It's sometimes hard to watch Oscar-nominated films when you're already depressed. Even if they're ultimately uplifting, most of the time you still spend a couple of hours getting your heart broken before getting to the happy parts. I still don't think I've emotionally recovered from Precious, and that was almost 2 months ago. I wasn't planning on even bothering with something like The Princess and the Frog, but I needed something lighter the other day. It was better than I expected. That's for another day, though. I want to go ahead and knock out some other major categories. There are a couple movies I'm still missing, but I just don't think I'm going to be able to make it to whatever random theater they happen to be showing at in the next few days. I'll definitely make a note to catch them when they come out on dvd, but they're not going to affect my choices in these categories, for sure. Why anyone would bet against the leading contenders in the supporting categories, I don't know.
Best Actor
Every one of these performances was great (I didn't see A Single Man, but I bet it was just as good as the others). And actually, I thought Ben Foster was so good in The Messenger that he could have been included as well, in a year that did not have as much competition. I don't know whose place he would take, though. Except perhaps George Clooney. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the Clooney. It was a perfect role for him and he lived up to the script and his co-stars. But that's just it - he lived up to my expectations and nothing more. I expect him to be good, and he is, but for some reason that equation doesn't leave me feeling any differently than I did before the movie. I could say that the same equation happens with Meryl Streep, and yet every time I see her performances I get a little giddy and I give thanks that she exists. Perhaps it's because I get the impression that Clooney is playing himself 9 times out of 10. The rare situation that I don't get that feeling is when the Coen brothers are involved. Burn After Reading is my favorite Clooney role ever. I love Clooney, I'm glad he got the nomination, the film deserves recognition, etc, etc. I just don't think it was the best of the bunch.
"You don't like me. You really don't like me!"
Morgan Freeman was great as Nelson Mandela, although I would need a speech expert to tell me whether or not his accent sucked. Same goes for Matt Damon. Since I don't know enough about South African accents to be distracted, it was a non-issue for me. Freeman is just the master of tone and inflection, accent or no. I would listen to him read poetry all day long. Especially the poem behind the title - Invictus. It's kind of Dead Poets Society-level heavy-handedness, but I can't help but get suckered into that kind of stuff. Listening to Freeman do voice-overs takes me back to Shawshank Redemption, and I get happy all over again. Truth be told, though, the movie made some editing choices that I didn't agree with and I was distracted from Freeman's performance by how well I thought Damon did. Not the front-runner, but better than some of Freeman's choices in the last few years, so kudos for that.
I spoke a little bit about The Hurt Locker the other day and how much I enjoyed it. Since Jeremy Renner was the vast majority of the movie, I think it's safe to say he was excellent. The movie rested on his ability to engage an audience and make us care about what was motivating his actions. He did that very well. The way his part was written, I think it would have been easy to slip over into arrogant jerk and eliminate a portion of the audience that would have sympathized with him otherwise.
Finally we have Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart. It's hard to think of Bridges without thinking of The Big Lebowski, and is it just me or did he look just as rough then as he does now?
"Say what you will about my wrinkles, man, just check out my wavy locks of hair."
I mean, add some more gray and a few more wrinkles, but he hasn't changed much in 12 years. Normally people say that when people still look as young as they did way back when. But he actually looks just as old as he did back then.
Same facial hair, same great hair. Substitute McClure's Whiskey for White Russians and it's basically The Dude: The Later Years.
Now, this is a picture taken from the film in which he looks better than he does throughout most of it. When you portray an alcoholic old country star, you get to go onto set with stains on your shirt, un-brushed hair and without a shower. Where do I sign up? I feel like I can be a bit tangential in my review of how Bridges fares in this film because in the end what I'm going to say is that you should see this movie. At the end of all this awards-show talk, I'll probably do a wrap up of movies from this field of contenders that I would recommend you make an effort to see. Suffice it to say that he earned the nomination and will probably be walking away with the statue. [Side-bar: Does anyone else with a law school education find it extraordinarily difficult to type the word "statue" without it turning into "statute"? Every time. Thank goodness for backspace keys.] He was boozy, charming and talented, which is just how I like my actors. The Dude for the win.
Best Actress
Here's the thing - I enjoyed the Blind Side. I did. I wanted to see it, because, as has been said before, I love an inspirational sports movie. I saw A League of Their Own as a child and never looked back. I also like Sandra Bullock. I will actually watch The Net when it comes on tv, that's how much I like her (of course I also saw Sneakers as a child and never really got over the techno-savvy thriller movies, so that might be an explanation). I guess what I'm really getting at is the Best Picture nomination for Blind Side, which is not really at issue here but still deserves a mention for its ridiculousness. Often the movies that most of America spends money to see and those that are part of awards shows are a Venn diagram with very little overlap. I complain about the fact that America has crap taste, but I try to be better than that. I took a wine class in college, and the professor was a kindly older man in his last year of teaching whose take on wine was this - people like what they like. You can have an expert rate it and tell you it's worth a couple hundred dollars and scores a 99/100 on their taste test, but an individual person still may not like it. If a person likes Mad Dog 20/20, that's their preference and it is not up to us to tell them they're wrong. I say that I try to think like that. I often fail. Especially when someone out there looked at a bottom line and decided that they could actually make Big Momma and make a profit. Not once, not twice, but 3 times. I've decided that Linda does a better job of summing up what's wrong with the Blind Side on her blog, and she does it without rambling off-topic about fortified wine beverages, so be sure you read her take on it all.
I guess I should talk about Bullock's acting, since that's technically the category. But I don't think this nomination is about her acting. It's rewarding her for being who she is. And for that, I think she deserves an award. I mean, have you heard about the joking death threats she and Meryl have been sending back and forth? It's been an enjoyable side show. So if she walks away with it, whatever. I'll get over it, and she'll be able to put "Academy award winning" in front of her name, which is only foretelling of future greatness if she continues to make decent choices (see: Renee Zellweger)(also see: All About Steve. Poor Sandra kinda has an Eddie Murphy-Norbit situation with that one).
I'm over talking about this. Meryl Streep was good, but that's because her name is Meryl Streep. And the movie isn't entitled Mamma Mia. Enough said.
Gabourey Sidibe is incredible and I'm sure you don't need to look far to find a source praising that movie and her role in it. In addition, she is the current celebrity that I would most like to meet in person. Everything I've read about her paints her as a wittier-than-average first time nominee. Given the funny, confident, sassy young woman that comes out in her interviews, it is even more amazing to see what she pulled off on film. I said something to Momo either right after I saw Precious, or perhaps after I read the book and he had seen the movie, that what is interesting about the character is how much of a clean slate it is at first. The character (from both the book and the movie) doesn't really set the stage for you emotionally. She doesn't tell you how she's feeling. I think there are a couple of possibilities for why it seems that way, one of which being that you're so horrified by what her life is like that it's left blank so that you can deal with your own emotions. It also may just be a portrayal of the personality of the perpetually abused, where expressiveness just leads to more problems. And that does seem to be what Sidibe alludes to in her interviews on how she interpreted the portrayal. Either way, it's only towards the end of the movie where she is able to speak up and demonstrate that she does have a personality that she's finally free to show. Ugh, seriously, I'm getting a little depressed just thinking about that movie again.
Seeing An Education made me finally understand why Carey Mulligan's been popping up on my celebrity and fashion websites with more frequency. She was lovely and charming and I think the only appropriate word for her is ingenue. I remember seeing the trailer for this movie long ago and making a note to see it, but I didn't expect to love it as much as I did. Mulligan did a wonderful job of playing an intelligent girl who is naive and enamored.
Didn't get around to The Last Station, but I'm sure Helen Mirren was wonderful. If I had to predict, I would say that this award will go to Bullock. If I had to admit who I really want to see get it? Sidibe. I don't want this to be the high point of her career, and I hope that people find and create roles that will show all she can do. An Oscar win might help her be even more memorable. If not, then at least her career high moment was everything it could possibly be.
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