Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Oscar Noms Are Out...

...and the goal is to watch every film from the Picture, Director and Acting categories. Daunting, shall have to see how it goes.

The complete list is on the Academy's site, but it's also neatly set out on imdb here.

Some thoughts thus far:

--Nice to see Up get Best Picture nomination, but as much as I love the film, it almost seems like a consolation for not nominating Wall-E in this category
--Didn't think Morgan Freeman deserved the nom for Best Actor. When I was watching the film, I felt he was concerned with mannerisms and appearing like Nelson Mandela rather than being him - though I partly blame the script for that. I couldn't sense much room for character development.
--Penelope Cruz - surprise nomination. While she does well with the time she has in Nine-and she's great at the beginning-she's practically nowhere at the end of the film and so you don't get much closure in her performance. Marion Cotillard was more deserving because I feel her character was more complete, but even then she leaves me cold. Again, I blame it a bit on the script/direction.
--A woman director winning the Oscar? It seems to be coming closer to the truth with all the buzz Kathryn Bigelow is receiving. Could be exciting.
--Harry Potter getting nommed for best cinematography? Didn't see it coming.
--So great that Fantastic Mr. Fox AND Sherlock Holmes have received noms for best score, quite deserving to me. Though I actually also think Invictus deserved one too.
--Where is Bright Star in, well, almost anything? No best director, no best actress, art design, cinematography? It gets best costume, but those snubs hurt.

Who'd I'd like to win for the moment:
--Vera Farmiga for Up in the Air - haven't seen Precious yet, so this could change soon, but Vera was great here. Seemingly so cool and laidback, but not quite so straightforward as all that. She had marvellous presence here.
--Haven't see The Hurt Locker, but hope Up gets best score
--Would like to see Fantastic Mr. Fox get best animated feature - as much as Up was warm-hearted and inspiring, Fantastic Mr. Fox was just something else. Wonderful dialogue and more subtly moving.

Need to see:

The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds**seen it
Precious**seen it
A Serious Man
Crazy Heart
A Single Man
The Last Station
Julie & Julia
The Messenger
The Lovely Bones

2 comments:

  1. I really hope Up wins best score too! It's my pet category.

    I've resigned myself to the fact that I will just have to netflix a bunch of these post awards.

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  2. Yes it would be so great if it did. It's such a beautiful score.

    I agree - there's so many now with the best picture category extended, I doubt I'll be able to see them all before Oscars.

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