Oscar Nom Nom Noms

It's official: the nominees for the 84th Academy Awards have been announced and I couldn't be more excited!! This is IT, people, the main event - the Superbowl, the World Series, the Tour de France!! I'm also shocked that I caught the announcement live this year but I guess that's what happens when you're snowed in in Prague and 9 hours ahead of the west coast. Anyway I am too excited to babble so I will give you the nominees in each of the three big categories and then give my take on each. Ready? Let's start with the big one:

Best Picture

War Horse

The Artist

Moneyball

The Descendants

The Tree of Life

Midnight in Paris

The Help

Hugo

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

    Here's the good news: the Academy made the collective decision to nominate two movies that were snubbed or overlooked in other award ceremonies, namely The Tree of Life and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Both films were well received and critically acclaimed - The Tree of Life won the Best picture equivalent at Cannes but for some reason just didn't make it to the finish line at most other awards. Enter classic Academy politics where sometimes the set out to right past wrongs. It this case it was deeply appreciated. Both of these movies are have been on my must watch list for quite some time.

   Want the bad news which is more disappointing than "bad" but for continuity's sake I'll just say bad? Nine movies were nominated and while the Academy can and has nominated ten in previous years, they couldn't find it in their stingy little hearts to nominate Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. "Why?" you may ask? Well, why not? When was the last time anyone tried to maintain creative integrity whilst keeping an incredible cast together for a series of eight films in the span of an entire decade? The epic journey both creatively and commercially transformed the British film industry and built so many bridges across the pond that we won't truly see the effects until it is too late. Putting aside its tremendous commercial success and world wide appeal, it is fair to say they there will never be another Harry Potter series. Were there better movies this year? Sure and they were nominated. This was the Academy's chance to acknowledge the series as a whole, a la LOTR: Return of the King. The eighth movie wasn't even my favorite of the series but the fact still remains that attention should be paid. Side note: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was nominated for three technical awards but this was expected since they have been nominated and won a few in past years.

 Best Actor in a Leading Role

Demián Bichir

A Better Life

George Clooney

The Descendants

Jean Dujardin

The Artist

Gary Oldman

Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy
Brad Pitt
 Moneyball 

   Some of the biggest surprises and snubs came from this category with Demián Bichir and Gary Oldman taking the nominations leaving Leonardo DiCaprio with none. It's a shame really and I'll explain why. My theory for what tips the scales for the academy is as follows:

1. Transformation: If you transform yourself into the character to the point of nonrecognition, you will probably win. There are plenty of examples of this since it happens more often than not - ie: Jamie Foxx in Ray, Charlize Theron in Monster, Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood, Helen Mirren in The Queen, etc. This is the trump card. Have people won without this? Sure, but it is especially impressive to watch and actor who you don't even recognize give a performance that ultimately renders you speechless.

2. Difficulty: How hard was it to portray this character? Did you step outside your comfort zone? How far did you have to go to get inside this character? Great example of people who did this really well and won for it are Natalie Portman in Black Swan, Colin Firth in The King's Speech, and Tom Hanks in Forest Gump. Here we all were still able to recognize these actors but their performances were raised above others because of what was required of them and how well they rose to that challenge.

3. Captivation: This is pretty self explanatory but if you can convince the audience that you are telling the truth and give a powerful performance that is so disarming it blurs reality - you are pretty much set up to at least be considered for a nomination. This is the most basic of the "requirements" and while it is rare to find a performance that doesn't include aspects of 1 and 2, there has been some recent winners that fall into this category, namely Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side and Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line. This is not to say that this is the least important aspect of one's performance - in fact I believe that the opposite is true. It really depends on the year and how tough the competition is.

   Getting back on track, I believe that Leo deserved a nomination this year based on these three criteria. However I'm human, as is The Academy, and there are plenty of flukes and exceptions to the rule. Still, this year was one of the toughest for the men as I found the bar being raised higher and higher with each performance I saw.

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Glenn Close

Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis

The Help

Rooney Mara

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Meryl Streep

The Iron Lady

Michelle Williams

My Week With Marilyn

   This is a pretty solid group and I don't think there were any real surprises. This category has five women who hit all three of my criteria (see above) so that makes it all the more harder. If you want to go with who did it best, then you'd probably go with Meryl. If you want to go with who moved you the most and who's performance will have the deepest impact, then it's Viola's to lose. I wouldn't count out Michelle either as she had the most difficult tasks of portraying arguably the most beloved star of all time. All three have already won some big awards for these performances and it will be interesting to see who the Academy sides with.

***

   Best Supporting Actor and Actress had few surprises with Max von Sydow from Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and Janet McTeer from Albert Nobbs both getting acknowledged. No shockers in Directing either though Terrence Malick from The Tree of Life snagged George Clooney's spot.All this aside, I really think those categories are set in term of who is favored to win. What will be interesting is who will take home Best Original and Best Adapted Screenplay. Most awards do not take time to differentiate the two but the Academy does, opening the field to Bridesmaids, Margin Call, A Separation, Hugo, and Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy. I think that is the real reason the Academy Awards maintains its prestige - it recognizes all aspects of the  work, from costumes and makeup to actors and writers. There is much to be excited about and I hope you too will be glued to you TV on February 26th. I'll be posting reviews of all the other movies nominated before then so you can a sense of what's up against what. Till then, keep the popcorn poppin'!

Thankfully yours,

the mixx chic