Argument for the Field of Five

The Academy switched to a new nomination system for Best Picture. They expanded the field of Best Picture to ten contenders, and I think this is ridiculous.

The primary reason the Academy has for making this change is to allow popular movies that are not high grade to contend for Best Picture. The number one snub in recent memory is The Dark Knight. The root of the issue is not with the number of nominees, but the type of nominees. There is nothing wrong with the system of five nominees for Best Picture. If the Academy wants to appeal to a mass audience then they should nominate differently.

This all started because The Dark Knight was not nominated for Best Picture last year. The field consisted of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, and winner Slumdog Millionaire. This field is not necessarily a bad field, its just not very well known. There are no heavyweights. Audiences did not support these movies very much. I personally would take out The Reader or Frost/Nixon in favor of The Dark Knight. I would have still expected to see Slumdog Millionaire win the award, but at least fans of The Dark Knight would have been appeased and the artsy crowd would still have their win and the bulk of the nominees.

The problem arose when the Academy strode away from a formula among the five nominees that can at least cover all of their bases. In each Award season there will be at least one or two solid front-runners, and they will automatically receive nominations. In this year’s instance those two front-runners would be Avatar and The Hurt Locker. Then the next two or three should be big-budget movies that are good or smaller-budget movies without much audience attention but a lot of critical acclaim. This year I would put Inglorious Basterds and Up in the Air into those spots. Finally, the last spot should be reserved for a dark horse pick. This could mean many things. Maybe the movie is a blockbuster phenom, has some redeeming qualities, but wasn’t a critical darling across the board; like The Dark Knight. Maybe it is an audience sweetheart that garnered some attention, made some positive buzz, but was not revolutionary or groundbreaking; like Up or Little Miss Sunshine. Then there is the last kind. A truly independent film, an underdog in every sense of the word. One with a gripping and emotional story but no really big names or big effects. This year that would be Precious.

Expanding the field to ten movies I expect was meant to keep the popularists from making too much noise, but they still are. You can’t please everyone all the time, it’s just not going to happen. There are Star Trek fans who are complaining now. There is also probably an underlying marketing motivation. To afford ten movies the opportunity to put “Best Picture Nominee” on their covers until they fade into obscurity means that over time these movies will sell more copies. There is some silver lining here.

Even though expanding the field gives The Blind Side a nomination, which I find ridiculous, it also gives some small glimmer of hope to movies like District 9 and A Serious Man. Movies that in other years with a smaller field or less imposing front-runners may have had a chance for a nomination under the old system. Even though The Blind Side would never get a Best Picture nomination under the old system, no matter what the field.

In the end, I think expanding the field to ten is very unnecessary but not entirely ridiculous. There are a good number of reasons that make sense. I would still argue fiercely to keep the Best Picture field at five movies, just alter the nominees a little.

Best Picture Nominees (This Year)

Avatar

The Blind Side

District 9

An Education

The Hurt Locker

Inglorious Basterds

Precious

A Serious Man

Up

Up in the Air

Best Picture Nominees (Old System)*

Avatar – Front-runner

The Hurt Locker – Front-runner

Inglorious Basterds – Middle-tier

Up in the Air – Middle-tier

Precious or Up – Dark horse

* These are my predicted picks for what would get nominated under the old system. I would say that Precious has the edge over Up in the dark horse category. Even though both are quality movies that get over looked because of Precious’ undersized released or the fact that Up is an animated movie.

82nd Academy Awards - My Personal Picks

The Oscar nominees are in, which means it is time for me to judge them based off my limited experience and biased views. I while review and make my picks for the rest of the awards, but these are the major categories. Be sure to tune to the 82nd Academy Awards Sunday March 7th at 8:00 ET on ABC to see who wins.

Best Picture - The Hurt Locker

Best Director - James Cameron

I’m clumping Best Picture with Best Director because they are inexplicably linked. I believe whoever doesn’t win Best Picture will win Best Director. Picture could be going to go to either The Hurt Locker or Avatar. Despite expanding the field to ten movies there is still, and will be in the future, only one or two frontrunners. I believe that The Hurt Locker will win. Big budget does not guarantee a win, especially recently.

I’m sure there are a lot of Academy members who would want to award Kathryn Bigelow the Directing Oscar, and make her the first female to receive it. Though I believe James Cameron deserves the Directing Oscar more. I do respect how much effort goes in to creating such a luminous, imaginary world. How difficult it must be for a director to get a quality performance out of actors in a blue screen environment. I do believe that if Cameron wins, The Hurt Locker should take Best Picture. It needs Best Picture more. Avatar will be fine without Best Picture. It will sell lots of DVDs, it will continue to sell tickets, and it will be talked about for many years for being a benchmark film. The Hurt Locker could really use the support. It is a great movie. It has done what no other Gulf War movies could. It had engaging characters, an emotional story, and a riveting story. The best part, it is getting attention, which is more than any other Iraq/Afghanistan based movie has done recently.

Best Actor - Jeff Bridges

Best Actor is a very busy category. Filled with veteran actors and good story lines. Jeremy Renner has the most compelling story. Morgan Freeman is the consummate veteran. Ultimately it comes down to two big contenders, George Clooney and Jeff Bridges.

George Clooney delivered an entertaining and rewarding performance. In Up in the Air he was smart, sexy, clever, and quick. This is not anything unusual for Clooney, but he is this was in nearly every movie. This plays hugely into Jeff Bridges’ hand.

Bridges has delivered a slew of quality performances. The Dude of The Big Lebowski being the most well known, but certainly not the finest example. This is his time to win. Throughout his career Bridges has done roles and movies to entertain his fans and he has some more on the way with The Giver adaptation on the way and a remake of True Grit. This performance, however, it is just deep and respectable enough to allow the high taste of some Academy members to give it to Jeff Bridges. I think he has a very good chance of taking this one home.

Best Actress - Meryl Streep

There are a lot of people out there who will root for Sandra Bullock to win this award. She gave a powerful performance as she ever has in her career, it may even stand as a pivotal performance in her career. It is also very uncertain how many more times Bullock may put up another Oscar-worthy performance. This will certainly weigh heavily on the minds of the Academy voters. These arguments are very valid, but the counter-argument is Meryl Streep. The movie she is nominated for, Julie and Julia, was pushed back because the producers felt that Streep gave such a strong performance that they wanted to give her the best shot for winning an Oscar. It is very nearly 50-50 between Bullock and Streep. Either one is very deserving of the award. My money is on Streep because she is portraying an icon, and she did an amazing job of doing so. The role of Julia Child is not necessarily a transformation that Streep makes regularly.

Gabourey Sidibe would be the dark horse to take this category for her performance in Precious, but it would take a huge force to knock both Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock off the lead. I would still go for Meryl Streep

Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz

Christoph Waltz did a phenomenal job as the evil-mastermind Nazi Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds. His villain character is going in line with these new modern villains who are amazing to watch, along with Heath Ledger’s Joker, Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigur, and Daniel Day-Lewis’ Daniel Planeview. Waltz did a great job. He was menacing, malicious, and brilliantly subtle also. On top of the fact that he fluently spoke several languages without batting an eye, he was on top of everything. He was a few steps ahead of everyone and he had every angle figured out.

There are some other contenders in this category. Stanley Tucci really stepped out of his usual mold as George Harvey in The Lovely Bones. He created a very normal-looking but fear inducing character. Woody Harrelson is a dark horse candidate for his performance as Captain Tony Stone in The Messenger. Waltz has very nearly run away with this category. It would take a great surge of support for anyone to take this away from Waltz, and I don’t see that happening.

Best Supporting Actress - Mo’Nique

I am assuming there are a good deal of Academy members that would like to give Precious several awards. I do think that it will take Best Adapted Screenplay. Among the other major categories, Best Supporting Actress is its next best shot for a win. Mo’Nique is the most interesting choice to win this category, but then again, no one is really running away with it this year. Anna Kendrick would be my personal choice for her performance in Up in the Air. Vera Farmiga, also of Up in the Air, would be a good choice too, but I don’t see either winning this award.

Mo’Nique shines in a role that is out of her usual repertoire. She is certainly a performer who was stuck in smaller roles with comedic tones. This role really allowed her to break free and prove herself. She did a great job and she showed a lot of people what she could do.

Mo’Nique’s performance is great through an individual scope, but it also did a lot for the movie. The role of the mother is pivotal in Precious, playing both the part of role model and rival. She would be a savvy choice to win, it would appeal to the Academy’s liberal sensibilities, and it would be a great dark horse win.

Best Original Screenplay - Inglorious Basterds

There are a lot of solid contenders for this category. Up would be an interesting pick, it certainly has a very touching story and a vivid world. The Hurt Locker would also be an interesting choice also, but I don’t think it has the weight to it. The same goes for A Serious Man.

I am guessing that Tarantino takes this one for Inglorious Basterds. The characters are brilliant, the story is deep, and as always the story is unapologetic. As Tarantino himself has said, this movie has some of his best characters he has ever written. He believes that Hans Landa could be one of best characters so far, and maybe he will still be standing as his best at the end of his career. High praise of one’s own work is generally not difficult, but for Tarantino he is generally so objective.

Best Adapted Screenplay – Precious

Precious should win this award. This is a very crowded category though. There are several fantastic stories, and they all appeal to the Academy’s sensibilities. Up in the Air has a script full of quick, witty dialogue. In the Loop has more or less the same. Both have an apparent air of old school cinema to them also. An Education is a good pick, but it won’t win. Same with District 9, which is adapted from a short film. This would make it an interesting pick, but it won’t win either.

Precious should win this award because it is never easy to transfer a personal story to film. Let alone a personal story with this much depth and emotion. Plus, I am sure there is a great share of Academy members that would love to recognize and award Precious, this is their best chance to do so.

Best Animated Feature – Up

There is no way that Up is not going to win this award. Period. Pixar and the creators should clear out some mantle space right now.