Tuesday, January 25, 2005 Oscar smoshker The Oscar Grouch will probably have some better coverage of the nominations later in the day/week/whenever he gets off his ass, but for now, I offer you some off-the-cuff reactions: The Good All of the documentary nominees, especially Super Size Me. Kate Winslet getting nominated for Eternal Sunshine. Brad Bird for Best Original Screenplay. Scorsese actually having a good shot at Best Director, for a movie that was by far one of the best directed movies I saw all year. CHEADLE! DEPP! Finding Neverland getting nominated for Best Picture, but not Best Director. This is good for two reasons: I strongly dislike Marc Forster and everyone tangentally involved with Monster's Ball (oh, the hate I have for that movie!), and Marc Forster didn't do a particularly great job. But I did like Finding Neverland -- it was cute and sad and sappy without being too saccharine. I wish it had had edgier content, really hit the darker issues more, but my movie-going buddy and I were wiping away the tears at the exact same moment, and I only feel a little silly about that. The Bad I know that it got screwed over by the foreign film rules and a lukewarm reception, but A Very Long Engagement deserved better. I'd have loved to see it be nominated for Best Picture over Ray. Or The Incredibles over Ray. Or Kinsey, over Ray. Really, anything but Ray woulda really been something. I have yet to see Ray, I'll admit, but that's because I'm totally burned out on biopics and little I heard about this particular one made me excited about seeing it. (Kinsey, the only biopic I really saw this year, was chock full of PORN, to which I have a deeply held allegiance.) Honestly, I'd rather listen to the music than watch the movie. I'm also kinda over Jamie Foxx. Really not a fan of him getting two nominations. I liked his performance in Collateral, but I don't think it was one of the five best of the year. I know it's stupid, but I really like the song Mick Jagger and Dave Stewart did for Alfie, and I was looking forward to it getting nominated. And I'd much rather sit through Mick live than "Learn to be Lonely," the dreadful over-the-credits song from Phantom of the Opera written so that an original song could be nominated. The Whuh? Thank you so fucking much, Academy. I was looking forward to writing a nice quick Bookslut column on the Best Adapted Screenplay nominations this week, and then BOOM you go and nominate Before Sunset, which means that not only do I have to watch the freakin' movie now, but I also need to see Before Sunrise -- AND figure out exactly how the hell it ended up in the Best Adapted category. Before Saturday. Yes. | permalink blog • archives • photos • about • contact This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. All content © 2004.