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Tuesday, January 23, 2007

And the Oscar Doesn’t Go To…

posted by on January 23 at 7:24 AM

Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and to the shock and delight of musical-haters everywhere, Dreamgirls did not make the cut for best picture. (Yesssss!)

Congratulations to Stranger Genius James Longley and Seattle-based producer John Sinno who secured the nomination for Iraq in Fragments. They’ve got crushing competition in Al Gore and Paramount’s An Inconvenient Truth, but fuck yeah! I’m slightly sorry that Jonestown didn’t knock off My Country, My Country; still, overall, it’s a fantastic year for documentaries. People should see all those nominees.

Now for what you guys actually care about:

Best motion picture of the year

“Babel” (Paramount and Paramount Vantage)
An Anonymous Content/Zeta Film/Central Films Production
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Jon Kilik and Steve Golin, Producers

“The Departed” (Warner Bros.)
A Warner Bros. Pictures Production
Nominees to be determined

“Letters from Iwo Jima” (Warner Bros.)
A DreamWorks Pictures/Warner Bros. Pictures Production
Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg and Robert Lorenz, Producers

“Little Miss Sunshine” (Fox Searchlight)
A Big Beach/Bona Fide Production
Nominees to be determined

“The Queen” (Miramax, Pathé and Granada)
A Granada Production
Andy Harries, Christine Langan and Tracey Seaward, Producers

Two of these are all or mostly in languages other than English, which is unprecedented. (Foreign language films that have previously been considered for best picture are Grand Illusion, Z, The Emigrants, Cries and Whispers, Il Postino, Life Is Beautiful, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon—all in different years.) I believe three out of five are technically considered independent. And though I won’t strain myself defending Little Miss Sunshine, I think Babel has been seriously underrated by critics. (You want to see an implausible trainwreck of tragedy, try Mizoguchi’s Life of Oharu.) Too bad about United 93, of course, but at least Paul Greengrass got a directing nod.

Let the prognosticating begin!

RSS icon Comments

1

Congratulations James Longley!

God I hope he wins, not just because his movie's gorgeous, but so I can tell my grandkids I once watched a slapping contest with an Oscar winner.

And fuck you, Beyonce! You look pretty and sing pretty and learned to move your fingers like Diana Ross, but not even your scary scary dad can boss the Academy into giving you an Oscar nod. Bwa ha ha!

Posted by David Schmader | January 23, 2007 9:16 AM
2

Have you ever noticed that an “actress” is always an “actor” unless there is an awards show going on?

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me | January 23, 2007 9:51 AM
3

The only one of these I've seen or am likely to see is "Little Miss Sunshine", which I hated passionately. It made me angry, not just at the aswipes who made the movie but at the very artform of "the movies". It was a comedy, right?

Posted by Fnarf | January 23, 2007 10:07 AM
4

I'm glad Ryan Gosling got the nod for best actor.

Posted by kelly | January 23, 2007 10:19 AM
5

Fnarf,

Go see The Queen. It’s really quite good with a plausible storyline and a very strong cast that turns in an excellent performance. Even if you don’t care about the royals or Di or any of the rest of it, it brings back the days around Di’s death in a palpable way, and they seem nostalgic of a simpler time (even though they were not that long ago) in a way that makes today seem even more jarring. My only complaint is that while most of the characters are given a richness of character and complexity that makes them plausible, the character of Mr. Blair comes of as a little one dimensional and slightly lacking in motivation (all peaches and cream and sunshine and goodness) which is not convincing in a successful politician.

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_kidding_Me | January 23, 2007 10:24 AM
6

Again this year, I have only seen one of the best picture noms and that on DVD. If it don't play Cinerama, I don't see it in a theater.

Also, Borat for best adapted screenplay? What did they write down?

Posted by j | January 23, 2007 10:38 AM
7

I fear I will not enjoy The Queen, because I am one of the very small minority that actively enjoyed hearing Diana was dead, and was glad to see her go. The rest of the Royals? They make a nice tourist attraction, and Chuck has been a force for good on the subject of preservation, but really, I wouldn't mind seeing them all hang.

Does the movie show the Queen fucking like a cat in heat? I hear she was quite the red-hot fuck machine in her early days, demanding to be serviced on a constant basis. She also really enjoys her gin; not as much as her momma did, though.

Posted by Fnarf | January 23, 2007 4:12 PM
8

No, but it shows her as an emotionally paralyzed social cripple. (I pretty much share your views on Diana's death by the way, and am no form of Royal watcher or fan.)

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me | January 23, 2007 4:32 PM
9

Nothing wrong with being an emotionally paralyzed social cripple.

Posted by Fnarf | January 23, 2007 4:52 PM
10

I agree. Combine it with a deep and wonderful thurst for booze and you have many of my best friends & most of my family.

Posted by you_gotta_be_kidding_me | January 23, 2007 11:48 PM

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