Oscars 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010 Is this the first Academy Award show of the new decade? Or the last of the old decade? I'm always confused by that.
Anyway, back in 1997, probably because it was the first year I had my driver's license and could easily meet friends at the movies, I happened to see all five Best Picture nominees before the Oscars, without really thinking about it. (I still remember the nominees: As Good as it Gets, The Full Monty, Good Will Hunting, L.A. Confidential, and Titanic.) I was informed and engaged come Oscar night, which was fun, and since then I try to see all the nominees before the award is given out. It hasn't always come to pass—I still haven't seen any of the Lord of the Rings movies, and since I don't want to set aside roughly eight days of my life to do so, that probably won't change. This year, I'd all but written off the idea, since the Academy decided to go back to 10 nominees for the first time since 1943, when Casablanca came out of the fray.
Surprisingly, though, I managed. Some might want to call me a hero. I won't stop them.
Choosing Best Picture isn't an exact science. How Green Was My Valley beat out Citizen Kane and The Maltese Falcon. The English Patient topped Fargo. Crash triumphed over every other movie released in 2005. (Note Jack Nicholson's stunned reaction at the win. Amazing.) But who doesn't love arguing about unprovable matters of taste?
In that spirit, here's how I've got this year's Best Picture nominees ranked, in reverse order (rollover for IMDB info):
10) The Blind Side – There's a little Blind Side backlash amongst Oscar enthusiasts (yes, we exist) and sure, I'd have much rather seen Star Trek or (500) Days of Summer or Where the Wild Things Are or even Food, Inc. nominated, but it seems unfair to focus any bile on The Blind Side itself. If there's a bone to pick, it's with the Academy for elevating a solid, feel-good, family pic into the realm of art, which it isn't, and which it's not trying to be. Next to something like The Hurt Locker, it looks like a Lifetime movie with some serious strikes against it: A syrupy sweet Hollywood coating over what is actually a rough real-life story; cartoonish supporting characters, like the ninny of a football coach and the douchey English teacher; the cameos from all the SEC coaches, which almost derailed the movie entirely into farce; and the worst offense, a precocious, wise-beyond-his-years kid actor. Still, I was surprised how much I liked it for what it was. Michael Oher's story is truly amazing, Sandra Bullock is fun to watch (I have a thing for her from way back when; I paid to see While You Were Sleeping twice in the theater, at an age where I had to have my mom drive me there) and, as my sister noted, who would've guessed Tim McGraw is a genuinely good actor? Plus, it's the first of two nominees to prominently feature Young MC's “Bust a Move.” So yes, it was a good year for movies.
(Also, big thanks to the loud guy at the theater where I saw this. He was with his wife, and must've been embarrassed to be at a borderline chick flick, because whenever the football scenes popped on screen, he would exclaim, loud enough for the whole theater to hear, "That’s Joe Theismann!" Or "I remember that game!" Or my favorite, after the movie was over and they'd played not only video of the real Oher being drafted by the Baltimore Ravens, but a slide show of Oher and the real Tuhoy family over the closing credits: "True story!" Thanks. Appreciate the insight.)
9) Up – People kept telling me that Up is a bit of a downer. (I like to play with words.) But honestly? I don't see it. I mean, what happens in Act I is beautifully done and it's sad, but is it tragic? Either way, this was billed as the most "adult" Pixar movie to come down the pike yet, which is strange considering that talking dogs play a prominent (hilarious) role and that the premise is perhaps more absurd than toys that come alive when you leave the room. Up didn't hook me like the studio's others have in the past. The animation meets Pixar’s high standards, and there's value in a good story well told, but when we're talking Best Picture, I'd have been much happier to consider a risk-taker like Wall-E or a genre-bender like The Incredibles in years past, even though it's hard to deny the joys of a walker fight between old dudes.
(I don't know, did I just not get it? A lot of people rabidly love this movie.)
8) Avatar – The comparisons have been made elsewhere—depending on the source, Avatar is either Dances with Smurfs or Pocahontas in Space. (And also, a little dubious in its racial and cultural subtext.) But stripped of the stunning visuals, it's nothing you haven't seen before, and better, even from James Cameron himself. (Were those robot battle suits lifted directly from Aliens?) Did any of the characters surprise you, in the slightest, with what they said or did? When the humans were onscreen, weren't you bored, curious when we'd get back to the Na'vi? I couldn't help leaving the theater and feeling like I'd just seen the equivalent of someone jangling their keys in front of my face for three hours. Like The Blind Side, maybe this is a problem of perception. Avatar is a tremendous filmmaking achievement, and for that reason alone I've got it this high on the list. It just shouldn't be mistaken for a great movie. We'll look back on it in a decade and marvel at how quaint it looks. You know, like we already do with stuff from my childhood that seemed perfectly awesome at the time.
(Also, big points lost for the Dickensian names: The guy who gets his human stink on the Na'vi is Sully; the vehemently anti-war one is Grace; the guy who has an itch for war is Quaritch; the greedy corporate scumbag is Selfridge; the regular dude is Norm. And let's not forget that they were searching for Unobtanium.)
7) District 9 – Now we're getting to the really good stuff. Unlike certain other alien fantasies, this one has more than a surface layer of social conscience. (And is possibly the best argument for the Academy widening the field to 10 this year. District 9 wouldn't have made the top-five cut, but with a high profile accolade like this nomination, won't more people see it now than would have otherwise? And considering its apartheid allegory, isn't that a good thing?) I'm a little burnt out on CGI-heavy popcorners, so it was nice to watch a movie where the special effects enhance the story instead of serving as an excuse for it. This one belongs right up there with 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, and Children of Men in the pantheon of thoughtful sci-fi.
6) An Education – Didn't know much about this one before I saw it, and was thoroughly charmed. It's slick without being snide, and features some great European locales and a stellar cast, with the likes of Peter Sarsgaard, Olivia Williams, and Emma Thompson in the mix. The script balances the lightness with just enough mystery and pathos to keep things interesting, thanks to some punchy work by novelist Nick Hornby, who I love. But of course the real treat is Carey Mulligan, who owns every scene in her first feature performance and should absolutely win Best Actress. (She won't, though.) Plus, it contains my favorite dialogue of the year, between 16 year-old Jenny (Mulligan) and her father (Alfred Molina, positively robbed of a Supporting Actor nomination) regarding Jenny's nerdy schoolmate and potential suitor, Graham:
Pops: "Graham could live to be two hundred years old, you'll never see him swanning around with famous authors. Hasn't got it in him."
Jenny: "Graham might become a famous author, for all you know."
Pops: "Becoming one isn't the same as knowing one. That shows you're well connected."
5) Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire – (No idea why there's a novel credit in the official title, but there is.) Pulverizing, and a little higher than An Education because it's dealing with more volatile subject matter in a reasonably innovative way. In less capable hands than director Lee Daniels', it could've turned into cliché or worse, parody, considering all of the issues at play. Any one of them (poverty, obesity, illiteracy, incest, and a few other surprises) and you'd have a movie. Two or three and that movie would probably get sloppy. But the half-dozen or so distinctly horrible things Claireece Jones endures somehow give the movie equilibrium, kinda, in the same way the stories that grizzled guy at the end of the bar tells you about his years touring with Foghat are too crazy not to be true. But yes, watching it is a chore, and when you're done, you'll feel simultaneously depressed for the state of the world and thankful for your own good fortunes. I'd put it alongside films like Boys Don't Cry and Munich: Excellent movies, artfully made, that I don't think I'd have the stomach to sit through a second time.
(Note: Between Precious' Gabourey Sidibe, An Education's Mulligan, and District 9's Sharlto Copley, was this the best year ever for debut star turns?)
(Second note: Between The Blind Side's McGraw and Precious' Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz, was this the best year ever for surprisingly excellent acting performances by musicians I care nothing about?)
4) Inglourious Basterds – This movie's got balls. The funny thing is, it's not until you get to the hyper-violent finale that you understand what the movie's been after all along, and why that's so impressive. And though it should go without saying at this point, just when you thought Nazis couldn't possibly terrorize you more than they already have, along comes Christoph Waltz, who steals every scene he's in to the point where future cable viewings will probably change the title to Christoph Waltz Wants Some Milk & Other Vignettes.
To be honest, I could've done with a lot more Natt-zee killin'. That's what was advertised, and that's not really how the movie played out. Don't get me wrong, I loved the eerie silences and character-based tension, but the animal part of my brain wanted a little more pulp in the fiction.
3) A Serious Man – Does anyone make more consistently must-see films than the Coens? They're not all winners, of course, but even if I know nothing else about the movie, if I hear they made it, I'm at least in the theater and interested.
Basically, A Serious Man is the anti-Avatar: An independent movie made for roughly what James Cameron spends on turtlenecks, it's set into motion by a mythology that might be more curse than gift, and it raises brutally tough questions about the nature of existence, of God, and of His possible ambivalence to us, His supposed greatest creations. It may or may not all mean something in the end, but it's worth the effort of asking why Larry Gopnik's life is falling apart–the deeper you dig in, the more rewarding it gets. (Not even the title means what you think it means.) I've had more interesting conversations with friends about this movie than about any other I saw this year.
2) The Hurt Locker – While the action sequences are rightly praised for their intensity, what kicked this movie into the ionosphere for me was a quiet moment toward the end. BEGIN MINOR SPOILER: When SSG James tells his infant son "As you get older, some of the things you love won't seem so special anymore... And then you'll forget the few things you really love. And by the time you get to my age, maybe it's only one or two things. With me, I think it's one," he gives us a window into a man who's either broken beyond repair or running far more smoothly than any of us might care to admit. When I recommend this movie to people, that's the scene I always have in mind. END MINOR SPOILER. For such a politically charged topic, the movie is surprisingly apolitical, more focused on the mechanism (an Army bomb squad) than the system it serves (our cause in Iraq) and asking us how we can reasonably expect our soldiers to turn their killer instincts on and off at will. And of course, any movie is made better by the presence of Guy Pearce, however brief.
1) Up in the Air – Who would've guessed, back around the days of Batman & Robin and The Peacemaker, that George Clooney would turn into one of the savviest entertainers in the world, and that he'd be the guy who seems the most dedicated to making movies for grown-ups? Yet here we are. In its fleshed-out performances, in its realism, in its uncanny timeliness, Up in the Air is pretty much perfect from start to finish. It doesn't miss. I have a feeling we'll remember it as this year's Sideways: the characters change, unless of course they don't, it doesn't tell you to live one way or another, it doesn't make any promises, it doesn't push any dogma. It simply captures real people in flux without tipping into caricature or tidiness or judgment. (Even for everyone's dancing during the "Bust a Move" scene. Again, lucrative times to be Young MC.) I haven't bought a brand new DVD in forever, but come Tuesday I'll buy this one, as it's got the feel of one that's going to get better every time I watch it. And, like Sideways, it'll likely have to settle for being a nominee this year.
Which is to say, I'm predicting a Hurt Locker win. It should be the biggest beneficiary of the new scoring system, which asks voters to rank the films 1-10 and gives weight to not just first place spots, but second and third and on down the line as well. It's hard for me to imagine that anyone is going to put The Hurt Locker lower than third on their ballot, while Avatar (the other heavy favorite) is perhaps too polarizing. If there's a spoiler in the group, it's Inglourious Basterds. It might not win a ton of first place honors, but I'd guess it will be in the top five on just about every voter's ballot. And hey, when was the last time Oscar gave us a genuine surprise for Best Picture?
Oh, yeah: Crash. Shit.
Enjoy the show!
Reader Comments (9)
I disagree with you about District 9. It had a great premise but failed to live up to it. I had really high hopes for the movie but felt that it turned into a "popcorn" flick and didn't really explore the more political aspects of the premise, which is what I had hoped for. I disagree with you that the movie "has more than a surface layer of social conscience." The social conscience is only on the surface of the movie, and goes no further.
There was so much gratuitous violence in that movie. Not that I normally mind, I loved Inglourius Basterds, but here it just felt useless. Two instances that stand out for me are the Nigerian's head exploding, and another random guy's disembodied arm being stepped on and exploding. And there were countless other exploding/vaporizing people throughout the movie. Most of the time it did absolutely nothing for the story. Wikus starts off not wanting to kill anyone, but by the end of the movie he's pretty much on a killing spree. For the record I rolled my eyes and scoffed at a lot of things in Avatar as well, but you've already covered the reasons why that movie is not the greatest movie ever made, despite possibly being the most visually stunning ever made.
I work for a peace and social justice organization so the topics of equal rights and justice for everyone are on my mind a lot, and were especially when I was watching District 9. I spoke to others that I work with about the movie and they were equally disappointed. My organization works with a lot of immigrants, which, let's face it, are what the movie's about, so maybe we are especially sensitive. The whole premise that the aliens should get off our land and go back where they came from is just not where I stand politically, but that seems to be the pervasive attitude of the movie.
The main character, Wikus, who I believe is meant to be an everyman sort of character, is totally unlikeable and his actions are reprehensible and yet Chris (which is a ridiculous name for an alien character) keeps coming back for more and trusting the dude. I think that implied stupidity is more racist than anything in Avatar. I think the way the aliens are depicted in the movie as a whole is insulting. They have no respect for personal property, all of them are illiterate and violent except for Chris, they're addicted to cat food. I think he may be drawing a really ugly comparison there but I can't quite put my finger on it. You could say that he's not comparing them to any human culture and that I'm taking it too literally, and I might agree with you, except for the fact that they chose to set the story in Johannesburg, thereby blatantly conjuring images of human racial conflict.
The director doesn't take any time to explore why humans are so vicious to the aliens. If he had I think the movie would have been an interesting study in human behavior. And, in my opinion, that is what good science fiction does -- it provides new perspectives on our humanity. District 9 does not even try to attempt that.
Also the blatant set up for a sequel at the end was just silly. I'd bet money that District 10 will be out within a few years.
I think it has pretty much zero chance of actually winning Best Picture. In everything I've read about this year's Oscar line up the author has been shocked that District 9 made the list, not because they're an underdog but frankly because the movie just kind of failed.
I seriously can't believe you would put it in the same class as 2001: A Space Odyssey. That movie has more artistry and humanity in Hal's little pinky finger than District 9 has in its entirety. And that is the one statement that inspired me to spend so much time writing this.
You're right that it's an unprovable matter of taste though, so I don't expect you to change your mind =)
My vote is for Inglourious Basterds!
Julia, I have to say you made some good points about District 9. I liked the movie, but may need to go back and watch it through a different lens. :)
As for A Serious Man...Brian, are YOU a serious man? I still can't say I liked the movie, or understand it in its entirety. The acting and cinematography were brilliant, but I would need to give the bible a thorough read before I could begin to comprehend what the heck happened. Let me know if you had anymore breakthroughs on it since we last discussed. I will say at this point it is not making my list of movies I would gladly buy and re-watch. One movie I would buy is Inglourious Basterds. I haven't seen all 10, but that is also the one I am rooting for. To be fair, I have not seen Up in the Air yet, so I can't comment on your #1. :)
First off, I'd have zero problem with Inglourious Basterds winning Best Picture. Really, it's brilliant. I'm not even a Tarantino fan—his style has been largely ruined for me by too many copycats in my undergrad fiction workshops. But that movie was seriously stunning. Not what I expected, (mostly) in a good way.
As for District 9, Julia, you’re much closer to the issue than I am on a daily basis, and on the whole I defer to your expertise. I would absolutely agree that it dips too deeply into shoot-em-up territory at the end, where it was at least 10 minutes too heavy with action scenes. (Good breakdown of that, BTW.)
What I’d argue is that the movie isn’t about immigration, and I don't think it's saying all the aliens should leave earth; it's saying the ugliness of human nature makes it impossible for them to stay, and that's a very different thing. It's more about our dark side than anything the "prawns" did wrong. (We're rooting for them the whole time, not angry at them.) Wikus is a comfortable white dude who is forced to live as The Other, which, if it happened in real life, would pretty much eliminate racism in all its forms. He's inescapably in their skin. Imagine a Tea Partier having to send their kids to run-down public schools in East St. Louis, or something. That’s the point, I think: If we truly understood the kinds of hell we put other people through, we'd change our ways. The fact that we reduce others to poverty or degredation because they're different is disgraceful, but too often, we don't have to face that reality.
(Is this a simplistic point? That we should all live in harmony together, treat each other with respect? Yes. But we occasionally need someone to frame that point in a new way to make us see it with fresh eyes, which is what this premise does. We see people different from us as alien, so let's make them actual aliens. Again, simple but effective.)
I do think it's true that it doesn't deliver as much as it could have on that premise. I guess I'm willing to spot it some points for its ambition. Maybe that's a bad thing. Hmm. Now you've got me thinking I need to rewatch it...
(And god, I hope they don't make a sequel. You're right, it would be nothing but giant robot fights.)
Carly, A Serious Man keeps blowing my mind, and it's been a few weeks since we watched it! I mean, this is a movie where the main character gets no respect whatsoever—like I said, even the title refers to someone else. What keeps him going, then? In his community, it's supposed to be his belief in God, but what if there is none? Or worse, what if God hates you? What if he doesn't care whether you live or die? In that case, why bother being... wait for it... a serious man?
I liked watching a physics professor struggle with some existential shit, the things that can't be explained with numbers or logic (as Larry told his failing student, even he doesn't understand the stories that are used to explain the cold, hard math). I like that we're left to connect the different actions with reactions, even though they might not be reactions at all, and we just might be trying to connect them for our own peace of mind. Plus, it's got all those weird, quirky Coen bros. scenes that you just don't get anywhere else, like the bully chasing Larry's son down the street, or the rabbi quoting Jefferson Airplane.
Brian Beglin, your pick just won best picture! What are you going to do next?
I'm going to IKEA!
What!? A Brian Beglin blog? Since when. You should've mentioned it. I can send you all kinds of traffic from my blog... like, well, none.
Casey... you have a blog? As in unfettered access to that brain of yours? Send me the link!
http://tr-th.blogspot.com/
Use the tags to get around. I'm on a "politics" kick lately, but usually I aim for higher ground.
I finally saw THE HURT LOCKER. That was a fine film, and I think the scene you point out is enhanced by the corollary scene where he and Sanborn are in humvee and James asks, "Do you know why I am the way I am," and Sanborn says no. Nice echo from the beginning when Sanborn says he can figure out a redneck piece of shit when he sees one.