January 23, 2007
Thoughts on Oscars Nominations 2007
There is tons of speculation all over the Internet about the Oscar nominations for films released in 2006. As an Oscars fiend, we're not going to digress about the calculus of vote-splitting. Instead, we'll point out a couple things we noticed:
- Best surprise nomination: Ryan Gosling's Best Actor nomination for Half Nelson; Gosling plays a drug-addicted teacher in Brooklyn trying to help one of his students...it'll be on DVD in three weeks - see it
- It's a Best Picture, not a Pretty Picture: None of the Best Picture nominees were nominated for Best Cinematography (the Cinematography nominees were The Black Dahlia, Children of Men, The Illusionist, Pan's Labyrinth and The Prestige)
- September 11 is still a tough subject matter: Yes, United 93 got two nominations (Best Director and Best Film Editing), which we think is more a testament to director Paul Greengrass's technical vision for the film, but there was no Hollywood love for Oliver Stone's World Trade Center
- Big ensemble pictures work sometimes: It worked for Babel, Little Miss Sunshine and The Departed. It didn't work for Bobby, The Good Shepherd or Dreamgirls (yes, it was nominated for 8 Oscars, but not the big ones)
- An Inconvenient Truth had a song? Melissa Etheridge wrote and performed a song that probably ran during the credits; for a moment, we were worried we missed an Al Gore solo
- A musical was nominated for Best Film: Best SHORT Film, that is. West Bank Story, described as "A musical comedy set in the fast-paced, fast-food world of competing falafel stands on the West Bank."
- Great Kate: While Helen Mirren will probably win Best Actress for her steely work in The Queen, we think that Kate Winslet must be the most-nominated young actress of her generation; her nod for Little Children is her fifth - and she's only 31! For reference, Meryl Streep (now the most nominated actor ever, with 14) received her fifth nomination when she was 35, though she had already won two Oscars by then.
- Pooping on screen not so great, but Punking poop off screen is: In what many are either outraged or relieved about, Sacha Baron Cohen was denied a Best Actor nomination for Borat (he was part of a writing team that was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay). Penelope Cruz, as nominated for Best Actress in Volver, and she was great in that (and there were scatological references in the movie). However, we can never forget the time she Punk'd Salma Hayek with a poopy toilet (YouTube clip).
What did you think of this year's Oscar nominations? And for Oscar nomination quarterbacking overload, check out The Carpetbagger, The Envelope, Daily Intelligencer, GreenCine, The Reeler, Hollywood Elsewhere and Defamer, to name a few.
Photograph of Salma Hayek pumping her arms when BFF Penelope Cruz's name was announced by Chris Carlson/AP
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borat for president!
i'm surprised that "pan's labyrinth" isn't up for more awards (i think a foreign movie can be up for best actress, etc., right?), and equally surprised that "dreamgirls" isn't up for best picture.
gosling's nomination shouldn't be a surprise, given that the movie was excellent and his performance can only be matched by whitaker in "last king of scotland".
Meryl Streep got a late start as a film actress, attendeding Vassar (AB) and Yale (MFA) and then doing work on the stage--- thus she didn't even make her film debut until the ripe old age of 28 in 1977's "Julia". Kate Winslet appeared in her first feature film in 1994 at age 19 and so has had a ten year head start on Meryl in MPAA accolades. Just imagine if we'd had Streep as an ingenue onscreen---she'd surely have over 20 nominations and possibly more than her two Oscars.
there's alot being written and discussed about the failure of the Academy to recognize "Dreamgirls" as best picture. Well, the nominated pics were all better than Dreamgirls. Let them be satisfied with the acting nominations, which were well-deserved.
Viewed as a complete product, "Little Miss Sunshine" was overall a better picture. Just surprised the ensemble of actors didn't see more nominations. Seems to me to be a testimony to the fine acting on the screen this year.
No one with a life cares about something as stupid as a bunch of millionaires kissing each others asses at an awards show.
Ryan Gosling's nomination a surprise?
Not to me.
I saw HALF NELSON a couple of months ago, and as my friend and I left the theater, we both agreed that he was going to get a nomination for it.
The same for Alan Arkin.
I knew after seeing Little Miss Sunshine the week it opened in NYC last summer that he was due for a nomination, and this film was his ticket. In fact, he'll most likely win the Oscar.
I was hoping Jackie Earl Haley was going to get nominated after seeing his comeback role in Little Children, and I was thrilled to see him get his due. If anyone can upset Arkin, it'll be Jackie.
Best movie of last year was TOTALLY shut out -
Rocky VI - Rocky Balboa. People should write in to the Academy and complain!