AN HONOR JUST TO BE NOMINATED: The nominations for the 75th Annual Academy Awards were announced this morning. Here are some stream-of-consciousness ramblings; all links are to my original reviews of the films.
- I'm generally in agreement with the Best Picture nominees, although I am yet to see "Chicago" or "The Pianist." This in contrast to last year, when two absolutely abominable films ("In the Bedroom" and winner "A Beautiful Mind") were both up for the big prize. Prediction? I stick with yesterday- "Chicago" wins Best Picture, "Gangs of New York" Best Director.
- I would've liked to see my favorite movie of the year, "Road to Perdition," up for Best Picture, but I'm content with its recognition for Supporting Actor (Paul Newman), Cinematography, Art Direction, Original Score, Sound, and Sound Editing.
- The five Best Actor nominees have won seven Oscars among them: three for Jack Nicholson, two for Michael Caine, and one each for Daniel Day-Lewis and Nicolas Cage. My pick? Great as Jack was in "About Schmidt," I gotta go with DDL.
- The most glaring snub of the whole list? The best performance of the year by a man or woman, Maggie Gyllenhaal's in "Secretary," went unrecognized for Best Actress. Andrew Sullivan already pointed out that this year's nominations are the gayest in Oscar history, but apparently the Academy draws the line at S&M.
- I was right about two noms for Julianne Moore, though Meryl Streep must settle for just one (for "Adaptation"). Having not seen "Far From Heaven" yet I'm not ready to make a Best Actress pick, but I do think that Moore overshadowed both Streep and Kidman in "The Hours," and that's enough for me to pick Julianne over the Most Beautiful Woman Alive, Catherine Zeta-Jones, for Best Supporting Actress.
- There are so, so, many great actors and actresses in this world who have never gotten an Oscar nomination. But now, they're all looking up at Queen Latifah. She won't be the only rapper on Oscar night; Eminem is nominated for Best Song for "Lose Yourself" from "8 Mile."
- All five Supporting Actor nominees are great performers and very, very deserving. I was thrilled to see Christopher Walken recognized, as he was the best thing about "Catch Me If You Can," though I certainly wouldn't complain about one more Oscar for Paul Newman. But I've got a hunch this is John C. Reilly's year- he is I believe the first actor in history to appear in three of the five Best Picture nominees. Long live Reed Rothschild!
- There's all sorts of craziness in the Screenplay categories- "Gangs of New York" is based on the book of the same name by Herbert Asbury, so why is it "original"? Ditto for "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (based on star Nia Vardalos' standup routine) and "Far From Heaven" (essentially a remake of Douglas Sirk's "All That Heaven Allows.") And while "Adaptation" takes as part of its inspiration Susan Orlean's "The Orchid Thief," it is not, itself, really an "adaptation." I'm rooting for it to win though, so we get to see the world's first-ever fictional Oscar winner, Donald Kaufman.
- I saw it coming, but Michael Moore's loathsome, overlong, dishonest, condescending, self-aggrandizing, and hatefully anti-American "Bowling For Columbine" is a nominee for Best Documentary Feature, while two other great docs (Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen's "The Kid Stays in the Picture" and Sam Jones' "I am Trying to Break Your Heart") were left out. If there's any justice the only Moore recognized on Oscar night will be Julianne.
- And due to the Academy's convoluted rules, neither "Y Tu Mama Tambien" nor "Talk to Her" is eligible for Best Foreign Language Film, although both are nominated in other categories.
- Strange that there are five nominees for Animated Feature, when I don't know that there were more than five full-length animated features released in the US this year. They reached down so far that even the universally panned Disney film "Treasure Planet" was picked.
- Why is "Frida" nominated for Best Achievement in Makeup, when all Salma Hayek had to do was stop tweezing her eyebrows?
That's likely it for Oscar commentary until the big night (March 23rd). There'll be more analysis after that- but if you're looking for commentary on what people were wearing, look somewhere else.