My 2008 Oscar Nominations

The 2008 Academy Award nominations came out yesterday and with a very few exceptions, I can’t say I’m entirely surprised by the majority of the picks. The nominations for “Juno” in the Best Picture and Best Director category was unexpected, though deserved, and a lot of people were upset about the almost complete disregard for “Into the Wild” which garnered several Golden Globe nominations. But all in all, the Academy did what it usually does, praising the typical Oscar fodder that 2007 had to offer while generally ignoring anything out of the norm. My picks would have been considerably different, though I cannot argue in the least with any praise given to the likely Best Picture winner, “No Country For Old Men.” This film is, to me, a masterpiece that should be given just about every award. In fact, should the Cohen brothers go on stage and demand the Best Actress trophy even though there really wasn’t a lead actress in “Country,” it should be given to them without question. That said, I’ve come up with my own nominations and believe them to be much more accurate than the stupid, so called “experts” at the Academy (tongue firmly in cheek). I also want to draw attention to some performances that went unnoticed this year and deserve a mention.

Note: There are several films I’m sure are fantastic but that I didn’t see this year. “There Will Be Blood,” “Into the Wild,” “Gone Baby Gone,” Michael Clayton,” and “The Savages” all looked to be excellent pieces of film. My picks are obviously slanted since any one of these movies might have changed my mind on the picks. If you do not like this fact, please send me money and I promise I’ll try to see every single movie this year!

BEST PICTURE
No Country For Old Men (winner)
Juno
American Gangster
Zodiac
I Am Legend

Honorable mention: Charlie Wilson’s War; Children of Men; The Bourne Ultimatum.

The fact that “Gangster” was virtually shut out of award season is bad news for the industry because many of the film companies will point to the movies “early” (November) release date as the culprit as to why the film was forgotten. That means years of never having an Oscar worthy movie appear before December. “Zodiac” will only further this belief, as it was released in the spring and has been completely tossed aside by now. “I Am Legend” was never going to be nominated for a Best Picture award and I recognize this. Action movies are almost never considered Oscar caliber. But I loved this movie and I felt its meaning was far deeper than many Oscar winners of the past decade.

BEST ACTOR
Steve Carrell, Dan in Real Life
Gerard Butler, 300
Kevin Costner, Mr. Brooks
Adam Sandler, Reign Over Me
Josh Brolin/ Tommy Lee Jones, No Country For Old Men
Honorable mention: Denzel Washington, American Gangster; Tom Hanks, Charlie Wilson’s War; Matt Damon, The Bourne Ultimatum; Will Smith, I Am Legend; Don Cheadle, Talk to Me.

I spit in the face of the Academy in this category as not a single one of their picks has made my list. Steve Carrell gave a brilliantly authentic performance of a widower trying to raise three teenage daughters in “Dan,” a performance that was egregiously overlooked. In the role of exact opposite to Carrell’s Dan, Kevin Costner was equally brilliant as a serial killer in “Mr. Brooks.” It is incredibly easy to play a serial killer as an over the top nut but Costner strikes an eerily perfect cord between conflicted and menacing. This was, in my opinion, a career rebuilding role for Costner. While “Reign Over Me” was a terrible movie, Adam Sandler’s turn as a widower who lost his family in the 9-11 attacks was appropriately depressing yet moving and heartfelt. Adam Sandler will never get his due from the Academy because he is, well, Adam Sandler but the guy can act and this is just another example of his range. If only “Reign” had been directed by a real director instead of Mike Binder. Gerard Butler is a stretch, I admit, but ask yourself this question: whose performance was etched into the mind of just about every moviegoer this year? He screamed, he fought, he has like a 10 pack and most of all, he was convincing. Women were fawning over him all summer but he also inspired the men who walked out of the theater saying to each other “Dude, I need to work out and buy a sword!” (Or was it just me?) Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones are combined because really I cannot pick one over the other. Both performances were nothing short of spectacular and the film could have failed without either of them. If I had to pick from the above list, I’d split it evenly between Brolin and Jones and call it a day.

BEST ACTRESS
Ellen Page, Juno (winner)
Jennifer Garner, Catch and Release
Katherine Heigl, Knocked Up

This was the absolute worst year for leading ladies that I can think of. Of the performances nominated for Best Actress by the Academy, Page’s in “Juno” is the only one I’ve seen and honestly, that’s probably the only film anyone in America has seen. It was a bad year for women. Page was funny, witty, and smart as heck in “Juno” and I can’t see Cate Blanchett or Julie Christie having put up a better performance than Page did. I found Garner to be enchanting in “Catch” though the film was cliché enough to be ignored by the Academy. In such a weak year, I’m a little surprised that Heigl didn’t get some consideration for her role in “Knocked Up.” I’m not a Heigl fan but I thought she nailed her character perfectly.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
David Morse, Disturbia
William Hurt, Mr. Brooks
Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men (winner)
J.K. Simmons, Juno
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War

Honorable mention: Paul Rudd, Knocked Up; Jeff Daniels, The Lookout; Robert Downey Jr., Zodiac; Jason Bateman, The Kingdom; Rainn Wilson, The Last Mimzy

“Disturbia” is perhaps the best suspense movie I have seen since “The Sixth Sense” and a great deal of its disturbance is owed to David Morse. It is a well crafted film but Morse’s “just below the surface creepiness” is outstanding. J.K. Simmons has become one of America’s favorite character actors and his work in “Juno” is unique and masterful. Simmons works hard to portray a father who is disappointed in his daughter’s decisions yet filled with love and compassion for her. Not to mention he’s absolutely hilarious. Why William Hurt has not received more attention for his work as Kevin Costner’s conscience in “Mr. Brooks” is beyond me. His work is all at once out of control yet cool and calm. When I saw “Mr. Brooks” I knew Costner would not receive his due but I felt certain that Hurt would be in the running for this award. Philip Seymour Hoffman, an actor I greatly respect and revere, turned in what I believe to be his best performance to date in “Charlie Wilson’s War.” I was rolling with laughter through a great portion of his screen time and yet he was also able to reach a little deeper and come up with a meaningful, important message when the time was appropriate. Unfortunately for Hoffman, however, he is up against Javier Bardem whose portrayal of a homicidal bag man in “Country” is (just like the rest of the film) nothing short of spectacular. Not since Hannibal Lecter in “Silence of the Lambs” has a bad guy come across as chilling and yet fascinating as Bardem’s Anton Chigurh. Chigurh is destined to register right along with Lecter, Darth Vader, and the like as one of the greatest movie villains of all time.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Ruby Dee, American Gangster (winner)
Julia Roberts, Charlie Wilson’s War
Jennifer Garner, Juno
Lena Headley, 300
Imelda Staunton, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Honorable mention: Laura Linney, Breach; Tea Leoni, You Kill Me; Naomi Watts, Eastern Promises

As I noted before, it was a particularly poor year for female performances. Julia Roberts is great in “Charlie Wilson’s War” but I believe most of the hype concerning her performance had less to do with her actual work and more to do with the fact that she was finally reappearing on screen. Garner gave a heartfelt turn in “Juno,” completely switching gears and bringing a fresh view to her seemingly generic character. Lena Headley’s importance to “300” has been vastly underrated and I think a lesser actress could have limited the reach of the film. When “Harry Potter 5” came out, Staunton seemed a likely pick for an Oscar nod but was lost along the way to award season. The brilliance (and in truth, the humanness) of her character is that Umbridge believes she is doing the right thing, though in reality she is as evil as any character in the series. I’m going to toot my own horn for a minute here, and proclaim that I was the first to tout Ruby Dee as an Oscar contender. Go back and read my review for “American Gangster” and see for yourself. As gangster Frank Lucas’ (Denzel Washington) mother, she delivers a powerful performance in her limited screen time. I believe it to be the best work in the supporting actress category.

BEST DIRECTOR
Joel and Ethan Cohen, No Country For Old Men (winner)
Jason Reitman, Juno
Peter Berg, The Kingdom
Knocked Up, Judd Apatow
Alphonso Cuaron, Children of Men

Honorable mention: Peter Hedges, Dan In Real Life; David Fincher, Zodiac; Ridley Scott, American Gangster; Bruce A. Evans, Mr. Brooks

Note: “Children of Men” is listed as a 2006 movie but was first released here in January 2007. I am not sure anyone knows whether or not the film counts this year or not.

Most pundits were surprised Jason Reitman received a nomination for “Juno” and I must say I agree, though he is certainly deserving. I believe Reitman did a wonderful job putting the film together, never allowing it to become melodramatic or over the top and somehow allowing us to laugh continually without ever quite forgetting that the topic of the film was in fact teen pregnancy. Similarly, “Knocked Up” director Judd Apatow delivered a laugh filled romp that still managed to make the audience think. Very rarely has an R-rated comedy that is REALLY a comedy not a quirky little drama-dey managed to make a powerful point amidst all the laughter. “Children of Men” has one of the most memorable, surreal scenes in recent memory (when Clive Owen brings the baby out into the war zone) that Cuaron crafted with perfection. The rest of the film is equally strong, taking us into a world where there are no children and allowing us to see what a bleak future this would be. “The Kingdom” surprised me almost as much as any film this year. When a film is pushed back time and time again, there is usually a good reason. Surprisingly, Berg put together an extremely strong movie about an FBI team investigating a massacre in Saudi Arabia. The relationship between the American’s and their Saudi guards is incredibly interesting and perhaps more important, Berg never allows the film to preach. The message comes through loud and clear without having an inane character stand up and shouting, “War is bad!” as seems to be the current trend. Again, however, none of the work I have seen this year matches up with Joel and Ethan Cohen’s spectacular job on “No Country For Old Men.” The more I have thought about this film, the more opportunities I have seen for a lesser director and lesser crew to screw it up. “Country” could have become dull, could have become cliché, could have become just plain pointless without the precision of the Cohen’s and their cast. A no-brainer for me.