academy award nominations

[octothorp]

Surprised there isn't any discussion on this. A lot of it is a fairly 'meh' list, but thumbs up to the academy for the best supporting actor: Heath Ledger in Dark Knight and Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder both get nominations, alongside academy award stalwart Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

I'm also happy to see Richard Jenkins get a nomination, although I'd be surprised to see him win.


http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=nominees

[Sainters7]

I didnt realize how few movies I've seen this year until I saw this list. I think I've seen maybe two of the movies nominated on there. Maybe I'm just seeing crap.

[simmer2]

Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder was funny, but really, an academy nomination?

[troutman]

The Love Guru got many Razzie nominations.

http://www.razzies.com/history/29thNoms.asp

[The Goon]

Odd that Bruce Springsteen would win the Golden Globe for "The Wrestler", but not even get a nomination here.

[Prototype]

Saw Wall-E the other day and was quite amazed. Easily my favourite Pixar movie. Lots of the sub (non-major) nominations.

That supporting actor category is nuts. Hope Heath wins, but lots of competiton. And I can justify Downey Jr. Look at Iron Man, which is the character he normally plays... and look at his charater in Tropic Thunder. Hard for me to believe it's the same guy.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by simmer2

Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder was funny, but really, an academy nomination?

Yeah, it wasn't the greatest move.

[Ozy_Flame]

Come on Mickey Rourke! RAM JAM!

[mykalberta]

No surprise really with Milk getting a boat load of nominations.

[Tron_fdc]

Thank god Gran Tourino didn't get nominated. Someone told me it might, and it was one of the biggest POS movies I've seen in a looooong time.

[jydk]

^ I second that! Too many people are fooled and think just because Clint Eastwood is in a movie that it is automatically good.

[Got Miikka?]

I will need to see Doubt and The Reader to have a fairly comprehensive first-hand knowledge of what's nominated (I won't watch The Changeling because I pretty much have a full-on Angelina Jolie boycott in place)...

You have to think Slumdog Millionaire will walk away with Best Picture fairly uncontested, though IMO Frost/Nixon and Milk were both equally strong if not better films... Benjamin Button was clunky and overlong. Lots of very good films this year (after all - I wrote a post a while back comdemnng 2008 but the last couple of weeks have proven me wrong). Where is Gran Torino on the Picture list? The Wrestler?

In the actor category it's a 3 horse race between Rourke, Penn, and Frank Langella - all three are outstanding... I would have difficulty choosing, but something tells me Rourke gets it. Good for him. I haven't seen any of the films in the lead actress category. Have to get back to that one - although based on buzz I'd imagine Streep is a frontrunner and Kate Winslet has had a good year.

I'd like to see Penelope Cruz win for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (another superb movie) - she is fantastically crazy/sexy - but Marisa Tomei has to get some consideration... although she won in this category before which will surely be on voters' minds. I really apparently need to see this Doubt movie - it is nominated for an assload.

The supporting actor category is indeed the most interesting. Michael Shannon - while quite effective - has to be the outlier due to the brevity of his role in Revolutionary Road. I thought Downey Jr. was fantastic in Tropic Thunder - he managed to layer on great depth to a character that is essentially a tongue-in-cheek parody. Hoffman gets nominated every year so he'll probably get overlooked... hard to see anyone but Ledger taking this one, for sentimental and political reasons. Who accepts on his behalf?

In the screenplay categories I'd really really like to see In Bruges (another great movie) take the trophy for original script; hard to call for adapted, really could be any one of those 5.

3 boring CG-animated snorefests up for best animated feature. I personally have found virtually all of Pixar's last handful of films dull and overrated. Wall-E will win this without contest.

[octothorp]

Curious Case of Benjamin Button received an award for editing? Seriously? That felt like one of the least edited movies I've ever seen. There are other awards that I think it deserves to be in the running for (visual effects), but it felt extremely poorly edited, both in an overall flow as well as on a scene-to-scene basis, to the point that I was just getting pissed off by the end of it.

[Barnes]

The thing I like best about Oscar season is all these great movies get released "for my consideration".

Frost/Nixon was really fantastic.

[Bob]

I haven't seen many of the best picture / best director / best actor movies, so I'll have to check them out.

Oh, and Anne Hathaway got a Best Actress nod? I didn't see her as the Oscar type, but then I haven't seen the Rachel Getting Married either.

[rubecube]

I can't believe Curious Case of Benjamin Button is nominated for so many awards. I thought it had a really great concept and potential to be an awesome movie but was just so matter-of-fact that I didn't really get into it. Very overrated film, IMO.

[FanIn80]

Benjamin Button was an awesome movie.

...and Heath has to win the supporting actor. Nothing to do with him dying, either. I've seen Dark Knight at least 6 times, and his version of The Joker still blows my mind. I would even place his performance ahead of Hopkin's Hannibal Lecter as the greatest movie villain of all time.

[BlackEleven]

Very happy to see Richard Jenkins get nominated for best actor. The Vistor was a fantasic movie as well and would make my top 10 of the year.

I'd probably cast my vote for Milk as Best Picture, although I haven't seen The Reader. I would have liked to see Young @ Heart in the documentary category and Die Falscher (The Counterfeiters) in foreign film. I enjoyed both of those. Someone above mention Vicky Cristina Barcelona which was great as well. Blindness was another great one I would have loved to see on the list, but I understand why it wasn't.

[FanIn80]

I saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona last week. It wasn't all that great. Felt like a straight-to-dvd release to me.

[Prototype]

Not that I expect them out imediately, but does anyone know where to get those office pool Oscar sheets? Individual points for the individual categories. I'd love to run that for CP, and my work.