22 January 2009

Immediate Reaction: The Oscar Nominations

People are definitely pouting out there, in the blogosphere, for The Dark Knight's lack of Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay nominations - and I can't disagree that that film belongs there, among the lists of nominees, above some of the ones who were given nods - but that's just the way the Oscar cookie crumbles. One knows, there were all sorts of films that I would have seen on those lists, ones that I believed to be far more worthy that those that have their slots (and than The Dark Knight), but it's not in my hands nor was it in their hands (i. e., the hands of those in the blogosphere that were so salient about The Dark Knight's chances) either. The best one can do on Oscar-nominations' morning is hope, not that they (i. e., the Oscar voters) get it all "right," according to one's own perspectives, but rather that they get only a little "wrong."
In that spirit, here is where in my opinion the Academy averted disaster:

  • Michael Shannon's Supporting Actor nomination for Revolutionary Road - totally deserved and on my list as well
  • Melissa Leo's Leading Actress nomination for Frozen River - as much deserved as its more expected Original Screenplay nomination
  • Danny Glicker's Costume Design nomination for Milk - somewhat unexpected, despite their quality, as the film is a recent period piece
  • Wylie Stateman's Sound Editing nomination for Wanted
  • ZERO nominations for the abysmal Gran Torino
And for notes on where I think the Academy went wrong, one need only contrast my list of little nominations in the sidebar with the full list of official nominations by the Academy, found here and reproduced below:

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Original Screenplay

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