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Tuesday, 2 February 2010

Oscars 2010

A quickie on the Oscar noms:

I much more excited about the Oscars this year than I have recently. Rather than your bog standard Oscar baiting shite that has plagued the awards for as long as I can remember (A Beautiful Mind, The Reader, a massive "fuck you" to Crash), there are some genuinely interesting Best Picture nominations this year. I have seen only five, Avatar, The Hurt Locker, District 9, Inglorious Basterds & Up, and while there are still the usual suspects with regards to Oscar lapping with the likes of Up in the Air and Precious (the latter of which is apparently excellent) I really think, unless I'm being completely ignorant or stupid, that this is gonna be quite a close race.

I would personally vote for The Hurt Locker for Best Picture, Kathryn Bigalow for Best Director and Jeremy Renner for Best Actor. The film is not so much a war movie but a case study of a adrenaline junkie's addiction to it. Renner himself is excellent as said junkie. But the fact is that the film manages to ooze gut wrenching levels of tension and testosterone whilst also being an intimate character piece. There's no great over reaching questions about the war and its repercussions, just these three guys and the bombs they dispose of.

Not surprised to see Avatar nominated but apart from Best Visual Effect (which it will win) I don't think it stands as much of a chance. Then again, Titanic was a bigger success story than anyone anticipated to anything's possible.

Glad to see Up nominated for Best Picture as well as District 9 (although I'm a little confused as to why the former is also nominated for Best Animate Feature). However, it does almost feel as though the Academy are atoning for their shunning of WALL.e and The Dark Knight.

I will attempt to see the rest before March (although Up In The Air does not interest me at all) in order to have a more balanced opinion but based on the ones I've seen I'm quite excited. Some don't have a chance in hell (again, I'm looking at District 9) but the fact that they were at least nominated will certainly make for an interesting evening.

Bit peeved Meryl Streep's been nominated AGAIN (the year she isn't I will open a bottle of Champagne to celebrate) over the brilliant Zoe Saldana. With regards to Avatar, she was the best thing in it.

Luke Allen

1 comment:

  1. Saldana can fuck right off. I'm sick of hearing people whine on about how she should have been nominated. FACT - there were many better performances. None of the acting in Avatar was awards calibre. Forget Saldana, I'm far more peeved about Charlotte Gainsbourg getting the shaft (no pun intended) for 'Antichrist'. It's the best performance of 2009. Ditto for Sam Rockwell in 'Moon' and Viggo in 'The Road'. Forget Morgan Freeman playing Mandela, it's all about THE ROCK.

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