Oscar Snubs: 2011 edition

I promised I wouldn't get upset anymore about the inevitable glaring omissions in the nominations list, but the more I think about this year, I can't help myself. This time, I will go a step further and call out the undeserving nominees who took away the spots earned by the following performances.

But first, a tip of the hat to all the nominations TRUE GRIT received, and to the recognition given Deadwood-alum John Hawkes for his work in WINTER'S BONE. Well done, Academy!

Category -- Snub-ee / should have replaced:

ACTRESS -- Julianne Moore / Nicole Kidman
>>I have already made clear my admiration for Ms. Moore's work in "The Kids Are All Right;" I haven't made public my opinion that the great Nicole Kidman has sabotaged her career as a 'serious' actress through cosmetic surgery. Sitting through the contemptible "Rabbit Hole," I couldn't get two thoughts out of my mind: 1) that's NICOLE KIDMAN sitting in a bowling alley in Yonkers with a bunch of average-looking people; and 2) for as emotional a performance as playing a grieving mother, why isn't the bottom of her face moving? Below her eyes, I saw no expression in her beautiful face. What a shame.

ACTOR -- Mark Wahlberg / Javier Bardem
>>Nothing against Javier (I haven't even seen "Biutiful") but Markie-Mark's subdued performance was the backbone of "The Fighter."

Supp. Actress -- Mila Kunis / Jackie Weaver
>>Raise your hand if you have seen "Animal Kingdom." My point exactly.

Supp. Actor -- Andrew Garfield / Jeremy Renner
>>Solid, but not award-worthy work by Renner in "The Town," a standard crime drama; Garfield's breakthrough performance was vital to the superior "The Social Network."

Two comments about the 'minor awards." How can "Waiting for Superman" not be recognized for Best Documentary? How can "Alice in Wonderland" receive 3 nominations, but NOT one for Best Make-Up!?!

And finally, it has become a tradition with me to go off on a rant against one particular nominee (usually in the Best Original Score category). This year, the Winner Is .... A.R. Rahman !! for "127 Hours."

Last year's deserving winner for "Slumdog Millionaire" merely recycled the music and energy that worked so well in the previous film. For a movie about the isolation and desperation of a hiker trapped by a boulder in the middle of nowhere, it could not have been more inappropriate! As with Danny Boyle's "look-at-me" directing style, it was ostentatious and needlessly distracting. Jai-O!

FFG is Wrong Again!

The Oscar Foreign Film shortlist was announced, and I only got one* prediction right!

Here are the nine films still in the running:

Algeria, Hors la Loi (Outside the Law), Rachid Bouchareb, director

Canada, Incendies, Denis Villeneuve, director

Denmark, In a Better World, Susanne Bier, director

Greece, Dogtooth, Yorgos Lanthimos, director

Japan, Confessions, Tetsuya Nakashima, director

*Mexico, Biutiful, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, director

South Africa, Life, Above All, Oliver Schmitz, director

Spain, Tambien la Lluvia (Even the Rain), Iciar Bollain, director

Sweden, Simple Simon, Andreas Ohman, director


"The biggest surprise on the list is that Greece’s incest-filled, psychological torture film Dogtooth made the cut."
-- Those crazy Greeks! (I'm sure it won't make the final five by the staid Oscar committee).

"The shortlist will be winnowed down to the five nominees by specially invited committees in New York and Los Angeles. They will spend Friday, January 21, through Sunday, January 23, viewing three films each day and then casting their ballots."
-- Now that's my idea of a great weekend!

The SEVEN best actresses of 2010

January 11, 2011 --

Yes, I said SEVEN! If the Academy wanted to shake things up, they should have increased the big four nominations by at least one each, instead of their stupid idea to up the Best Picture nominees to ten!

With all due respect to Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole) and Michele Williams (Blue Valentine), whose movies I have yet to see, here are, without question, the Seven Best Lead Performances by an Actress in 2010:

Annette Bening* & Julianne Moore, The Kids are All Right -- These two actresses are equally essential to the movie: I cannot imagine either would be as phenomenal if they didn't have the other. Both deserve recognition in the Lead Actress category.

Sally Hawkins, Made In Dagenham -- with every movie she stars in (too few, sadly), Sally Hawkins surprises me with her talent. Her face is so expressive, her acting so genuine, she is a true joy to watch.

Isabelle Huppert, White Material -- this French treasure never fails to deliver a compelling, fearless performance (she chooses her material very well). Here she plays a French plantation owner in an unnamed African country in the midst of a civil war, trying to hold her family's life together amid the chaos. You can't take your eyes off of her, as usual.

Jennifer Lawrence*, Winter's Bone -- the next three actresses all gave breakthough performances, none more surprising than this young actress (unknown, by me). Playing a mature teen (made head of her disadvantaged household by default) in the hellish backwoods of the Ozarks, she shows a grit and determination to hold her family together at all costs (I sense a theme here!)

Natalie Portman*, Black Swan -- nothing less than a tour-de-force performance, NP inhabits the paper-thin body (and fragile mind) a ballet dancer -- complete with all the rigors of toe-shoes, sore muscles and feet, and back-stabbing colleagues. You never once think she's an actor pretending to be a dancer. It is a transformation worthy of DeNiro!

Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit -- don't believe the bullshit tactic by the studio (Paramount) to increase their chances of a nomination by promoting her as a "supporting" actress. She is literally in every scene of the movie! It doesn't matter that she is young and unknown, the movie is about her character Mattie Ross as much as Winter's Bone is about Ree, and Hailee's performance is not only the equal to Jeff Bridges' Rooster Cogburn, she carries the movie. Don't take my word for it, either: the directors agree with me.

* I predict only three of the above-mentioned seven will actually receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination. It wouldn't be the Oscars if they didn't slight somebody in every category, would it?.

Fearless Oscar predictions

January 7, 2011 --

One of my New Year's resolutions is to do things early. So expect my annual Top Ten List on MLK's Birthday! And why should I wait for the Academy Award nominations to be announced? (January 25th, 7:30 a.m. Central). I will charge ahead with my predictions for who gets nominated -- in the Best Foreign-Language Film category.

This is easier than it sounds, now that the Academy has started announcing a "short list" for nominations in the Foreign Film and Documentary Feature category. Now, instead of waiting until nomination morning to be outraged by the Academy's unexplicable slights, we can be outraged two weeks in advance. For example, this year's short-list for Best Documentary does not include the well-received "Marwencol," "Sweetgrass," or "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work." !

Who can forget the outrage that accompanied the foreign film short-list for 2008, when Romania's "Four Months, Three Weeks, Two Days" was excluded. The Outrage! It took me awhile to accept the fact that the whole system is rigged: each country can only submit one entry, so much of what gets chosen is dependent on favoritism, politics, etc. (like the World Cup selection). So this year, don't expect to see these foreign favorites nominated: I Am Love (Italy), White Material (France) or any of the "Dragon Tattoo" movies (released in 2009, but I'm sure Sweden could have nominated one). Instead, they have pinned their hopes on a movie called "Simple Simon." Go figure.

I haven't seen a short list yet, so I am making my choices based on the original list of 65 movies (including first time submissions from Ethiopia and Greenland!). Truthfully, I only chose movies I have heard of, so there may be some dark horses to emerge, but here goes:

Kawasaki's Rose (Czech) - since this is the only one of the 65 I have actually seen, I have to include it.
Of Gods and Men (France) - it's about monks. Good reviews.
Biutiful (Mexico) - actually a Mexico-Spain co-production, but it has a big name star and director behind it.
The Edge (Russia) - know nothing about it, but it has a Golden Globe nomination.
"Uncle Boonmee ..." (Thailand) - big winner at Cannes; I will spare you the actual Thai title and director's name.

That leaves Romania out in the cold -- again! But if one of these gets dropped, I would add Florian Serban's "If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle" (an award winner at Berlin). Other dark horses are:
- Denmark's Globe-nominated "In a Better World."
- Greece's experimental "Dogtooth"
- Turkey's "Bal" (Honey), also at Berlin.

Greece vs. Turkey: now that would be as brutal as a World Cup match!