Amy's Robot

Oscars nominees

The nominees for this year's Academy Awards are out today, and most of the categories include the same movies we've been seeing win all the other awards for the past month--Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Walk the Line, Crash. Overall there aren't many surprises in the big categories, but here are a few notables:

Paul Giamatti, who finally got a nomination (for Best Supporting Actor) after everyone screwed up last year and left him out for Sideways. Sideways wasn't the greatest movie or anything, but he was by far the best thing about it.

Keira Knightley in getting a nomination for Best Actress has impressively bypassed the usual Best Supporting Actress route that is typical of young, pretty actresses (often with limited range) at the beginning of their careers (Mira Sorvino in 1996, Marisa Tomei in 1993, Angelina Jolie in 1999, Natalie Portman nominated last year.) The Academy often uses the Best Supporting Actress award as a way to show the world that they can be unpredictable and can recognize new talent, but in reality, it's too often given to relatively unimpressive actresses. But Best Actress is still the real deal. Keira doesn't stand a chance of winning, but way to go!

As usual, the Best Supporting Actress category has some young, pretty actresses who a lot of people wouldn't recognize (Amy Adams, Michelle Williams). But this year, they're all really strong nominees. As this is often a wild card category, Amy Adams might actually get it, but who the hell knows? Catherine Keener probably won't win, but maybe now the world will realize she exists.

Although Crash was not my very favorite movie of 2005, it is exactly the kind of movie that the Academy loves, and some elements of it were very good (Terrence Howard, the script, Ludacris, scenes that didn't have any slow-motion in them). I just hope it doesn't win for Best Director--Paul Haggis has to learn how to turn down the old Melodram-O-Meter. Imagine how over the top and sappy Million Dollar Baby would have been if he had directed his own script.

Please don't give Best Animated Feature to Corpse Bride, please please please. The Academy will likely think of this category as "Best Kids Movie" for a good many years, so it will probably go to The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Even though Paradise Now, the one about the Palestinian suicide bombers, is probably the only nominee for Best Foreign Language Film that anyone saw, is there any way it can win? And how did Caché not make it to this list, with all the critics making themselves hoarse about it all December?

Most anticipated segment of the awards ceremony: the performance of the nominees for best song written for a movie. “In the Deep” from Crash, “Travelin’ Thru” from Transamerica, and the one I was really praying would make it, “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from Hustle & Flow. Who's going to get to announce that one? Sean Penn? Maybe they'll get all jokey and have Dakota Fanning do it. The real question is, who's going to perform it? T-Rock says, "Can't wait to see Elton John and Robin Williams perform "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp." That should be a real Oscars™ Moment."

categories: Movies
posted by amy at 11:22 AM | #