Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Academy Award Nomination Knee Jerk Thoughts

Thank you academy for at least keeping the award show a little interesting with a few surprises (certainly not a lot, but a few). I'm not surprised that Eastwood's Letter From Iwo Jima broken in, but even so I don't know if I would have been able to predict who would get kicked out of the top 5 prize circle.

The big talk today will obviously be...Ryan Gosling over Sasha Boran Cohen for best actor, Mark Whalburg over Jack Nicholson, and Leonardo diCaprio being chosen for the Blood Diamond instead of The Departed.

In fact, Dreamgirls really just didn't get the love that some people expected...no nomination for Bill Condon.

I'm glad Abigail Breslin got the nod, and Adriana Barraza for supporting actresses.

Of course, there were no "surprise" supporting actor winners, but it was hard to tell which way that race would go, so congrats to those nominees in one of the most competative catagories this year. I was glad to see Djimon Hounsou enter into the top 5 here.

Also the best director catagory was fairly competitive this year as well...I was of course, really glad to see Paul Greengrass get the nod. It is certainly deserved.

Even though Sasha Baron Cohen did not get nominated for his role of Borat, he is still an oscar nominee today, but for writing not acting (Ben Affleck could tell Cohen a thing or two about that).

Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labryinth also picked up a number of nominations (Best Foreign Language Film, Art Direction, Cinemotography, Original Score, and Make-up) and really became one of the films with the most nominations this year with all it's technical nominations.

Dreamgirls is the big winner in the original song catagory picking up three nominations for Best Original Song in that catagory (Listen, Love You I Do, and Patience). The other nominations come from Cars and An Inconvinient Truth. This creates the goofy statement "Dreamgirls' got the most nominations, but not best picture."

This was also Meryl Streep's 14th nomination and as discussed earlier in the yaer, her 14th nomination came from The Devil Wear's Prada.

Also Golden Globe best original score winner Alexandre Despalt received a nomination for the 79th academy awards, but not for The Painted Veil (his winning score last week) but instead for The Queen.

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12 comments:

general125 said...

I don't think Dreamgirls should get credit for the most nominations when they have 3 nominations in an already very thin category of best original song.
Movies I will see before Oscar in march:
The Departed
Dreamgirls
The Devil Wears Prada
United 93

Movies I will not see:
Borat
Blood Diamond (unless I want to prove to the future wife how immoral buying a diamond can be)
Babel (I don't need to be preached at by Brad Pitt)
An Incovienient Truth
Volver (Best Actor/Actress is not a reason to see a movie. I learned my lesson with Monster and Boys Don't Cry)
Venus (See above)

Movies I recommend:
The Queen
Last King of Scotland (close your eyes at the end)

Movies I need to be told I have to see:
Letters from Iwo Jima
Pursuit of Happyness

Matthew said...

"The big talk today will obviously be...Ryan Gosling over Sasha Boran Cohen for best actor, Mark Whalburg over Jack Nicholson, and Leonardo diCaprio being chosen for the Blood Diamond instead of The Departed."

I'd agree with Gosling and Wahlberg, but not with the Leo nod. I read last week (can't remember where, some entertainment rag) that the Oscar campaign for DiCaprio was being pushed for "Blood Diamond," and not "The Departed," which makes sense.

General 125: You really should see Blood Diamond, Borat and An Inconvenient Truth. They're all real eye openers, and well-done films.

So, no Brad Pitt, but you're saying you actually want to be preached at by someone? Eh, no thanks.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, RC, for posting this and some feedback.

I'm also glad to see some of the noms, like Breslin, Barraza/Kikuchi, Hounsou, Greengrass.
I'm actually relieved that Dreamgirls was dropped from several of the expected nominations. After seeing it, I was fairly disappointed in how problematic the film was.

On the whole, though, I think it's a great line-up. Despite what I've heard about the Academy picking some films that people haven't seen, in general I think this year's noms are a refreshing move toward better films instead of just big films.

However, the way the Academy overlooked such a fine film as The Painted Veil is really too bad, but I must admit, I also didn't expect so many nominations for the fantastic Pan's Labyrinth. I think Cannes voters may be biting their tongues now for picking The Wind that Shakes the Barley over Del Toro's film.

general125, just a couple quick comments:
I'm not sure what you've heard about Babel, but I would not describe Pitt's character or performance as preachy. In fact, it is one of his more self-less roles. If I were you, I would see the film because it's a good film. Period.
Similarly, with Volver -- you should choose whether or not to see Almodovar's film because it's an interesting and visually-striking story (though not among his very best), not because it got a nomination or didn't. I;m confused about the approach of waiting until Oscar nominations come out to decide which films you shouldn't see, since they made the list for only one nomination? Hmmm...

In all sincerity, but with all best wishes,

Anonymous said...

I agree with Will about Dreamgirls; all the talk got me pumped to see it but at the end of the day and with the exception of a few performances, mediocre.

Gosling is a big surprise. I didn't think the Academy would give him a nod and though he doesn't stand too much of a chance, it's a wonderful step for his career.

As for DiCaprio, I'm not very surprised that his nomination comes from Blood Diamond. Though I enjoyed The Departed, Blood Diamond showcased a better performance from him.

Daniel Cho said...

It's sad to see Children of Men and Alfonso Cuaron getting snubbed.

general125 said...

I'm a selfproclaimed film snob who hasn't seen a lot of films this year. I'm just using this Oscar list as a starting point because I'm not going to see many more than a handful of 2006 movies.

I have heard good things about Children of Men.

Yes, getting preached at helps me with some well deserved introspection at times. I'm just not going to listen to Brad Pitt be preachy. If Babel is that good, I will see it. Maybe I'll go see it with a friend who always sees unintentional God messages in movies. That should make the expierence interesting.

Anonymous said...

The surprises I liked:
Breslin, Gosling, and Hounsou getting nomintated. Nicholson and Sasha getting left out. Dreamgirls did not get nominated for best picture (I liked a lot of things about it, but it's not a best picture).

Surprises I didn't like: Leo got nomintated for the wrong performance. That there were no surprises in supporting actor/actress

Thanks Academy...overall,you did well this year!

Terence Towles Canote said...

I haven't see Dreamgirls yet, but I was surprised it didn't get nominated for Best Picture given the buzz it has gotten. I guess a lot of the Academy had the same reaction a lot of people I know did--it's a good, but not great picture. At any rate, I must say I am glad to see Del Toro getting some respect from the Academy--Pan's Labyrinth picked up several nominations.

Lucas Dantas said...

there's a little spark in me that waits for a big surprise this year, like Mirren losing it for Meryl or even [hyper-wishful thinking] Penelope. Talking 'bout Penelope it was MAJOR disappointment not to see Volver on Foreign Film list, I don't care if Pan's Lab is good or not [I haven't gotten the chance to watch it yet], it's Volver we're talking about, probably the most inspiring movie of 2006.

jasdye said...

umm.... hello, anybody??

forrest whitaker got nominated for best actor. for an intense and terrifying and terrific role. that was actually a supporting role - if we're going by time-on-screen.

that's the greatest news of the Oscars '07!

crackers and cheese said...

Great job predicting the nominees! Now, let's see if you can predict the winners as well . . .

F.J. Delgado said...

Props on picking so many of the Oscar nominees... I agree that DiCaprio should have been nominated for The Departed, they screwed up there.