Oscars Predictions. Rather, My Oscar Rant

Actually I'm not going to go to the trouble of picking winners in each category (wow, how I used to get into this).  I haven't seen most of the films up for awards this year (another trend in recent years).  Not that I didn't have the chance -- most did have decent runs here -- I just wasn't interested in many of them.  I had no interest in seeing The Help, for a number of reasons, including the critique that black stories keep getting told through the lens of the white people involved.  The Descendants didn't look appealing on any level.  And so many others got bad reviews that kept me away, even The Iron Lady, which I had looked forward too (I am a big Margaret Thatcher fan and a big Meryl Streep fan, and if I decided the film didn't look appealing to spend my money and an evening on . . .).  I've already seen a fine film version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  And War Horse looked like sentimental poop.

Among those I did see,  a handful I didn't like or thought they were overrated (In reading articles this morning, one said it was the worst Oscar season ever as far as the quality of films competing).  Hugo was simply awful and a waste of both my time and money.  And though I liked Midnight in Paris, it was not a great or strong film, and I'm puzzled by its recognition.

Despite all that, there were amazing films this year.  Tree of Life is a masterpiece.  A. O. Scott wrote that it should be compared to Leaves of Grass and Moby Dick rather than Citizen Kane or Lawrence of Arabia.  I may not go quite that far, but close.  I think it among the greatest artistic achievements in the history of film and a film that transcends is medium to become a serious philosophical and theological work.  That Tree of Life wasn't the hands-down favourite to sweep awards was mind-boggling to me.

The only competition it should have had was Melancholia which is also a truly great film.  Kirsten Dunst should be winning best actress.  Von Trier might be a dick, but that shouldn't count against his film.  When Melancholia failed to pick up any Oscar nominations, I basically wrote the Academy off this year.

Margin Call was one of my favourites from the year.  Very well written, with sharp, fine performances, nice camera work and editing.  Should have been a Best Picture nominee.  

I also liked Weekend and found it a refreshing take on romance.

Meek's Cutoff was excellent.  Why isn't Michelle Williams nominated for it?

There were really fun popular films as well that had good qualities.  Super 8 had a splendid first 2/3 and a really crappy closing, but was still overall a much better film than Hugo.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes was consistently well-done popular entertainment.  Given how little of that appears these days, maybe it deserved a Best Picture nomination.

And don't forget Deathly Hallows, which was a strong film.  I had assumed that the Academy, especially with the expanded Best Picture category which hopes to include more blockbuster films, would nominate it in recognition of the entire series (which is the biggest money-making film series in history).  In particular, I had hoped that Alan Rickman would be nominated for supporting actor.  His performance of Snape through all the films was the sort of delight which is rare in films.  Maybe my most quoted movie line this year came from it, "Just because it's in your head doesn't mean it isn't real."

All that said, I enjoyed The Artist.  It is probably the third best film I saw this year.  It rises to some high artistry, particluarly in the Fellini-esque nightmare scene.  So, if it wins big, I won't mind. 

Therefore, I'm not really all that interested in the show this year, and am not even sure I'll care to watch.

Fifty years from now people will shake their heads and wonder why 2011 gave the award to How Green Was My Valley and not Citizen Kane.

Comments

[Phil]

I would submit Drive as one of the year's best. I also enjoyed the hell out of Michael Shannon in Take Shelter. Best performance of the year.

Totally agree with you about Tree of Life. I've thought a lot about that film since I first saw it.

[Scott Jones]

I didn't see either Drive or Take Shelter. I wasn't interested in Drive's violence, but my guess it that it is a good film which should be up for awards this weekend

Take Shelter looks very good, but I didn't see it when it was here. I do look forward to seeing it though.

Overall the theme of this year seems to be not including the films that were actually good.

[Mary Wilson]

The movies this year are an odd lot. I couldn't stand Tree of Life, much less consider it a masterpiece. I thought the same thing of Take Shelter.

Planet of the Apes was better than the Academy has recognized. Midnight in Paris was entertaining and delightful, but not a great piece of art, just really nice.

This year is very odd.