Blog Post: The Obligatory Oscar Post or What Does Game Changing Have to Do With It?

Ten is the magical number with this year's Oscars. This year, for the first time in many moons (yes, I'm too lazy to Google it, please shut up), there are ten Best Picture Academy Award nominees. This was basically a big stupid ploy to get viewers, since most big stupid Americans (particularly those states that throb red during general elections) don't see shimmery art house movies or foreign films where people have feelings. Instead, they see "The Blind Side," the white guilt football movie that the whole family can love.

Oh, and by the way, "The Blind Side" is now a BEST PICTURE NOMINEE.

Anyway…

The entire web is all abuzz with their Oscar Predictions, with two big New York-area publications (Time Out New York and The New Yorker) delivering their "Movie Issues." Of course, these conversations inevitably just break down into a prolonged debate about the merits or deficits of "Avatar," a big-ass movie that made big-ass money that will probably change filmmaking as we know it for at least a few decades to come. (It's also quite good – sharp, emotionally engaging, and an absurd amount of whiz-bang 3-D flying-dragon-thingee fun.)

A great example of this is the MSN Movies tête-à-tête located here. It's sharp, incisive, and well worth the read (in fact, Glen Kenny, since getting shit-canned from Premiere, has proven himself an ace movie blogger and freelancer), with both sides of the debate illuminated brilliantly.

Still, if you don't love it I think there's something wrong with your brain. Specifically the part that taps into your love of unbridled imagination and flying-dragon-thingees.

And while I generally think that the 10-picture field is a good idea (not only does it make people watch but it also makes the Best Picture a huge wildcard – see this year), there were some glaring omissions. Where, for example, was "Bright Star," Jane Campion's stunning, touching, funny romance about poet John Keats? And as much as I thought "Blind Side" was a nice little movie, "Star Trek" was a nice big movie, and while not the technological game changer it was a rousing, well-told story whose rigid formalism made it a bold, crowd-pleasing spectacle.

There are other letdowns scattered throughout the nominations – Robin Wright ignored for her exemplary performance in "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee;" the Foreign Language Award skipping Bong Joon-ho's wonderful crime deconstruction "Mother;" and Arcade Fire members Win Butler, Regine Chassagne and Owen Pallett's moody score for "The Box" being passed over in the Original Score department. (I haven't gotten laid since October. If you're looking for a reason, that last sentence is a pretty good place to start.)

Other than that, I'm really rooting for "Inglourious Basterds" to take home the Best Picture Oscar, if only because Tarantino is such a bad boy and the critical community loves scolding him for his personal taste while admiring his technical proficiency, but I wouldn't be disappointed if "Avatar" or "The Hurt Locker" took it home, either. What the fuck is "An Education" doing in that category? Anyone? Anyone? No, didn't think so.

Aside: I hated "Precious."

I also love that Jeff Bridges is finally going to take home an Oscar, especially since his current grizzled, "I don't-give-a-fuck" phase is so enchanting (I loved "Crazy Heart" too). Just think about him shouting about Tony Stark being able to build his Iron Man suit in a cave. Ah, good times.

Besides that, all my "predictions" are going to come back "wrong."

But at least "Up" (the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture since the luminescent "Beauty and the Beast" back in '91, don't-cha-know?) will take home the Best Animated Feature award in a fiercely competitive year. You know why? The four minutes of peerless cinema posted here. See you on Sunday. I'll bring the queso.