Getting Nostalgic for The Oscars.

I have a real gripe with the Academy Awards, I thought I would stray slightly from my path of reviewing something old, and instead discuss the misfortunes faced by so many talented souls at the great big popularity contest that is The Oscars. I'm quite new to this game, and so far, i'm not sure I like what I see.



Brad Pitt in Fight Club

As an appreciator of fine film work, I have often found myself watching some incredible films and thinking to myself ‘Why hasn’t this won any awards?!’ The perfect example of this is David Fincher’s Fight Club – a film that was nominated for TWO Academy Awards for Best Effects and Best Sound Editing and in terms of notable statuettes to claim, this was pretty much it for a film that appears in most institutions lists of top 100 films of all time. I suppose the obvious reason why this happened was the competition of that year, so 1999 lets see…The Academy Awards only had 5 slots for Best Picture back then belonging to American Beauty, Cider House Rules, The Green Mile, The Insider and The Sixth Sense. Fair enough, American Beauty, The Green Mile and The Insider were great movies, deserving a place here but Cider House Rules?! How could ANYTHING starring Toby Maguire even get a sniff in?  Moving on to Best Actor, a category that Edward Norton deserved recognition for Fight Club, with his portrayal of ‘The Narrator’ AKA Tyler Durden? Alas, it isn’t so. Losing out on even a nomination to Kevin Spacey (American Beauty), Russell Crowe (The Insider), Sean Penn (Sweet and Lowdown), Denzel Washington (The Hurricane) and Richard Farnsworth (The Straight Story) - the slot surely should have gone to Norton instead of Farnsworth but I’m pretty sure he only got it because he was about to die. Fair enough, he was outstanding in The Straight Story.

How about Director then? Undeniably, Fight Club is exceptionally directed by David Fincher helped in the most part by the critically acclaimed novel to which the film is based upon by Chuck Palahniuk.  The intensity of the fighting scenes, the emotional struggle for Norton’s character to adapt to the soap fuelled lifestyle of his alter ego, the pacing, the slow motion sex scenes, the filthy energy that fills their crooked house is nothing short of pure genius and at the time was so refreshing to see. So why didn’t he even get nominated? Again, the addition of Cider House Rules, The Insider, The Sixth Sense and American Beauty were real sticklers, but not even Frank Darabont got nominated here for The Green Mile – a film that so deservedly appeared in the Best Picture category which is a serious miss judgement on the Academy’s part. Yeah,  Being John Malkovich was good but was it as good as The Green Mile? Absolutely NOT.

Jude Law in The Talented Mr Ripley

Surely Brad Pitt, the Hollywood Heart Throb would get a nomination for Supporting Actor as the good-looking, sweet talking, womanising soap maker Tyler Durden? What’s that you say? Not even nominated? What a surprise. Pitt lost out on a nomination to Jude Law (The Talented Mr Ripley), Michael Caine (Cider House Rules), Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile), Holey Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense) and Tom Cruise (Magnolia). Jude Law most certainly does not deserve to be here instead of Brad Pitt which for me is the final and most disappointing shun I’m allowing myself to discuss. Oh, by the way, it didn’t even get nominated for Adapted Screenplay…

Members of the Academy choose who wins what, and these members are a combination of people from every aspect of film making; Actors, Directors, Cinematographers, Producers etc.  I guess they can’t nominate everyone, and there certainly is such a thing as an ‘Academy Friendly Film’ whether a film be successful or not, if it is ‘Academy Friendly’ it will get nominated. This years Oscar nominations are a great example of this, as the greatest and biggest films of 2012 – Prometheus and The Avengers received a nod for their visual effects but The Dark Knight Rises received a grand total of ZERO Oscar Nominations, but that’s just the tail end of a long line of snubs for Inception director Christopher Nolan. Innovative and original film making just gets you nowhere these days, eh Nolan?

However, we all knew Spielberg’s Lincoln would walk into an Oscar nomination because its about the achievements of a great American President, which is fine. I guess. The rest of this years Best Picture nominations create a competitive lists of 2012 great films including Haneke’s Amour and Benh Zeitlin’s debut Beasts of the Southern Wild, which were two surprise additions to the list of nominees, but we all know that Lincoln will probably win. We’d love to see Silver Linings Playbook win or even Tarantino’s Django, but it’s just not going to happen because why would the Academy not let a film about Abraham Lincoln win? It stars Daniel Day Lewis, is directed by Stephen Spielberg and has Oscar written all over it.

The category suggests clearly the best film of 2012 will walk home with a gold statue, and I agree that a compilation of professional film artists are best equipped to make such decisions.  Which is why Argo should win, but Ben Affleck has been denied a slot in the Best Director category which is a huge injustice for him.  I suppose that’s the trouble with having 10 best picture slots and only 5 best director slots, there is always going to be serious upsets here, but regrettably I think Affleck’s spot was stolen by Zeitlin. The Academy probably feels pretty stupid this morning though after Affleck deservedly and defiantly won Golden Globes last night for Best Director and Best Drama Film. In your FACE Academy!

Perhaps winning an Oscar isn’t the be all and the end all for Directors and Actors alike, but it is the ultimate recognition for doing a good job.  But sometimes its bewildering to see the Academy offer nominations to people like Denzel Washington for his emotionless and shallow portrayal of a vulgar Pilot in Flight and to ignore the brilliance of Rian Johnson’s original screenplay for the time travelling marvel Looper.  However, as frustrating as some of the categories are, others are spot on perfect. Especially Best Actress comprising of Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Naomi Watts (The Impossible), Emmanuelle Riva (Amour) and Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild). Chastain has this one locked down, but the category certainly hails the great actresses of the year, which is exciting.  If I had my way though, I would sort out these lists and make a couple of worthy additions (Looper, Lawless) and remove the pointless, meaningless, emotionless trash that is Flight.

Here is my personal list of unsung heroes from 2012, take note Academy.

Writers/Directors:

 

·         Rian Johnson – Looper

·         William Freidkin – Killer Joe

·         Ridley Scott – Prometheus

·         Christopher Nolan – The Dark Knight Rises

·         Stephen Soderburgh – Magic Mike

·         John Hillcoat – Lawless

·         Paul Thomas Anderson – The Master

·         Martin McDonagh – Seven Psychopaths

Actors/Actresses:

·         Michael Fassbender  - Prometheus

·         Tom Hardy – Lawless & The Dark Knight Rises

·         Guy Pearce – Lawless

·         Matthew McConaughey – Magic Mike & Killer Joe

·         Joseph Gordon –Levitt – Looper

·         Javier Bardem – Skyfall

·         Scoot McNairy – Killing Them Softly & Argo

Yeah – kicking yourselves aren’t you?