Fri, 05 Feb 2010 3:41p.m.
Happy New Year Film3’ers - we are already barrelling headlong into Oscar season, and there’s certainly plenty to get water-cooler arguments rolling for this year’s office sweepstake!
The Avatar versus The Hurt Locker face-off may not have been a surprising outcome of the Oscar nominations, but I do love it.
It could be a Hollywood script in itself. The big guys versus the small guys, big money/big Box Office against small budget/even smaller Box Office. Man versus woman, ex-husband versus his ex-wife, sci-fi war versus real war.
Both films are excellent in very different ways (with some luck, and hopefully soon, Kiwi audiences will be able to sample The Hurt Locker for themselves. Your Film3 reviewer has been lobbying for its release for some time and she still has her fingers crossed).
Let’s talk snubs.
Plenty are wondering where the nomination for Invictus and Oscar darling Clint Eastwood were. I for one feel happy it didn’t make the cut, although Morgan Freeman’s nod for Best Actor was worthy. I feel somewhat conflicted about Matt Damon’s nomination for the same film. He’s had far better outings (The Talented Mr Ripley anyone? I’d even argue his Jason Bourne performances were superior to Invictus), and I would have preferred his Oscar nod to have been for The Informant if any.
Either way Damon would be a rank outsider to win, he’s up against two brilliant performances - Stanley Tucci’s subtly-nuanced and disturbing performance as killer Mr Harvey in The Lovely Bones (the film’s only nomination), and my pick, Christoph Waltz for his clever and classy romp in Inglourious Basterds.
The clear favourite for Best Actor is Jeff Bridges, who also took the Globe and the SAG. I’ve not seen Colin Firth in A Single Man (his first Oscar nod), but Jeremy Renner was as good as Bridges in The Hurt Locker, although lacks the ragged-round-the-edges old school Clint-like charm the Academy does love.
There’ve been plenty of acting snubs too. I am dying to see Viggo Mortensen in The Road and by all accounts he was worthy of a look-in. Tobey McGuire’s Globe-nom’d outing in Brothers tickled the fancy of the Hollywood Foreign Press, but failed to impress the Academy.
Meryl Streep’s record-breaking gazillionth nomination, this time for Julie and Julia, was no surprise, neither was Sandra Bullock’s for The Blind Side after winning the Globe and SAG. Helen Mirren knows the view from the winners podium (nom’d this year for The Last Station), but two newcomers will hit the red carpet this year – much-deserved recognition for British actress Carey Mulligan in her first leading role in An Education, and equally deserving is Gabourey Sidibe for Precious.
Mo’Nique’s powerhouse performance in Precious is a shoe-in for Best Supporting Oscar and has the Globe and SAG to back that up.
Lets talk Kiwis for a minute. Sir Pete missed out on any awards for The Lovely Bones but thanks to Neil Blomkamp’s District 9, which Jackson produced, he will get a trip to Hollywood anyway.
UK-based New Zealander Finola Dwyer will get her gladrags on come Oscar night too, she produced Best Picture nominee An Education.
A swathe of talented visual effects gurus from Weta also get a shot at Oscar glory and will compete against each other for both Avatar and District 9.
Kiwi sound man Tony Johnson and set designer Kim Sinclair also have Avatar to thank for their first Oscar nods.
So if I was a betting woman (which I am), where’s my Oscar money going?
In my view the Best Picture and Director categories are a two horse race between Cameron’s Avatar and Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker. Two such polar opposites in filmmaking, and I cant help thinking will divide the Academy voters. In Avatar’s favour, this big screen blockbuster is a crowd favourite, getting paying punters back into cinemas and helping future-proof the film industry. It’s also made over US$2 billion and counting at the Box Office, and is a critical as well as commercial success. And there’s nothing Hollywood loves more than a winner.
My heart says Hurt Locker, but my money’s on Avatar. What do you reckon? In fact – any outrage over nom’d and not-nom’d? Anyone else wondering where the hell Where the Wild Things Are on the Best Animated Feature list?? (I want the Fox to win, but I just know the Academy will dish it up for Up as a consolation prize for not winning Best Picture). Anyone want to see The Hangover get a nod? What about Star Trek?
Click here to see our full list of Oscar nominations.
We’ll be at the Oscars again this year, always a fun fun fun day out! Sunday March 7 (Monday afternoon NZ time) is the big day.
Kate
Film3