There’s a lot of Oscar talk out there and things are beginning to settle. Many of these may hopefully not come to pass, but they’re based on early-ish Oscar predictions from people out there, many of which we thought were outlandish. Maybe we’ll do a part II to this piece, but these are our initial thoughts.
Anyone from “The Dark Knight” cast other than Heath Ledger
Don’t even say Aaron Eckhart or we will slap that silly grin off your face. Let’s be crystal clear: Heath Ledger is the only actor in “The Dark Knight” cast whose turn was Oscar worthy and god, he was astounding. A posthumous Oscar is very much in reach, but anyone else and we’ll scream.
“Wall-E” For Best Picture
Cute little movie, really wonderful, magical etc., but it does pander to its sentimental trappings. Danny Boyle set the bar for feel good movies this year and how to capture the joyous, triumphant feeling without ever having to stoop to the sap genre tricks and conventions. “Wall-E” does go there and its not enough to ruin the movie – its adorable – but enough to take it out of serious Best Picture considerations.
“The Dark Knight” For Best Picture- The gritty crime thriller was great for its genre and told a thrilling story, but its superhero world still feels more affected and less powerful than the emotional jolts of films like “Slumdog Millionaire” or “The Wrestler.” Plus if you nom ‘TDK,’ that’s one less nom for a dark horse indie. The millions and box-office records should be enough reward.
Anne Hathaway and “Rachel Getting Married” – Jonathan Demme’s mess of an Altman film was a worthwhile experiment, but has to lose points for its wedding’s garish fashion collision (don’t care if they were trying to be “inclusive,” a wedding is no time for marital Halloween; style mavens must have been sea-sick). But talk has cooled, even for star Anne Hathaway who’s “brave” turn as a yammering, self-obsessed jackass drove us up the wall. Sure, she was convincing as a shrill, self-absorbed hurricane who wrecks her sisters wedding (bitch it ain’t about you for once!), but she was overrated and didn’t really do anything super special than to deserve a pat on the back for not taking her usual Disney fare. If you’re giving anyone a nod here make it Rachel Dewitt. ‘Married’ probably has no shot at a Best Picture nomination, but at one time there were some rumblings, but thankfully “Slumdog Millionaire” has taken the courtesy indie slot so far. [ed. We should note many Playlist members disagree with us here and thoroughly enjoyed Hathaway in the film; to each their own].
Robert Downey Jr. for “Tropic Thunder”
It’s not that comedy doesn’t deserve Oscar quite the contrary, but if it’s funny RDJ is being judged by forget it, neither he nor ‘Thunder’ was that funny. And as for his performance as an obsessive method actor, it was good, but the goofy minstrel routine and silly voice, was not Oscar worthy. Hell Tom Cruise blew them all away as the dead-serious dbag agent. That’s how you do jackass comedy, but still Paramount will campaign for him. As for the other talk of Downey as a potential best actor nomination for “Iron Man,” that would be so ridiculous its not even funny (What about Best Picture, ha).
If The “Der Baader Meinhof Komplex” Makes The Foreign Film Shortlist
It’s bad enough that tons of our favorite foreign films of the year didn’t get nominated or at least weren’t selected by their countries to represent their Oscar hopes this year (“Tokyo Sonata,” “Voy A Explotar,” “The Headless Woman“). We haven’t seen ‘Baader Meinhof,’ but reviews are piss poor, it seems like Germany tried to appeal to Hollywood’s sense of blockbuster-ism (gross) and the producers of the film had the gall to make reporters sign waivers that said if they wrote about the film before a certain time they would be sued into non-existence. For that last bit alone, let’s hope ‘Baader’ is punished and stays out of the final short-list. It’s a sick move that makes us queasy.
Only six things to be annoyed by? Surely we’re forgetting something.
12. 25.08 Update: let’s add to this list, Kate Winslet’s Supporting Nomination for “The Reader” (not that good sorry), Clint Eastwood for “Gran Torino,” (a good performance, but not a great one) and “The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button” for Best Picture. Now, yes, we realize this latter pick is most certainly going to come to pass, but that bothers us. It’s a decent film at best, but not worthy of an Best Picture nomination in our minds.