To read the full list of Oscar nominees, go here
Lesson learned this year: Only expect the expected from the Academy. So many of us thought this was the year they could see past giant box office receipts to the great film that was actually within the year's biggest movie. Even fewer of us believed that this was the second year in history an animated film could be nominated for Best Picture.
But instead, they went with what is expected of them, choosing the five Best Picture nominees entirely from end-of-the-year prestige releases, and choosing the dour Holocaust movie The Reader over the infinitely more exciting options The Dark Knight and Wall-E. Produced by the late and beloved Anthony Minghella, and directed by Academy wunderkind Stephen Daldry (who has now directed three films and been Oscar-nominated for all three), The Reader, as I wrote in my review, "feels specifically tailored for this time of year, a tasteful, adult historical drama with a teensy bit of nudity, suppressed emotion and a big reveal at the end."
So I guess it really is that cynical-- release a movie at the end of the year, make it for grown-ups and get some big names behind it, and the Oscars come a-rolling. Sure, there were some really wonderful inclusions in the acting categories-- Heath Ledger and Robert Downey Jr. for their supporting turns in summer blockbusters, Penelope Cruz's witty, half-Spanish role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and indie stalwarts-made-good Melissa Leo and Richard Jenkins in their respective acting categories. And Slumdog Millionaire, much as it feels like the most tailor-made Oscar movie of all time, is truly an odd duck, with its bilingual cast and rocky production history and buoyant director, who, let's remember, made a zombie movie not all that long ago.
But this year, like last year and however many years before it, will be an Academy ceremony full of movies no one has really seen, with a crowd-pleaser or two to maybe draw some eyeballs. Brad and Angelina are both nominated, for what it's worth. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has made about $100 million, so it must have some big fans out there somewhere. And The Dark Knight, let's remember, got 8 nominations in total, and fans will be gratified by seeing someone-- probably Christopher Nolan-- accept a Best Supporting Actor statue on Heath Ledger's behalf. The general audiences haven't been left out of this round entirely; they've just been relegated, as usual, to the usual technical categories, where high-quality popular entertainment always has its best shot of catching a statue or two.
So how did I do on my Oscar predictions? Horrendously, of course. I put all my chips in Best Picture on both popular movies making it in, ignoring the more popular wisdom that The Dark Knight would get traded out for something more traditional. I and most others never saw Stephen Daldry coming in Best Director, and it's rare that Director and Picture matches up 5/5, as it did this year.
In Best Actress who could have expected Kate Winslet popping up for The Reader instead of Revolutionary Road, not to mention Sally Hawkins blanking after winning so many critical awards for Happy-Go-Lucky? Angelina Jolie could have stayed out of here so far as I'm concerned, but Melissa Leo is a welcome surprise. Clint Eastwood failed to sneak into Best Actor as I expected, giving his spot to Richard Jenkins instead, and pretty boy DiCaprio was swapped out in favor of Brad Pitt.
Supporting Actress shifted happily when Kate Winslet got promoted to Lead Actress, making room for Taraji P. Henson, who was just outside my group. And I'm pretty happy to see Dev Patel get swapped out of Supporting Actor in favor of Michael Shannon, who I swear, I almost put in there before I wimped out.
The less we say about my predictions in the screenplay categories, the better; I got 2/5 on Original Screenplay, and a better 4/5 on Adapted.
Of course, those of us who fervently await the choices of the Academy know that every year we'll be disappointed, and as much as we like to think of the Academy as a great arbiter of taste in the movie industry, they're more like your old relatives who won't change no matter what. These are the Oscar nominees we've got, not necessarily the ones that we asked for. Time to deal with the hand we were dealt.
