Thoughts on the 2012 Oscar nominations

As Crash Davis once said, a player on a streak has to respect the streak. Well, this isn't that kind of streak and I'm not a player. But as long as I've had a blog, I've written about the Academy Award nominations.

Usually, I try to get a post up as soon as the nominations are announced, but I was busy Tuesday morning. And it's not like I would've accomplished anything but trying to get the nominations up as fast as I could. 

But we're going on seven years with these Oscar posts, so I didn't want to let this year go by. Even if I was a bit underwhelmed by the nominations. And maybe about the movies in general. I enjoyed plenty of them, but there's only one that I could truly say I loved: The Descendants. (I should really write something about that.)

I usually list the nominations, but since we're four days after the fact, you can read them here. But here are some thoughts that jump to mind.

▪▪ The one glaring snub? Shailene Woodley absolutely, positively deserved a Best Supporting Actress nod for The Descendants. Yes, George Clooney does a great job, but in many ways, Woodley's character — as Clooney's daughter — drives the story. Without her, it's not as good of a movie — period. 

So which nominee should go in favor of Woodley? Well, I'd probably knock off Jessica Chastain in The Help. She's a great actress, but I don't think this was even her best movie this year. And as fun as Melissa McCarthy was in Bridesmaids, and as cool as it was that she was nominated, come on. 

Read More >>

▪▪ A lock? Clooney looks like a strong bet for Best Actor. I'll say Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian are a lock for Best Adapted Screenplay on Moneyball. Woody Allen for Best Original Screenplay on Midnight in Paris, too. And Viola Davis for Best Actress in The Help. Is that too many locks? 

▪▪ My favorite nomination? Christopher Plummer in Beginners. I wasn't embracing that movie as I watched it, but it's stayed with me and my appreciation has grown. (Another one I need to write about.) Plummer could've made bad choice and made his out-of-the-closet-at-75 character too flamboyant. But he doesn't.

You know, he's probably another lock. Should we even bother tuning in this year?

▪▪ I would've added Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to the Best Picture nominees. Or trimmed the list down to five films.

▪▪ However, I've only seen three of the nine nominated films, so I probably shouldn't say that. That is probably the fewest number of Best Picture candidates I've seen in years. I had a bad year at the movies. (Or should I say, not at the movies.) 

▪▪ Movies I still need to see: Hugo tops that list for me, while The Artist is a close second. I didn't see Midnight in Paris despite it playing in theaters all summer. And Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close looked compelling from its trailer, but it's been getting killed by critics. Maybe Albert Nobbs, but there has to be a promise of drinks or dinner to follow.

▪▪ I know it was never going to happen, but it would've been so cool if Andy Serkis was nominated for his motion-capture performance in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Yes, the computers did a lot of the work, but Serkis gave them a base to work from. Best Supporting Actor, maybe? Knock Kenneth Branagh off for him. (Though to be fair, I didn't see My Week With Marilyn. Maybe he's really good.) 

Comments

[John Maxwell]

I agree on Serkis. The Artist is mainly silent, I really have no interest in watching a "too-cute" silent movie. That just seems to be too smart for Hollywood's own good.