The nominees have been announced.
1. Spellbound was ignored in the Best Documentary category.
2. Granted, he was fun. But Johnny Depp for Pirates of the Caribbean?
3. The Triplets of Belleville doesn’t stand a chance against Finding Nemo.
4. City of God was a surprise. It’s up for cinematography, directing, film editing and writing. It’s also a Miramax film. So it was probably pushed like gangbusters.
5. A surprise Pollock win a few years ago and now a Mystic River nomination. The Academy really loves Marcia Gay Harden, don’t they?
6. Keisha Castle-Hughes for Best Actress in Whale Rider. She may be the youngest lead nominee ever. The kids are moving from the Best Supporting nominees (i.e., Anna Paguin for The Piano) to the lead roles.
7. Typically, the Best Writing category is the sympathy Oscar. So no surprise to see American Splendor, Dirty Pretty Things and The Barbarian Invasions ghettoized there (although the latter also scored a foreign film nomination).
8. Alec Baldwin in The Cooler — another surprise.
9. I feel sorry for any film up against Return of the King in the technical categories. It’s clear they don’t stand a chance.
10. A Mighty Wind up for Best Song!
I always figure the Oscars – much like the Grammys – kind of have more to do with people who have an economic interest in a project they worked on winning an award than actual artistic merit. But . . .Pirates of the Fricken Carribean? ? ?
Don’t get me wrong, I think Depp is one of the finest and most underrated actors of our generation. But come on . . . the film was basically a big-budget cartoon based loosely on a Disney theme park attraction. Depp was campy and fun and sexy – and likely saved Disney tens of millions because he made the movie watchable.
Hmmm . . .has Depp ever won an Oscar? I think he got nominated for Fear And Loathing and Chocolat, but I can’t recall if he’s ever got one.
“Spellbound” *did* get an Oscar nomination… last year, only to be robbed of a victory by the vastly inferior “Bowling for Columbine.”