(What happens when my brain just tosses out random thoughts and comments before I sit and compile them into some sort of first-person dialogue that I pretend to be average writing? Why, that would be the following, incomplete random nomination … whatevers.)
Pan’s Labyrinth: SIX nominations. That’s huge for a foreign film, and with that many (including screenplay), why not best picture? What makes Babel better, honestly.
The shock and awe experience by a lack of picture, director, screenplay nod for Dreamgirls.
Three nominations for Best Song? Was there just no other original songs this year? And why the hell are they writing three new songs for Dreamgirls anyway? Because the entire production was apparently built around repeating the oscar success of Chicago. End credits … I’m going to have to root for “I Need to Wake Up” now (even though my guess is that “Listen” will win — even if it is an utterly inappropriate and ridiculous song for the story, that point in the story, etc.)
There should be a rule that when a movie is as thoroughly horrible as “The Black Dahlia,” it should be utterly ineligible for any Oscar, regardless of how good the cinematography may be. There certainly were other films this year that deserve that nomination as much, if not more, such as: Letters From Iwo Jima; Apocalypto; Flags of Our Fathers; Marie Antoinette .. and I’m sure I’m forgetting, not including some.
The documentary category appears to be among the strongest of any this year: only seen JESUS CAMP and AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, but I’ve heard absolute raves about the other three.
This is the first year in recent memory that I had managed to have seen all the Best Picture, Director and Screenplay nominees before the nomination announcement. THe only films in the major categories (not include tech, shorts, docs or foreign) I havent seen this year are Blood Diamond, Venus, The Pursuit of Happyness, Monster House, The Prestige, Curse of the Golden Flower, and I’m certainly going to try to see all of them before the awards.
I haven’t seen “Monster House,” but I’m a little curious as to why it has received so much love (Golden Globe nom too) while Over the Hedge which was tons of fun and had several hysterical moments was completely neglected.
ABigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine: Another surprise
Usually, best pictuer nominees end up with lots of nominations because they also get notice in the three main design awards, and yet, this year, of 15 possible nominations in three cateogires, only one went to a BP nominee — The Queen for costume design. Apparently, Babel, Departed, Letters and Sunshine all managed to be one of the best pictures of the year without any of them having the best Art Direction, Cinematography or Costume Design. It’s hard to argue with the cinematography noms, other than Dahlia, but it’s also hard to figure out how Departed and Letters didn’t get one there.
When having a category like “Best Makeup” allows a movie like Click to receive an Oscar nomination, should we even have it anymore? Maybe it should move to the tech awards ceremony.
Out of Focus 