Academy Awards - 2009 Film Year

[RobertR]

Might as well start a topic for this.

 

A year after getting drilled for bypassing The Dark Knight in favor of a bunch of dramas that people just didn't go out and see in the theater, other than Slumdog Millionaire, this is one of the more populist years as far as Best Picture nominees in recent memory, with half the nominees already grossing more than $100 million and Up in the Air still standing a good chance of crawling to that. District 9, A Serious Man, Up, An Education, and The Blind Side were probably the beneficiaries of the expanded 10 nominations. FWIW, I don't have a big problem with them expanding, 10 is just as good an arbitrary number as 5, but there certainly appears to be two tiers of nominees this year and I think it might prove awkward in presentation. I do think it helps with adding variety of genre to the Best Picture category though.

 

Not many surprises. Maggie Gyllenhaal being the biggest.

 

It seems to be a good year for the Academy. Popular films and stars nominated for the big categories. And a horse race for Best Picture and perhaps director.

 

Robert

[JoeHova]

I can't believe anybody could think Maggie Gyllenhaal was a good actor. That said, I haven't seen Crazy Heart yet but she's been awful in everything I've ever seen her in. It's hard to believe she was just sandbagging everybody all these years.

[RobertR]

I can't believe anybody could think Maggie Gyllenhaal was a good actor. That said, I haven't seen Crazy Heart yet but she's been awful in everything I've ever seen her in. It's hard to believe she was just sandbagging everybody all these years.

 

SherryBaby and Secretary seem to be the roles that she's gotten the most acclaim for, have you seen them?

 

I tend to agree that she's hardly the greatest actress of her generation. That said, for the most part, I find her to be a solid performer.

 

Robert

[SeriesFinale]

FWIW, I don't have a big problem with them expanding, 10 is just as good an arbitrary number as 5, but there certainly appears to be two tiers of nominees this year and I think it might prove awkward in presentation. I do think it helps with adding variety of genre to the Best Picture category though.

I agree--it really does make the movies that weren't selected for Best Direction noms seem like second-class citizens.

 

Anyway, I'm a little surprised that you (and others) seem to think there will be a horse race for Best Picture. The people I know in LA I've talked to seem to think it'll be Avatar in a walk, based on whatever technical ground-breaking occurred and moreso on the fact that it saved the town's financial bacon. The only thing I can think of is the actors' bloc maybe revolting against the technical direction the movie's taking (fair or not) and Hurt Locker pulling the subsequent upset: see Avatar being shut out of the SAG Award nominations (again, fair or not).

 

 

[RobertR]

See the only reason I think anyone gives Avatar good odds for Best Picture is because it won the Golden Globes, which are largely an excuse to fawn over stars and drink lots of booze. Avatar is popular, but it's not won anything of consequence. The Hurt Locker, with the critics, Director's guild, and Producer's guild, and Inglourious Basterds, with the Screen Actor's guild, have actually won awards from a large blocs of membership in the academy. What's going to change in the next month?

 

Heck, much of the Academy ends up watching screeners at home. Hardly the best way to see Avatar.

 

Robert

[SeriesFinale]

Well, I mean, the Golden Globes happened. I think it's hard to discount their influence. But yeah, you make good points.

I do also think Avatar greatly benefits from an expanded field--I would imagine that movies like An Education and A Serious Man are gonna draw votes from Hurt Locker and Inglourious Basterds, not Avatar.

[SeriesFinale]

You know though, I think you've convinced me--I mean, the tale of Star Wars in the '77 Awards kinda strips the sheen from the argument that Avatar is the 800 pound gorilla as the greatest grosser of all time.

[thebruce44]

I can't believe anybody could think Maggie Gyllenhaal was a good actor. That said, I haven't seen Crazy Heart yet but she's been awful in everything I've ever seen her in. It's hard to believe she was just sandbagging everybody all these years.

 

SherryBaby and Secretary seem to be the roles that she's gotten the most acclaim for, have you seen them?

 

I tend to agree that she's hardly the greatest actress of her generation. That said, for the most part, I find her to be a solid performer.

 

Robert

I thought she was really good in Stranger Than Fiction as well.

 

I really enjoyed Avatar and 5 years from now I think I will look back and really remember it over all the other movies that come out this year. That being said, I don't think it was actually the best picture to be made this year. It should rightfully win every technical award out there, but best picture should go somewhere else.

 

I wouldn't mind Cameron winning best director though. What a massive undertaking that must have been.

[jerichoholicninja]

Once I got past trying to grab the random things that were falling in front of me, Avatar was a pretty terrible movie. Of the nominees, Inglorious Basterds was my Best Picture.

[Flood Pants]

I have a ton of respect for Up. I'll be rooting for it to win best picture, even though it's not likely. I'm glad to see Pixar get a best picture nod. Not only are they making the best animated films by a long shot, but some of the best films period. The "life montage" at the beginning is about as moving as film storytelling gets.

[razzzorsharp]

I am a fan of Up as well.

 

Avatar was really, really bad in my opinion.

[homer]

You guys really need to see The Hurt Locker. Beats the snot out of Avatar.

[Principessa21]

I loved Up and Avatar was a visually-amazing, fun experience but my vote for best would be District 9. I'm really rooting for it, but I don't think it has a chance. I haven't seen the Hurt Locker yet, but I just don't think I'd love it more than D9.

[RobertR]

Usually I try to see all the Best Picture nominees. Heck, for the most part, they are generally very good pictures. It's not going to happen this year with 10 nominees. So far, I've seen The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Up, Up in the Air, and District 9. And I am going to try to see A Serious Man and Avatar in the next month. I missed an opportunity to see An Education, although my understanding is that Carey Mulligan is the best part of the movie. I'd like to see Precious at some point. Can't say that I have all that much interest in The Blind Side.

 

Robert

[SeriesFinale]

Yeah, I'm like you: I get snookered into the Academy's ultimate scheme every year and end up going to see all the Best Picture nominees plus the major performance nominees before the awards. This year I've still gotta see District 9 (I was interested but put it off until DVD and now I don't have much excuse), Blind Side (ugh), and Precious (double ugh--looks like a Lifetime movie to me, plus Mariah Carey). On the acting side I really want to see Crazy Heart and The Last Station (which I've only seen trailers for around here so far but should be out soon).

 

If I had to vote for Best Picture right now I'm honestly not sure what I'd vote for, but A Serious Man would probably be up there. It's been hard to remove from my head despite not really covering any new ground thematically. I enjoyed An Education--it picks up steam as it goes along and there are some fantastic scenes--but I don't think it would have or should have made it to a field of 5.

[Schlitz001]

Since I don't see them listed yet, here are the nominations for best picture (metacritic score in parentheses)

 

The Hurt Locker (94)

Up (88)

An Education (85)

Avatar (84)

Up in the Air (83)

District 9 (81)

Precious (79)

A Serious Man (79)

Inglorious Bastards (69)

The Blind Side (53)

 

I've only seen The Hurt Locker, Up, Avatar and Inglorious Bastards and I would say The Hurt Locker is the best, but none of the four really blew me away as a sure fire winner. I'm still trying to figure out who the audience for The Blind Side is.

[homer]

If you haven't seen Avatar, I recommend going ti an IMAX theater to get the full experience. Pretty amazing. Stupid, rehashed storyline, but visually amazing.

[RobertR]

Might as well give this a bump up since the show is tonight.

[apirk]

What a terrible year for the Oscars to expand the nominees. I really hope The hurt locker wins best picture out of the 6 nominees I saw I'd say it was by far the best. If Jeff Bridges doesn't win I'll be pissed. Not that Crazy Heart was a great movie, a very enjoyable one though, after seeing what got nominated I'd say it got robbed of a best picture nomination.

[Katuluu]

It was actually an incredibly strong year in an incredibly strong decade. Just because they didn't pick all the right films for Best Picture doesn't mean their weren't 10 films worthy of being nominated.

[apirk]

Which films did you think got snubbed then?

 

I thought Crazy Heart did but outside of that I wasn't too overly impressed by anything, maybe I didn't see the right movies. I agree about the Decade tons of great movies.

[Point Beer Is Best]

I don't know if he was in on it and it was supposed to be part of the humor, but Clooney looked even more serious and irritated than usual during the opening "roast" by Martin and Baldwin.

[Katuluu]

The Cove

Adventureland

Moon

Where the Wild Things Are

In the Loop

Ponyo

The Informant

Drag Me to Hell

World's Greatest Dad

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Coraline

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

The Road

The Fantastic Mr Fox

The White Ribbon

A Prophet

Bronson

Thirst

House of the Devil

Observe and Report

 

And I could add a handful more of just festival films that really didn't get much if any release. Heck, I'd take a Top 5 of Moon, Anvil!, The Road, The Cove and The White Ribbon and put it up against any5 of the nominated films and not think twice.

[apirk]

Totally forgot about Moon and The Road.

 

I'll have to checkout the Cove and White ribbon.

 

I liked Anvil! but it is like a lot of other music docs, very entertaining though.

[Schlitz001]

I went 9 for 10 with my Oscar picks with Hurt Locker beating Avatar for best picture. I just didn't think the Academy could ignore the highest grossing film of all time, especially when the competition was so weak. I find out tomorrow if I won that $100.