Initial thoughts on the Academy Award nominees, announced this morning:
BEST PICTURE
Film that made it in because of good intentions: “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Films that made it in by virtue of the stature of their directors: “War Horse” and “Hugo.”
Film I haven’t seen yet: “Midnight in Paris”
Film with the most annoying voiceover crutch: “The Descendants”
Films that were overlooked: “Win Win” and “Coriolanus”
Film I’ll be rooting for as Best Picture: “Tree of Life”
Film I’ll happily settle for as Best Picture: “The Artist”
BEST ACTOR/ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Actor I’m glad to see in the mix: Demian Bichir
Actor who doesn’t deserve all of the nominations he gets: George Clooney
Actors who deserve it far more than Clooney: Ralph Fiennes in “Coriolanus” and Paul Giamatti in “Win Win”
Actress whose performance really should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis
Actresses who should have been in the mix: Tilda Swinton for “We Need to Talk About Kevin” and Elizabeth Olsen for “Martha Marcy May Marlene.”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR/ACTRESS
Actor I’ve never for a second believed on film: Jonah Hill
Actor in a not very good film who deserves the recognition he got: Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Actor oddly omitted after praise just about everywhere else: Albert Brooks in “Drive”
Actress I knew wouldn’t get nominated but was still quietly hoping for: Amy Ryan in “Win Win”
Actress who should have been in the mix: Vanessa Redgrave in “Coriolanus”
OTHER CATEGORIES
Documentary nominee I’m most looking forward to seeing: “Pina”
Nominated film score that got in the way of the film: John Williams’ “War Horse” score.
Oddly thin category: Only two nominations for Best Original Song
Films that will look the strangest when their DVD boxes says “Academy Award nominated”: “Real Steel” and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
For a complete list of nominees, click here.
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Overall, I was happy to see many more plot-driven nominees this year after many, many years where everything is all about character with very little story to go on. I have six left to see to cover all the top five categories and look forward to this time every year - me spending blustery weekend afternoons in the dark!
My only real surprise: That Brad Pitt was NOT nominated as "Best Actor Trying to Be Robert Redford" in Moneyball, a film that, despite plenty of weakness, I found myself really enjoying.
However, could not disagree more with your assessment of War Horse. This is my Best Picture of the year - loved it, and everyone I know who has seen it says the same thing. Also think John Williams' score for the film is one of his best. Listening to the soundtrack in my office right now, as a matter of fact.
Different strokes....