Oscar Commentary

Films Released in 2004

Posted February 2, 2005

Award presentation: February 27, 2005

Mostly Good News from the Academy… The Good News First

Eleven nominations for The Aviator is good news. It’s a great film that should be doing even more box office than it is. It’s doing ok but I would like to see it get a big bump from these nominations. I’ll be rooting for it to win in most categories except that – as much as I appreciate what Leonardo DiCaprio did to get this film made (he shepherded the project for years, using his considerable clout) – I think Johnny Depp (Finding Neverland) and Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby) are both more deserving of a “best actor” Oscar. Of the five nominees for “best picture”, only Sideways doesn’t belong there – it’s a good movie but radically overrated. But four out of five isn’t bad.

All the nominated films with six or more nominations -- The Aviator (11), Million Dollar Baby (7), Finding Neverland (7), and Ray (6) – are very good films which I recommend without reservation. There are often one or two baddies that get multiple nominations. It was nice to see The Incredibles get four nominations – including “best animated feature” -- which it should win -- hands down.

The children’s film, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, got several nominations – primarily technical. The movie, while conforming to most conventions of children’s films, is a wonderfully creative visual delight. I would love to see more like it in the future, so I’m glad to see it recognized.

… Now My (relatively minor) Complaints

Hero, my #1 pick for 2004 (see The Best and the Worst of 2004) was ineligible for consideration due to a weird quirk in the rules. Since it was a foreign-language nominee in a previous year, it had to be released in the U.S. in that year (2002, the year of Chicago) to be eligible for other awards in that year. Since it wasn’t released in the U.S. until 2004, it never got an eligibility year – it fell through the cracks. The weird thing is: if it hadn’t been nominated (for foreign language) for 2002, it could have been eligible for 2004, so it was penalized for being nominated in 2002.

On the supporting actor nominations, I have to take issue with including Thomas Haden Church (Sideways) – that character was the biggest problem in the film. I’m still puzzling how the fine performance by Paul Giamatti was overlooked by the Academy while the overdone slapstick of Thomas Haden Church got the nod.

I was sorry to see The Polar Express get three nominations (two technical plus original song) – it’s an awful movie and shouldn’t receive awards of any kind. (See The Best and the Worst of 2004)

I shouldn’t be surprised that great films like House of Flying Daggers and Kill Bill Volume 2 get largely shut out of the awards. House is a foreign film (and an action movie as well) with no big stars while Kill Bill is just plain weird – not typical fare for Academy members.

By far the biggest shocker in these nominations was Before Sunset for best adapted screenplay. Unbelievable. It’s one of the worst examples of screenwriting I’ve seen in years. The film is nothing but dialog – no action at all – and mediocre dialog at that. Before Sunset is the recipient of The Planet Naboo Citation for the Worst Cinematic Moment of 2004 – see The Best and the Worst of 2004.

Who I’m Rooting For at the Oscars:

Best Picture: The Aviator.

Best Director: Martin Scorsese for The Aviator.

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Johnny Depp for Finding Neverland.

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Annette Bening for Being Julia.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Morgan Freeman for Million Dollar Baby.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Cate Blanchette for The Aviator (in spite of the weird accent.)

Best Animated Feature: Brad Bird for The Incredibles.

Best Original Screenplay: Brad Bird for The Incredibles.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Haggis for Million Dollar Baby.

Best Cinematography: Xaioding Zhao for House of Flying Daggers.

Best Editing: Thelma Schoomaker for The Aviator.

Best Art Direction: Rick Heinrichs and Cheryl Carasik for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Best Costume Design: Colleen Atwood for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Best Original Score: James Newton Howard for The Village.

Best Original Song: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart for The Phantom of the Opera.

Best Makeup: Valli O'Reilly and Bill Corso for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Best Sound: Randy Thom, Gary Rizzo, and Doc Kane for The Incredibles .

Best Sound Editing: Michael Silvers and Randy Thom for The Incredibles .

Best Visual Effects: Tim Burke, Roger Guyett, Bill George, and John Richardson for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

For a complete list of the nominees including links to more info about the people and the movies involved go to: IMDb Oscar Special .

Here’s the Academy’s official website: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (oscars.org) . If you are interested in those rules I discussed, you can find them on the site.