Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Nomination Results

As expected there were some misses, some with validity, others not so much...

Best Picture (4 out of 5)
I'm not surprised in the least that "The Dark Knight" didn't get a nom here hence my listing it 5th, the fact that "The Reader" was the film to take it's place is absolutely mind boggling! "The Wrestler" got screwed, period. Mark my words, "The Wrestler" will go down in history as an amazing piece of cinema in every aspect while "The Reader" will fall into relative obscurity.

Director (4 out of 5)
Dammit if "The Reader" didn't just come in and screw over "The Dark Knight" yet again AND "The Wrestler". This just pisses me off and once again proves that the Academy is nothing more than 6,000 elderly prudes that just don't get it. Christopher Nolan did an amazing job with "The Dark Knight" and it's visually stunning. Darren Aronofsky's work on "The Wrestler" is simply heartbreaking, yet beautiful.

Actor (4 out of 5)
Not a surprise Richard Jenkins gets the nom, he deserved it. I just left him off expecting Brad Pitt to get one for the huge hype that was surrounding "Benjamin Button" thus leaving Clint Eastwood off the list, which I did find surprising.

Actress (3 out of 5)
No argument with Angelina Jolie, deservedly so, taking the place of my last 5th selection, Sally Hawkins. The real shocker comes with, not the selection of Kate Winslet, but being nominated for "The Reader" as opposed to "Revolutionary Road." Talk about monkey wrench! "The Reader" was a supporting role, or so I thought hence my predicting here to get a nom in THAT category. That sucks since I had Winslet chalked up for a Lead nom here but for the other film, so I can't count it as a correct prediction, because it wasn't. Hmmm... what the hell do I know?

Supporting Actor (4 out of 5)
Really not a shocker here, Michael Shannon was steam rolling his way to a nomination but I just thought Dev Patel and James Franco were more deserving, personally.

Supporting Actress (4 out of 5)
Well, obviously the monkey wrench that is Kate Winslet screwed me here thus thrusting my alternate selection of Amy Adams for "Doubt" into the mix.

Original Screenplay (2 out of 5)
I was bound to butcher one category and here it is with only "Milk" and "Wall-E" collecting nominations.
I did at least get "Happy-Go-Lucky" as an alternate selection somewhat easing the sting. "In Bruges" and "Frozen River" were excellent films and deserve the recognition but I really just like "The Wrestler" and "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" better.

Adapted Screenplay (4 out of 5)
Once again "The Reader" sneaks in thus knocking "The Dark Knight" to the curb. And once again, I do not agree.

The final tally is a pretty embarrassing 29 out of 40, my worst in all my years. I do think that is a good sign though, actually who am I kidding... those taking home the Statuette on Sunday, February 22nd are already etched in stone, right? I'll post my final predictions in every category very soon!