As is evident perhaps from my occasional blog post or from my style or subject of conversation in person, I’m a bit of a film buff.
A bit? ha!
Ok I love movies, and I love good movies and all that get poured into them.
There are some films I’ve seen that I’ve hated, but I’ll fall in love with the style of the shoot or this one amazing panning shot or….
Good movies were around a lot in the 70’s, the frame shifted away from the big MGM blockbuster melodramas and suddenly there was Copolla, Scorsese, Altman (in the 70’s…)… Basically just good directors who made good movies with good stories on shoe-strings.
(Directors who, after getting bloated egos and budgets abruptly tossed everything they built away upon entering the 1980’s. Copolla is the golden example. From 1972 to 1979 he was god. And have you seen what came after Apocalypse Now? righto, you get my point).
I would argue that the only two directors who were truly incredible in the 70’s who didn’t butcher their own vision for a paycheck in the 1980’s, was Kubrick and De Palma (In the 90’s was a different matter).
That kind of change in style also brought some new kind of actors, Brando and Nicholson were the guys before then, and then DeNiro and Hoffman and Streep joined them. It ties in I guess to some of my favorite music, being from that time period as well. And I missed it! Good thing they put it all on DVD for me
So this isn’t to say that I have a view of films that supposes they were better back in the day, and new movies can’t compare. Each year we get some awesome films, and some of those films get nominated for Oscars, and then one wins. Not all of those deserve to be nominated in my opinion, but some do, and some don’t.
Similarly, I’m shocked that ‘The Road’ didn’t receive a single nod (it does deserve it).
Hurt Locker was incredibly good, and for a buff like me, the knowledge that it had a 100:1 shooting ratio (beating Apocalypse Now’s legendary shoot) using 4 cameras and was done documentary style gives me the aesthetic appreciation giggles
Anyway, with that build up these are my picks for the big Oscars this year.
Best Documentary: Food Inc
(Was a total eye opener, and should be required viewing for teenagers, but I say that about most movies).
Best Animated Film: Fantastic Mr Fox.
(Granted, ‘Up’ was both heart-warming and beautiful and once again Pixar had me weeping during the opening montage and set-up, but Mr Fox was stop-motion and the cumulative effort of probably a million man hours, and it is bloody GOOD).
Best Original Score: Hurt Locker.
(I wanted to say Fantastic Mr Fox again, just for the incredible use of a children’s choir, but actually Hurt Locker was the better overall)
Best Writing Directly for the Screen: Up – Bob Petersen
(Sorry Tarantino, not this time, Up was lovely, and Jackie Brown was your real triumph).
Best Writing on Previously Adapted or Published Work – Precious
(The Academy loves this sort of thing)
Best Director – Kathryn Bigelow
(Have you seen Hurt Locker? Good god it is incredible, and it is good to see a female director getting that kind of props. So I was wrong about Avatar and the Uncanny valley hypothesis, but it is still Ferngully 3d and doesn’t deserve best director)
Best Supporting Actress – Mo’Nique
(They love first timers, and actually that movie was pretty excellent, and Mo’Nique was really good).
Best Supporting Actor – I Can’t call this one – I want to say Matt Damon, but I’ll go with Stanley Tucci
(I thought Invictus would win ALL the awards when I first saw the trailer for it. Nelson Mandela is in it and Eastwood directed it, looked dead-on, but with two noms and stiff competition, I bet it gets shoved right by)
Best Actress – Gabourey Sidibe
(That is just something they would do. (The academy that is) They love break-outs, they love touching stories, they love young winners and goodness that would be awesome wouldn’t it? No one has ever one a Razzie and an Oscar in the same year so that cancels out Bullock, And Meryl Streep basically never wins but is nominated practically every single day. She’s the runner-up).
Best Actor – Jeff Bridges
(Crazy Heart was made for him like The Wrestler was made for Mickey Rourke, even against Morgan Nelson Mandela Freeman, I’m betting Bridges!)
Best Film – Hurt Locker
(This was one of the best movies ever. James Cameron was right when he said it is the Platoon of the generation. In 30 years it will be to war films what Apocalypse Now and Deer Hunter are today. Eventually one day, Avatar will look of it’s time and worn-out, District 9 will too, and Inglorious Bastards will seem passe, but Hurt Locker will still be there. Best Of the Year.)

