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Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker, James Cameron – Avatar, Lee Daniels – Precious, Jason Reitman – Up in the Air, Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
There’s usually always one category at the Academy Awards that exemplifies the politics behind the filmmaking. In past years, it’s spanned from Best Picture (gay rights vs. diversity in Brokeback Mountain and Crash,) Best Actor (race vs. um, the mentally challenged? Denzel Washington for Training Day vs. Sean Penn in I Am Sam.) This year the politics have found their way into the Best Director category.
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Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart, George Clooney – Up in the Air, Colin Firth – A Single Man, Morgan Freeman – Invictus, Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker
Every year these actor categories go one of two ways for me. Either there’s a hands down clear winner or I haven’t seen most of the films. This year, the Best Actor category is quite a fuzzy one, if not the most difficult of all the categories.
On one hand you have Jeff Bridges and his history of amazing acting coming off a Golden Globe win for Crazy Heart. On the other hand you have multiple Oscar winner Morgan Freeman playing Nelson Mendela in Invictus, and we all know how much the Academy loves a depiction of a real person.
George Clooney is at his most Cary Grant-ish in Up in the Air showing us his unmatched ability to balance dialogue and emotion equally. Colin Firth has played pretty stiff and boring characters in the past, but is boasting strong acclaim for A Single Man.
Then there’s Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker. Read more »
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Matt Damon – Invictus, Woody Harrelson – The Messenger, Christopher Plummer – The Last Station, Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones, Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds
I’m not sure there’s another category, (outside of Best Picture) that made me as giddy as this category. I’m so happy to see each and every one of these actors nominated. The Tuche has had this coming for a long time. How can one not smile at the thought of Mr. Zombieland nominated? And despite his slight prima donna persona, I think Damon is an incredible actor and I’m happy to finally see him recognized for the first time since Good Will Hunting. Christopher Plummer, (not to be confused with Max von Sydow,) has been providing an extraordinary strength to supporting roles for decades.
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Nominees: Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side, Helen Mirren - The Last Station, Carey Mulligan - An Education, Gabourey Sidibe - Precious, and Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia
The Best Actress category has been a bit formulaic for the last decade or so. Usually there’s one nomination held for a newcomer, one for a seasoned vet, one for a brilliant foreign actress, one for a familiar face, and one for Meryl Streep.
This year is a bit different in that we have two newcomers, Carey Mulligan from An Education and Gabourey Sidibe from Precious, (or are we legally supposed to say “Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”?) It’s rare that these freshman efforts ever win, but there’s some serious buzz behind Ms. Sidibe’s performance that might break tradition.
Also in the running is the disgustingly talented Helen Mirren for her role in the Dostoyevsky film The Last Station. If anyone can match Meryl Streep in talent, Mirren would be the one to do it. In fact, if the Academy wants its ratings up, I would like to see Streep and Mirren drop the gloves and throw some fists. Forget Sam Worthington, that’s the real Clash of the Titans.
And then there’s Sandra Bullock…
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Nominees: Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air
When the nominees were announced on February 2nd, I was super excited at the diversity in the ten best pictures. Naturally people will grumble that certain films were left out ((500) Days of Summer, Star Trek, Where the Wild Things Are,) and that some shouldn’t have been included (The Blind Side,) but all in all it’s quite exciting.
Here we have two science fiction films nominated for best picture, a handful of films with pulse pounding action, quirky dramas, and a film that completely rewrites history. More than anything, it seems this year the Academy is celebrating the fun that we can have at the theater.
For the first time since Beauty and the Beast in 1991, an animated film has been nominated for Best Picture, (well one and three-fourths if you count Avatar as animated.) Two of the nominated films debuted in 3-D, there’s a number of independent films, big blockbusters, and… The Blind Side…
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Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart
Director: Christopher Nolan
Country: USA
Genre: Action, Drama
Duh.
What can be said about TDK that hasn’t already been said? Not much. It’s obviously the greatest and best superhero film of all time. So, instead, I’ll just pay homage to it: Remember Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker? That was awesome. Remember the opening bank robbery? That was awesome. Remember the moral choices that Bruce Wayne had to make? Those were awesome. Remember the car chase in the tunnels? That was awesome. Remember when they replaced Katie Holmes with Maggie Gyllenhaal? That was… a choice. Remember Batman’s voice? … Even the best things aren’t without their flaws…
Is this one of the best films of the 2000s?
89%
Starring: Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová
Director: John Carney
Country: Ireland
Genre: Musical
Everything works together in perfect harmony.
It’s hard to classify this as a musical when thinking of the genre as a whole. The term springs to mind images of corsets and top hats, so there’s an inclination to say this film is about music more than it is a musical. However, each song progresses the story and characters further down their path, and without them there would be no movie. Musicians Glen Hansard (The Frames) and Markéta Irglová head up this wonderful tale of, well, musicians who find each other by chance and inspire each others work. What is striking about this film is its candor. It’s almost like seeing the chunk of events that happen that inspire an album to be written. And the music is some of the most beautiful ever put on screen. Everything works together in perfect harmony to create a very special film.
Is this one of the best films of the 2000s?
75%
