizable stars. At least the Globes had to courtesy to give Michael Stuhlbarg some love. You guys are as safe and awful as you've ever been. Here's one for you. I think young Max Records of Where the Wild Things Are gave as good of a performance as I have seen this decade. As I have seen all time. This kid's performance was the statistical equivalent of Anakin accidentally blowing up the Trade Federation Command Ship. It's so perfect that unless it actually happened, it would just seem contrived.
Best Actress
Oh just give it to Meryl Streep. I can't think of anyone else.
Best Supporting Actor
Chris Cooper (Where the Wild Things Are)
-Christoph Waltz is a lock for this award. I have no problem with that. But for posterity sake, I want to nominate one of the most impressive Voice Acting performances I have ever heard. Of all of the talented actors who leant voices to the Wild Things, Chris Cooper was one of the oddest picks, and also one of the most instantly distinguishably brilliant things about the film. He obviously understood the movie on the same level as Jonze and Eggers, and he pieced together something surreal. I don't even understand how a human comes to being able to do something like that.
Best Supporting Actress
Ellie from Up
-Best supporting actress is always hard for me. There aren't a lot of great character acting roles available to women. So I will go with a fully rendered performance, courtesy of Pixar. In her ten minutes on screen, she brought me to tears like twelve times (multiplied by the ten times I saw the film in theaters, so, more like over a hundred times).
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