Tuesday, February 03, 2004
In 2003 two storylines wove their way into Oscar 2004’s path. While one got all the headlines and controversy, it was the second that truly affected the nomination process. Over the past year two decisions were made, the first by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the second by the MPAA. AMPAS decided that in order to improve television ratings they would move up the Oscar awards ceremony telecast three weeks, thus moving the nomination process up too. The MPAA decided that this year all MPAA affiliated distributors would not be able to send screener copies of their tapes out, thus cutting off the ability of smaller independent distributors from being able to reach voters; at the last minute the MPAA decided that Academy members would receive screeners. After taking a look at this year’s nominations many of the surprises, from omissions to inclusions reveal that the AMPAS decision had more of an affect than the MPAA’s.
This year did present the usual surprise inclusions, both from the perspective of out of the blue nominations, meaning for contenders that were not represented by previous awards and the long shots that squeaked in. There are only so many nominations to go around, so many deserving films, performers and craftsman were left off the final list. For a rundown:
The Shoe-Ins:
In the best picture category the two favorites heading in, LOTR’s Return of the King and Mystic River, were nominated, joined by highly regarded Seabiscuit and critically acclaimed independent Lost in Translation.
In the acting category these performers were nominees throughout the awards season, and understandably received acting nods: Sean Penn (lead) and Tim Robbins (supporting) from Mystic River, Charlize Theron (lead) from Monster, Ben Kingsley (lead) from House of Sand and Fog, Bill Murray (lead) from Lost in Translation, Jude Law (lead) and Renee Zelwegger (supporting) from Cold Mountain, Diane Keaton (lead) from Something’s Gotta Give, Holly Hunter (supporting) from Thirteen, Alec Baldwin (supporting) from The Cooler and Ken Watanabe from The Last Samurai. These performances were all recognized and deserved.
Four out of the five directing nominations went to directors whose films were nominated, making them less than surprises. A major kudos to Sofia Copolla for being only the third woman, and first American woman, to be nominated in this category, I guess it helps having learnt on the knees of one of the most celebrated film makers of our time.
The screenplay categories broke down into two groups; four out of the five adaptation nominations went to studio films, and four of the five original screenplays came from independent films, although the other was produced by PIXAR, which is considered independent. Of these nominations, the nods for Finding Nemo, Lost in Translation, and In America were expected originals and American Splendor, Return of the King, Mystic River, and Seabiscuit were expected adaptations. In America’s nomination is shared by the father-daughters team of Jim Sheridan and his offspring Naomi and Kristen.
The Pleasant Surprises:
There were some nominations that made me actually want to watch this year’s show, none more than City of God’s four nominations, including Director, Adapted Screenplay, Editing and Cinematography. Another was Keisha Castle’s Hughes nomination for Best actress in Whale Rider, the second greatest film out of New Zealand this year; her nomination makes her the youngest performer ever nominated in this category. The original screenplay nominations for Barbarian Invasions (which also got a foreign film nod, marking the second year in a row that a foreign film has been nominated in this category), Dirty Pretty Things and the adapted nod for City of God were all deserving, but show the total lack of creativity and originality flowing out of the studio system. The acting nods that came out of the blue went to Djimon Hounsou (supporting) and Samantha Morton (lead) from In America, Marcia Gary Harden (supporting) in Mystic River, Shohreh Aghdashloo (and no Jennifer
Connolly), Naomi Watts (lead) and Benicio Del Toro (supporting) from 21 Grams and Johnny Depp, for a well deserved nod for his over the top brilliant portrayal of Capt. Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean.
The Bewilderments:
How to make a grown man cry: for the first time in over ten years Harvey Weinstein couldn’t push a Mirimax film into the Best Picture category. Many it was a reaction to his having three films last year, but his front runner, Cold Mountain, although receiving seven nominations, was omitted from the Director, Lead Actress (Nicole Kidman) and Picture races that it was supposed to place in. American Splendor had to settle for only the screenplay nod, but none for Paul Giamatti or Hope Davis. Return of the King got no acting nominations, making it the most nominated film, with 11, to not have one acting nominations. The same can be said for Master and Commander, which for a film that under whelmed audiences and critics, mustered up 10 nods, including Picture and Director but none for Russell Crowe or Paul Bettany or any of the other MEN in the cast. Sting, Annie Lennox and Elvis Costello were some of the rock stars who were nominated for song writing, but left out from the party were Bono (In America), Eddie Vedder (Big Fish) and Elton John (Mona Lisa Smile). However an actor, Michael McKeon, was nominated for writing a song for A Mighty Wind, which easily could have had numerous nominations. Although I am thrilled that Fernando Meirelles received a nomination for City of God, it is still surprising that Gary Ross was passed up on for directing, but received nominations for producing and writing Seabiscuit. From a technical perspective, Return of the King was left out of the Cinematography and Sound Effects editing categories. Neither of the Matrix movies received any technical nominations after the first film dominated a few years ago. Many of the leading foreign film contenders were left off the ballot, including Osama, the Golden Globe winner. Monsieur Ibraham and The Return.
Disappointments: Scarlet Johansson was shut out of the Best Actress competition, probably due to her vote being split between Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earring. One of films that was on my top 10 was shut out, and another only got one. Big Fish and Love Actually both were ensembles and overtly sentimental, being. Albert Finney was expected to get a supporting nod for Big Fish, as was the previously mentioned Eddie Vedder, and at least for set direction, make up or costume. Love Actually should have definite been nominated for an Original Screenplay and editing for weaving together all those powerfully romantic and tragic storylines, or at least gotten a nomination for Emma Thomson, which was rumored.
Analysis:
Apparent from the nominations was the omission of several films that opened wide late in December, typically a great time for Oscar contenders, but with the pushed up dates for the awards, films like Big Fish, Cold Mountain and The Company House of Sand and Fog, and Girl with a Pearl Earring, were left out in the cold. Other films like Love Actually, and Big Fish, were hurt by other films at their studios, Seabiscuit and Something’s Gotta Give respectively, being the studios choice for a major advertising push. Screeners, or the lack of, proved to be irrelevant due to many independent films being nominated for major categories, most noticeably Lost in Translation, City of God and In America. Overall, all the nominations were well deserved, and there just was not enough room for many of the great films that were released this past year. The nominations were very spread out, and split pretty evenly amongst independents and studio picks, outside of the Best Picture category. However, the studios should be proud specifically of Return of the King and Mystic River, two films that were considered huge risks because of scope and material, but were pushed through by visionary film makers to huge critical acclaim and box office rewards.
Prediction:
As of now some races are very tight, others are wide open, and some are just not worth talking about because the winners are obvious. Here are my predictions, personal picks and comments.
Best Picture:
Will Win: Return of the King
Should Win: Return of the King
Comments: The only other film with a chance to unseat The King is Mystic River, although Lost in Translation is a dark horse. Return of the King will win mostly because the previous films weren’t and voters were saving their votes hoping the last would be the best; thankfully there were right.
Best Director:
Will: Peter Jackson
Should: Peter Jackson
Comments: Peter will win like his film as an award for his amazing, courageous, out of this world work on all three films. Clint Eastwood might sneak in for his best work since Unforgiven, mostly for finally figuring out how to edit a great performance and not let it die on screen.
Best Actress:
Will: Charlize Theron (Monster)
Should: Keisha Castle Hughes (Whale Rider)
Comments: Charlize will continue the Academy’s trend of awarding charismatic ingénue who blow us away with a performance that goes against their previous big-picture work, following Julia Roberts, and Halle Berry. Keisha’s performance had more depth, courage and spirit than any performance this year.
Best Actor:
Will: Sean Penn (Mystic River)
Should: Sean Penn (Mystic River)
Comments: While Bill Murray has given us a career defining performance, Sean Penn has established himself with his performance in Mystic River as the greatest actor of our generation.
Best Supporting Actor:
Will: Tim Robbins (Mystic River)
Should: Tim Robbins (Mystic River)
Comments: In a category of two vets who have never been recognized (Baldwin and Robbins) two foreigners (Watanabe and Hounsou) and one previous winner (Del Toro), this is one of the most wide open races, but Tim should pull ahead with his first nomination and win.
Best Supporting Actress:
Will: Renee Zelwegger (Cold Mountain)
Should: Renee Zelwegger (Cold Mountain)
Comments: Finally the Academy will recognize Renee, although her nominations in previous years should have brought her gold. This is a tight race though, and surprises come Oscar night are to be expected. Holly Hunter, Marcia Gay Harden are previous surprise winners and Patricia Clarkson is due (although this was not even her best performance this year).
Best Original Screenplay:
Will: Lost in Translation (Sofia Copolla)
Should: Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton and a ton others)
Comments: Maybe I am the only one, but I though Lost in Translation was a great short film. Poignant concept, funny moments, but dragged out over its running time, however the characters, dialogue and pacing were remarkable. Yet I feel that Finding Nemo is truly original for its ability to breathe life into a classic Hollywood tale.
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Will: Mystic River (Brian Helgeland)
Should: Mystic River (Brian Helgeland)
Comments: Brian deserves his second Oscar for once again taking a great novel and making it into a better screenplay. His ability to create characters and invest their mannerisms and dialogue with so much complexity that back story becomes unnecessary. Return of the King might squeeze in, mostly once again for having not won in previous years, although I felt this was the weakest as an adaptation, and not enough creativity was used to structure the multiple endings.
Best Animated Feature:
Will: Finding Nemo
Should: Finding Nemo
Comments: What more can you say but PIXAR has saved animation through brilliant visuals and traditional perfect story telling.
Best Editing:
Will: Return of the King
Should: City of G-D
Comments: Return of the King is as deserving as the previous LOTR films, for its ability to deliver multiple story lines comprehensibly and amp up both the emotional and action sequences. But City of God delivered an amazingly kinetic experience that crossed time with an amazing array of characters, stories and energy.
Best Cinematography:
Will: John Seale (Cold Mountain)
Should: C. Charlone (City of God)
Comments: I don’t know how Return of the King wasn’t nominated, but I am thrilled City of God was. I believe frequent nominee John Seale will win, and his dark, white, and beautiful photography for Anthony Minghella’s film is well deserving.
Best Art Direction:
Will: Return of the King
Should: Return of the King
Comments: A seamless combination of visual effects, mattes, gigantic sets, tiny models and the New Zealand landscape made this a hall mark for art direction. Just witness Gandolf’s ride into Minis Tirth.
Best Costume Design:
Will: Return of the King
Should: Return of the King
Comments: For g-d sakes, they had two guys who were responsible to build chain mill for five years.
Best Make-up:
Will: Return of the King
Should: Return of the King
Comments: Pirates did a great job with Johnny Depp’s look and all the pirate crews, but it was no match for Orcs, Hobbits, Elves and Kings.
Best Original Score:
Will: Howard Shore (Return of the King)
Should: Danny Elfman (Big Fish)
Comments: Howard Shore repeated many of the same themes he has used for the first two LOTR films, while Danny Elfman created a score than equally represented both the fantastic and the real worlds of Tim Burton’s best film since Ed Wood.
Best Original Song:
Will: Into the West (Howard Shore, Fran Walsh, Annie Lenox from Return of the King)
Should: You Will Be My Ain True Love (Sting from Cold Mountain)
Comments: I believe that Return of the King will be rewarded once again, but any of the songs from Cold Mountain the years most evocative and fitting soundtrack deserve to win, but this song written by, yes, Sting, was the centerpiece of the film.
Best Sound:
Will: LOTR
Should: LOTR
Comments: Do I need to go over this again.
Best Sound Editing:
Will: Master and Commander
Should: Finding Nemo
Comments: Three water films compete in a wide open race in which the loudest will win, but the animated should for its ability to make us believe what we are seeing is will because it sounds real.
Best Visual Effects:
Will: Return of the King
Should: Return of the King
Comments: There were a lot of great films omitted from this race, most more deserving that Master and Commanders boats, but Return of the King gets the extra push because all Pirates had was great ghost pirates and battle sequences, items Return of the King also had, plus the addition of, well its hard to tell, that’s how great the special effects are.
Overall, I think Return of the King will dominate, finally getting LOTR its Oscar due and solidifying it as a master piece, probably never to be challenged in cinema history.
I hope you enjoyed this trip through the 2004 Oscar nominations. I will be back post-awards for my roundup. I can’t evaluate the other categories for my lack of having seen most of the films nominated. For a complete list go to: IMdb's List of Oscar Nominees
This year did present the usual surprise inclusions, both from the perspective of out of the blue nominations, meaning for contenders that were not represented by previous awards and the long shots that squeaked in. There are only so many nominations to go around, so many deserving films, performers and craftsman were left off the final list. For a rundown:
The Shoe-Ins:
In the best picture category the two favorites heading in, LOTR’s Return of the King and Mystic River, were nominated, joined by highly regarded Seabiscuit and critically acclaimed independent Lost in Translation.
In the acting category these performers were nominees throughout the awards season, and understandably received acting nods: Sean Penn (lead) and Tim Robbins (supporting) from Mystic River, Charlize Theron (lead) from Monster, Ben Kingsley (lead) from House of Sand and Fog, Bill Murray (lead) from Lost in Translation, Jude Law (lead) and Renee Zelwegger (supporting) from Cold Mountain, Diane Keaton (lead) from Something’s Gotta Give, Holly Hunter (supporting) from Thirteen, Alec Baldwin (supporting) from The Cooler and Ken Watanabe from The Last Samurai. These performances were all recognized and deserved.
Four out of the five directing nominations went to directors whose films were nominated, making them less than surprises. A major kudos to Sofia Copolla for being only the third woman, and first American woman, to be nominated in this category, I guess it helps having learnt on the knees of one of the most celebrated film makers of our time.
The screenplay categories broke down into two groups; four out of the five adaptation nominations went to studio films, and four of the five original screenplays came from independent films, although the other was produced by PIXAR, which is considered independent. Of these nominations, the nods for Finding Nemo, Lost in Translation, and In America were expected originals and American Splendor, Return of the King, Mystic River, and Seabiscuit were expected adaptations. In America’s nomination is shared by the father-daughters team of Jim Sheridan and his offspring Naomi and Kristen.
The Pleasant Surprises:
There were some nominations that made me actually want to watch this year’s show, none more than City of God’s four nominations, including Director, Adapted Screenplay, Editing and Cinematography. Another was Keisha Castle’s Hughes nomination for Best actress in Whale Rider, the second greatest film out of New Zealand this year; her nomination makes her the youngest performer ever nominated in this category. The original screenplay nominations for Barbarian Invasions (which also got a foreign film nod, marking the second year in a row that a foreign film has been nominated in this category), Dirty Pretty Things and the adapted nod for City of God were all deserving, but show the total lack of creativity and originality flowing out of the studio system. The acting nods that came out of the blue went to Djimon Hounsou (supporting) and Samantha Morton (lead) from In America, Marcia Gary Harden (supporting) in Mystic River, Shohreh Aghdashloo (and no Jennifer
Connolly), Naomi Watts (lead) and Benicio Del Toro (supporting) from 21 Grams and Johnny Depp, for a well deserved nod for his over the top brilliant portrayal of Capt. Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean.
The Bewilderments:
How to make a grown man cry: for the first time in over ten years Harvey Weinstein couldn’t push a Mirimax film into the Best Picture category. Many it was a reaction to his having three films last year, but his front runner, Cold Mountain, although receiving seven nominations, was omitted from the Director, Lead Actress (Nicole Kidman) and Picture races that it was supposed to place in. American Splendor had to settle for only the screenplay nod, but none for Paul Giamatti or Hope Davis. Return of the King got no acting nominations, making it the most nominated film, with 11, to not have one acting nominations. The same can be said for Master and Commander, which for a film that under whelmed audiences and critics, mustered up 10 nods, including Picture and Director but none for Russell Crowe or Paul Bettany or any of the other MEN in the cast. Sting, Annie Lennox and Elvis Costello were some of the rock stars who were nominated for song writing, but left out from the party were Bono (In America), Eddie Vedder (Big Fish) and Elton John (Mona Lisa Smile). However an actor, Michael McKeon, was nominated for writing a song for A Mighty Wind, which easily could have had numerous nominations. Although I am thrilled that Fernando Meirelles received a nomination for City of God, it is still surprising that Gary Ross was passed up on for directing, but received nominations for producing and writing Seabiscuit. From a technical perspective, Return of the King was left out of the Cinematography and Sound Effects editing categories. Neither of the Matrix movies received any technical nominations after the first film dominated a few years ago. Many of the leading foreign film contenders were left off the ballot, including Osama, the Golden Globe winner. Monsieur Ibraham and The Return.
Disappointments: Scarlet Johansson was shut out of the Best Actress competition, probably due to her vote being split between Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earring. One of films that was on my top 10 was shut out, and another only got one. Big Fish and Love Actually both were ensembles and overtly sentimental, being. Albert Finney was expected to get a supporting nod for Big Fish, as was the previously mentioned Eddie Vedder, and at least for set direction, make up or costume. Love Actually should have definite been nominated for an Original Screenplay and editing for weaving together all those powerfully romantic and tragic storylines, or at least gotten a nomination for Emma Thomson, which was rumored.
Analysis:
Apparent from the nominations was the omission of several films that opened wide late in December, typically a great time for Oscar contenders, but with the pushed up dates for the awards, films like Big Fish, Cold Mountain and The Company House of Sand and Fog, and Girl with a Pearl Earring, were left out in the cold. Other films like Love Actually, and Big Fish, were hurt by other films at their studios, Seabiscuit and Something’s Gotta Give respectively, being the studios choice for a major advertising push. Screeners, or the lack of, proved to be irrelevant due to many independent films being nominated for major categories, most noticeably Lost in Translation, City of God and In America. Overall, all the nominations were well deserved, and there just was not enough room for many of the great films that were released this past year. The nominations were very spread out, and split pretty evenly amongst independents and studio picks, outside of the Best Picture category. However, the studios should be proud specifically of Return of the King and Mystic River, two films that were considered huge risks because of scope and material, but were pushed through by visionary film makers to huge critical acclaim and box office rewards.
Prediction:
As of now some races are very tight, others are wide open, and some are just not worth talking about because the winners are obvious. Here are my predictions, personal picks and comments.
Best Picture:
Will Win: Return of the King
Should Win: Return of the King
Comments: The only other film with a chance to unseat The King is Mystic River, although Lost in Translation is a dark horse. Return of the King will win mostly because the previous films weren’t and voters were saving their votes hoping the last would be the best; thankfully there were right.
Best Director:
Will: Peter Jackson
Should: Peter Jackson
Comments: Peter will win like his film as an award for his amazing, courageous, out of this world work on all three films. Clint Eastwood might sneak in for his best work since Unforgiven, mostly for finally figuring out how to edit a great performance and not let it die on screen.
Best Actress:
Will: Charlize Theron (Monster)
Should: Keisha Castle Hughes (Whale Rider)
Comments: Charlize will continue the Academy’s trend of awarding charismatic ingénue who blow us away with a performance that goes against their previous big-picture work, following Julia Roberts, and Halle Berry. Keisha’s performance had more depth, courage and spirit than any performance this year.
Best Actor:
Will: Sean Penn (Mystic River)
Should: Sean Penn (Mystic River)
Comments: While Bill Murray has given us a career defining performance, Sean Penn has established himself with his performance in Mystic River as the greatest actor of our generation.
Best Supporting Actor:
Will: Tim Robbins (Mystic River)
Should: Tim Robbins (Mystic River)
Comments: In a category of two vets who have never been recognized (Baldwin and Robbins) two foreigners (Watanabe and Hounsou) and one previous winner (Del Toro), this is one of the most wide open races, but Tim should pull ahead with his first nomination and win.
Best Supporting Actress:
Will: Renee Zelwegger (Cold Mountain)
Should: Renee Zelwegger (Cold Mountain)
Comments: Finally the Academy will recognize Renee, although her nominations in previous years should have brought her gold. This is a tight race though, and surprises come Oscar night are to be expected. Holly Hunter, Marcia Gay Harden are previous surprise winners and Patricia Clarkson is due (although this was not even her best performance this year).
Best Original Screenplay:
Will: Lost in Translation (Sofia Copolla)
Should: Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton and a ton others)
Comments: Maybe I am the only one, but I though Lost in Translation was a great short film. Poignant concept, funny moments, but dragged out over its running time, however the characters, dialogue and pacing were remarkable. Yet I feel that Finding Nemo is truly original for its ability to breathe life into a classic Hollywood tale.
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Will: Mystic River (Brian Helgeland)
Should: Mystic River (Brian Helgeland)
Comments: Brian deserves his second Oscar for once again taking a great novel and making it into a better screenplay. His ability to create characters and invest their mannerisms and dialogue with so much complexity that back story becomes unnecessary. Return of the King might squeeze in, mostly once again for having not won in previous years, although I felt this was the weakest as an adaptation, and not enough creativity was used to structure the multiple endings.
Best Animated Feature:
Will: Finding Nemo
Should: Finding Nemo
Comments: What more can you say but PIXAR has saved animation through brilliant visuals and traditional perfect story telling.
Best Editing:
Will: Return of the King
Should: City of G-D
Comments: Return of the King is as deserving as the previous LOTR films, for its ability to deliver multiple story lines comprehensibly and amp up both the emotional and action sequences. But City of God delivered an amazingly kinetic experience that crossed time with an amazing array of characters, stories and energy.
Best Cinematography:
Will: John Seale (Cold Mountain)
Should: C. Charlone (City of God)
Comments: I don’t know how Return of the King wasn’t nominated, but I am thrilled City of God was. I believe frequent nominee John Seale will win, and his dark, white, and beautiful photography for Anthony Minghella’s film is well deserving.
Best Art Direction:
Will: Return of the King
Should: Return of the King
Comments: A seamless combination of visual effects, mattes, gigantic sets, tiny models and the New Zealand landscape made this a hall mark for art direction. Just witness Gandolf’s ride into Minis Tirth.
Best Costume Design:
Will: Return of the King
Should: Return of the King
Comments: For g-d sakes, they had two guys who were responsible to build chain mill for five years.
Best Make-up:
Will: Return of the King
Should: Return of the King
Comments: Pirates did a great job with Johnny Depp’s look and all the pirate crews, but it was no match for Orcs, Hobbits, Elves and Kings.
Best Original Score:
Will: Howard Shore (Return of the King)
Should: Danny Elfman (Big Fish)
Comments: Howard Shore repeated many of the same themes he has used for the first two LOTR films, while Danny Elfman created a score than equally represented both the fantastic and the real worlds of Tim Burton’s best film since Ed Wood.
Best Original Song:
Will: Into the West (Howard Shore, Fran Walsh, Annie Lenox from Return of the King)
Should: You Will Be My Ain True Love (Sting from Cold Mountain)
Comments: I believe that Return of the King will be rewarded once again, but any of the songs from Cold Mountain the years most evocative and fitting soundtrack deserve to win, but this song written by, yes, Sting, was the centerpiece of the film.
Best Sound:
Will: LOTR
Should: LOTR
Comments: Do I need to go over this again.
Best Sound Editing:
Will: Master and Commander
Should: Finding Nemo
Comments: Three water films compete in a wide open race in which the loudest will win, but the animated should for its ability to make us believe what we are seeing is will because it sounds real.
Best Visual Effects:
Will: Return of the King
Should: Return of the King
Comments: There were a lot of great films omitted from this race, most more deserving that Master and Commanders boats, but Return of the King gets the extra push because all Pirates had was great ghost pirates and battle sequences, items Return of the King also had, plus the addition of, well its hard to tell, that’s how great the special effects are.
Overall, I think Return of the King will dominate, finally getting LOTR its Oscar due and solidifying it as a master piece, probably never to be challenged in cinema history.
I hope you enjoyed this trip through the 2004 Oscar nominations. I will be back post-awards for my roundup. I can’t evaluate the other categories for my lack of having seen most of the films nominated. For a complete list go to: IMdb's List of Oscar Nominees
Monday, February 02, 2004
Here are a few links to articles I wrote for a College paper while I was attending CCNY. Hope you enjoy, although they are a little dated. I hope to get my Oscar nominations responses up by late today.
www.geocities.com/ccnymess/nov99/movies.html
www.geocities.com/ccnymess/mar2000/oscar.html
www.geocities.com/ccnymess/oct2000/hollywood.html
www.geocities.com/ccnymess/nov99/movies.html
www.geocities.com/ccnymess/mar2000/oscar.html
www.geocities.com/ccnymess/oct2000/hollywood.html
