Double Trouble

It has been a stable of many Oscar nomination days, the Oscar Snub. An actor or actress has a fantastic year, and a couple of great performances, and they end up with no nomination. This as the result the actor or actress being too damn good in more than one picture and therefore splitting their vote. Witness Scarlett Johannsen last year, had she not appeared in Girl With A Pearl Earring, then her lead role in Lost In Translation would have been promoted as such, a lead role. The actress however had to campaign as a supporting actress for LIT and a lead actress for GWAP (which was not as good a film or performance). In the end she received no nominations, despite being up for two BAFTAs (winning for LIT) and two Golden Globes. Some years, the strategy works, just look at Julianne Moore getting nominated in the same year for both Far From Heaven and The Hours (two similar roles, but she was clearly a lead in FFH). And so we have this potential situation with several actors this year. Here is the rundown :

• Kate Winslet (Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, Finding Neverland) : Kate's 3 nominations indicate that she is an Oscar favorite, and her ability to always give good solid performances always lands her in the potential nominee list at year end. Here she has two very dissimilar roles, the kooky wife who rediscovers love in Eternal Sunshine and the dying mother and wife who is part of JM Barrie's inspiration to write Peter Pan. There is one similarity, in that both films revolve around the male co-star. So, is she a lead actress or supporting actress, and in which film. I think she would be wise to bet her eggs on the Supporting Actress category for Eternal Sunshine as she may have a shot with that category. Her chances for winning best actress this year are slim, given the buzz surrounding Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake) and Annette Benning (Being Julia). That said, Kate seems to always get noticed for period peices like Neverland (see Titanic, Sense and Sensibility), and ignored for more modern roles like Eternal Sunshine (Hideous Kinky). Up in the air.

• Laura Linney (P.S., Kinsey): Perhaps one of the most talented actresses working in film today. Although she's been nominated once before (You Can Count On Me) I always felt that she's been overlooked one too many times for excellent work (The Truman Show, Mystic River). So will she get her due and be nominated twice. Her long-suffering wife routine in Kinsey should bode well if she campaigns in the supporting category (it worked for Jennifer Connelly in A Beautiful Mind). And while her reviews for PS are glowing across the board, she may suffer from the film being too small for the voters to notice. My bet is on a Kinsey nomination.

• Jude Law (I *heart* Huckabees, Closer, Alfie, The Aviator): Jude appeared in 6 films overall this year, but we shall ignore Sky Captain (bad reviews) and Lemony Snicket (only a voice role) for this discussion. Still, four roles, four potential nominations, if only he appeared in an Anthony Minghella pic this year we could've closed the door on the discussion. It seems that Alfie didn't catch fire with critics and his role in Huckabees didn't necessarily standout. The Aviator has way too many potential nominess in it that he may just get ignored. My bet is on a nomination for Closer which is generating some great buzz. And Hollywood will want to acknowledge the guy if only for stamina this year.

More on Alexander being panned

See the BBC story about the critical thrashing of this film. Well, at least Gore Vidal liked it.

Alexander - A mixed bag

Well, I just knew it, the minute I saw Angelina Jolie in the trailer uttering the words 'He Is Alexander The Great' as if she were Aaliyah in Queen of the Damned that we were headed for trouble. And it looks like Alexander, which was supposed to have Oscar written all over it (Oliver Stone doing a sword and sandal epic, the aforementioned Jolie as part of a great cast).

I have to see the picture for myself, but it looks like its reviews are mixed at best. Rolling Stone's Peter Travers gives the film one star out of four, Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gliberman a C- (calling the film 'deeply flawed'). The New York Times review hails the films well shot battle scenes but also chastizes the filmmaker for 'puerile writing, confused plotting, shockingly off-note performances and storytelling.' Meanwhile New York Magazine wants to hail Stone for doing an 'honorable honest job' in portraying the great warrior. Its been suggested in some places that people maybe upset by the fact that Stone beat Baz Luhrmann in the race to get an Alexander film made. Also, depending on which side of the pink fence you sit on, the title character is too gay or not gay enough. You decide.

With the exception of JFK , I have found all of Oliver Stone's films overly long and pretentious, but they have always kept my interest no matter how flawed. I have a hunch that I will feel the same way about this picture once I get around to seeing it. Either way, don't expect to hear the words 'and the Oscar goes to, Colin Farrell' anytime soon.

The Hollywood Reporter On Closer

A very good article in the Hollywood Reporter about the wide ranging chances of the film Closer and why it may just get so many nominations this year. Already, Ebert and Roeper have given the film a very positive review. Roeper has compared this film to Mike Nichols own Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf? and both of them praised the performances. The film may just give Jude Law a nomination this year, and given that he has appeared in about a hundred films this year, he was bound to land in a winner at some point.

Kinsey ads lifted

I have seen on some other sites murmurs of a right-wing vs. left-wing presidential style show-down to the upcoming awards season. Its safe to say that if Farenheit 911's campaign to be nominated for Best Picture succeeds that liberal Hollywood will jump for joy (while irritating many conservatives). Another film that has been touted as a possible Best Pic nominee, Kinsey, seems to be drawing some fire from conservative groups as well. The film stars previous nominees Liam Neeson and Laura Linney and tells the story of Alfred Kinsey, whose book
Sexual Behaviour of the Human Male is said to have opened the lid on much of sexual behaviour that was previously shrouded in secrecy. Of coruse, this does not sit well with the neo-conservatives who have protested against the film since it opened. And now it seems that ads have been pulled by a tv station in New York City of all places. What is going on. How can a film about the life of a sceintist cause such a fuss. I hope this does not affect the way this film is viewed or take away from its critical acclaim. We shall wait and see what happens here, but hopefully it will not affect the films chances.

Mission Statement ?!

Ok, so I've spent most of today starting to write entries only to delete them completely because (I thought) they were utterly stupid. So, how to go about talking about films that I haven't seen with any great authority and pass them off as likely Oscar contenders. I really can't, so here is my dilemma: Shall I stop posting until I have seen Finding Neverland and compared Jamie Foxx's performance in Ray to actual Ray Charles footage ? Not necessarily. I wanna see all the films that get nominated, and up until that point, I will make the purpose of this site to gather the latest news and present the information in an informative manner. At the end of the day I doubt many people are reading anyway. I shall also start posting reviews of films that I see (and that will likely be considered Oscar material) in here. So watch this space.

Chris Rock as Host

Well, it was announced a while back that Chris Rock will host this years telecast. I am not sure what to make of this, clearly he will be able to bring in a younger audience for the show. I have never been the biggest fan of Rock's, but he can be quiet funny at awards shows. When he hosted the MTV awards he took no prisoners with him. I hope show's producers will give him free reign to make fun of anyone or anything and not worry about political-correctness. In this post-nipplegate era, I wonder if he will be allowed to do so, but I know I'll be glued to my tv that night!

Sigourney Weaver for Best Actress ?

I have not seen the latest Sigourney Weaver film called Imaginery Heroes , but the trailer alone makes me think that she will (and should) get nominated for Best Actress. The film looks very funny (in a dark sort of way) and her performance looks to be very strong. Initially screened at the Toronto Film Festival this year, the reviews for her perfermonce seem very positive.

I for one would be very happy if she did get a nomination. Year after year she has quietly and steadily put in fantastic performances in such films as A Map of the World and The Ice Storm without much recognition during awards season. Her last 2 nominations came way back in 1989, so its been a long time coming.

11 Films Compete for Best Animated Picture

Love it or hate it, the Best Animated Feature is a category that will stay with us for a long time as more and more animated pictures have been dominating the US Box Office. I for one think its a great thing, and given that the nominations have given exposure to such innovative films such as The Triplets of Belleville last year and Spirited Away (which won in 2003), you can't fault the category (although you do have to wonder at how Treasure Planet ever got nominated). So, here is the list of 11 pictures eligible for the 3 nomination slots, courtesy of the official website.

"Clifford's Really Big Movie"
"Disney's Teacher's Pet"
"Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence"
"Home on the Range"
"The Incredibles"
"The Legend of Buddha"
"The Polar Express"
"Shrek 2"
"Shark Tale"
"Sky Blue"
"The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie"

The two safe bets from this list are Shrek 2 and The Incredibles, the two most successful films in terms of box office intake. So what of the third slot, well Shark Tale does have a chance, but I don't think that it will make it. I doubt a classically animated film like Home on the Range will make the cut either. My bet is on yet another left-field nomination for a foreign film (much in the same vein as Spirited Away) to make the cut. My bet is on Ghost In The Shell 2 which competed at the Cannes Film Festival this year and has been hailed by some critics as a benchmark in Japanese Anime. Whether or not the Academy will embrace or acknowledge this film is another matter, but their track record in this short-lived category has been impressive so far.

The Passion's Non-Campaign Strategy

It has been reported that Mel Gibson will not be spending any money on an Oscar campaign for the surprise hit The Passion of the Christ , which has grossed over $370 Million in the US alone. The story goes on to say that Gibson and co. want to bring it back to basics; instead of spending exhoberrant amounts on print ads, they would rather letting the film speak for itself. This move has been welcomed by the Academy, and to be quiet frank, the number of For Your Consideration ads has gotten to a ridiculous level lately. I remember a couple of years back there was a campaign for Matthew Lillard to be nominated for best actor for Scooby Doo.

Of course, the lack of a campaign has already generated much in terms of publicity for the film, and there will be screenings of the film as well as dvds sent to the voters. Given the film's box office and the subject matter, I think it is clear that if The Passion wasn't a leading contender for a Best Picture nomination already, it is now. The Academy members will be impressed by the fact that the film 'speaks for itself' and it will tap into many people's sensibility that the Oscars are about the artistic merit of a film rather than about who spent the most money on an ad campaign. I think we saw last year with Cold Mountain that the Miramax tactics for Oscar campaigning will no longer work the way they used to. I am quiet amazed at how clever Gibson has been in marketing this film since day one, and in this move he may have started a new trend in the way pictures are promoted to gain Oscar consideration.

Welcome to Oscarfication

Ok, so as a sister blog to my Ramification site, I have decided to create a site that dealt exclusively with my thoughts about the Oscar race this year. I will be looking at pre-Oscar news, disect and discuss the nominations and report any neat stories that I happen to run across. Enjoy.