I've decided to do a blog a day for the month of February. I probably won't succeed, but I'm going to try. However, as Steph and Yoda both say, "there is no such thing as try."
So here I am, half-writing this blog while I watch LOST.
The Oscar Nominations
The Academy Award nominations were announced today and all it did was remind me that there idea of a good movie isn't ever correct. I'll focus on the nominations for Best Picture.
The Best Picture category was expanded to ten nominees for the first time this year and it really expanded the definition of "Best Picture" for the Academy. Here is the full list of nominees:
"Avatar"
"The Blind Side"
"District 9"
"An Education"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Precious"
"A Serious Man"
"Up"
"Up in the Air"
I'm not going to breakdown every film. I'm just concerned about the best film on the list. I'm curious what the few people reading this think that is. Well, I'm not in the mood to build suspense.
Up! is easily the most enjoyable and finest crafted film on the list. Up in the Air and The Hurt Locker are the two best films to tackle the recession and the Iraq war, respectively. They are personal and timely stories, but they both missed the mark slightly for me.
If you don't know my feelings towards District 9 all I really need to say is that I hated it. It had great action scenes and I'm sure it is miles better than Transformers 2 (I've never seen Transformers 2), but I think it is in the same league. District 9 is stupid. The plot is lauded as deep because it draws parallels to apartheid, but those parallels are only aesthetic. It uses it as an idea and doesn't really delve deeply into it.
Ah, just thinking about that movie makes me mad, but I understand why it was nominated. I think.
Apparently, The Blind Side was nominated because Sandra Bullock is a really nice gal who did good in a movie this time so they are nominating her for everything they can while it is slightly reasonable. Whatever, I guess if I want Avatar to be nominated I have to accept that Lifetime movies are just the estrogenized equivalent.
I haven't seen An Education, Precious, or A Serious Man. Though, A Serious Man is on my list.
Then there is Avatar. I really do love Avatar. People complain about the plot, but it is never that the plot is bad, just that they've seen it before. Get over it. There aren't a lot of plots, and I'm glad this one got remade into a sci-fi spectacle. The script itself was perfectly executed. There wasn't a wasted plot-point; everything that happens leads to something. That makes for great viewing.
This is proof that not all directors go off the deep-end when given over $250M to make a movie. Peter Jackson should be ashamed of himself. King Kong had great spectacle, but it was drowned out by bullshit characters that were boring and plot points that didn't lead anywhere. I really hated that movie.
In the end, they all pale in comparison to Up! This movie packs the emotional truth of Up in the Air and The Hurt Locker, with spectacle, comedy, love, heartbreak, and sheer joy. It does everything and it does it all better -- with exception of spectacle compared to Avatar -- than the other movies nominated.
Which is why it is so disappointing that Up! directors Pete Doctor and Bob Peterson are not nominated for Best Director. Here are the movies nominated for Best Picture that have a chance of winning:
Best Director
James Cameron, "Avatar"
Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker"
Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"
Lee Daniels, "Precious"
Jason Reitman, "Up in the Air"
Only movies with both a Best Director nod and a Best Picture nomination have a chance of winning either category. All this tells me is that Animation is still the least respected way of making a film in America.
Fantasy broke through with Lord of the Rings, sci-fi is breaking through with Avatar and District 9, but animation only gets token nominations. However, if sci-fi and fantasy can break through, then animation likely can as well.
Still, Pixar needs a Best Picture win... or else what the hell is the academy doing?
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