Just this morning, the list of nominations for the Oscars was posted, and here I am to give my thoughts. I'm going to say this right off the bat, I don't have opinions for every category, for instance, I'm not going to talk about make-up or editing, I'll just address the major ones and then talk about a few elephants in the room.
Best Picture- Once again, there was an excess of nominations handed out, but thankfully, at least one of the movies that I liked from last year was able to make the cut. As most of you know, I absolutely adored Hugo, and have decided that will be the movie that I lobby for this year. Oddly enough, in the past few years, there have been 10 nominations for best picture, and yet, this year there was only 9. Not sure why they decided to change that this year, but what the heck, I'm guessing they just ran out of ideas.
Best Director- Like I even need to say it, I'm absolutely ecstatic that Martin Scorsese got the nod for best director. Though I'm betting that as much as I would like Hugo to be the big winner this year, it seems that everybody has been looking at The Artist. I have yet to see it, and so I can't really give an opinion on it as of yet.
Best Actor- This was the nomination that really made me happy, even if this person doesn't win, it's enough that he finally got his long overdue nomination. Gary Oldman finally received a nomination for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. That being said, I'm not sure he'll get it because he also shares this category with the lead actor from The Artist, which looks like that will be the sweeper this year. Maybe not, maybe this will be one of those cases where they give it to Oldman based on the fact that this is long overdue. Either way, I'm glad.
Best Actress- I'm torn between two of the lovely actresses submitted here. Michelle Williams from My Week With Marilyn, and Rooney Mara from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I haven't seen My Week with Marilyn, but it looked really good and the always talented Williams looked absolutely stunning as Monroe. As for Mara, there were a few moments where I actually forgot that she was an actress and not actually Lisbeth Salander. Keep in mind, at the time of writing this, I have yet to see the swedish version, so I don't know how she compares to Noomi Rapace, but I can tell you that at least for this version, she was perfect. When I was reading the novel, she is pretty much what I had pictured when I was reading it.
Best Supporting Actor- I will admit, I don't have a dog in this one really, considering I only saw one of the movies listed in this category, and I never thought that the performance was THAT great (it was good, but... oscar worthy?). I am of course talking about Jonah Hill in Moneyball. However, I am a huge fan of Max Von Sydow, who received a nomination for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, so I guess my votes on him.
Best Supporting Actress- Again, not really one that I have a whole lot of investment in, but the one that did strike me as odd is Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids, but I'll get to movie later.
Best Song- There are only two entrees in this category, and the one that I am seriously hoping will win is "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets. I freaking loved that movie, and actually wished that it received more nominations
SNUBS:
Okay, last year, the big shocker was that Christopher Nolan did not receive a best director nomination, despite getting the nod for best picture and best original screenplay. This year, the big shocker is that Drive never got anything. Now I have yet to see Drive, so I can't really give an opinion on this one, but I had hear a lot of great things about this movie and really wonder why it didn't get anything. Not even best actor.
On a side note, I was also hoping that at least one person from J. Edgar would get a nod, mostly Leonardo DiCaprio, but I think Judi Dench deserved props as well as Armie Hammer.
WHAT THE HELL?
Something that has me perplexed is all the praise that Bridesmaids is getting. Now look, I actually liked this movie, but getting Oscar nominations for best screenplay? I didn't think it was THAT good. Normally, my theory would have been that we had a lot of comedies come out, and with the exception of Bridesmaids, they all sucked. But here's the thing, The Muppets came out this year, and I thought that was way funnier than Bridesmaids. If I had to give a nomination to a comedy, this would be my first, and really only, choice. Even at the Golden Globes, I thought The Muppets was severely overlooked. Oh well, Wocka Wocka
