Scoffing in Oscar's General Direction

Laremy Legel,  Jan 23, 2007

The Oscar nominations are out and now the hype machine will start. As part of that machine I'm obligated to tell you my opinion. We'll look at the five big categories today and then get into the smaller categories later in the week, all in my continued pursuit to never be invited to the Academy Awards.

Best Picture
Babel
Little Miss Sunshine
Letters from Iwo Jima
The Departed
The Queen

I stand with Oscar: Little Miss Sunshine survived a very early release date and broke through for indie lovers everywhere.

I Scoff in Oscar's general direction: Where is Dreamgirls? I've been a champion of this film from early on, and the snub here speaks volumes about Oscar's need to be different, but not necessarily smart. Letters from Iwo Jima couldn't be nominated in the foreign film category, but Clint Eastwood evidently can't make a movie anymore without being nominated so they threw him a sympathy nomination at the cost of a better movie.

Lead Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond)
Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)
Peter O'Toole (Venus)
Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)
Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)

I stand with Oscar: O'Toole and Whitaker aren't controversial at this point, but they're still solid nominations from smaller films. Unbelievably it seems as though O'Toole will be shut out again, making him zero for life.

I Scoff in Oscar's general direction: Not having seen Half Nelson I may be speaking out of turn, but no one has been beating down my door to tell me about Ryan Gosling. Also, the Will Smith nomination was forced because his film is recent; he wasn't in the top five of the year. Top twenty, yes, but not nomination worthy.

Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children)
Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond)
Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls)
Mark Wahlberg (The Departed )

I stand with Oscar: Alan Arkin! I like seeing him there. Wahlberg being recognized has been the highlight of the season for me because I thought the voters would miss his subtle but fantastic performance. I'm also happy Jack Nicholson was left out. I found him average -- he just played Jack.

I scoff in Oscar's general direction:Three words: Jackie. Earle. Haley. He played a freak, but so what? That's not a skill, that's looking freaky. If that's a skill, I know a ton of people who deserve a nomination, including myself and most of my friends.

Leading Actress
Penélope Cruz (Volver)
Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal)
Helen Mirren (The Queen)
Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada)
Kate Winslet (Little Children)

I stand with Oscar: I buy both Streep and Mirren; they stood out in their respective movies. Streep isn't the lead, but it's all semantics at this point, I guess. Thankfully one of these two women will win, meaning I won't have to be so upset about ....

I scoff in Oscar's general direction: Kate Winslet? Really? Look, she's one of my favorite actors in the world, but this was a terrible movie that she did little to redeem. It's not that she was bad in the role, it's that she wasn't appreciably great. I would be shocked if half the voters even screened this. This was a copy/paste from the Globes and the Screen Actors Guild awards. No one knows how this buzz starts, but once it does it's impossible to derail.

Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza (Babel)
Cate Blanchett (Notes on a Scandal)
Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
Rinko Kikuchi (Babel)

I stand with Oscar: Jennifer Hudson is a strong choice, and the Abigail Breslin call, though a little hopeful, isn't the end of the world. Whenever they give the kids nominations it's cute, but it's hard to tell if they bring something into the role besides being adorable.

I scoff in Oscar's general direction: I often ponder on whether payola exists in the Oscar system because a movie like Notes on a Scandal would have no hope of making money without these nominations. Also, Babel had 40 percent of the best performances of the year in this category. No, sure it did. Makes perfect sense. Don't question, just obey.

So, as per usual, Oscar brought some joy and turmoil, but I guess that's what makes this whole shooting match worth watching. Tune in later this week when we look at the smaller categories.

  Watch the Nominations

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Laremy Legel -- Mail him how much you loved Babel.