It’s that time of year again. Oscar watch 2009 has begun, with the kick off being last week’s announcement of the nominees. ABC has a whole site dedicated to the Oscars which you can check out here.
All the brouha has been over the whole snubbing of ‘The Dark Knight’ with the exception of the nearly guaranteed (and wholey deserving) nomination of Heath Ledger, as well as the snubs of ‘Revolutionary Road’, Bruce Springsteen’s big original song shut out, and the push for the feelgood underdog of the year, ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’ Interesting points, for sure. But here’s my questions:
-How, when the critical and popular reviews for the film has been so fair to meh, did friggin’ ‘Benjamin Button’ get 13 nominations? I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ve heard reviews everywhere from “pretty good” to “I was asleep by hour two.” Not overwhelming encouragement to make me run out and see it.
-Why not just eliminate the best original song category all together? I mean, really, when was the last time there was a song tied to a film that not only was completely original and made for the film, and wasn’t featured in the solely in the closing credits in in some obscure part of the film? And when was the last time you remebered a really good, mainstream even hummable Oscar worthy original track? You know what the first one’s that come to my mind? 9 to 5 and (I’ve Had) the Time of my Life. Oh yeah, and Shaft. And how old are they? To be fair, and on the complete opposite track, I love the fact that M.I.A. is nominated this year for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ for her track, O Saya. Keeping it real, and hey, does Randy Newman or Bruce really need another nomination? But as I look through a list of past nominees and winners, I can only shake my head at most of the choices from the past decade and say, really?
-Is it just me, or is the real Best Pic of the year and the slowly growing front runner for the Oscar gold is ‘Milk’? Beautiful, powerful film. Very timely and parallel to what is currently going on in the world today (enigmatic leader, breaking bounderies, Prop 8). Sean Penn is really likeable for the first time since ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ and Josh Brolin is brilliant and took great creepy lessons from his ‘No Country…’ costar for a fantastic performance. It’s absolutely amazing, and if you haven’t seen it yet, go see it now. It blows Benjamin’s buttons off and away.
In the meantime, go out and see as many of the Oscar nominated pictures and performances as you can before the big night. It’s winter and it’s cold out, spend some time indoors at the local multiplex and check them out. And tell me if ‘Benjamin Button’ is really all that and a bag of chips. I need some convincing.
Rants of The Misanthrope and other musings 