Movies Features

The Unseen Movie Review - Oscar Nominations

By Robert Dixter Jan 26, 2011, 23:31 GMT

An undated film still provided by the Weinstein Company on 25 January 2011 shows British actor Colin Firth in a scene of the movie \'The King\'s Speech\'. EPA/THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY / HO

The Academy Award nominations have just been announced with the same amount of excitement as waiting to hear what a new Die Hard movie will be called. (Die Harder? Really, that was the best you could do?)

The problem with the Oscars is that the nominations are revealed after most of the other awards have already handed out their hardware. By the time the show rolls around, I’ve forgotten about films from last year and I’m looking forward to the summer films which are two months away.

If you’re going to be last to the party, at least show up with some surprises. Imagine if Christina Aguilera showed up to Jeremy Renner’s party uninvited and then didn’t get so drunk she had to fall asleep in his bed? That would have been more boring than waiting to see who says “I love you” last as they head out the door for work, Tom Cruise or Katie Holmes.

Most years the Academy Awards pull out a surprise or two, this year they basically just nominated all the same films that have been popping up at the other award ceremonies. The biggest shock was that True Grit got ten nominations after being shut out of the Golden Globes.

But the truth is that 1) True Grit has been on most critics’ year end top ten lists and 2) the Golden Globes are more of a high school clique like we’ve seen in Mean Girls than they are a true awards ceremony.

Last year the Oscars decided to get crazier than Charlie Sheen at a Drew Carey sleep over and changed the number of Best Picture nominees to ten from five. I understand why they’re doing it. It creates more interest for the viewers at home if they think the bigger blockbuster films have a chance to win the big prize.

But all it means is that there are more nominees, because we can look at the movies up for Best Picture this year and say the winner will be either The King’s Speech (12 nominations), The Social Network (they’ve won every other award given out this year) or The Fighter (because Mark Wahlberg will beat someone up if they don’t win.)
It’s getting to the point where people will be more surprised if you don’t get a Best Picture nod because there are so many slots. “You didn’t get a Best Picture nomination? What?!

But your film had Bob Uecker AND Elizabeth Berkley with a killer cameo by Norman Fell and he’s been dead for over a decade!” It’s like winning a Grammy award. There are over 100 categories for the music awards, how can you not win one?

The big omission this year is Christopher Nolan for Best Director. Inception blew my mind more than Behind the Green Door. The whole idea of the different levels of dreams was amazing and Nolan made a near perfect film that actually made sense from a complex idea.

But if you were to include him in the directing nominees, who would you take out? All five guys deserve to be there. Tom Hooper, David O. Russell, David Fincher, The Coens and Darren Aronofsky. They all made really good films, it’s just too bad that Nolan had the sixth slot.

The one thing everybody wants to know about the Oscars is how to win their pools. Well, here’s some advice from somebody who is not only not an expert but thinks that Vin Diesel was robbed in the acting categories after he made The Pacifier.

Best Actor: It’s great to see Jeff Bridges in this category, but he won it last year. Colin Firth was nominated last year, but this year he’ll win it for The King’s Speech.

Best Actress: It’s between Natalie Portman and Annette Bening. If the producers of the show have their way Annette will win because it takes longer for pregnant women to walk to the stage and that might make the show go over its four hours. I’m picking Portman, only because I think it will be hysterical to see ad for her upcoming movie, Your Highness, say “starring Academy Award winner.”

Best Supporting Actor: This will be the first award of the night because it’s such a sure thing. Christian Bale has this locked up tighter than Miley Cyrus before turning eighteen. It’s the Academy Awards checklist, there are drugs, kids, and redemption in his character.

Best Supporting Actress: This will be the big surprise of the night. Hailee Steinfeld will win this award for her amazing work in True Grit. She held her own with Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon.

But the best way to win your pools is to look at the guilds and see who they are giving their awards to. That’s a better indication than watching the Golden Globes.