The nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards were announced yesterday...
I, like many others, was surprised a few months ago when I heard that this year there would be 10 "Best Picture" nominations. I know that was the tradition back in the 30s and 40s but it isn't something the Academy has done since then. I was especially confused by this announcement when I couldn't even think of 5 pictures from 2009 that I thought were worthy of great praise. (Even though I've raved about most of the films I've reviewed on this blog, that doesn't necessarily mean I think they deserve awards). So to resolve my confusion, I recently watched on Youtube the announcement about why the Academy chose to nominate 10 pictures this year. The spokesperson of the Academy stated that the 82nd Academy Award show was going to be a tribute to 70 years of film. And 70 years ago, in 1939, there were 10 films nominated for "Best Picture". He had the list of those ten films beside him and as he read them off, he asked "Looking back, which of these films could you now say were unworthy?" The movies from his list included: Gone With The Wind, Dark Victory, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Love Affair, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Ninotchka, Of Mice And Men, Stagecoach, The Wizard Of Oz and Wuthering Heights. (Wow! I thought. 1939 was a great year for film!) The spokesperson then went on to say "shouldn't we allow more films from the present day to also get the chance to receive such acknowledgement? " I thought about it and begrudgingly said okay. The theory is a good one but now show me what you've picked. Then yesterday the announcement was made.
The nominees for "Best Picture" in 2009 are...
Avatar, Up, District 9, Precious, Up In The Air, The Blind Side, A Serious Man, An Education, Inglorious Basterds and The Hurt Locker. My first reaction was 1939 kicked 2009's ass big time! My second reaction was I could easily pick 5 movies from the 2009 list that didn't deserve the acknowledgement -
Up - cute picture, but the best picture of the year? -no!
District 9 - interesting concept. I liked the documentary feel to it but then the story just got too weird.
The Blind Side - a feel good Rudy meets Erin Brocovich kind of family film.
An Education - a coming of age film that I don't know what all the hype is about.
A Serious Man - I haven't seen this one yet (I don't know a soul who has). I will see it and if I like it better than Precious than that one's off the list.
So ditching 5 movies was easy for me. Even the 5 movies I've kept on the "Best Picture" list aren't my favourite 5 but like I said before, I don't know if I could think of 5 movies that really wowed me this past year. Yes, I was visually impressed by Avatar. I thought Star Trek was really entertaining. And I had a lot of fun watching movies like Whip It and 500 Days Of Summer. But like I said in an earlier blog, I never found one great drama to really sink my teeth into.( Where's the Brokeback Mountains and Million Dollar Babies?) And aside from some great documentaries, there was nothing really original out there this past year that truly got me interested in their story. And I love a good story so that kind of depresses me.
But even though 2009 wasn't a great year for film (and I still think the Academy made a mistake in nominating 10 "Best Pictures"), there's still some happy endings to this year's Academy Awards for me...
-I couldn't be more pleased that Meryl Streep is nominated for the 16th time. (Can you believe she's only won twice?). I love her and I think she always deserves high recognition. Do I think she should have been nominated for Music of the Heart?- no. But, I think she can do anything. and to use a quote from one of my new favourite TV shows - "She could play Batman and be the right choice"
- I think Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin hosting this year's show could be fun.
- I've got a new list of "must see" documentaries to watch before March 7th -Although I have been putting off watching The Cove and Food Inc. because I'll cry about Dolphins being killed and I will never want to eat again. Doubly troubling since I do like to eat when I'm sad. (So maybe I'll have to watch them in reverse order.)
-And I've got a whole other list of movies that I haven't heard about like Crazy Heart, The Messenger and The Last Station to check out. Who knows, maybe the drama I'm looking for will be found in one of these films. ( Probably not since none of them were nominated for "Best Picture". But I can always hope.)
So I'll do my research and watch some more movies (which is oh so hard for me to do). I'll do my Oscar picks and have fun following the show at my friend's house. I won't tell you who I think will win because I'm competitive and I'm part of an Oscar pool. But I will say that I think it's a pretty sure bet that "Achievement in Visual Effects" just might (maybe) (could) (possibly) go to Avatar. But that's just a guess.
Have fun at your Oscar parties!
And here's hoping 2010 brings us a better crop of films!
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