So, imagine my surprise, as I was ready to leave my home this morning that I happened to see the announcements of the Oscar nominations for the 84th Academy Awards, which will be telecast on Sunday, February 26th. As I process the entire listing of nominees, I would suppose that I was generally not surprised by the selections overall, but there were a few that made my whoop in celebration.
I have to begin with the Best Picture nominees. This year, the Academy has placed nine titles in the running for the grand prize. At this time, I can tell you that I have seen eight of the films (I have not seen “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” yet), several of which have found cherished places upon my 2011 Honor Roll, my Top Ten favorite films of the year and yes, one of them is even dishonorably placed upon my Least Favorites list. I was thrilled most of all to see that Terrence Malick’s “The Tree Of Life” was recognized in this category as it is an esoteric film that reaches across time and space and it is also as intimately primal as the finest dramas. It is a difficult film. A challenging film. A film that takes the kinds of risks that most films have forgotten how to take anymore. It is no secret that the film is one of my favorites of 2011 but I have so happy to see it and Malick himself for Best Director, honored with nominations.
Speaking of the Best Director category, I feel that this is one of the strongest, toughest selections of the entire list as all of the nominees created personal, visionary, stellar works this past year. Yet, not surprisingly, the Academy has continued to make the cinematic crime of nominating a film for Best Picture, in this case “War Horse,” without nominating its Director, in this case Mr. Steven Spielberg. Also, I guess I was a bit surprised that David Fincher did not receive any notice for his work in helming his American adaptation of “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.” The omissions felt as if the Academy was covertly expressing that Spielberg and Fincher have been honored more than enough and this year was one to give others a chance to grab the prize.
I wish that possible sentiment could have been utilized for the Best Actress category which, face it dear readers, should just be re-named, “MERYL STREEP AND FOUR OTHER WOMEN.” Honestly, I am so sick of Meryl Streep being nominated solely because she is Meryl Streep. I have nothing personal against the woman. But, she is essentially Hollywood royalty and it has long been obvious that she will find herself nominated for Best Actress no matter what she does on screen. Every performance cannot be Oscar golden and for her work in “The Iron Lady,” a film which has not been receiving great reviews across the board, here’s another chance to roll out the red carpet because she has mastered yet another accent. Yawn! In fact, with the exception of Rooney Mara’s blistering work in “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” I found this category to be more than a little lackluster. Granted, I have not seen every single performance of the year, but with what I have seen, these selections were not truly representative of great leading performances by women in 2011.
While I did not care for “Martha Marcy May Marlene” very much, I felt that Elizabeth Olsen’s work, as a young woman attempting to hold her psyche together after escaping from a cult, to be deeply layered and intensely brooding. Or how about Charlize Theron’s risky, petulantly bitter and brutally honest performance as a former high school diva barely facing down her disappointing middle age in “Young Adult”? Most shockingly was the snub for Kirsten Dunst’s grave and career best performance as the depressed new young wife who finds solace in the potential end of the world in Lars Von Trier’s “Melancholia.” While I was extremely excited to see her nomination (along with writing partner Annie Mumolo) for Best Original Screenplay, how sad I was to see that Kristin Wiig was not recognized for her acting work in the terrific “Bridesmaids.” Wiig was so achingly wonderful and absolutely hysterical as she gave a rich performance that was as three dimensional and true to life as every 21st century woman I happen to know. Right there, those are four leading female performances that I would easily switch with those that were nominated this year…and yes, that includes Meryl Streep.
In the Best Supporting Actress category, I guess I was simultaneously surprised and not surprised to see Jessica Chastain nominated for her work in “The Help.” Dear readers, I am no fan whatsoever of “The Help,” and I feel that some of the nominations were given simply because that film was one of 2011’s biggest box office hits and they want to represent a crowd-pleaser. If that was the case, then that is wholly unfair to Chastain who appeared in no less than seven films in 2011, including the psychological thriller “Take Shelter” as well as “The Tree Of Life.” Do they really expect me to believe that after performances in seven films during one year, her work in “The Help” represented her talents at their best?! On the flip side, I LOVED seeing Melissa McCarthy’s nomination for her fearlessly comic work in “Bridesmaids.” She was the ROCK STAR of the year for me!
I was also very happy to see Jonah Hill’s nomination for Best Supporting Actor with his surprisingly subtle, nuanced work in “Moneyball.” I was stunned to see that Steven Spielberg’s “The Adventures Of Tintin” was completely snubbed in the Best Animated Film category as well as Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ omission from the Best Film Score category with their innovative, disturbingly grim soundscapes for “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” in favor of yet more scores (albeit very good ones) from the legendary John Williams.
And yet, I did find some honest laughs in this year’s selections. When I saw that “Transformers: Dark Of The Moon” had been nominated in the technical categories of Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing, I howled as…cough, cough…Director Michael Bay has been a..cough, cough…filmmaker with a complete lack of subtlety and sophistication for his entire career. When everything is edited and mixed to the same bludgeoning, ear shattering degree, there is no technique to be awarded.
But then, there were the nominations, all two of them for Best Original Song. You will find no complaints from me that there will be less songs to suffer through during the telecast but let’s be real, it’s “Man or Muppet” all the way. No contest!
Now, after the nominations were announced, I happened to hear some DJs on a morning radio talk show complain that aside from "The Help," the nine titles nominated for Best Picture were all films that were either too sad or too unknown to a degree that they and the general public would not have seen any of them. Therefore, the Academy Awards telecast would be bound to have low ratings again because there just weren't enough hit movies to make television audiences care enough to watch the spectacle. That opinion burned me up, dear readers, and of course, I will tell you why.
Yes, the Oscars are the ultimate popularity contest. Yes, the show is essentially a horse race filled with showbiz politics. But, the Academy Awards is also a time to celebrate the art and artistry of the cinema and many times, the movies that are the most popular do not represent the art and artistry of the cinema at its best. Frankly, if you want an awards show where Kristin Stewart wins for Best Actress and "Transformers: Dark Of The Moon" wins for Best Picture solely because those films made an ocean's worth of box office dollars then, let me say that we have the People's Choice Awards and the MTV Movie Awards for that.
This is the Academy Awards, baby! As bloated, self-aggrandizing and too lengthy as that telecast has been and will always be, I would never miss it and I am already anxious to see the results.
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