Oscar 2006 nominations
First thoughts:
* Michelle Williams becomes the first Dawson’s Creek cast member to garner an Oscar nomination, I have to think. (Supporting Actress)
* “Brokeback Mountain” leads the nominations. No shock there.
* Terrence Howard is nominated for his performance in “Hustle & Flow,” not “Crash.”
* I don’t know about “Munich,” but the rest of the Best Pic nominations are certainly politically-friendly to the Hollywood elite.
* Keira Knightley is nominated as Best Actress for “Pride & Prejudice.” She doesn’t stand a chance, but I still never thought I’d see her name in this category.
* “Cinderella Man” came out too early in the year, I guess, to be considered for much. I think there was a certain backlash against bio-pics this year, after far too many got nominated in recent years. “Capote” is the exception.
* There’s nothing in these nominations to excite me. Jon Stewart has his work cut out for him to keep me around for this telecast.
January 31st, 2006 at 10:56 am
Regarding the politics of “Munich”, I’d have to agree with this blog entry and say that it, too, is “politically-friendly to the Hollywood elite”, if a bit more challenging. Not as sure about “Crash”, though; what I’ve read about it (which hasn’t been too much) indicates that its message is racism isn’t something exclusive to the KKK and Nascar fans, which isn’t Hollywood’s usual take on the matter.
I do realize it’s an almost-meaningless token category, but I still found the nominations for Best Animated Feature interesting: “Howl’s Moving Castle”, “Corpse Bride”, and “Wallace & Gromit”. No CG, despite the prominence and popularity of “Madagascar”. Personally, I think the Academy did the right thing in this category, though I wouldn’t have been upset, exactly, if “Madagascar” had been nominated.
January 31st, 2006 at 11:07 am
Munich may have been the most obvious pic for the Oscars. Jewish-themed films always do well in the Oscars. I read an article a couple of days ago (I think in the NYTimes, but maybe elsewhere) that talked at length on the subject.
January 31st, 2006 at 12:22 pm
The thing I was excited about was that another Miyazaki film gets nominated for Best Animated Picture - Howl’s Moving Castle, going up against Corpse Bride and Wallace and Gromitt.
Also, I laughed when I saw the trailers and commercials for Hustle and Flow…and now Terrance Howard gets nominated for his role in the film. Now I’m sort of curious to see what the big deal is.
January 31st, 2006 at 1:23 pm
Re: HUSTLE & FLOW … Howard is teriffic, and the music is pretty good, and there’s a couple of really great scenes (one in the recording studio, one at a party), but the movie is pretty slight, and it takes a turn at the end of that party scene that’s a little too indie-flick-cliched. But I’m glad Howard was nominated. And the two songs.
January 31st, 2006 at 2:11 pm
Terrace Howard just seems to deliver in every performance he does. What a great actor.
January 31st, 2006 at 2:37 pm
Overworm –> When making your Oscar pool picks in the Best Documentary and Best Documentary Short cateogires, never bet against the Holocaust film. It’s a proven winner every time.
Jody –> Agreed. Those are good picks for the animated movies. I haven’t seen any of them, though. CORPSE BRIDE is out on DVD this week, though, and it’s on my Must See list. WALLACE & GROMIT is out next week.
January 31st, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Augie, where did you get that Holocaust line? Did I read that on your site? It sounds like something else I read recently about Oscar nominations.
January 31st, 2006 at 7:03 pm
I was REALLY disappointed in Corpse Bride. It felt very similar to Nightmare Before Christmas, except the characters weren’t as good, the plot was miniscule, and the songs were utterly forgettable. Just my opinion, but I stand by it.
I wouldn’t stop anyone from renting it, but DON’T buy it on the strength of Nightmare… you’ll regret it.
January 31st, 2006 at 8:06 pm
For best picture - the choices were all pretty good picks I would say.
Brokeback Mountain will probably get it. Hollywood likes to think it’s understanding, politically-correct & hip, so how could they not take that.
Goodnight & Goodluck - while a contender, is way too off the beaten track - as Hollywood is unlikely to reward a film that has a budget that most films would spend on lunch.
Capote would be a great choice - but unlikely as most people didn’t even know it was out.
Munich - was “good” Spielberg, and is unlikely to win because the backlash against it from the Jewish community will kill it’s chances, plus it’s Spielberg right ? I would argue that it was a great film that possibly was the film of the year.
Last choice was CRASH - and I LOVED it. It’s a longshot though, to my chagrin.
January 31st, 2006 at 11:38 pm
After hearing the hype/reviews of the animated films, I had been expecting “Corpse Bride” to be so-so (especially in comparison to “Nightmare Before Christmas”) and W&G to be magnificent. After seeing them I ended up thinking the reverse — I do love me some W&G, but I thought this was not as good as the fabulous shorts, and I thought “Corpse Bride”, while not as good as “Nightmare”, was an excellent film.
Overall I thought 2005 was not a very strong year for films, and the nominees aren’t a really exciting bunch. (That said, I haven’t seen a lot of the nominees, so really I shouldn’t talk.)
February 1st, 2006 at 12:24 am
Get used to seeing Keira Knightley being nominated. Just because she’s been given crap roles in the past doesn’t mean that it’s her only level of acting.
Munich - was “good” Spielberg, and is unlikely to win because the backlash against it from the Jewish community will kill it’s chances, plus it’s Spielberg right ?
Snore. Like there is such a thing as a lockstep “Jewish community.”
February 1st, 2006 at 4:28 pm
“Munich” is easily the best of the five Best Picture nominees.
HUMONGO Best Picture snub: “Walk the Line” (better than all the nominees except “Munich”)
Joseph J. Finn: Agree about Knightley. In a few years, people will talk about her the way they do about Reese Witherspoon.
And the documentary race is a monster: “Enron” vs. “March of the Penguins” vs. “Murderball.” All excellent.
February 2nd, 2006 at 9:14 am
Kiera Knightley was absolutely AMAZING in “Pride and Prejudice”. I know she doesn’t stand a chance since she’s up against Felicity Huffman and Reese Witherspoon (whom I also love), but it is fantastic to see her work get validated this way.