I don't know how those ROTC kids and ice road truckers do it. At least when I get up at 5:30AM, there's hot coffee ready and I get to watch Monique and an old white guy hug it out. Except for a couple years when I (subconsciously?) forgot to set my alarm, I've gotten up early to watch the Oscar nominations every year. Let's do the Aaron Thought Process Breakdown:
Overall, no major surprises here other than Christopher Nolan not getting nominated. Again. I was no champion of Inception (or Dark Knight for that matter) but it just seems odd. It's like there's some bizarre grudge the Academy holds against him for being inventive and having a thick head of hair. As Jack Donaghey says, a thick head of hair is a sure sign of power and strength. Although Tom Hooper's nomination was inevitable, I still resent it. I liked--liked--The King's Speech, but Tom Hooper was still in John Adams miniseries mode and thought he was directing for a TV set. Then again, most of the Academy probably watched the screener, so bravo, Hoopy, bravo.
Speaking of Inception "snubs": how in the world was this film not nominated for editing? The film had to cut between simultaneous storylines that involved the same characters in different settings at different speeds and it did it artfully without being confusing. I just don't get that one. And The King's Speech for Cinematography? Huh? Did I accidentally just see the 2D version? What about Harry Look At All The Pretty Use of Shadows Potter??
The actual biggest snub that no one's talking about: WAITING FOR SUPERMAN NOT NOMINATED FOR BEST DOC. Granted, I would have picked Exit Through the Gift Shop anyway, but how did a Guggenheim-directed, brilliantly-produced piece of smart, non-pandering social activism not get nominated? My gut instinct is to suspect the teacher's unions.
No one knew if she was a supporting actress or lead actress, otherwise methinks that Lesley Manville would have gotten a nomination. Go see Another Year if you want to see one of the finest screen performances of the last decade.
In other news, the Best Make-Up Category looks like the nominees were picked out of a hat. Did Eddie Murphy not play several characters in one hilarious film this year??? (Oh, he didn't.)
Have the Best Sound Mixing/Best Sound Editing categories ever have had this divergent a group of nominees before? Also, bravo to the Academy for nominating Unstoppable, which had lots of train-screech noises and rumblings but they never got annoying or repetitve. (Oh God, there is so much wrong with the way I watch movies.)
The Best Actress line-up is one of the strongest ever, right up there with 2006 when it was an onslaught of Dames & Divas (Mirren/Steep/Dench/Cruz/Winslet). Seriously, I would cheer for any of these women winning. Natalie Portman was perhaps my least favorite performance in the category, but I would still have a tough time calling it anything short of remarkable.
Although I'm sad they couldn't find room for Andrew Garfield, I'm happy for John Hawkes. He's a great character actor (remember his thankless role as "Hey, you, you Jewish Cowboy!" on Deadwood or Kenny FREAKIN Powers' brother on Eastbound & Down) who's been toiling unrecognized too long. I think his nomination is more the result of being cast as a really beautifully-written character, but hey, I'll take it.
Mark Ruffalo AND The Gruffalo were nominated! (In different categories) (Also, I don't know what The Gruffalo is.)
My girlfriend, who's getting her doctorate in music composition, will not be happy about The King's Speech/Best Score nomination. Totally relies on tons of pre-existing classics, she says. I concur, as she is very smart.
Tangled not nominated either! They really hate thick hair!
No Mila Kunis nomination is kind of a relief to me as, if she had been nominated, it would have been for "being pretty in an Aronofsky movie." The girl is great, sure, but she was given almost nothing to do. She had more emotional range and magnetism in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Also appreciate that Black Swan didn't get a screenplay nomination as it's not so much a story as it is mood and tone and... mirrors and stuff.
Hereafter for VFX was really confusing until I remembered they recreated the tsunami. But yes, the corpses were very, um, unlifelike and all the Matt Damon mentally finds your dead loved ones via the same device that Jean Gray used in the first X-Men to track Rogue.... well, it wasn't exactly Avatar. (And I loved Hereafter.)
No songs from Burlesque nominated for Best Song, so the only assless pants we're going to see at the Oscars will probably be when they model the costumes from I Am Love. (Bam! Tilda Swinton Nudity reference!)
Personal Boast: Saw all the Best Pic nominees in the theater. High-fivin' myself! People near me think I'm clapping for something! OK, going to stop now...
Overall, no major surprises here other than Christopher Nolan not getting nominated. Again. I was no champion of Inception (or Dark Knight for that matter) but it just seems odd. It's like there's some bizarre grudge the Academy holds against him for being inventive and having a thick head of hair. As Jack Donaghey says, a thick head of hair is a sure sign of power and strength. Although Tom Hooper's nomination was inevitable, I still resent it. I liked--liked--The King's Speech, but Tom Hooper was still in John Adams miniseries mode and thought he was directing for a TV set. Then again, most of the Academy probably watched the screener, so bravo, Hoopy, bravo.
Speaking of Inception "snubs": how in the world was this film not nominated for editing? The film had to cut between simultaneous storylines that involved the same characters in different settings at different speeds and it did it artfully without being confusing. I just don't get that one. And The King's Speech for Cinematography? Huh? Did I accidentally just see the 2D version? What about Harry Look At All The Pretty Use of Shadows Potter??
The actual biggest snub that no one's talking about: WAITING FOR SUPERMAN NOT NOMINATED FOR BEST DOC. Granted, I would have picked Exit Through the Gift Shop anyway, but how did a Guggenheim-directed, brilliantly-produced piece of smart, non-pandering social activism not get nominated? My gut instinct is to suspect the teacher's unions.
No one knew if she was a supporting actress or lead actress, otherwise methinks that Lesley Manville would have gotten a nomination. Go see Another Year if you want to see one of the finest screen performances of the last decade.
In other news, the Best Make-Up Category looks like the nominees were picked out of a hat. Did Eddie Murphy not play several characters in one hilarious film this year??? (Oh, he didn't.)
Have the Best Sound Mixing/Best Sound Editing categories ever have had this divergent a group of nominees before? Also, bravo to the Academy for nominating Unstoppable, which had lots of train-screech noises and rumblings but they never got annoying or repetitve. (Oh God, there is so much wrong with the way I watch movies.)
The Best Actress line-up is one of the strongest ever, right up there with 2006 when it was an onslaught of Dames & Divas (Mirren/Steep/Dench/Cruz/Winslet). Seriously, I would cheer for any of these women winning. Natalie Portman was perhaps my least favorite performance in the category, but I would still have a tough time calling it anything short of remarkable.
Although I'm sad they couldn't find room for Andrew Garfield, I'm happy for John Hawkes. He's a great character actor (remember his thankless role as "Hey, you, you Jewish Cowboy!" on Deadwood or Kenny FREAKIN Powers' brother on Eastbound & Down) who's been toiling unrecognized too long. I think his nomination is more the result of being cast as a really beautifully-written character, but hey, I'll take it.
Mark Ruffalo AND The Gruffalo were nominated! (In different categories) (Also, I don't know what The Gruffalo is.)
My girlfriend, who's getting her doctorate in music composition, will not be happy about The King's Speech/Best Score nomination. Totally relies on tons of pre-existing classics, she says. I concur, as she is very smart.
Tangled not nominated either! They really hate thick hair!
No Mila Kunis nomination is kind of a relief to me as, if she had been nominated, it would have been for "being pretty in an Aronofsky movie." The girl is great, sure, but she was given almost nothing to do. She had more emotional range and magnetism in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Also appreciate that Black Swan didn't get a screenplay nomination as it's not so much a story as it is mood and tone and... mirrors and stuff.
Hereafter for VFX was really confusing until I remembered they recreated the tsunami. But yes, the corpses were very, um, unlifelike and all the Matt Damon mentally finds your dead loved ones via the same device that Jean Gray used in the first X-Men to track Rogue.... well, it wasn't exactly Avatar. (And I loved Hereafter.)
No songs from Burlesque nominated for Best Song, so the only assless pants we're going to see at the Oscars will probably be when they model the costumes from I Am Love. (Bam! Tilda Swinton Nudity reference!)
Personal Boast: Saw all the Best Pic nominees in the theater. High-fivin' myself! People near me think I'm clapping for something! OK, going to stop now...
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