Early thoughts on the Oscar nominees

As you guys know by now, the nominations for the 2010 Academy Awards were announced this morning. Here is the first in a series of posts in which X and I will share our thoughts on the lucky nominees. We will bring them to you throughout the month until the Oscars on March 7th. X and I will also pick who we think should and will win in each category, and you guys will be able to vote (bet?) on who gets more right. Of course, you are always welcome to voice your own opinions.

For now here are my preliminary thoughts, focusing on the Best Picture nominees…


I'm ecstatic that the Academy recognized District 9! After having been overlooked by nearly every other major award, including the Golden Globes and SAG, it hit the jackpot with nominations in 4 major categories - Best Picture, Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Best Editing and Best Visual Effects. As I have said before, District 9 is best movie of 2009 (although that was before I saw The Hurt Locker) and definitely a MUST SEE regardless of whether or not one is a fan of science fiction movies.



I'm thrilled that the academy overcame its historic bias against action and science fiction movies, and grew to appreciate movies individually rather than penalize them for the genres they belong to. In fact, I think this year's nominations are quite groundbreaking. Hopefully they will be the start of an extremely positive trend toward becoming more inclusive. These nominations validate and vindicate the move to expand the number of Best Picture nominees to ten (in fact I think this was its very goal). This is the first year in which two science fiction movies have been nominated for Best Picture (the other is obviously Avatar). Indeed, I daresay out of the ten movies chosen, four - District 9, The Hurt Locker, Up and Avatar - would not have been nominated in any other year (though you can probably make a convincing case against Avatar).


This year's nominees feature an eclectic mix of traditional (in terms of style, not content) dramas (An Education, Precious, the Blind Side, Up in the Air), a mega budget blockbuster (Avatar), art house dark comedies and noir (Inglorious Basterds and A Serious Man), an independent action flick with a miniscule budget (The Hurt Locker) and an animated film (Up). I applaud the academy for its bold and innovative initiative, and definitely appreciate the intriguing subplots these nominations will set up for Oscar night (James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow, the director of The Hurt Locker, used to be married).


That being said there are certainly a few head scratchers… For example, what were the voters thinking in nominating The Blind Side? When did 2009 turn into Sandra Bullock appreciation year? I confess I have not seen the movie. I have however, read the Michael Lewis book that it's based on. The book was already pretty sappy and condescending (I would even say a little racist), and from the reviews by several respected (respected by me that is) critics, as well as the few clips I have seen, the movie is even more melodramatic and overdone. The film looks even worse in light of the nomination of Precious, a similarly soapy tear jerker, albeit one with much stronger performances. Instead of The Blindside, I would have loved it if the Academy chose Funny People, which I feel is very underappreciated… oh well at least The Hangover didn't get picked.


Another nomination that I disagree with is Pixar's Up. There are several reasons. First, why is an animated film being nominated for Best Picture when there is already a separate category dedicated to them? Some may retort that a film should be recognized for its achievement no matter its type or genre. I agree wholeheartedly. However, I believe a movie should not be rewarded soley because of its genre either. There is no reason Up should be nominated for, and potentially win, both Best Animated Picture and Best Picture. If that logic applies, then the Academy needs to create entirely new categories to honor the best action movies, comedies, independent films, etc. In addition, Up isn't even the best animated film released in 2009. That, I think belongs to Sony's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (which wasn't even nominated for Best Animated Feature film, ugh). There is no doubt in my mind that Up is riding on the coat tails of the Pixar name. But more on that in the future.

I have yet to see The Blind Side, An Education and A Serious Man. I will make a concerted effort to see at least the last two before I make my picks. But even among the ones I have seen, I think it'll be incredibly difficult to choose the best one. A good case can be made for at least four of them, that is if you believe Avatar doesn't automatically win. X and I will announce our choices for Best Picture along with the other awards a little closer to Oscar night.

In the meantime let us know your thoughts!